L.S. (Andy) Karpisek
Managing Director, Technosearch Pty. Ltd
Technosearch’s Managing Director, Andy Karpisek, was born in Czechoslovakia and graduated from Charles University, Prague, with a degree in mechanical engineering.
He became an Australian citizen in 1959. For more than 16 years he was a development consultant for the large freight company, Brambles-Chep.
While working for it in early 1960 he invented the intermediate bulk container (IBC), a pallet cage which could be attached to a standard wooden pallet. It is now a fundamental part of the international freight industry. While employed by Brambles-Chep he assigned it 43 patents.
In early 1970, Mr Karpisek decided to strike out on his own and formed the predecessor to the present day Technosearch Pty Ltd. Its concentration was to be on development of his rotary combustion engine.
While building and testing his engine, two foreign countries - the then Soviet Union and Iran - wanted it and Mr Karpisek, bringing great pressure to get him, with his inventions, out of Australia. After almost two years of problems and tension he decided to dismantle the engine and lock it away.
However, the engine, with a series of improvements, has since been further developed.
In 1977 Andy Karpisek developed a vastly improved second pallet cage and in 1978 he and his company signed a 20 year contract with TNT Materials Handling to manufacture and supply it.
Several years later this contract was extended to include IBCs known as Pallecons, and ancillary handling equipment. There have been more related contracts between the parties, with the latest signed on March 11, 2006.
Between 1978 and 1985 TNT Materials Handling entered a number of international exhibitions where Mr Karpisek’s Pallecon containers and systems won a number of awards.
Together with further refining containers and container systems design and building them at a plant in Slovakia, Mr Karpisek has been continuously engaged in further research and development work.
