Toledo/Northwest Ohio : Innovation + Job News

Adapt or die, the saying goes. And had it not been for its ability to embrace changes in the marketplace, American Trim  would be a mere footnote to history rather than a cutting-edge 60-year-old manufacturing company.

American Trim began its life as Lima Tool and Die, a family-owned company that produced appliance handles for kitchen ranges. Today, the company is a leading supplier not only for the appliance trade, but also the heavy truck industry. An eagerness to stay on top of the latest technologies has made American Trim a pioneer in the areas of electromagnetic forming, digital printing and advanced surface modification.

Currently under development is a process called physical vapor deposition. This technology is used to deposit thin film coatings onto ferrous and non-ferrous substrates. In layman's terms, it creates a "near-chrome" finish that can be used to simulate stainless steel on refrigerators, ovens, washers and dryers. In the not-too-distant future, consumers can look forward to improved durability and beauty on a wide array of household appliances.

American Trim hopes to build a new production facility that will create 60 new jobs, replacing many lost to off-shoring. This facility is expected to generate annual revenues in the $12- to $14-million range.

American Trim's adaptability has landed the company more than $10 million in grant funding from the Ohio Third Frontier Wright Projects program, which provides grants to support specifically defined near-term commercialization projects. In collaboration with Lima's Rhodes State College, the company recently unveiled the Materials Deposition Center at its Lima facilities.

Source: American Trim, http://www.amtrim.com/news.asp
Writer: Douglas Trattner

What do you get when an occupational therapist brainstorms with a nuclear engineer?

If you're a child with a disability, you get a chance at a better future.

Elisabeth Wharton, an occupational therapist for the Toledo Public Schools, wanted to help her pupils develop very basic skills. She asked husband Randy � trained to study and solve problems � for some ideas.

"Some of her kids had problems with gross motor skills, they couldn't do things like other kids because their hands got in the way," Randy says.

The solution: "Cuttables" and "Traceables," patent-pending round and square shapes with special handles that a child can more easily grip. Magnets enable the shapes to be changed and repositioned as needed. A square can become a house! A circle can be a face! Even a vision-impaired child has been able to create pictures with the shapes, which are "in pretty colors and fun to use," Wharton says. "They look cool and like neat toys."

The Whartons maintain their day jobs while running Createable Learning Concepts. TheToledo Chamber of Commerce has provided assistance and the Regional Growth Partnership granted Createable Learning $10,265 while providing coaching and counseling to help the start-up get off the ground. Wharton says although the Chamber and RGP usually back tech ventures, they advanced this one because its products (manufactured at Plastic Technologies Inc. in Holland, Ohio) help children develop higher levels of independence and achievement, which will make them better students and thus, better adults.

Next up for the Whartons: Web site upgrades and partnering with major distributors. Once Cuttables and Traceables are in stores and sales volume picks up, the Whartons will delegate some tasks and begin hiring.

Source: Randy Wharton, Createable Learning Concepts
Writer: Gabriella Jacobs

A plasma volume expander may sound like something plucked from the pages of a science fiction novel, but to a trio of University of Toledo researchers working on the innovative lifesaving drug, it's very real.

After working with a patient in 1999 whose blood pressure was critically unstable as plasma seeped out of her blood vessels, frustrated UT doctors Joseph Shapiro and Ragheb Assaly sought out a treatment.

They teamed up with UT biochemist J. David Dignam and found a solution in their plasma volume expander, Pegylated albumin -- or PEG-Alb as it is known as in the biotech biz.

Toledo-based ADS Biotechnology was born.

The researchers created a molecule similar to the native albumin already present in the blood, but with a larger diameter to prevent leakage into vital organs that can cause serious injury or death.

PEG-Alb is the only known treatment for CLS -- a biomedical stat that is bound to drum up some serious attention� and cash.

The UT college of medicine -- where Shapiro is the department chair and Assaly is a pulmonary-critical care specialist -- has contributed $1 million. The northwest Ohio-based Rocket Ventures Ignite! Grant was for $50,000, then Rocket Ventures gave a $250,000 investment courtesy of the Third Frontier Program. The U.S. Department of Defense committed $200,000.

Mary Shapiro, chief financial officer of ADS Biotechnology, says PEG-Alb could be a crucial advancement for military medicine as a resuscitation fluid on the front lines.

The firm is now working to set up clinical trials in hopes of marketing PEG-Alb in the next three to five years.

Source: Mary Shapiro
Writer: Colin McEwen