Innovation + Job News

Fifth Third Bank used to require small business owners in Michigan to travel to Grand Rapids to open small business accounts or apply for business loans. Not anymore.

The bank has established 30 new positions that will place a Small Business Banker at each of its branches from Lansing to Grand Haven. Now small business customers can simply drop in at their local bank branch and open accounts, apply for loans and obtain other financial assistance specific to small businesses.

"It was a huge inconvenience to come to Grand Rapids for customers located in Kalamazoo, or even if they were just in Alger Heights," says Jennifer Ranville, bank spokesperson. "We're always evaluating how we can better serve our customers and this was an easy fix. It also created some new positions, which we're always very happy about."

The bank is looking for candidates with strong sales backgrounds and a proven track record of excellent customer service. Experience in small business banking is preferred but not required.

Fifth Third Bancorp is headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio and has assets of $116 billion. The company operates 16 affiliates with 1,306 full-service banking centers.
    
Source: Jennifer Ranville, Fifth Third Bancorp

Deborah Johnson Wood is development news editor for Rapid Growth Media. She can be contacted at deborah@rapidgrowthmedia.com.


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Lansing-based AFID Therapeutics received a $150,000 loan from the state's Company Formation and Growth (CFG) initiative to hire three former Pfizer scientists to work at AFID's new location – the former Pfizer research laboratory in Holland. The money comes from an $8 million fund established in 2007 to keep former Pfizer employees, technologies and high-tech equipment in the state after Pfizer closed several of its facilities.

AFID is the first commercial venture to occupy lab space in what is now the Michigan State University Bioeconomy Institute, a facility Pfizer donated to MSU. The university has redeveloped it as a biotechnology business incubator.

"The product AFID is producing in the MSU Bioeconomy Institute is a government-related contract specialty chemical for industrial and commercial uses in aviation and aerospace," says Randy Olinger, manager of Lakeshore Advantage's BioBusiness Accelerator, headquartered at the Bioeconomy Institute. AFID's new venture is the first in the accelerator. "But I can't give you any specifics (due to confidentiality agreements)."

Lakeshore Advantage played a crucial role in negotiating the donation of the facility and in securing the CFG loan for AFID.

MSU retained seven former Pfizer employees to run the pilot plant and the building and to provide expertise for biotechnology startups in the business incubator. The pilot plant contains 33 different chemical reactors with a combined capacity of about 37,000 liters, and is used to scale up chemical processes from lab bench level to tons of material.

"AFID occupies some lab space in the building and is very actively using the pilot plant and the personnel," Olinger adds. "They've not hired the three former Pfizer scientists yet, but will be looking for scientists trained in chemical synthesis and possibly production processing and analytical chemistry techniques."

Source: Randy Olinger, Lakeshore Advantage; Michigan Economic Development Corporation

Deborah Johnson Wood is development news editor for Rapid Growth Media. She can be contacted at deborah@rapidgrowthmedia.com.


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A Grand Rapids businessman plans to launch a $6 million state-of-the-art plastics recycling plant in West Michigan that may generate 75 jobs over the next five years.

Jim Watrous expects to bring Green Mountain Recycling online by early 2010, with a goal of producing plastic pellets, including custom plastic blends, for use in plastic injection molding machines by the following June. The plant will recycle post-industrial and post-consumer plastic waste obtained through commodity brokers, some of which are already under contract.

Watrous owns Professional Business Services, Inc., a skilled trades staffing firm he founded in 2003.

"We do machine installations for Fortune 500 companies and small machine shops and I had the opportunity to view and install recycling equipment," he says. "It piqued my interest so I did some research on the potential growth, built the business plan off that and the business model off the business plan."

Watrous is working with three real estate companies to pin down a West Michigan manufacturing site with accessibility for transportation and the infrastructure needed to support the equipment.

He has made site visits to several custom equipment manufacturers and will hire skilled trades workers through Professional Business Services to install and maintain it.  

One production line and 12 employees will be in place in the next six months, Watrous says, with five lines and 75 employees in five years.

