Third Quarter 2009
MSU-East Lansing Listed in Best College Towns to Start a Business
Entrepreneur Magazine has named Michigan State University and the City of East Lansing as one of the Ten Best College Towns to Start a Business. The list highlights ten examples of how institutions of higher education are collaborating with their communities to strengthen the local economy by creating new opportunities for today’s entrepreneurial workforce. MSU-East Lansing was honored for its efforts to “create and incubate new local business ventures.”
Enliven Set for Expansion
Enliven Software is the first company in Technology Innovation Center (TIC) in East Lansing to leave the tech hub and move into its own, bigger space. By November, Enliven will move from its 402 square foot TIC space to a 1,100 square foot office next door to the TIC. The new office space is being built out and should be ready for occupancy fairly soon. Enliven specializes in e-invoicing and e-payment for small to mid-size businesses. In the next year, the two-year-old company plans to raise $3 million and grow by 70 percent.
Auto-Owners Plans Expansion
Auto-Owners Insurance Group plans a $105.3 million expansion of its Delta Township headquarters that would create 800 full-time jobs. The proposed project would involve a three-story, 250,000 square-foot facility on 143 acres it bought along South Creyts Road. The 800 jobs would be created over 10 years with an average salary of $43,000.
Niowave Receives DOE Contracts
Niowave, Inc. announced that it has received two new contracts with the Department of Energy for a combined total of $1,500,000. The contracts are part of the Department of Energy’s Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program. Each contract was awarded for $750,000 in support of the second phase of the projects, and each will be completed in July 2011. The first contract will research and develop a 1500 MHz superconducting radio frequency (SRF) “Landau” cavity. The second contract will research and develop a 500 MHz SRF spoke cavity and involves collaboration with the Thomas Jefferson National Accelerator Facility in Newport News, Virginia.
Capital Region International Airport Designated Foreign Trade Zone
The Capital Region International Airport has been granted Foreign Trade Zone status by the federal government. A Foreign Trade Zone is legally considered to be outside of United States Customs territory and allows goods to be brought in to these areas duty free. Products that are duty free help U.S. companies defer, eliminate or reduce custom fees on products, or charge comparable rates on items that are produced abroad. Foreign Trade Zones give American businesses and companies a stronger competitive edge over similar companies based in other countries. The process of receiving Foreign Trade Zone for the Lansing airport took nearly 12 months to complete and required strong community support from business and industry leaders, and Michigan’s Congressional delegation. (www.portlansing.com)
Sparrow Goes Digital
Sparrow Health System is launching an effort to bring its medical system into the electronic age. It has pledged to spend more than $10 million to complete the first phase of its plan by the end of 2010. By then, all 24 of its physicians’ offices will be wired, so that patient’s records will be available online and secure; doctors will be able to track lab orders and results; and patients will have access to their own records and be able to make appointments. The next phase will connect the doctors’ offices to Sparrow hospital itself.
Neogen’s Profits Surge
Neogen Corp.’s profit and revenue surged during the fiscal fourth quarter and for the full year. The 27-year-old Lansingbased animal and food safety company reported it earned $3.4 million, or 23 cents per share, for the quarter that ended May 31. That was up 7.6 percent from a profit of $3.2 million, or 21 cents per share one year earlier. Revenue rose 13.9 percent to $15.9 million in the recent quarter from $15.6 million one year earlier. For the full fiscal year, Neogen earned $13.9 million, or 92 cents per share, up 14.7 percent from $12.1 million, or 81 cents per share, in fiscal 2008. Revenue came in at $118.7 million, up 15.9 percent from $102.4 million in fiscal 2008. The fourth quarter was the company’s 65th consecutive profitable quarter.
Area Companies Make Inc. Top 5,000
Several Lansing-area companies have landed on Inc. magazine’s list of the 5,000 fastest-growing companies, based on revenue growth last year compared with 2005. Lansing’s Liquid Web came in at 899, with a 341 surge in revenue to $20.3 million. Williamston-based mortgage broker and lender Top Flite Financial ranked 2,156 with revenue climbing 147 percent to $7.4 million. Axiom Group, headquartered in Lansing, was 3,087 with revenue growing 87.5 percent to $2.5 million. ICS Marketing Supporter Services, also based in Lansing was No. 3,705 on the list, with revenue up 62 percent to $7.1 million. Okemos’ TechSmith Corp. came in at No. 4,200, with a 42.5 percent increase in revenue to $22.3 million. FinCor Holdings in Lansing ranked 4,656th, with revenue up 23 percent to $97.1 million.
BWL Completes Chilled Water Plant
The Lansing Board of Water and Light (BWL) finished construction on its nearly $20 million chilled water plant, coming roughly $1 million under budget on the project. The four story, 12,600 square foot plant is 60 percent more energy efficient than the previous plant. The plant will provide air conditioning to several Downtown Lansing facilities including the Michigan State Police headquarters; all state offices; Ingham County offices; and the new Accident Fund headquarters. It’s the BWL’s largest investment in 20 years.
