Dayton : Innovation + Job News

Even in the high tech world of aerospace manufacturing, you still need to kick the tires occasionally.

Quickstep Composites, based in Australia, is expanding its North American headquarters in Dayton to provide a space for potential aviation and, eventually, auto industry customers to observe their unique process of curing composite materials without using an autoclave.

"It's our test drive facility," says Dale Brosius, North American chief operating officer of Quickstep Technologies.

Quickstep has signed a partnership and license agreement with Vector Composites Inc. of Dayton for the use of its Quickstep Process for development and manufacturing of advanced composite components. The products are aimed primarily at the aviation industry.

The process uses a manufacturing method that does not require the extreme conditions necessary in the traditional autoclave process, which has been the industry standard for manufacturing composites for many years. Eliminating an autoclave can save as much as 50 percent on the cost of the process, says Brosius, while still producing reliable mission-critical parts for high tech users such as the military.

Vector and Quickstep were recently awarded a major United States Air Force Small Business Innovation Research Phase II program grant, expected to total about $4 million over a 27-month period.

Vector is the lead contractor and Quickstep is the principal subcontractor to conduct the joint research program, which will focus on process qualification of bismaleimide and epoxy resin carbon fiber reinforced composite materials using the Quickstep Process for application to the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter aircraft.

Over the next three to four years, Quickstep expects to hire 20 to 25 new employees in areas such as engineering, technical support, supervision and sales, says Brosius, adding that the company sees its presence in Dayton as a long-term partnership.

"It makes sense for us to be here because there is a fair number of composites companies right here," he says.

Source: Dale Brosius, Quickstep Technologies
Writer: Val Prevish

3-D imaging has come a long way since the days of those funky paper eyeglasses in the movies. Today it's being used to design sophisticated software with applications for everything from mapping to gaming.

Dayton-based Woolpert has been developing new 3-D technology through its venture, i23D, and expects demand for 3-D modeling to increase significantly in the coming years.

Woolpert, a design, engineering and geospatial firm, started i23D last year in connection with the University of Dayton-led Institute for Development and Commercialization of Advanced Sensor Technology (IDCAST) and Tidex Systems Ltd., a Tel Aviv company that specializes in interactive video technology.

Tidex originally developed the software that allows a two dimensional video to be made into a 3-D video model using only a conventional video camera.

Although there are other methods that allow similar modeling, i23D's technology makes it much less expensive because you only need an ordinary video camera to complete the mapping, says Phipps. In much of the current technology lasers are used to create the map, a much more expensive method.

"Everything's going 3-D today," says Steve Phipps, president of i23D and a senior vice president at Woolpert in Dayton. "There are many different ways you can use it."

Phipps says that i23D is looking for additional funding to complete its research to fully develop the software. Once complete, he says the applications for its use will include markets in asset management, security and national defense where detailed 3-D mapping of building interiors or outdoor locations could be used to keep the public safe or just keep track of how space is used.

Another potential market is real time 3-D technology for use in autonomous navigation for vehicles, such as drone flight craft, says Phipps.

i23D has just two employees, but in the next year could hire as many as five new workers .

Source: Steve Phipps, i23D
Writer: Val Prevish

Infusing new life into an obsolete auto factory campus, Dayton's 40-acre Tech Town technology park has become a hub for young start-up companies and big names in the aerospace industry who cluster in the region because of Wright Patterson Air Force Base and the research it attracts.

"It's quickly becoming a national center for sensing technology," says Larrell Walters, director of IDCAST (Institute for the Development and Commercialization of Advanced Sensor Technology), one of the first tenants in Tech Town.

IDCAST has created 280 jobs in its 42 months of operations, says Walters, and it has attracted many young companies to the area who are active in advanced sensing technology.

Another job and research magnet for Tech Town is the Dayton RFID Convergence Center, a radio-frequency identification incubator that has helped generate more than 50 new jobs since it opened a year ago, says Steve Nutt, vice president of CityWide Development Corp., which manages Dayton's development strategy.

"When they started they had applications from as far away as Australia and New Zealand," says Nutt of the RFID incubator. "Just one year after opening they have 12 new businesses located here."

Besides IDCAST and RFID, Tech Town is home to 29 companies, from two-person start-ups to big names like Boeing and General Dynamics. Eight universities are also among the tenants.

Tech Town gives them the ability to collaborate and provides ready access to the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory at Wright Patterson Air Force Base and the University of Dayton Research Institute, with roughly 700 full-time researchers.

