Cleveland/Northeast Ohio : Innovation + Job News

Avtron Industrial Automation, with roots in aerospace testing equipment, is flying a little closer to the ground these days. With some help from Ohio's Third Frontier, the company is developing encoders for use in wind turbines. The encoders sense position within 360 degrees.

Worldwide, Avtron has about 400 employees, 350 of which are in Cleveland. The remaining employees work in New Hampshire and Beijing. Spurred by the $1-million Third Frontier award, Kosnik says the company plans to add another 30 jobs by 2014.

The company makes drive systems, load banks, aerospace test equipment and incremental encoders for measuring speed and position in industrial control systems. Users of the encoders include heavy industry, the wind turbine industry, and offshore oil platforms. Overall, company sales have been strong, says Don Kosnik; Director R&D (Engineering), about doubling over the last three to five years.

Over one third of Avtron's staff are technical personnel with four-year degrees or higher. Most have backgrounds in electrical and mechanical engineering, electronics or computers. Many of its product design engineers come from Avtron's Field Engineering Department.

Avtron Aerospace, Inc., Avtron Loadbank, Inc., and Avtron Industrial Automation, Inc. are part of Avtron Holdings, LLC. Their customers include 95 percent of the Fortune 500 and nearly every major airline in the world. The company has been in business since 1953. In 2007, Avtron was acquired by Morgenthaler Partners, LLC, a private equity company with assets under management of approximately $3 billion.

Source: Don Kosnik; Director R&D, Engineering
Writer: Patrick G. Mahoney

Within the past month, RSB Spine LLC of Cleveland has announced a 229-percent quarterly sales jump over the same period of 2009, gotten news of $1.5 million of new investment in the company and even showed up in the unlikeliest of places -- ABC's "Dancing With the Stars."

For the company, formed in 2001 by Cleveland-based John Redmond and a friend, California spinal surgeon Dr. Robert S. Bray, these are heady days.

Its latest product line, InterPlate, was launched in 2006 after gaining FDA approval. The InterPlate line, with four separate products to date, has quickly gained advantage over competing lines.

"It's a crowded market out there," says Redmond, the firm's CEO. "The advantage that InterPlate offers over the rest of field is that it's really an evolutionary product, which is why you're seeing the growth. The main idea is that it's modular, which means that it allows surgeons a lot of different choices in the materials used in the implant and choices in how they implant the device."

Surgeons use the implants to fuse vertebrae in the lumbar and cervical areas of the spine. Made of titanium and special graft material, it also offers quicker fusion rates, meaning the patient will heal faster.

InterPlate's popularity with spinal surgeons led to a 2009 partnership with Massachusetts-based Paradigm BioDevices, which became the exclusive distributor of the InterPlate line and has boosted sales at such an incredible rate, Redmond says.

Publicity hasn't hurt, either. The latest -- InterPlate's supporting role on ABC's hit dance contest -- came because of eventual winner Jennifer Grey's relationship with Bray. Bray has performed more than 7,500 spinal surgeries over his years in practice � and one of his patients was Grey, who underwent spinal fusion surgery just months before the show started.

"On two or three occasions, they showed an x-ray of the spinal fusion she had done in her neck," says Redmond, "and there was our implant. It was a pretty good advertisement."

Source: John Redmond, RSB Spine
Writer: Dave Malaska

Northeast Ohio is already a leader in flexible electronics. Now, a number of partners are working to make it the "global epicenter" of the industry.

The goal? To add 1,500 jobs, $75 million in payroll and $100 million in capital to Northeast Ohio by 2017.

Last week, NorTech -- a regional nonprofit economic development organization focused on high tech job growth -- announced a shared vision and action plan to speed growth of the industry in northeast Ohio.

The Northeast Ohio Flexible Electronics Roadmap outlines strategies and initiatives to build global market capabilities in the low-cost manufacturing of flexible electronics -- devices printed on flexible materials. Examples include liquid crystal devices and flexible sensors and circuits.

The Northeast Ohio Flexible Electronics Roadmap charts a path for identifying and pursuing market opportunities; increasing public funding and private investment; strengthening cluster alignment, communication, and partnering; monitoring and reporting cluster growth and impact; and improving visibility and recognition.

"Northeast Ohio's flexible electronics cluster is rooted in the world-renown, breakthrough work of The Liquid Crystal Institute at Kent State University, the globally recognized advances in polymer science by the University of Akron, as well as a growing number of small, medium and large companies that are producing flexible electronics applications," says Kelly South, NorTech's senior director of communications.