TechSmith Launches New Product
TechSmith Corporation announced the availability of the latest release of Jing, allowing customers a simpler, faster and fun way to add screen-captured images and videos to any online conversation just by sharing a link. Instead of relying on words alone, computer users can quickly add a visual element to explain ideas and concepts more effectively and share relevant information when communicating online. With Jing, computer users can capture an image or create a screen recording of what they see on their computer screens and share it by pasting a link. When the link is clicked, the viewer sees the Jing-captured image or video immediately. Jing is free, and users can upgrade to Jing Pro to gain more customization and the flexibility to record anything and share it even faster.
City Earns AA+ Rating
Two of the world’s foremost bond rating agencies, Fitch Ratings and Standard & Poor’s have once again awarded a AA+ bond rating to the City of East Lansing for its $935,000 limited tax general obligation bonds. The city’s AA+ bond rating reflects its sound financial management policies, conservative budgeting and adequate financial flexibility. According to Fitch Ratings, East Lansing’s key rating driver is the city’s ability to maintain adequate reserves in the face of continued revenue pressures driven by the state volatility and tax rate constraints.
General Motors to Resume Third Shift
Approximately 800 General Motors workers will return the third shift at the Lansing Delta Township Assembly Plant in April 2010. Building on their heritage of over 100 years of building cars in Lansing, GM will welcome three new vehicles to their facilities by 2011: Cadillac CTS Sport Wagon, Cadillac CTS Coupe and Chevrolet Traverse. The first Cadillac CTS Sport Wagon rolled off the line at the Lansing Grand River plant in August. Production of the Chevrolet Traverse will be moved from Spring Hill, Tennessee to Delta Township in January 2010. A coupe version of the Cadillac CTS will begin production next spring.
Afid Therapeutics Launches into Aerospace
Lansing-based Afid Therapeutics Inc. received the third of three anticipated orders from leading aerospace companies for a new high purity reactant that it prepares from plant materials using its large repertoire of carbohydrate-based chemistry. Afid has more than 100 companies and institutions around the world using its pharmaceutical chemistry.
GreenStone Breaks Ground
GreenStone Farm Credit Services is Michigan’s largest agricultural lender. Headquartered in East Lansing, GreenStone is the country’s fifth largest association in the Farm Credit System. They are a $5 billion organization of 18,000 members with 37 branches throughout Michigan and Wisconsin. GreenStone recently broke ground on a new 78,000 square foot headquarters that will double the company’s current space. The new building is a quarter of a mile up the road from the existing headquarters and will have a new 3515 West Road address. GreenStone plans to hire approximately 65 new employees by 2013. The building is slated for a fall 2010 completion.
The Hatch Promotes Entrepreneurialism
East Lansing will soon be launching The Hatch, an incubator for up to 18 students starting businesses. Set for a fall opening, The Hatch will be tucked into Scene Metrospace and considered an arm of the city’s already bursting Technology Innovation Center (TIC). The city is developing the additional incubator because there is a large and growing number of students starting their own businesses. And as businesses move on from the TIC, The Hatch will create a feeder system for it. Students attending schools of higher learning part time or more throughout the Capital region are welcome.
Lansing Company to Oversee First US Airport Pods
Architectural Solutions has secured a $1.5 to $2 million contract to oversee construction and installation of the first airport pods in the US. Fourteen of the seven square foot privacy units will be built here and shipped to the San Francisco airport by Spring, 2010. Called a Unique Retreat, after the name of the company formed to produce it, the units will be equipped with single beds, HDTVs, WiFi Internet, personal air condition controls, a chair and desk, and soundproofing providing total privacy and security. Architectural Solutions has seen a 50 percent growth in business in the last year.
Accident Fund Extends Reach
Accident Fund Insurance Company of America is extending its reach into Texas and Maryland, bringing the number of states in which it writes workers’ compensation policies to 18. Noting that the number of businesses it insures is up 1.7 percent through May compared to the same time last year, Accident Fund continues to hire. Accident Fund as an enterprise has 1,094 employees nationally, with 594 in Lansing.
MSU Spinoff to Build $41.3 Million Headquarters
Draths Corporation, founded in 2005 to commercialized technology developed in a Michigan State University laboratory, is the next-generation chemical company focused on technology that enables the production from renewable feedstocks of nylons, resins and paints currently made from petroleum based chemicals. Draths plans a $41.3 million headquarters, research facility and multiple pilot in Delhi Township. The new facility will enable the company to develop commercial scale manufacturing data for their new product, caprolactam, used in the production of nylon 6 for car parts, carpet and clothing. The project will create 642 new jobs, comprising 200 directly by the company and 442 indirect jobs.
MSU Unveils First Large-Animal MRI at U.S. Academic Institution
Michigan State University (MSU)’s College of Veterinarian Medicine is home to the first large-animal MRI machine ever at an academic institution. The $2 million machine is one of only three in the U.S. It will allow veterinarians to research the animal brain, how animals sense pain and how their minds work when the sleep. Findings could greatly impact both animal and human health. The machine has just become fully operational and has an opening that is nearly 50 percent larger than the standard MRI, allowing doctors and researchers at the college to analyze larger animals such as horses & cows.
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Contact Tracey Shepard at tshepard@lansingchamber.org!