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Everything begins
with an idea.
Ron achieved great recognition and respect as a hockey coach at the semi-professional level. Leading by example, he is known for his ability to inspire and motivate those around him. He has more than 30 years of experience as a facility operator and owned a successful service business before dedicating himself to the pursuit of inventing and perfecting the GREINS retrofit technology. Ron has extensive experience with the operations of ice resurfacing equipment as well as arena facilities. It was while working with the City of Ottawa's ice resurfacing equipment that Ron realized that there were ways to save time, energy, water and money. The visionary design of the retrofit was soon to follow. Ron is the original founder, inventor and holds the patents under GREINS Environmental Technologies Inc.
2012
GREINS ENVIRONMENTAL TECHNOLOGIES FOUNDED
GREINS Environmental Technologies Inc. was founded with the goal of developing Eco-friendly and cost-effective solutions for ice resurfacing machines.
2014
DEVELOPMENT OF THE FIRST PROTOTYPE
The initial prototype materialized from Ron's sketches to the workshop bench. Although the rudimentary design showed promise, there were a number of areas that needed improvement.
2017
GREINS PARTNERSHIPS AND ASSOCIATES
GREINS was able to leverage the assistance of the National Research Council (NRC), forge partnerships in the industrial sector and gain access to ice rinks to test new innovations in the field.
2018
GAINING MOMENTUM
After collecting data and reworking the components to capture heat while the system was operating, the revolutionary design began to deliver the expected results. Facility operators, municipalities and local politicians started to show a keen interest in the potential savings.
2021
FINE TUNING THE DESIGN
Although the GREINS retrofit system had come a long way from the initial design, Ron would not settle for anything other than perfection. Driven to push for faster heating and improved efficiency, ice shavings could now be melted without delay allowing for back to back floods.
2023
NATIONAL APPEARANCE ON CBC'S DRAGONS' DEN
It was during Season 18, Episode 11 that the GREINS retrofit system captured the attention of the Dragons' Den investors. They were spellbound by the innovation and pioneering spirit behind GREINS. Tune in November 3oth @ 8PM EST on CBC TV to see if we were able to slay the Dragons or not.
Meet the Team