Nortech led development of the roadmapping process in partnership with 23 technology and industry experts representing research institutions, manufacturers, materials suppliers and product developers. The strategies will be executed over the next 12 months, South says, but added that the document will "serve as a living document that will capture technology shifts, changes in market dynamics and new growth opportunities in Northeast Ohio."

NorTech and other partners have branded the northeast Ohio flexible electronics cluster as FlexMatters.

Source: Kelly South, NorTech
Writer: Gene Monteith

Carving $1.5 million for IT out of a $10-million budget is par for the course among for-profit companies, Adam Roth says. For non-profits, where administrative costs are closely monitored, it's a red flag.

That's why so many non-profits have struggled to keep up with leading-edge technology that could help them better manage internal affairs, board business and programs, he says. And it's why Roth created StreamLink Software, a Cleveland firm that has developed two products to help non-profits.

Since StreamLink's first product launch in July of 2008 -- a solution called BoardMax -- the company has attracted more than 100 customers, including Ronald McDonald House, the Boys and Girls Club of Cleveland, and the American Heart Association.

Roth, the company's CEO and former chief operating officer for Cleveland's West Side Ecumenical Ministry, began exploring the software landscape in 2006 after being frustrated by a lack of good, economical software programs for non-profits. At the same time, the development of web-based software was growing, giving entities a way to avoid the high infrastructure costs of internal IT programs.

Thus, BoardMax -- a web-based product designed to increase board engagement and organizational compliance with regulations and standards.

"Our tool really helps internal management manage the organization as well as helping board members connect with the organization," he says.

AmpliFund, released earlier this year, "focuses on the whole grant cycle," Roth says. "Everything from trying to understand what opportunities are out there, to creating and personalizing those opportunities for each organization, building a plan, a solicitation strategy around each opportunity, tracking and managing an organization-wide plan that can allow you to create projections throughout the year."

After a program is implemented, the software becomes a management tool to capture data related to performance and expenditure of funds.

Along the way, StreamLink has had help from North Coast Angel Fund ($200,000), the Lorain County Community College Innovation Fund ($100,000) and $400,000 in private investments.

Roth says the company employed two a year ago; today, it employs eight and plans to grow.

Source: Adam Roth, StreamLink
Writer: Gene Monteith

Rapid Charge Technologies, LLC says its patented technology can charge off-the-shelf batteries in minutes.

The Cleveland-based company, formed last year, is a subsidiary of Potential Difference, Inc. (PDI), Nevada, which designed and built an all-electric car with a top speed over 100 mph and a range of 140 miles. The Acura TL body and chassis has an all-electric drive train powered by 40-kilowatt hours of lithium ion batteries, rechargeable in about three hours.

Results verified by the University of Akron show recharge times as low as 31 minutes for lead acid batteries and 19 minutes for relatively inexpensive lithium ion phosphate batteries in all-electric and hybrid automobiles. RCT is formalizing its go-to-market strategy and identifying potential partners and alliances.

A $2 billion firm, with one third of the forklift market, has evaluated RCT's test data and agreed to test the technology. A distributor for a leading fast-food chain and a battery manufacturer have also agreed to a test.

PDI received a $500,000 U. S. Department of Energy Fiscal 2011 Appropriations grant for work to be done (in part) at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas. In July of 2009, RCT received a $25,000 grant from the Lorain County Community College Innovation Fund to develop the initial prototype in collaboration with the University of Akron. PDI received $85,000 for further development and testing from North Coast Opportunities.

At the moment Elliott Small, Jr., president and founder, says he is the only full-time employee, with everyone else being "some kind of a contractor."

"We expect that before the end of 2011 we should have orders for the [forklift] chargers, with hiring beginning toward the end of the year," says Small.

Source: Elliott C. Small, Jr., Rapid Charge Technologies
Writer: Patrick G. Mahoney

As millions of Americans opt for joint replacement surgeries each year, new composite materials and new surgical practices are contributing to more successful outcomes than ever. Still, one complication -- nerve damage -- remains a chief concern for surgeons.

Now, a Cleveland-based medical company has introduced a tool to help doctors choose what tissue to cut during surgery, and more importantly, what not to cut.