Source: Larrell Walters, IDCAST, and Steve Nutt, CityWide Development Corp.
Writer: Val Prevish

Pyrograf Products is already the world's third-largest producer of carbon fibers, with a wide range of applications for its products.

If fate smiles on the Dayton company, Pyrograf could soon pick up another key application: material for the lithium ion battery that powers the all-electric Chevy Volt.

Pyrograf was spun off as subsidiary to Applied Sciences Inc. in 1999, and became an independent company in 2002. Since then, with research and development support by ASI, the company has produced carbon nanotubes for growing military and commercial products.

"We have striven throughout the course of our company to develop a low-cost manufacturing technology for this material," says president Max Lake. "The larger the tube the more efficient it is, and we've settled on these larger tubes."

Carbon nanotubes can improve the properties of polymers and act as either an insulator or a conductor -- for both heat and electricity.

The company's 25-year relationship with General Motors resulted in GM's licensing of its carbon fiber patents for use in automotive components. But will Pyrograf's materials ultimately make it into the Volt?

"That's our dream," says Lake. "And another part of the dream is that the Chevy Volt will be accepted in the market."

In the meantime, the company continues to sell its materials for products such as tennis rackets, golf clubs and stereo speakers -- as well as defense applications.

The company has benefited from crucial state funding over the years, including commercialization and research funds through the Ohio Third Frontier.

Together, Pyrograf and ASI -- located across the street from each other -- employ 17.

Source: Max Lake, Pyrograf Products and Applied Sciences Inc.
Writer: Gene Monteith

There's no doubt today's economy is challenging, and there's no guarantee that a plum job (or any job for that matter) will be awaiting college grads.

A trio of University of Dayton students knows just how hard it can be to find a great job opportunity. So they've launched a new company, Brain Rack, that matches creative students with companies through the emerging crowd sourcing problem solving model.

Two UD grads and a one senior launched BrainRack this spring. Here's how it works: A company or organization poses a challenge, basically a question seeking an innovative answer, to college students. Students submit answers to the question for company review. The company awards a cash prize to the best, and then has the opportunity to interview these students for a job. The challenges also are open to recent college grads.

"It's a way to link interesting companies with creative students," said Brain Rack co-founder Senay Semere. "What we are doing is giving a voice to students who may not be able to be heard by companies. This is also a great way for companies to market themselves and get prospective employees at an early age."

This year BrainRack won second place in the University of Dayton's Business Plan Competition and $10,000. It also took second place honors in the Midwest pool at the winner-takes all Harvard Business School Alumni New Venture Competition.

BrainRack also has a big social media component. Students can easily share the sites, and challenges by Facebook and Twitter. BrainRack is advertising on Facebook and spreading the word about the site via several social media sites.

"In addition to that we are working on a grass roots campaign with student reps on 18 campuses (across the U.S. and Europe) who are physically promoting us," said Matthew Veryser, who directors BrainRack's social media campaigns.

Sources: Senay Semere and Matthew Veryser, BrainRack
Writer: Feoshia Henderson

At Techmetals in Dayton, investment in human resources is as important as investment in capital resources.

The 41-year-old industrial and commercial metal finishing company emphasizes employee learning for everyone, from new hires to veterans, says Phillip Brockman, director of business development and engineering.

Within the first two weeks, newcomers are required to perform some physical labor and read technical data. The tasks help Techmetals determine important characteristics about the person, such as whether they can read and follow directions, and if they're a "self-starter." The tasks also help the company evaluate the person's communication skills.

Everyone gets training in Steven Covey's "Seven Habits of Highly Effective People," which emphasizes things like being proactive, planning, and understanding; and the FranklinCovey planner system, which assists time management and organization.

But that's not all. Other company-sponsored courses cover things like chemistry, math, blueprint reading, project management, supervision, safety, and the importance of a drug-free workplace.

Each employee gets $2,000 a year for outside learning, too, typically used at places such as Sinclair Community College and the University of Dayton. Brockman says the company spent $24,000 last year for sales training. One employee underwent $7,000 of computer training. Many employees also earn the credential Certified Electro Finisher � "it's like a degree in plating," he says.

And when a company class is held on a Saturday, off-duty employees get paid to be there.

A former COO is the continuous improvement director; he teaches many of the classes. And there are two on-site training facilities. The 2009 total for all this learning was over $125,000, excluding the continuous improvement director's salary.

Why, in an era of economic upheaval, does Techmetals still budget for these things?

"It helps establish our culture," Brockman says. "�And it helps us all use the same nomenclature and procedures."