"West Michigan is a fertile area for very, very talented people in dire need of a job," Watrous says. "We'll need people with mechanical skills, some IT skills, electrical skills to run the equipment. We're not starting a business and hanging a shingle out the door and saying, gee, I hope the phone rings; we're starting knowing we already have the raw material resources and the customers."

Source: Jim Watrous, Green Mountain Recycling

Deborah Johnson Wood is development news editor for Rapid Growth Media. She can be contacted at deborah@rapidgrowthmedia.com.


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Of the over $82 million in American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funds divvied out to Michigan's State Energy Program, $15 million has been earmarked to aid small manufacturers who diversify and expand into clean energy technologies such as wind, solar, biomass or geothermal.

The Michigan Department of Energy, Labor & Economic Growth (DeLEG) plans to offer grants, loans or a combination of the two for projects costing between $2 million and $5 million. Each manufacturer must meet certain criteria, including having under 500 employees, producing a product that contributes to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, advances existing manufacturing techniques and can be implemented immediately.

"Our objective is to help manufacturers diversify," says Robert Jackson, who will oversee the program for DeLEG. "We're hoping if we're making components of wind turbines, we can attract a manufacturer of the entire system to Michigan or vice versa."

Until the ARRA there was never enough funding to assist clean energy development, Jackson says. Now the goal is to help develop the companies that can act as magnets to attract other companies, and jobs, to the state.

Companies interested in applying for funding can access the request for proposals here and must apply by August 14, 2009.

Source: Robert Jackson, Michigan Department of Energy, Labor & Economic Growth


Deborah Johnson Wood is development news editor for Rapid Growth Media. She can be contacted at deborah@rapidgrowthmedia.com.


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Zondervan in Grand Rapids aims to be  the most progressive publisher of Christian-based media by making every title they publish on paper available in digital format. And if that wasn't enough, the company will make each digital book available for their biggest customers, Christian retailers, to sell in their bricks-and-mortar stores.

To accomplish this, Zondervan recently reorganized the company, moving all information technology, Internet enterprises and the micro sites they operate into a new digital and emerging business division. Jon Nisper, a former director of technology at X-Rite Inc., came onboard last week as vice president of the operation.

"We most certainly have our eyes set on being the most progressive Christian company," says Steve Sammons, executive vice president. "Publishers traditionally are paper focused and online products are an afterthought. We've not experienced any cannibalization with our online products, so you can anticipate that when new books come to market multi formats will be available simultaneously."

Zondervan sells titles in nearly 200 languages and over 60 countries through retailers who are members of the Association for Christian Retail. And many of those stores' customers want to purchase books the same way they purchase music – digitally.

So last year, Zondervan launched Symtio, the publishing industry's first patented digital merchandising system for retail.

Symtio enables customers in the store to buy a merchandise card for a specific digital book, and then download it from the Symtio web site when they get home. They simply enter the card number and the book downloads in the format they choose, including downloading audio books as MP3 files or burning them on a CD.

"Giving customers the choice to purchase products through any channel and in any format they desire; that is our intent," Sammons says.

Source: Steve Sammons, Zondervan; Brian Burch, Lambert, Edwards & Associates

Deborah Johnson Wood is development news editor for Rapid Growth Media. She can be contacted at deborah@rapidgrowthmedia.com.


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Kentwood-based X-Rite Inc. expects to tap new markets by releasing version 1.1 of its ColorMunki photo and design software. ColorMunki works with design programs like Corel, QuarkXPress and Photoshop to assist users in managing the colors in their projects and designs.

X-Rite especially sees potential for growth with users it describes as “prosumers,” or non-professionals who are too advanced in their skills to be considered pure amateurs.

“It’s not going into an entirely new market, because there is some fluidity within the photo market,” says Iris Mangelschots, X-Rite’s vice president of sales and marketing. “For the prosumer, they have a tendency to emulate the professional.”

Brad Freiburger, X-Rite’s interim chief financial officer, declines to speculate about specific job growth numbers, especially given the recent state of the economy. Even so, he expresses confidence that the new version of ColorMunki would strengthen the company’s position.

“We certainly are optimistic this product, along with some of our other products, is going to help us in that regard,” Freiburger says.

