Innovation + Job News

One of the largest contributors to the Great Lakes coastal wetlands ecosystem will soon undergo a $30 million environmental cleanup, thanks to help from a $10 million federal stimulus grant.

The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration awarded the grant to the Great Lakes Commission (GLC) to restore some 10,000 feet of "hardened" shoreline containing broken concrete, sheet metal, sawdust and slag from industrial sites. The project includes the removal of over 180,000 metric tons of degraded lake bottom sediment that has impaired aquatic and plant life.

About $20 million for the project comes from additional funding and in-kind support from local organizations.

The GLC has partnered with the West Michigan Shoreline Regional Development Commission on the project. Initial estimates indicate the rehabilitation will create 125 jobs, mostly construction and engineering related, and will stimulate tourism and water recreation. Last year, sport fishing alone generated $1.2 million for the local economy; project leaders expect that amount to increase after the restoration.

GVSU's Annis Water Resources Institute (AWRI) will monitor the results of the rehabilitation to determine the project's success.

"Dr. Carl Reutz will monitor the fish populations," AWRI Director Al Steinman says. "My lab will be looking at the aquatic macrophytes – at what comes back, the numbers, the densities restored. We'll collaborate with Dr. Paul Isley at the SBTDC to look at indicators of the social and economic success of the restoration."

The socio-economic monitoring includes an analysis of Muskegon Lake property values, a survey to determine how much money people spend to get to the lake and while at the lake, and a valuation survey of the lake's users and non-users to estimate how much money they would be willing to pay to use the lake before restoration and after restoration.

The project runs between September 2009 and December 2010.

Source: Al Steinman, Annis Water Resources Institute; Kathy Evans, West Michigan Shoreline Regional Development Commission

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

Finding new channels to sell existing products is just one goal of a new partnership between Cascade Engineering and Boca Raton, Florida-based NextLife, a leading sustainability innovator.

The two companies plan to develop and commercialize a number of sustainable plastic products using NextLife's post-consumer resin made from recycled clothes hangers, plastic bags and stretch wrap.

The first product is a rebranding of Cascade Engineering's EcoCart, launched about five years ago and sold wholesale to the solid waste hauling industry. The two-wheeled residential trash and recycling container has been redesigned for the consumer retail market with 36-, 72- and 96-gallon sizes in three colors, all made with 30 to 50 percent (depending on the color) NextLife-certified recycled resin. Cascade Engineering sustainably manufactures the carts following NextLife's strict guidelines for "green" products based on the product's life-cycle assessment.

"We're looking at products we and our suppliers are already making, so NextLife can put its certification on them and put them on the retail market," says Mike Lewis, Cascade's director of business development. "The push is closed loop products: NextLife takes back, for instance, post-consumer plastics bought at Walmart, sells the resin to Cascade, and we'll make it into products we'll see at Walmart. We're looking hard at a rain barrel as our next product. That's very close to a done deal."

NextLife works with other companies in the supply chain to obtain sustainable packaging and labeling for the products.

"Both companies are very passionate about sustainability," Lewis says. "We're strong in design, engineering and manufacturing and they're strong in retail and marketing. This is a good opportunity for Cascade to enter the retail market."

Source: Mike Lewis, Cascade Engineering; Amanda Passage, Lambert, Edwards & Associates

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

About 70 percent of Christensen Fiberglass Tooling's (CFT) business was making tooling for the marine industry four years ago, and the company filled its last boat order in November last year. Employee numbers plummeted from 32 to nine, but the firm stayed afloat because in 2005 company leaders had begun to diversify into the RV industry and to create composite structures for industrial and architectural applications.

Bill Christensen, owner of the Holland-based company, saw the company's future lay in becoming one of about eight plants in the U.S. to create tooling for gigantic parts. In 2007, CFT invested over $2 million in equipment, including a 44,000-pound Auto-Motion Titan SX60 5-Axis Gantry Mill, and in the training required for Christensen's son, Jeff, to program and operate it.

The mill's capacity to create masters for enormous components launched CFT into the aerospace industry and the military market – the market Bill Christensen calls "the elitest of the elite."