The Checkpoint Stimulator/Locator, developed by orthopedic surgeons and biomedical engineers from medical technology incubator company NDI Medical, is a small, hand-held device that allows doctors to electrically stimulate muscles and nerves during the operation, mapping their location and health. Designed to be used with one hand, the single-use device has a small probe at its front that allows the surgeon to highly target specific nerves, or test nerves and muscle tissue at varying depths through regional stimulation.

The result is more complete neurological picture for doctors, and fewer complications for patients.

The stimulator is the flagship product of Checkpoint Surgical, spun out from NDI Medical in August 2009 to market the new device. Checkpoint Surgical was launched with a $1.1-million investment from Cleveland-based venture development organization JumpStart and has since picked up additional investments as the stimulator's potential has become clear. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved its use last fall, and the company embarked on a pilot launch through select hospitals throughout the country.

"Satisfaction with the Checkpoint Stimulator has been almost 100 percent, which is uncommon for a new product," says Checkpoint Surgical President and CEO Len Cosentino. "Of the 40 surgeons that have used it so far, the overwhelming majority of them have been very happy with the device."

Several of the hospitals involved in the pilot launch have already stepped up with orders for more of stimulators, he adds.

Source: Len Cosentino, Checkpoint Surgical
Writer: Dave Malaska

Wireless technology already helps us with everyday tasks like changing TV channels, making phone calls and surfing the web. Before long, it will help people stay alive, too.

Endotronix Inc. is developing a system that enables doctors to monitor a patient's status remotely and therefore, be able to intervene quicker when life-saving action must be taken due to conditions such as hypertension, abdominal aortic aneurysms and congestive heart failure.

The system uses miniaturized wireless and implantable pressure sensors licensed from Cleveland's NASA Glenn Research Center in 2008.

The pressure sensors implanted in the patient's body collect valuable data that is sent to a hand-held or wearable device. That device wirelessly transmits the data to the doctor.

The company, which has facilities in Cleveland and Peoria, Ill., got $250,000 from JumpStart Ventures of Cleveland last month.

"We're excited about it," says Michael Lang, of JumpStart, citing the technology's ability to save time and money and extend life.

Endotronix also is a portfolio company of The Great Lakes Innovation and Development Enterprise, a project of the Lorain County Commissioners, Lorain County Community College, and the Ohio Department of Development; and reportedly has gotten $400,000 from a group in Illinois, too.

Source: Michael Lang, JumpStart
Writer: Gabriella Jacobs

John Steidley says the smart phone has come of age as a prime tool for just-in-time training. His company, Intelligent Mobile Support, is now trying to prove that vision.

Formed in June of 2009, the Solon-based, company launched its services this past August as a more efficient, less costly and more rapid way to channel information to sales personnel and other mobile workers.

"If you think about how training happened 25 years ago, we'd fly people in, give them a three-ring binder try to teach them everything we knew in three days," says Steidley, the company's CEO and founder. "Three days afterward, 90 percent of the information was gone, it had evaporated from their minds." 

After receiving an iTouch for Christmas a couple of years ago, "it occurred to me that the mobile smart phone was the perfect training device," Steidley says. "It was portable, it was just in time, you could go anywhere , you could catch a couple of minutes of training while you were waiting to go somewhere. And that was the turning point in my mind."

Intelligent Mobile Support, which hosts any type of web-based training material, alerts those in the field to product or software updates, market conditions or competitor data, he says. For example, someone on a sales trip can access new PowerPoint slides while waiting in the airport. The service is synced up in such a way that users can move from phone, to laptop, to PC all while keeping their place using tags, or bookmarks.

Besides mobile personnel such as sales people, Steidley says "we've got a particular focus on the healthcare sector," specifically an application directed at the physical therapy segment that shows patients how to do their exercises, all while tracking the workout for the care giver � and comparing the plan with the actual execution.

The company has three full-time employees, but partners with Youngstown-based Empyra, which has an equity stake in the company and provides software development and hosting services.

Source: John Steidley
Writer: Gene Monteith

Our bones, it seems, need some reconstruction occasionally too. A Medina company has been successful in developing the right "hardware" for the job and may now double in size thanks to a new product offering.

OrthoHelix Surgical Designs was founded by David Kay, an orthopedic surgeon, in 2004. The company develops orthopedic implants for hand and foot surgery - small bone areas.

With a successful line of screw and plate instruments used across the U.S., OrthoHelix is a competitive leader in its marketplace and is expected to see sales of $20 million this year.

