COLUMBUS, Neb. (AP) — Street department workers have a new weapon to battle winter weather in Columbus, and it’s made by a local company.

The salt brine production system is built by Duo Lift Manufacturing, of Columbus. Officials say it provides a brine that melts snow and ice faster than rock salt alone and uses up to 40 percent less rock salt that the city’s old application process.

Jim Hellbusch, who runs Duo Lift with his wife and two sons, says roads can be pretreated before a storm, and then another coat can be applied after the snow stops. Hellbusch says the process melts the snow from the top and bottom, turning it to slush that can be easily plowed away before it becomes a hardened snowpack.