3rd quarter 2009           

Cart Tech offers new life for old shopping carts; big savings for nation’s retailers

Cart Tech founder and president Pierre Lafleur gets a bird’s eye view of his operation from the’ observation deck.

He has spent a career fixing other companies. But now, entrepreneur Pierre Lafleur has founded a company that fixes shopping carts for the nation’s retailers, keeping old carts out of landfills and saving customers a bundle.

“Cart Tech was created to give retailers an alternative to continuous investment in new shopping carts to replace worn and damaged ones,” said Lafleur, the company’s president.

Lafleur was not just working on a hunch when he formed Cart Tech. He previously was president and general manager of Technibilt Ltd., the nation’s leading manufacturer
of shopping carts and a major player in wire products and wire design shelving. He helped guide that company to production of more than 700,000 shopping carts annually.

“Over the past few years, the costs of steel and plastic have soared to a point where shopping cart pricing increased substantially,” he said. “It became clear the solution rested with the refurbishment of old shopping carts. As a result, Cart Tech was born.”

Cart Tech receives regular shipments of worn and damaged shopping carts.

The carts are given new life with a five-step, state-of-the-art process that Lafleur has perfected. Upon arrival, the damaged carts are sorted by manufacturer and model (there are only three major manufacturers of shopping carts in the United States). The carts then are diagnosed, disassembled and prepared for refurbishment. New part requirements are determined and new replacement parts are ordered for eventual re-assembly. Cart Tech reuses up to 90 percent of old parts. Unusable old parts, scrap plastic and steel are recycled, making Cart Tech’s green processes, even greener.

While Cart Tech is off to a fast start (the company commenced operations January 2), its initial success is nothing new to Lafleur. His career has included many assignments to “fix” ailing companies. He came from humble beginnings and family circumstances caused him to be resourceful and hard working—traits that have served him well in business. As a young man, he worked 2,000 feet underground as an electrical apprentice in copper mines. He took a pay cut to work at a bank and ended up managing 28 offices of a finance company at age 24. The company later asked him to troubleshoot problem branches.

He was also Mr. Fix-it for a leasing company, an automotive parts manufacturing company, which he bought. Eventually, he helped shopping cart manufacturer Technibilt, resulting in exponential growth in sales and profits. He did two tours of duty with the company before his entrepreneurial passions led him to establish Cart Tech. The company is on 10 acres off U.S. 1 in Edgewater, across from Boston Whaler. The 44,000-square-foot manufacturing facility includes offices and showrooms. Employment stands at 19 and Lafleur is preparing for a larger workforce.

Cart Tech’s driveway sign welcomes customers and suppliers.

“Production of refurbished shopping carts is on pace to exceed 50,000 in our first year and the potential for significant growth is out there,” said Lafleur. “Our reputation
is growing and we are doing our best to introduce our services to more cost-conscious and environmentally conscious customers.”