Defined by Mangelschots as amateur photographers who spend more than $1,000 a year on camera accessories, prosumers are expected to embrace ColorMunki 1.1 because of their heightened interest in the presentation of their work.

“For these guys, it’s really important to create good quality images,” Mangelschots said. “For them, it is a hobby art. They spend a lot of time and a lot of money.”

Version 1.1 allows users to exercise more precise display control, including the adjustment of light functionality when color matching from display to display. Specific features include better and more precisely controlled display luminance, user-defined ambient light levels, better display contrast and brightness workflow.

Source: Iris Mangelschots and Brad Freiburger,  X-Rite Inc.

Deborah Johnson Wood is development news editor for Rapid Growth Media. She can be contacted at deborah@rapidgrowthmedia.com.
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Nearly 100 Grand Valley State University students may be on more promising career paths as a result of the school’s decision to establish three new majors in the health professions category.

Roy Olsson, dean of the GVSU College of Health Professions, says new majors for radiation therapy, radiologic and imaging sciences, and diagnostic medical sonography are designed to help students graduate more quickly and put more emphasis on their specific field of study.

GVSU is the only university in the nation offering bachelor’s degree programs in medical sonography and pediatric echocardiography.

Before the establishment of the three new majors, the three fields of study were points of emphasis under the more general health professions major.

“Those fields are uniquely different, and there weren’t a lot of shared courses between them,” Olsson says. “Just because they all have radiation doesn’t necessarily mean they’re very close. None of them would be located in the same part of a hospital, nor would they work together.”

Each of the three majors has approximately 30 students in fields that promise good-paying jobs expected to grow by 25 percent between now and 2016 as number of people needing radiation therapy rises.

The establishment of the three majors does not require GVSU to hire any new instructors, as all three subjects were already part of the larger curriculum. But Olsson said the structural change will help students graduate more quickly by eliminating some unnecessary course requirements.

“I don’t want programs structured so the students can’t graduate in four years,” Olsson said.

Source:  Roy Olsson, Grand Valley State University

Deborah Johnson Wood is development news editor for Rapid Growth Media. She can be contacted at
deborah@rapidgrowthmedia.com.
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Attwood Corporation in Lowell received its second Michigan Economic Growth Authority (MEGA) grant in two years to assist with a second consolidation of its out-of-state operations that will bring jobs to West Michigan.

The grant awarded Tuesday includes $500,000 over seven years and funding for training. The City of Lowell is scheduled to vote on Attwood's request for tax abatements.  If passed, the total package will reach an estimated $1 million in assistance to relocate 51 jobs from its Tulsa, Okla. company, MotorGuide, which is closing.

"We manufacture marine parts and accessories," says Chris Drees, president. "With the economic downturn, people are holding off buying boats until they see what the economy will do. The downturn is one of the key reasons we're consolidating the manufacturing footprint."

The relocation of what Drees terms "a considerable amount" of manufacturing and testing equipment from Oklahoma will create four new production lines at the Lowell plant.

While several of the 51 jobs will be assembly and production line positions, many will be quality engineer, mechanical engineer and industrial engineer positions.

In July 2008, Attwood received a High Technology MEGA grant to transfer its Lancaster, Texas operations and 50 jobs to Lowell. Attwood plans to fill those jobs by 2015. The total amount of investment between the two grants is about $3.8 million.

Attwood considered locations in Oklahoma, Georgia and Mexico, but decided to stay in Michigan.

"We worked with the City (of Lowell), the MEDC and the Right Place to make this happen," Drees says.

Source: Chris Drees, Attwood Corporation; Tim Mroz, Right Place, Inc.

Deborah Johnson Wood is development news editor for Rapid Growth Media. She can be contacted at deborah@rapidgrowthmedia.com.


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For Bill Stuart, relocating his growing online landscape supply company and his place of residence from Foley, Minn. to Zeeland was a no-brainer – he needed to be closer to his supplier, Spring Meadow Nursery.

He'd never been to Zeeland before, but he was comfortable with the move because he was familiar with the excellent reputations of suppliers from the West Michigan lakeshore after working for years in his father's greenhouses.