An Ohio Third Frontier grant for $1 million awarded to the company in June will make it possible for OrthoHelix to add an additional 42 employees to its current 50, says Dennis Stripe, CEO, as the company will commercialize a new locking mechanism product, OrthoLock, that complements its existing offerings.

"We expect to double sales in the next three years," says Stripe. "This locking mechanism is unique to us. We already have FDA approval and early trials are underway. We expect to roll out the product early in the first quarter of next year."

The growth will enable OrthoHelix to add a wide range of new jobs, says Stripe. Additional workers in engineering, technical inspection, product management, customer service, finance and marketing will be needed.

The grant will also help OrthoHelix expand distribution of its full product line throughout more areas of the country, says Stripe.

Looking even further ahead, Stripe says his company sees a bright future because of current R&D.

"We've got a very strong pipeline of product ideas coming down the line," he says.

Source: Dennis Stripe, OrthoHelix
Writer: Val Prevish

One might reasonably expect hair salons, mini day spas, putting greens, dry cleaning, dinner-to-go, and concierge services at The Four Seasons. But these amenities are offered by SarahCare Adult Day Care Centers.

"The centers look much like you would expect an assisted living to look like," says company founder Dr. Merle Griff.

Dissatisfied with the level of care available for her clients and for her own mother, Griff, a gerontologist, decided to start her own adult day care center.

From two company-owned centers in Canton and North Canton, SarahCare now boasts almost 40 centers throughout the Midwest, Northeast, and Southeast. The first SarahCare franchise opened in 2004, in Strongsville. Today, all but the Canton-area centers are franchises.

It costs between $350,000 and $500,000 to open a franchise, says Dr. Griff, and financing has become difficult to obtain. ROI, however, is very good, says Griff. For that reason she expects to open several more company-owned centers in Ohio next year.

Each center has an average of 15 employees. SarahCare at Home employs 12 persons and 11 persons work in the corporate office.

"We go all out, and we will try anything we can to allow families to stay together," says Griff.

Source: Dr. Merle D. Griff, Founder, SarahCare Adult Day Care Centers
Writer: Patrick Mahoney

Diamond Polymers is bouncing back, adding to Akron's growing reputation as "the polymer capital of the world."

The national economic problems of 2008 had forced the company to reduce its manpower, says Founder/CEO Alan Woll. But acquisition of a product line from a competitor -- Centrex from INEOS ABS of Addyston, Ohio -- enabled hiring in '09 and '10, resulting in total employment of 65.

"We updated our workforce," Woll says.

And with $400,000 in five-year notes from the City of Akron, Diamond Polymers will continue to advance, says COO Michael Neumann, who adds the city has been "very, very good to us."

Woll started the company in 1986. It specializes in high-quality thermoplastic materials and resins.

Wolls says the polymer industry, plus related resources at the University of Akron, Case Western Reserve University and Kent State University are important assets to the Akron region, once known as the "rubber capital of the world."

Diamond Polymers conducts a five-year fellowship with the University of Akron, home of the National Polymer Innovation Center, to sponsor a student who needs additional, hands-on polymer knowledge.

"That's a win-win for both of us," Woll says.

Sources: Alan Woll and Michael Neumann, Diamond Polymers
Writer: Gabriella Jacobs

Experts are studying Northeast Ohio's energy opportunities for development of a regional action plan. Long term goal: boost the area's advanced energy industry and create jobs.

Westlake-based Newry Corp., a management consulting firm, and NorTech Energy Enterprise, of Cleveland, want data on energy storage, transportation electrification, smart grid and biomass/waste-to-energy activities.

From this month to July, 2011 they will be collecting information from a wide range of sources using a variety of techniques. The process will help identify the unique strengths of the region in the specific sectors; characterize the global market drivers and opportunities; assess the competitive landscape; and outline regional opportunities for growth, according to NorTech Energy Enterprise.

Nortech engaged Newry after a national competitive search, citing the firm's experience with similar initiatives. Newry, which also has offices in Chicago and New York, was founded in 1987.

Newry's "depth and breadth of market experience and knowledge in advanced energy" qualified it to partner with NorTech for this, Rebecca O. Bagley, president and chief executive officer of NorTech, said in a news release.

NorTech Energy Enterprise is the year-old advanced energy initiative of NorTech, the nonprofit, technology-based economic development organization serving 21 counties.

