Image courtesy K-State

Kansas State University’s Technology Development Institute (TDI) is helping small businesses grow in rural communities. A release from K-State stated that recently, TDI assisted RSI Outdoors, a hunting blind manufacturer from Brogue, Pennsylvania, as the company expanded into Paxico, Kansas, creating new jobs and establishing local manufacturing.

TDI supported RSI Outdoors by updating their computer-aided design (CAD) models, performing structural analysis, and testing new stand designs to ensure they could handle 1,250–1,500 pounds, the strongest rating on the market. The institute also helped create prototypes and owner’s manuals, giving RSI marketing materials for trade shows and confidence as they scaled up production.

The collaboration shows TDI’s role in providing engineering and manufacturing support to help businesses grow. RSI Outdoors is now showcasing its new hunting blinds at trade shows nationwide. TDI, part of K-State’s Carl R. Ice College of Engineering, receives federal and private grants to support rural entrepreneurship and offers engineering and business development services to advance new products and technologies.