Stuart, 29, and his brother Brian own Shrub Source, an online supplier of Proven Winners shrubs. The web site went live in March and the company has already added a marketing position.

"I can handle everything else myself, but we want to drive more traffic to the site so we needed some expertise in marketing," Stuart says.  

Proven Winners develops new and improved shrubs that are stronger and healthier than older varieties and exhibit superior pest resistance. Stuart offers 75 Proven Winner shrubs through the web site. Right now, he processes the orders, packages the plants and ships them himself. But he says this is only the beginning.

"We may add more shrubs, and add perennials and annuals," he says. "We're also looking for greenhouse space to lease for next spring. We want to bring on a horticulturist and greenhouse workers and upsize some of our product line into bigger containers."

Stuart uses some of the company's proceeds for charity through his Hydrangea for a Cure Campaign to fund multiple sclerosis research. He donates 15 percent of every hydrangea purchase to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society in memory of his mom, Kathleen Stuart, who died from the disease last year.

Stuart's wife Melissa, a nurse's assistant who recently earned her license to practice in Michigan, will move to Zeeland in a few weeks.

"We're planning to stay here a while," Stuart says.

Source: Bill Stuart, Shrub Source

Deborah Johnson Wood is development news editor for Rapid Growth Media. She can be contacted at deborah@rapidgrowthmedia.com.


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Cisco Systems has selected Davenport University to be the only Michigan university to pilot its Workforce Retraining Initiative focused on preparing information technology workers for jobs in health care IT. Cisco is the leading global supplier of Internet networking equipment and creator of the Cisco Networking Academy, an educational initiative that supports 128,000 college students nationwide who are pursuing technology-based jobs.

The university will offer the seven-week course as a traditional classroom option and through Internet learning this September.

"We partnered with Cisco immediately to strategize doing this healthcare module to allow IT professionals more ability to move into healthcare jobs," says David Fleming, provost. "Especially for people associated with the auto industry, this retraining can help move them into healthcare IT positions."

Students will learn the IT systems necessary for successful practice management, creating and protecting electronic health records, telemedicine, mobility, telephony and the use and integration of information.

The training will broaden the knowledge and experience of unemployed and employed IT professionals as well as college students working toward IT degrees, making them more attractive to potential employers.

Through Davenport's Leadership and Management Development Institute, the university partners with corporations to train top management using an online system. As a result, Fleming says, the university can deliver this training to any employee at any location in the country.

Source: David Fleming, Davenport University

Deborah Johnson Wood is development news editor for Rapid Growth Media. She can be contacted at deborah@rapidgrowthmedia.com.


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Leaders of Lansing's PM Environmental, Inc., (PME) say that Grand Rapids' recognized leadership in green building makes it the perfect location for the firm's new Sustainability and Energy Division.

PME hired Nate Gillette, an architect formerly with Bazzani Associates Inc. in Grand Rapids, to head up the division, and Bryant LePres, a graduate of Aquinas College's sustainable business degree program. The division will operate from PME's satellite office at 77 Monroe Center.

"Many of our clients are big banks like Chase, Comerica, Wells Fargo and PNC, and they're all looking to invest in energy efficient buildings," says Mike Kulka, vice president and co-founder. "Energy efficient buildings are cheaper to operate so therefore they appraise higher. The tenant is willing to pay a higher rental rate because they're paying less for utilities."

PME was already working with dozens of banks doing environmental due diligence on commercial properties and evaluating foreclosed commercial properties for possible contamination issues. The banks came to PME, Kulka says, and asked the company to expand its services to include energy efficiency.

"Our vision is to grow this group nationally with BB&T and PNC," Kulka says. "We want to be the sustainability and energy efficiency group that assists companies with planning energy efficient buildings and sustainability.

"We are very excited to have Grand Rapids as our base for this effort because of Grand Rapids' recognized leadership in green building," he adds. "That recognition is a marketing point for us."

Source: Mike Kulka, PM Environmental, Inc.

Deborah Johnson Wood is development news editor for Rapid Growth Media. She can be contacted at deborah@rapidgrowthmedia.com.


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