Source: Kelly C. South, NorTech
Writer: Gabriella Jacobs

The Cuyahoga County Board of Developmental Disabilities (CCBDD) is finding new ways of teaching its clients to become self-sufficient.

With the decline of the area's manufacturing and "sheltered workshops," new jobs are being created in agriculture, retail, the arts, and even doggy daycare.

A so-called "city farm" program uses vacant city land to raise broccoli, tomatoes, lettuce, and peppers as a means of teaching new skills to persons with mental or physical challenges.

The first farm, at East 55th and Stanard, employs 10 of the agency's clients, says Lula Holt-Robertson, general manager of public information and communications for the CCBDD.

Another program operates a "dollar store" called Just-A-Buck in Parma's Midtown Plaza. Unlike the original Dollar Store, everything in Just-A-Buck is just that . . . a buck.

Plans are in place to open two more stores next year. Also slated for next year is a dog daycare and boarding facility. And HeARTworks, a store in the Galleria, markets the artwork of persons with developmental disabilities. Between the programs, from 50 to 75 persons are employed at any one time, Holt-Robertson says. 

Within three to five years, the County hopes to employ 100 clients on ten city farms. A second farm will occupy property owned by City Hall, near the Free Stamp sculpture in Willard Park.

Source: Lula Holt-Robertson, CCBDD.
Writer: Patrick Mahoney

Your fridge conked out and you need it fixed before the roast goes bad. Problem is, the repair company can't say exactly when a technician will be out. Does "sometime between 1 and 5 p.m." sound familiar?

TOA Technologies of Beachwood has tackled the problem by developing a system it says can schedule the repair technician, cable guy or TV installer in a one-hour slot with a 96 percent on-time rate.

On Tuesday, TOA released its 2010 Cost of Waiting Survey, which polled consumers in the U.S., Germany and the UK about their waiting experiences. TOA found that American adults wasted about 2.75 billion hours waiting in the past year � the equivalent of 1 million people being out of work for a year.

The cost to businesses is significant, says President and CEO Yuval Brisker, noting that 21 percent of respondents reported switching companies because of long waits. Nearly half called customer service to complain about their experiences � an additional cost to companies that contract with call centers.

TOA's approach rests on its ability to analyze individual employee performance to understand how long he or she will take for each assignment, Brisker says. Not only does TOA's solution generate employees' daily schedules, but it provides customer notification and tracking functionality, he says. All of which help service companies keep their customers.

Founded in 2003, TOA launched its services in 2004 and has raised $17 million in two rounds of venture capital, including assistance from two Ohio Capital Fund partners: Cleveland-based Early Stage Partners and Draper Triangle Ventures.

Brisker predicts current year revenues to rise 75 to 80 percent over last year. Meanwhile, TOA has grown from two employees in 2004 to 200 worldwide today � about 40 of which will staff the company's new headquarters building when it opens in Beachwood next month.

Source: Yuval Brisker, TOA Technologies
Writer: Gene Monteith

A pacemaker for the heart is commonplace. So why not a pacemaker for the diaphragm?

Thanks to Synapse Biomedical in Oberlin, that vision is now a reality.

Formed 2002 as one of Cleveland-based JumpStart's original portfolio companies, Synapse has commercialized technology developed at Case Western Reserve University and University Hospitals in Cleveland.

The company's NeuRx Diaphragm Pacing System works by electrically stimulating the nerves that control the diaphragm -- the organ that works like an internal billows to relax and contract the lungs. People with spinal cord injuries, Lou Gehrig's Disease and other neurological ailments previously spent their lives attached to mechanical ventilators.

One early user -- in fact the third ever -- was actor Christopher Reeve, who needed assistance breathing after he was paralyzed in a fall from a horse.

"We now have about 350 people implanted with the device from Iceland to Australia," says Tony Ignagni, Synapse's president and CEO.

Approved in Europe for a wide range of disorders, the pacing system currently is approved in the U.S. only for spinal cord injuries, Ignani says.

"Right now our main focus is on getting the ALS (Lou Gehrig's Disease) approval in the U.S. We've collected all the data and we're working through an FDA process."

The company has about a dozen employees, but with approval for additional uses in the United States, that number could rise, Ignani says.

"The ALS market is actually about 10 times the size of the spinal cord market."

Source: Tony Ignagni, Synapse Biomedical
Writer: Gene Monteith