Wellington man puts people ahead of profits with his new invention

It was never a breeze for Phil Wylie to make his beloved Malt-O-Meal.

"I was tired of taking it out, stirring it and putting it back in, taking it back out, stirring it," Wylie says.  "And I still ended up with lumps, and I don't like lumps in my Malt-O-Meal!"

Then, this Wellington man came up with a solution.

"I've had a number of engineers look at it and shake their head and say, who would have ever thought it would have been that easy?" Wylie says.

Wylie calls it the StirMate.  He says it makes perfect Malt-O-Meal, pudding and just about anything else that needs cooking and stirring.  It straps into the microwave and uses the power of the turntable to keep food smooth and creamy. 

The StirMate is the latest kitchen gadget to hit the market.  But Wylie says it's no get-rich-quick-scheme for him.  Instead, this former pastor turned inventor considers it more like a new kind of ministry, serving local people who want jobs.

"I knew the facilities existed in Wellington to do everything that needed to be done with this," Wylie says.

Each StirMate is made at Kansas Plastics in Wellington where they have the capacity to turn out five hundred an hour.

"In our instance we'll put six people to work a week molding the parts," Kansas Plastics owner Dick Bloomer says.

Then each one is assembled, packed and shipped at Wellington's Futures Unlimited by workers wtih developmental and intellectual disabilities.

Wylie says a big corporation wants to buy his patent and have the StirMate made cheaper overseas.  That would make Wylie rich, but his answer is no.

"I don't understand what is so much better--if I would get so much more enjoyment out of a yacht then I would knowing that a lot of people now have jobs and a stable home life," Wylie says.

Not that he's against making money.  He plans to.  But Wylie says it's more important to help his hometown while continuing to enjoy perfect Malt-O-Meal.

Click here to find out more about the StirMate.