World War II had just ended and the nation - and industry - began to tool up for the pent up demand for consumer, commercial and industrial products and services. Taking a page out of Henry Fords philosophy for successful business, find a need and fill it, a small company opened its doors in Bryn Mawr, PA to fill industrys need for ladders to access shelving, production machinery and hard-to-reach areas requiring maintenance. Like everyone coming out of the war, John Colgan was looking for opportunity. In 1945 he bought an Iceberg frozen food franchise and rented space for a small store and frozen foods lockers. Because household refrigerators did not yet have freezers, housewives would buy their frozen foods at the special store and keep them in rented freezers in the same building. Colgan was concerned that the wooden A-type ladder customers used to access the upper lockers was cumbersome and unsteady. Armed with his background in wartime shipbuilding, he designed a rolling stairway with handrails and casters which were supported by springs that would compress with weight and lock the legs to the ground. Iceberg liked his idea and began offering the safety step ladder with every franchise. Meanwhile, the president of the local bank came in to pick up some frozen vegetables and thought the ladder was just what the bank needed to access their safety deposit boxes. Colgan began marketing to banks. By now he was spending more time making ladders than selling frozen foods. He sold the franchise and started his own company. The year was 1946. The company was Ballymore. Today, as part of the Osage/RAF organization, Ballymore is gearing up to the 21st century. A re-engineering process is underway to incorporate robotics and cellular manufacturing in order to develop a more efficient manufacturing environment.