Avalon Stairlifts

Battery‑Electric Stairlifts, Engineered for the Modern American Home

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Founder

WHO IS Kevin G. Strafford‑Price

Kevin G. Strafford‑Price is a fourth‑generation stairlift engineer whose work has shaped several of the most influential battery‑electric stairlift platforms of the past forty years. He serves on the ASME A18.1 Committee, the American Society of Mechanical Engineers group responsible for developing and maintaining the national safety standard for stairway chairlifts and platform lifts. Every stairlift sold in the United States must comply with A18.1, making Kevin’s committee role directly relevant to product safety, reliability, and long‑term performance.

Kevin began his engineering career in the UK aerospace sector, completing seven years of advanced mechanical‑engineering training at the Royal Aircraft Establishment and Marconi Space & Defence — Britain’s closest equivalent to NASA’s mechanical‑engineering pipeline. This training emphasized clarity of design, structural reliability, and long‑term durability — principles that later became central to Avalon’s engineering philosophy.

He later joined one of the world’s first Computervision CAD drawing offices at Cable Belt (now JTL), where he helped design a gearbox the size of a small house for a 32‑kilometre mining conveyor system. This early work taught him the importance of precision, simplicity, and serviceability in large‑scale mechanical systems — lessons directly applied to stairlift drive design.

Kevin then moved into German industrial power‑transmission engineering with Lenze UK, Germany’s leader in electric drives and motion‑control systems. Later, he led engineering and sales operations for Bodine Electric UK, the British arm of the U.S. motor manufacturer Bodine Electric Company.

It was during this period that Kevin entered the stairlift industry and recognized the principle that would define his career: the drive system determines the safety, reliability, and lifespan of a stairlift. Everything else — comfort, smoothness, serviceability, long‑term durability — depends on the quality and clarity of the drive system.

In 1987, Kevin co‑developed the world’s first battery‑powered stairlift drive at Bison Bede with the colleague who would later become his MediTek co‑founder. Together they designed the first Acorn stairlift — the product that launched Acorn into the stairlift market and established the foundation for its later growth (Acorn Stairlift History).

Kevin and his co‑founder then launched MediTek Stairlifts, introducing the world’s first continuous‑charging rail. MediTek sold more than 160,000 units before being acquired by Royal Otolift (Royal Otolift acquisition history). Otolift continues to use the MediTek platform today with the branding removed (Otolift Line).

After qualifying in finance, Kevin combined engineering and commercial strategy, advising manufacturers and mobility companies on product development, safety compliance, and long‑term reliability planning. This dual background — deep engineering experience and financial discipline — shaped the design philosophy that would later define Avalon Stairlifts.

How Kevin’s Experience Directly Benefits Avalon Customers

Every part of Kevin’s background — aerospace engineering, industrial power‑transmission, CAD design, stairlift drive development, and ASME safety compliance — is built directly into the Avalon stairlift platform. For customers, this means:

• A stairlift engineered for decades of reliable use, not just short‑term operation.
• A drive system designed by one of the original creators of battery‑powered stairlifts.
• A product built to meet and exceed ASME A18.1 safety standards from the inside out.
• A stairlift that is simple to service, easy to maintain, and designed for long‑term ownership.
• A modern platform created specifically for American homes and American staircase geometry.

Avalon Stairlifts was founded to bring these principles together in a clean‑sheet, U.S.‑engineered stairlift platform. The Avalon system continues the MediTek tradition of simplicity and reliability, but with modern engineering, improved serviceability, and a design tailored to today’s American homes.

As one of only three stairlift manufacturers in the United States — a market that installs more than 100,000 stairlifts per year — Avalon represents a significant opportunity for global suppliers. Even a modest 5% share of the U.S. stairlift market would create substantial, long‑term business for partners who support Avalon’s growth with high‑quality components and committed collaboration.

Today, Kevin leads Avalon Stairlifts USA from Durham, North Carolina, focusing on engineering clarity, long‑term reliability, and a design philosophy centered on safety, comfort, and dependable performance.