It doesn't hurt retention, either, he says. Current employment is about 125. Average tenure is 18 years.

Source: Phillip Brockman, Techmetals
Writer: Gabriella Jacobs

A news release calls it "a game-changing new nanomaterial that will allow composites to multitask - a wind turbine tower that can de-ice its own blades in winter, or store energy to release on a calm day, powering a grid even when its blades are not moving. Or a military vehicle whose armor can serve as a battery - powering some of the vehicle's electrical components."

Khalid Lafdi, who discovered the material, says it's not hype. He says his "fuzzy fiber" could revolutionize everything from water treatment to electronics to the manufacture of airplane parts.

Lafdi, professor of mechanical engineering at the University of Dayton and group leader for carbon materials at the University of Dayton Research Institute (UDRI), says the new carbon nanomaterial surfaced eight or nine years ago while he was working on subcontract with the U.S. Air Force. But the material has drawn more attention recently because of a $3-million Ohio Third Frontier award to UDRI to fund scale-up and production.

Most carbon nanomaterials are used purely for structural purposes. They are stiff, light and strong. But they are poor conductors of heat or electricity because they are locked inside a flat sheet of resin. Sort of like slicked down hair.

But, Lafdi says, imagine if you put that gel into your hair and tousled it for a rakish, stylish Hollywood look. Voila -- more surface area, which makes for a better conductor of heat and electricity and provides other functionality that traditional carbon nanomaterials can't approach. All without lessening the structural benefits.

The Third Frontier award will help fund creation and equipment of a full-scale production facility for the hybrid fabric. The award will be matched by UDRI and Ohio collaborators Goodrich and Owens Corning -- potential end users of the material -- and Renegade Materials -- which intends to commercialize the product.

Source, Khalid Lafdi, UDRI
Writer: Gene Monteith

Global Neighbor has struck a chord with dandelion haters who want to kill the buggers in an environmentally friendly way.

Jon Jackson, president of the Dayton-based company, reports that by the end of the year he expects to sell his 1,000th unit of the NaturZap, a device that kills broadleaf weeds without chemicals.

The company was formed in 2003, and in 2006 piloted the NaturCut, an energy-efficient, battery-operated, shear-cut lawn mower. While Global Neighbor is still working on a cost-competitive design for the NaturCut, gardeners seem to have found a new friend in the AC-driven NaturZap, which was rolled out in 2008.

The device works with a combination of high heat -- which damages the root system -- and natural processes that introduce fungus into the damaged root.

That's good news for consumers like Jackson, who says his lab/pit bull mix gets a rash every time it encounters a chemically treated lawn.

NaturZap is sold primarily through online organic gardening outlets and is on back order, Jackson says. While the product is currently manufactured overseas, he intends to move production to Tipp City as volumes increase. Jackson also hopes to increase his number of employees from one -- himself -- to three next year.

Jackson is working on a souped-up, battery driven NaturZap. But he hasn't given up on the NaturCut's technology -- in fact, he hopes to springboard off of both products to create "a lawn care solution that has zero environmental impact," he says. "We envision something that is self propelled or you push through the lawn. It cuts the grass, it kills the weeds, it applies an organic fertilizer, all under computer control."

The company has benefited from a $12,500 Third Frontier grant through the Dayton Development Coalition, resulting in matching funds from private sources.

Source: Jon Jackson, Global Neighbor
Writer: Gene Monteith

Imagine an imaging technology that can identify TNT or anthrax beneath a terrorist's clothes. That's exactly the kind of capability the Columbus startup Traycer wants the world to have.

Conceived in an Ohio State University lab, incorporated in 2007 and housed in the TechColumbus incubator, Traycer is already attracting attention for its promising terahertz -- or "T-ray" -- technology.

"Terahertz is just a different wavelength of light," explains Don J. Burdette, director of scientific research. "It falls between infrared and microwave, so there are a lot of applications for infrared technology -- you know, catching the bad guys running from the cops."

But many materials that aren't easily detected using infrared or microwave can be readily identified using T-rays. "So this has a lot of applications for spectroscopy, food quality control, chemical detection under people's clothing, detection of breast cancer -- the applications abound."

That potential has attracted the attention of TechColumbus, which in early 2008 awarded it $500,000 in pre-seed funds. And it's caught the eye of the U.S. Air Force.

"We're in our third contract with the Air Force to prove out the technology," says CEO Brad Beasecker. "And there certainly are numerous applications within the department of defense."

