A Clever resolution to a difficult problem has launched a North Balwyn plumber on the road to manufacturing success. While unblocking drains, Norm Ladson thought of a way to make the job easier.

He devised a nozzle to fit on the end of a hose which sprays water at high pressure on an angle hitting the sides of the drain and it cleaned the pipe like new . It worked brilliantly, removing all the dirt and grease.

Mr Ladson invested $7,000 to develop the tooling for manufacture and soon became involved in a whole new world of packaging, artwork, marketing and promotions.

But Mr Ladson admits it was not easy getting the product on to the market. "It was very difficult to get it up and running you need a good product." he said.

"You have to do all the work yourself because no one else is going to do it for you."

Mr Ladson is a member of the Inventors Association of Victoria which provides advice to inventors.