TLC’s Story - it’s about the “Experience”

We live in a complex world of information bombardment, overwrought responsibilities, and increased stress to our bodies and minds. In order to function and live happy lives, we sometimes need to unwind our minds and recharge our spirits. TLC Industries is a company that has adapted to this growing need for relief and recreation by creating counter-stimulating experiences with its products that delight the senses and energize the psyche. Through its history of creating quality products with tender loving care, TLC has learned how to stimulate our senses to enhance our lives for the better.

In the mid-1980s, TLC began as a workshop creating plastic parts for various industries, including automobile manufacturers. When a car manufacturer moved into the furniture business, he had an idea for a child’s bed frame that resembled one of his former race car designs. He turned to a trusted workshop to construct the original design. Soon their first race car bed was crafted and TLC was born. TLC redesigned the concept as a Corvette and showed it to Chevrolet. The result was met with so much enthusiasm that they felt the bed deserved to carry the Corvette name.

The Corvette beds were sold at specialty furniture shops and were a huge hit with parents who were having difficulty getting their children to sleep in their own beds. When kids sat behind the mock steering wheel in the driver’s seat of their very own flashy Corvette – something magical happened. The virtual experience stimulated their imaginations and relaxed their nerves. The bed itself wasn’t any more comfortable than a regular bed, but once children used it they never had a problem sleeping in their own beds again.

While the growth of mass merchant stores eventually put the specialty furniture stores out of business, TLC learned a valuable lesson from the success of the Corvette bed. A simple, but creative idea could entice the imagination, trigger a response, and give someone a good experience that benefited their lives. It was a lesson that they would continue to develop, understand, and implement through their further ventures.

The economy changed, as did consumer buying habits, and TLC had to adapt and find a new product to make in its workshops. At this time, the arcade industry was booming in America and huge businesses like Sega, Midway, and Williams were looking for help to meet enormous demands for arcade cabinets. TLC was one of only a few companies that had the versatility and experience to produce durable and refined cabinets. Sega’s initial order was small, but when TLC proved to be more reliable than other manufacturers, they increased their order to over 2000 cabinets. Suddenly, TLC was in the arcade industry full swing.

These original arcade games were simple with a single screens, audio, and button and joystick interaction. But as the technology advanced, the arcade experience evolved to include more sensory stimulation to further immerse the player in the experience. Motion technology and sound vibration were all incorporated to create a virtual experience for the user. Force feedback gripped players in the experience. For a brief moment, players became race car drivers, motorcyclists, jet skiers, and horse jockeys in a virtual environment. The challenge was not just to create a durable wooden cabinet but create a visceral sensory experience for the player. Just like Corvette beds, TLC saw how the right kind of external stimuli would trigger the right internal sensations. TLC built upon this previous experience and employed mechanical and electrical engineers, artists, and programmers to meet the challenge. Arcades boasted a synergy of sight, sound, touch, and emotion that pumped the adrenaline and was a feast for the senses. TLC studied and perfected the arcade experience as a science and an art, and for over ten years they created more than 100,000 cabinets.

Once again, the market began to shift. Home video game consoles overtook the arcade industry, and the number of arcades dwindled. With their unique expertise in sensory stimulation, TLC looked for a new industry to tackle – and they took on their boldest project yet. This came in the form of a new motion platform developed by a chiropractor that was designed to help patients relax through motion technology.

While the technology was interesting, it could not produce results unless the individual was first able to put their mind at ease. People’s minds are constantly racing; they can’t consciously choose to ignore stress and anxiety. That immersion has to be forcibly induced by distracting the mind with the right triggers for each of the senses. It had to be taken to another level, and TLC was the company with the know-how to do it.

With over a decade of working with sensory stimulation in the arcade business, TLC was able to use that technology and experience to incorporate sight, sound, and touch stimuli into the existing motion lounge. The result was the ezRelax System – a relaxation lounge that engages all the senses to deliver an indescribable calming sensation by reducing stress and increasing mind-body harmony.

TLC is poised to launch its virtual relaxation solutions with the ezRelax System and pioneer a new culture of stress relief and mind-body rejuvenation at a time when the world needs it the most. Corporate employees, hospital workers, and military personnel all suffer from tremendous amounts of anxiety and emotional fatigue; but everyone endures stress in their lives. The ezRelax System is something that everyone can benefit from.

Throughout its history, TLC has changed products, entered different markets, and worked with a variety of businesses. Yet, as the company has evolved, the focus of TLC has always remained the same by developing new ideas and creating new technologies to enliven our senses. While the economy shifts and markets come and go, people do not change. There will always be a need to stimulate the mind and body in order to relieve stress and trigger good sensations. As the world seems to find new ways to cause stress and anxiety in your life, TLC will find ways to revitalize, reinvigorate, and reenergize you with sensational experiences.

Founded in 1985, TLC Industries, Inc. marks its 23rd anniversary in the year 2008.