"Our market is for big parts, low volume," he says. "If the military wants a cockpit mold, we machine them a cockpit exactly the shape that they want with the materials we have in-house, ship it to them and they cast a master mold out of it. We've done wings 45 feet long and 14 feet wide at the widest point, and maintained accuracy of 30-thousandths of an inch tolerance from one end to the other; that's about the thickness of three sheets of paper.

One exciting outcome of having the Titan mill was CFT's selection as the creator of the masters for the shell of MIT's 2009 Solar Electric Vehicle, Eleanor.

"A couple of wind turbine manufacturers scheduled a couple of visits here," Christensen says. "It's a matter of getting them in so they can see that we can build what we say we can build."

Source: Bill Christensen, Christensen Fiberglass Tooling; Randy Vant Hul, Balanced Enterprise Solutions, LLC

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

Holland-based Fleetwood Group recently received its 11th patent for its innovations in radio frequency (RF) wireless technology, and that technology is the catalyst to launch the company into the healthcare, homeland security and wind energy fields.

The technology allows a handheld device to communicate with a base station via radio frequency, for example, when electronic voting takes place at a conference or seminar. Fleetwood's patented RF technology avoids interference caused by cell phones, pagers, wireless Internet access and other devices by automatically hopping from frequency to frequency for clearer reception.

"We design, develop, manufacture, package and ship a little over one million RF devices a year," says Don Beery, director of new business development. "We work with some OEM customers in the educational/interactive learning industry and we private label."

Fleetwood aims to enter the healthcare, homeland security and wind energy fields, in that order, with advanced products geared to solve problems within the industries.

Each RF keypad has a unique serial number assigned to, say, a college student. It detects when the student enters and leaves a classroom.

Beery says the company is close to signing a contract with an OEM to produce a similar tracking device for patients, staff and equipment in healthcare settings.

"For homeland security," he adds, "we have a mobile handheld device for checking I.D. – security guards can use it to tap into computer system to check authorizations, etcetera."

The product launches this fall in the interactive learning/corporate meetings industry. 

Beery proposes that adding the technology to the converter boxes of wind turbines equips them for remote monitoring through a worker's cell phone or computer.

Source: Don Beery, Fleetwood Group

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

Three local entrepreneurs have joined forces to form the Blue Strategies Group, a consulting firm that intends to help companies with assessing opportunities in energy management, innovation and market diversification.

Bob Johnston, a consultant with the Michigan Manufacturing Technology Center-West, Kathleen Hoyle, who helped launch InnovationWorks, and Bill Adams, an energy consultant with FlowServe, launched Blue Strategies Group in Holland and Kalamazoo to help businesses innovate and diversify.

Helping companies move into the energy market is one of the group's specialties.

"There are tremendous opportunities in energy," Johnston says. "We think the first thing for companies to look at is how they're managing their energy."

They also help clients learn where their company might fit in the energy market.

"We taught one client who makes materials handling devices how to find out what companies are in the energy industry and which ones might need materials handling devices," Johnston says. "It may not be an energy product, per se, but we know that energy is a growing field and that it's going to keep growing."

The group, the driving force behind last month's Energy Summit 09, conducts a variety of workshops on innovation and market diversification. They also teach the subjects at Grand Rapids Community College.

"One thing we do is help companies understand what their customers are buying," Johnston says. "A drill bit manufacturer is selling a hole, not a drill bit. The customer doesn't need the drill bit, they need a hole.

"When you're talking about diversification, you're talking about changing your company," he adds. "You have to take it a bite at a time, you have to understand customer needs, how to organize your company to meet the needs, and then you have to get customers."

Source: Bob Johnston, Blue Strategies Group

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Noted Washington energy efficiency expert to deliver hopeful message to West Michigan manufacturers

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

Energetx Composites is investing $37 million to ramp up its production of utility-scale wind turbine blades and other wind energy industry composite parts.

The Holland-based company’s investment will create a projected 1,068 jobs over the next five years. Energetx Composites will hire individuals with manufacturing and engineering experience. 

“We will start really ramping up over the next six to nine months,” says Energetx Composites Principal David Slikkers. “The first thing we need to do is build the tooling necessary for the project.”