The company is working with a variety of partners -- including IDCAST (Institute for the Development and Commercialization of Advanced Sensor Technology) in Dayton, where it has lab space -- and numerous Ohio and out-of-state universities.

Beasecker says the three-person company was expected to close this week on an investment round led by Ohio Techangels. But it's most important next step lies ahead.

"We've got to finish the camera. It's pretty simple."

If all goes as planned, Traycer could be in the marketplace early next year and "generate a new industry based here in Ohio," Beasecker says.

Sources: Brad Beasecker and Don J. Burdette, Traycer
Writer: Gene Monteith

If you've got a complex system -- a jet engine, for example -- the last thing you can afford is for it to fail at a crucial time. Frontier Technology says it has a way to predict those failures well before they can happen.

Frontier, whose top executives are based in Dayton, is commercializing a pattern recognition system called NormNet, which can analyze any system that uses sensors and predict when a component will fail, says Frontier senior scientist Sam Boykin.

Boykin says the technology began as a project with the Air Force Research Lab at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. Along the way, the company has benefited from several Ohio Third Frontier grants and is nearing the end of a two-year, $350,000 commercialization grant.

Boykin says the technology has been successfully demonstrated to a number of companies, including Caterpillar, Parker Hannifin and General Electric Aviation. NormNet has also been tested at wind farm companies in Texas and on jet engines for the British Air Force.

"It's a software solution," Boykin says, and works "as long as there are some kind of sensors on the system. So when the system is operating healthy, the system creates relationships between each sensor and all the others. That's really how (NormNet) is able then to predict -- when it sees the degradation, it sees one of these relationships start to change."

He adds that "in all cases, we've been able to predict these failures -- sometimes days and weeks ahead of where they actually occurred."

Frontier's Dayton operations employ 20, including the addition of two to three new jobs over the past two years.

Source: Sam Boykin, Frontier Technology
Writer: Gene Monteith

Wright State University is putting a new place on the map: Calamityville.

The threat of danger � made by man or Mother Nature � always looms in Calamityville. Weather forecasts are dire. Security reports are worse. It sounds like a place from which people would escape.

Instead, it's a place the Dayton-area school says will attractive medical, public health, public safety and civilian and military disaster response decision-makers from around the world for state-of-the-art training.

Calamityville is part of The National Center for Medical Readiness at WSU, an Ohio Center of Excellence. It's being funded from state and federal sources, as well as a wide range of businesses. WSU and the cities of Dayton and are providing support, too.

Among the features on the site plan: an urban destruction zone, transportation mishaps, and water environments. Site preparation has begun, and a virtual version exists here. 

Dr. Mark E. Gebhart, associate professor at Wright State's Boonshoft School of Medicine and director of the NCMR, estimates that over a five-year period Calamityville will directly and indirectly generate $374 million for the Miami Valley region. It will directly and indirectly create approximately 35 new jobs and when calculating the construction components will impact another 344 jobs. Plus, he says in an economic impact assessment, there will be spin-off revenue to the region from increased tourism and overnight stays, increased sales and income tax revenues, and related growth.

On a related note, this month, the NCMR became one of six emergency preparedness training facilities in the U.S. to test the American Medical Association's Core Disaster Life Support Course, an introduction to "all hazards" preparedness for first responders, local officials and the public.

Source: Cindy Young, Boonshoft School of Medicine, Wright State University
Writer: Gabriella Jacobs

Adding next-generation wind production to Ohio's energy mix presents several technical problems, but one boils down to this: Getting to the best wind will take taller towers, and using steel structures to get there will add significant weight and transportation costs.

But what if we could make the towers on site using lighter-weight composites? A new $1-million Ohio Third Frontier grant is aimed at finding out.

Managing the project is Ershigs, a Bellingham, Wash.-based company with expertise in building composite structures on site and which has operations near Manchester, Ohio. Other partners include the University of Dayton Research Institute (UDRI) and Edison Materials Technology Center in Dayton; Miamisburg-based WebCore, which makes engineered core materials for composite sandwich structures; Owens Corning's Columbus operations, which make an advanced, high-strength glass fiber; and Ashland Performance Materials in Dublin, which makes high-performance resins. A successful project could lead to new Ohio jobs, partners say.

UD, WebCore and Owens-Corning worked on an earlier Third Frontier project that looked at new markets for advanced materials in a variety of areas -- including windmill blades, says Brian Rice, Division Head for Multi-Scale Composites and Polymers at UDRI.

