Foot-friendly: Foot Solutions franchisee DeWitt Paul stands next to the Varifit Orthodic Fabrication System in the Foot Solutions store in Henderson. Computer software produces a pin mold that is used to make a customized insole. Paul sits on the board of a company that is starting to lease the equipment to orthopedic stores in other states.
Friday, Feb. 20, 2009 | 2 a.m.
Perfect fit: DeWitt Paul checks the fit of a custom orthotic insole after making the insole using the Varifit Orthodic Fabrication System in the Foot Solutions store in Henderson.
It’s like one-hour photos, only for orthotic foot support.
Foot Solutions local franchisee DeWitt Paul sits on the board of Varifit Solutions, the company that developed a self-contained custom orthotic fabrication system.
The technology is no larger than a desk although it comes complete with a robot, computer and pressure equality chamber.
“This is what we call disruptive technology,” Paul said. “There’s just no comparison to what we do.”
Customers at his Henderson and Summerlin offices can get on-the-spot orthotics through a technology developed in partnership with Brigham Young University engineering students (including a Henderson native), pedorthists and podiatrists, aerospace engineers and Varifit Chief Executive Brent Johnson, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology graduate.
The technology took three years to create, Paul said.
Typically, custom orthotics take a couple of weeks to create, but the Varifit process takes half an hour.
A set of custom orthotic soles cost $350 to $450, he said.
To create the orthotic, a foot is placed on an oversized pin board, pressing down to create an imprint of the foot. Moving to the machine, the imprint is scanned and a digital image of the foot is made.
The machine then creates a negative impression on another pin board. When that is completed, a vacuum seal molds a latex sheet over a sole into the robot-created impression, creating the orthotic.
Varifit is starting to lease the technology to other orthotic stores, but at $1,000 per month, a business would need to sell 20 a month for it to be a sound investment, Paul said.
So far, the technology is being used in Utah (where it was created), Florida and, most recently, Canada.
“They’ll be all over the country very shortly,” Paul said. “It’s an expanding technology.”
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