Initially, Energetx Composites will not need to expand physically. Slikkers says Energetx Composites will use 20 percent of its existing facility during the startup phase. If all goes well, Energetx Composites could be looking at a future expansion.

Energetx Composites received a state tax credit valued at $27.3 million for the project.

Source: Chelsea Nimiac, DP Company; David Slikkers, Energetx Composites

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Ivy Hughes is the managing editor of Capital Gains and can be reached here.

When manufacturers commit to running energy efficient operations, the direct result is often increased productivity and increased profitability. And the time to make the investment is now.

So says Dr. Neal Elliot of the Washington D.C.-based American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy. Dr. Elliott brings his expertise to West Michigan manufacturers at today's ENERGY SUMMIT 09 at Grand Valley State University's Eberhard Center.

The world is entering a period of resource constraint where resources will no longer be cheap and abundant, says Dr. Elliott. And he expects the federal government to mandate carbon constraints in the future.

"The only option to control the economic damage from high energy prices is to reduce consumption," he says. "Market studies show energy consumption reduction lowers energy prices so all consumers benefit. For manufacturing, the current price uncertainty makes it difficult to plan, and uncertainty discourages investments. We need predictability in the marketplace."

The way Dr. Elliott sees it, West Michigan's manufacturing skills positions the region for investment in energy efficiency. It will take new equipment, worker training and the capacity to produce products for a variety of industries.

"An individual firm can make a difference because investment in energy efficiency is highly cost effective," he says. "Economy-wide, we could easily achieve 30 percent reduction in consumption, and if we go out and look at doing things in a really smart way that could be 50 and 60 percent reductions with what's available today.

"When the economy turns around, manufacturers will not be ready if they don't invest in energy efficiencies today," he adds. "We will see energy prices go through the roof again. If we reinvest in manufacturing, we will be reinventing the quality manufacturing that is the backbone of places like Michigan."

Source: Dr. Neal Elliott, American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy; Blue Strategies Group

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

Consumers Energy will present preliminary plans today for a new six-year program to reward customers for reducing electricity consumption at their homes and businesses. The program, Consumers Energy Savings Solutions, will be one of several discussion topics at Energy Summit 09 at Grand Valley State University's Eberhard Center.

Governor Granholm signed a comprehensive energy reform package last October. One of the public policy decisions mandated that Consumers Energy and other energy suppliers would work with customers to reduce electricity consumption 5.5 percent and natural gas consumption by 3.85 percent by 2015, says Jeff Holyfield, Consumers Energy spokesperson.

"We are providing incentives for customers to put in high efficiency furnaces and air conditioning, compact fluorescent light bulbs and we're offering rebate to businesses that install efficient lighting or energy efficient equipment," he says.

Consumers Energy will work through major retailers to offer rebates and price cuts on a variety of energy saving products, including Energy Star rated appliances. The company plans to offer customers a bounty on refrigerators manufactured before 1993, and will provide free pick up and disposal.

The program will be finalized by the end of July. Holyfield says Consumers plans to spend some $500 million on the incentives. A monthly surcharge, about $1.75 for a typical customer, covers the program costs.

"The idea is that if the customers participate in the program they'll save a lot more than the surcharge after [factoring in] the incentive and the long term energy savings," Holyfield says. "The first go-around is going to be all on incentives, but especially on lighting. Energy efficient lighting is the quickest way to move the needle."

Source: Jeff Holyfield, Consumers Energy; Blue Strategies Group

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

A Whitehall-based clean energy organization thought they might have 25 people at their first community meeting where they planned to present information on residential wind turbines.

When they opened the door, there were 150 people waiting to get in to talk with representatives from Cascade Engineering/Swift Rooftop Wind Energy Systems, EarthTronics/WindTronics and Bauer Power about residential wind generation. 
The group, White Lake Innovative Natural Development Solutions (WINDS), began when Joyce Brownell, a retired Ferris State University teacher, wanted to attract an alternative energy company to share office space with her business, Quiet Times Massage, 215 Mears.

Soon, a dozen people were involved and the goal had changed.