"And we also funded an engineering study to say does it make sense to make towers with composites . . . and we wanted to find out at what point does it make economic sense to switch from steel to composites."

Steve Hettick, a vice president of manufacturing for Ershigs, says the first year of the two-year grant period will be concerned primarily with "technical development and with materials testing validation." He said the team will perform extensive computer modeling and build sample laminates to first prove out the design. Eventually, the team's objective is to build and test a full-scale tower.

Sources: Brian Rice, UDRI and Steve Hettick, Ershigs
Writer: Gene Monteith

Marge Murphy is a born-and-bred New Yorker. With degrees in engineering and computer science, she eventually rose to New England regional sales manager for a New Jersey company.

Children came along, and Murphy decided to give up her hectic travel schedule to stay at home. Then "my husband arrives home one day from work and says 'we're going to move to Ohio.'"

Little did she know that her husband's change of employers would change her future.

"One of their product managers approached me a couple of years after we were here and said Marge, we have a new project, a product we're looking to launch, and you've got some sales experience, you've got the technical expertise, could you call 25 clients, introduce the new product and get some feedback?"

Good work begat good work and the jobs grew larger. Acadia Lead Management was born.

"It's a mixture of lead qualification and market intelligence," says Murphy, the company's president. The company connects with respondents to a client's marketing activities and filters them, she says. "Those that are not sales-ready stay in our process and we continue to nurture them and build a knowledge database for our clients."

Launched in 1999, Acadia has five employees and 35 to 40 consultants around the country. It was named among the fastest-growing companies in revenues by the Dayton Business Journal last year and picked up a new award in January: "Rookie Business of the Year."

"About four years I incorporated," explains Murphy, "so was still considered a rookie business."

Source: Marge Murphy
Writer: Gene Monteith

Doctors have long been able to evaluate neurological disorders like Parkinson's and ALS. What they haven't been able to pinpoint are many of the specific nerve-connection changes that lead to those problems.

The Wright State University and Premier Health Partners Neuroscience Institute is poised to change all that. Late last month, Wright State and Premier Health announced a partnership that will create the $22-million state-of-the-art institute and a new department of neurology within Wright State's Boonshoft School of Medicine.

Molly Hall, chief academic officer and vice president of academic affairs for Premier Health, says the institute will provide both a residency training program in neurology within Premier Health's hospital system and a mechanism for moving Wright State research into clinical trials. Such a program will help keep medical graduates in the region, attract new talent, and move the region toward national leadership in the neurosciences, she says.

The institute will focus on neurological problems that lead to movement disorders, says Tim Cope, director of the new institute and professor and chair of department of neuroscience, cell biology and physiology at Wright State.

As many as 95 new jobs will be created initially, but Cope says the ability to marry research with clinical trials will pave the way for  federal grants -- and more jobs and funding.

Premier Health will contribute $4.35 million over five years to form the new neurology department at Wright State; a department chair is to be named by the end of the year. The residency program is expected to be in place within four to five years. WSU, meanwhile, is raising $22 million for the 64,000-square-foot laboratory from state, federal and private sources.

Sources: Molly Hall, Premier Health Partners and Tim Cope, Boonshoft School of Medicine
Writer: Gene Monteith

Need a prefab bridge that you can drop over a small stream? Dayton-based Composite Advantage just might be able to fix you up.

Founded in 2005 as a spinoff of the National Composite Center, the company is making its way in the world using composite materials to replace old standbys like steel, wood and concrete.

Bridge decks. Drop-in-place portable bridges. Structural panels. Concrete forms. Pads to give cranes and other heavy equipment a stable surface. The list goes on.

In most cases, says company President, Scott Reeve, "they are fiberglass reinforcement with a polyester or vinylester resin. They're durable and corrosion resistant and can stand up to any environment."

Reeve says the company has benefited from market development projects through the Dayton Development Coalition as part of the Ohio Third Frontier's Entrepreneurial Signature Program. Starting with two employees in 2005, "we have grown to where we generally run with a basic workforce of 16 people. We have peak times where we will add another 10 people on a temporary basis."

The company's big focus at the moment is a composite mat now being used by Canadian Mat Systems to provide "big flat panels that become temporary roadways, work surfaces. When they go in and are going to drill for oil, they need a big work space around big oil rigs. The main advantages are corrosion resistance, lighter weight, they're stronger and don't take as long to install."

Reeve says the company grew in 2007 and 2008 and held steady in 2009. But he looks for more growth in the future as it introduces new products.

Source: Scott Reeve, Composite Advantage
Writer: Gene Monteith