It's no surprise that Flojet engineer Dave Phillips came up with an idea for a new product while waiting in line at a sanitary dump station for recreational vehicle (RV) users in Hope, Arkansas. He had a lot of time to think. "The current RV waste disposal process is slow -- not to mention dirty and smelly," Phillips says. "I just saw a better way." Phillips' solution is now being marketed as the Flojet Portable RV Waste Pump. Instead of hooking up a 3-inch diameter hose onto the holding tank and then waiting for gravity to do the rest, the Flojet pump allows RVers to flush their system through a smaller garden hose with one push of a button. The portable pump is attached directly to a "bayonet" hose fitting on the RV and two hoses run to the sanitary dump station. The pump flushes out the "black water" and then cycles in clean water to rinse out the system. When the job is done, the clean pump and hose are easily stored in the RV. It's quicker, easier, cleaner and more compact than most current systems. And even though it only hit the market in June 2003, it's already been heavily customer-tested. "The idea was submitted about one year ago and went into the Value-Based Product Development stage-gate process," says Phillips. "At various stages we collected internal and external voice-of-the-customer feedback, both of which helped us create a product with strong market potential." Projected sales of this new product are expected to exceed $2 million over five years, and Camping World, the largest RV mass merchandiser in the U.S., was an early endorser of the technology. The RV market is an important and growing revenue stream for Flojet, which also produces pumps for pleasure boaters. In July, Phillips had the opportunity to field test the Flojet Portable RV Waste Pump. "I used the pump at an RV rally -- dumping three RVs with no problems," says Phillips, who also heard positive feedback from other end users. It appears that Phillips idea, which took only nine months to move from brainstorm to brand new product, is now on the verge of taking off.			The Flojet Portable RV Waste Pump development team includes (l. to r) Dave Phillips, Yvonne Pham, Jerry Caldwell, Maria Rothschild and Jay Naval. (Not pictured: Joey Rillo and Danny Moreno).