"Our goal is to bring information to people who are interested in finding a more economic way to deal with their energy costs," Brownell says. "We want to help harness the information on solar and wind, and find natural solutions to energy issues."

WINDS is tossing around the idea of securing nonprofit status and obtaining grants to help local businesses offset the costs of converting to clean energy. 
 The group also hopes to become a resource for people looking for jobs and training in the alternative energy industry.

"One of our original concerns was to find work for people who could be installers of wind turbines or could build them," Brownell says. "We think the name of the future is the natural harnessing of wind and sun. We need to create new jobs for this new world of ours."

On June 25, WINDS plans an open forum to discuss solar power. Speakers include John Sarver of the Michigan Department of Labor and Economic Growth, and Adam Bearup of Hybrid Homes, LLC. The meeting starts at 7:15 at White Lake Congregational Church, Whitehall.

Source: Joyce Brownell, White Lake Innovative Natural Development Solutions
Deborah Johnson Wood is development news editor for Rapid Growth Media. She can be contacted at deborah@rapidgrowthmedia.com.

Farmers Group is investing $84.4 million to expand its Caledonia Township facilities and create 1,600 new jobs.
The investment includes the construction of a 175,000-square-foot print and distribution center and the construction of a 100,000-square-foot call center and training facility.
The training facility is an expansion of the University of Farmers Grand Rapids and will provide training for an estimated 5,000 employees and company agents a year.
“This will provide a cross section of jobs,” says Michael Bigelow, vice president of Business Integration for Farmers Group. Farmers Group is an insurance management services provider.
The company will add professional as well as clerical jobs to its 1,800 person staff. The firm will create the 1,600 new jobs over the next five years.
Bigelow says expanding an existing site is less expensive than moving operations out-of-state, but says the state’s workforce also weighed on the company’s decision to stay in Michigan.
“The work ethic of people in Western Michigan is outstanding,” he says.
Farmers Group received a state tax credit valued at $62.5 million for the expansion as well as an employee training grant valued at $335,000.
Both facilities will be completed by the spring of 2011. 
Source: Chelsea Nimiac, DP Company

Ivy Hughes is the managing editor of Capital Gains and can be reached here.

By: Deborah Johnson Wood

Leaders at Saint Mary’s Health Care knew that finding a surgical oncologist to head up an entire division of cancer services wouldn’t be easy. But they didn’t think it would take a full two years.

In August, Jamie Caughran, a surgical oncologist and a specialist in all types of breast diseases, joined the staff as the first-ever director of Saint Mary’s Comprehensive Breast Center at Lacks Cancer Center in Grand Rapids.

“You need multiple people [on a patient’s care team],” says Tom Gribbin, medical director of Lacks Cancer Center. “You need a medical oncologist, a radiation oncologist, a surgeon, a radiologist, maybe physical therapists. How do you bring all these people together to find the right answer for a patient?”

“Dr. Caughran is the surgeon in a lot of these cases,” says Gribbin, “and makes sure that all the other people are on the cutting edge of how we approach the breast cancer.”

Caughran completed her residency in Grand Rapids and an additional year of specialized training in breast disease at William Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak.

"We did a lot of work at the breast cancer clinic and talked to the doctors and looked at medical information,” says Kenda Klotz, clinical services director. “We felt very strongly that we wanted to have this subspecialist and our patients were telling us they wanted a female surgeon.”

Saint Mary’s was the first hospital in Grand Rapids to use a team approach in caring for breast cancer patients. Meeting with each specialist separately can take up to two months before a treatment plan is in place and treatment begins. With the team approach, the patient meets with the entire team of specialists at one time and usually has a treatment plan within days of diagnosis.

Source: Dr. Tom Gribbin and Kenda Klotz, R.N., MPA, Saint Mary’s Health Care

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

With more than 2,100 students during its '07-'08 school year, Ferris State University's College of Engineering Technology has more full- and part-time students working toward engineering technology bachelor's degrees than any other college in the country. The American Society for Engineering Education recently released the findings in Profiles of Engineering and Engineering Technology Colleges.

Engineering technology students learn how to build the systems – electronics, robotics, architectural and others – designed by engineers, and how to make those systems work. That knowledge, says Associate Dean Ron McKean, puts graduates on the forefront of reinventing Michigan's manufacturing industry.

"Michigan has a long legacy in manufacturing and producing goods, and we're looking at graduates like ours to be able to transfer Michigan's economy from automotive to alternative energy and medical devices," McKean says. "That comes down to Michigan doing what we've always done well – building things other people want to buy. And that's a value added to the state."

FSU's Grand Rapids campus, which had some 130 engineering technology students last year, offers bachelor's degrees in manufacturing engineering technology, quality engineering technology, product design engineering technology and construction management engineering technology. The Big Rapids campus offers 18 bachelor degrees and 16 associate degrees in programs ranging from welding to architecture.

"Typically, nearly all of our graduates in nearly all of our degree areas find employment within their field," McKean says. "That's been one of the really fantastic things about the types of degrees we offer – we place graduates throughout the state and nation.

"We try to market what engineering technology is to females," he adds, "because the job options are so good; there are few females [in the industry] and it pays very well. Once you have the knowledge it makes you very special in the field."

Source: Ron McKean, Ferris State University College of Engineering Technology

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

When Mike Gill built some laser cutters a while back, he didn't dream he'd eventually convert them into laser welders to create the nation's first Netherlands-designed high-efficiency solar water heaters.

Gill and his brother, Dennis, own Grandville-based Digital Tool & Die, a company founded 20 years ago to create metal stamping dies for the automotive industry. A year ago, the company diversified into machining parts for the military. Now it has rolled a half a dozen patented solar water heaters off the line and next week will produce another 50.

"The best solar panels on the market pull between 40 and 60 percent of available sun energy, but this one pulls greater than 90 percent," Mike Gill says. "In The Netherlands, when they build a new house they dig a hole, usually under the garage before they build the garage, line it like a swimming pool and fill it with 12,000 gallons of water. They heat the water using these panels and send the heated water through the in-floor heating system to heat the whole house all winter. And that's without electricity, fuel oil or natural gas."

Gill says The Netherlands receives 20 percent less sun energy than Michigan, so he knows the solar water heater will work here. Each panel costs about $900; in Michigan, it would take 10 panels to heat an average sized home. To produce hot water only, the system would need three panels, a heat exchanger and a water tank.

"We have school districts looking at these, especially for heating pools because it doesn't require a heat exchanger," Gill says. An estimate for one of the schools predicts a savings of $4,000 per month.

Digital Tool & Die will sell the systems through Tecumseh, Michigan-based Verwater Environmental, LLC and looks to establish distributorships nationwide.
Source: Mike Gill, Digital Tool & Die
Deborah Johnson Wood is development news editor for Rapid Growth Media. She can be contacted at deborah@rapidgrowthmedia.com.

At a time when a number of financial institutions are losing millions or closing their doors, 23 business leaders stayed the course they'd chosen three years ago and created a new West Michigan bank.

Grand River Bank, 4471 Wilson SW, Grandville, opened its doors April 30 with capital of $17 million and 10 high-level management personnel.

President and CEO Dave Blossey expects to add tellers and other positions as the bank's business increases. He says Grand River Bank launched with its high level management in place due to requirements by banking regulatory agencies.

"Those people have to be approved by the regulatory agencies and they have to have the experience to be able to open a bank," Blossey says. Several members of the management team, including Blossey, have between 20 and 30 years of experience in lending.

The organizers designed the bank to cater to the needs of small businesses. The bank offers consumer loans and mortgages, but the primary focus is to service small businesses through electronic banking, a service Blossey calls the "cornerstone of our banking system." That system includes remote deposit, which allows account holders to scan checks and deposit them through the bank's computer instead of taking the checks to the bank.

"We didn't really realize our timing would be this good," Blossey says. "Everybody sees the gloom and doom on the news, but from our perspective we have a clean balance sheet. When we opened, we obviously didn't have any loans on our books, so we don't have to worry about foreclosing on someone's home or business. The quarterly reports of other banks all talk about the losses they're having; so it's a huge financial advantage for us because we don't have to write off any loans."

Source: Dave Blossey, Grand River Bank; Craig Clark, Clark Communications

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