Ann Arbor

AA PharmaSyn provides safe harbor for 10 ex-Pfizerites

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March 11, 2009

Hundreds of Pfizer workers were looking for a safe port in the storm created by the drug-maker when it closed its Ann Arbor campus in early 2007. One of those safe harbors turned out to be AA PharmaSyn.Helen Lee and Suemin Cheng both left Pfizer just before it closed, to start AA PharmaSyn because they wanted to stay in Ann Arbor. Today the chemistry contract research organization employs 10 people, all of whom once worked at the pharma giant. "We average about 20 years at Pfizer," Lee says. "We like to call ourselves ex-Parke Davis (the company Pfizer bought to establish an Ann Arbor presence) employees."Many of those hires came quickly after the Pfizer closing in 2007. AA PharmaSyn has been busy managing the work it has since then. The company would welcome new employees if the right ones come along, but Lee and Cheng plan to keep it small for the foreseeable future."We'd really like to keep the door open," Lee says. "We'd like to expand but no more than 20 people."Source: Helen Lee and Suemin Cheng, co-founders of AA PharmaSynWriter: Jon Zemke

Arbor Photonics gets VC boost from The Wolverine Fund

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Economic Development

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March 11, 2009

The venture capital continues to pour into Ann Arbor's Arbor Photonics. The latest bucket of cash to fall into the lap of the laser firm comes from The Wolverine Venture Fund, the venture capital firm run by University of Michigan business students.The amount invested has not been made public, but Arbor Photonics has accepted millions of dollars in investments from the Michigan Pre-Seed Fund and the Michigan 21st Century Job Fund since last fall.The money is expected to help build the prototype of the company's first product and hire staff to develop it. Arbor Photonics just hired a new Vice-President of Engineering last month and expects hire more later this year.The University of Michigan spin-off is developing a 3C optical fiber laser for the manufacturing sector. U-M Prof. Almantas Galvanauskas invented the technology that is expected to dramatically improve fiber lasers. The technology is an optical fiber structure called Chirally-Coupled Core Fiber or 3C fiber. The 3C fiber significantly improves the performance of fiber lasers in industrial manufacturing, a $2 billion market that grows about 14 percent annually on average. The company plans to make the product available by 2010 and hopes to hit $50 million in sales within the next six years.The Wolverine Fund is part of the University of Michigan's Samuel Zell & Robert H. Lurie Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies in the Ross Business School. The fund, the first to be run by students, is worth $3.5 million and has invested in more than 18 companies in industries like information technology, life sciences and alternative energy.Source: University of Michigan and Phillip Amaya, CEO of Arbor PhotonicsWriter: Jon Zemke

Ann Arbor, Washtenaw combine data centers in City Hall

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Development News

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March 11, 2009

The Ann Arbor area is becoming a smidge more regional thanks to one less data center. The city and county have combined their data centers into one centralized operation in the Ann Arbor City Hall.Before the move, the county's IT center was located in the basement of the County Administration Building in downtown Ann Arbor. Local officials were worried an unexpected disaster could wipe out the electronic capabilities for all 30 some county departments if tragedy struck, such as a basement flood.So staff moved the county's 120 computer servers to the City Hall. The idea is to provide a safer, more appropriate place for IT infrastructure with room to grow. It will also help save costs. Data centers are notorious energy hogs since all of those servers have to be cooled. Often places where they end up, like basements, are equipped to efficiently handle the job.Source: City of Ann ArborWriter: Jon Zemke

Golden Limo plans to add 5 jobs in Ann Arbor this year

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Community Development

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March 11, 2009

Ann Arbor's Golden Limo has already gone through its dip in the economy and is now on the upswing looking for new jobs.The luxury limousine service watched a good portion of its business disappear when Pfizer left town and British Airways dropped its contract. But that was then and Golden Limo is poised to recapture that business this year while adding five jobs to its staff of 38 employees and 12 contractors.Even though corporate business is down as the economy continues to tighten and cutbacks become the norm, the American consumer is still finding ways to spend on the finer things in life for those special occasions. It's also trying to break into new territory with its Town & Gown tours, the next one set for Thursday."People are still going to take their vacations. They're still going to get married. They're still going to go to prom," says Sean Duval, CEO and founder of Golden Limo. "They're going to spend that money."And Duval expects to continue making it. He started Golden Limo in 1992 while he was managing a fast-food restaurant in Milan. He got some money together and bought a friend's small limo service as his way of capturing part of the American dream. In fact a little bit of corporate work in the beginning played a key part launching the company."We really took off after we took on Weber's Inn," Duval says. Source: Sean Duval, CEO of Golden LimoWriter: Jon Zemke

Ann Arbor looks to update, diversity its transporation plan

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Development News

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March 4, 2009

The last time the city of Ann Arbor updated its transit plan it focused on just one form of transportation – automotive. Today city officials are looking to diversify that a little bit.The update calls for the city to implement more comprehensive plans for an integrated multi-modal system. This means the plan will meet the needs of all transportation users, such as pedestrians, bicyclists, mass transit users, commercial trucking and motorists. The plan includes eight goal statements and lists recommendations for short, medium and long-term investments. A significant new component in this plan is the better incorporation of transportation and land-use concerns. A more comprehensive outline of the changes can be found here.The city recently held a public meeting on this subject that will be rebroadcast on Ch. 16. For information, send an email to planning@a2gov.org or call (734) 794-6265.Source: City of Ann ArborWriter: Jon Zemke

U-M develops new earthquake-proof building, cancer patent

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Education

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March 4, 2009

Two great discoveries in one.Researchers at the University of Michigan have come up with some creative breakthroughs in both the building and health-care industries. On the one hand, recent discoveries could mean the creation of earthquake-proof buildings. On the other, university scientists are advancing the hunt for the cure to cancer.A new technique for bracing high-rise concrete buildings proved quite successful at U-M's laboratories after an off-the-charts earthquake simulation. The engineers used steel fiber-reinforced concrete to develop a better kind of coupling beam that requires less reinforcement and is easier to construct.Such beams are normally difficult to install and require intricate reinforcing bar skeletons. The U-M's version is simpler because it uses a highly flowable, steel fiber-reinforced concrete.At the same time U-M biological chemist Ray Trievel and two scientists filed a patent application for a new technology that could help in the fight against cancer. It detects enzymes that can alter DNA molecules, sometimes leading to the onset and progression of a number of cancers. Demethylase enzymes remove methyl groups attached to DNA, proteins and toxin, which produce formaldehyde. Trievel and his colleagues found a new way to detect the formaldehyde. This allows tests from around the world to be standardized.Source: University of MichiganWriter: Jon Zemke

Ann Arbor spends $1.3 million to add 146 acres to Greenbelt

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Community Development

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March 4, 2009

Ann Arbor is throwing a lot more money at expanding its Greenbelt.The City Council just approved spending $1.3 million to acquire the development rights to the Merkel-Heller farms in Webster Township. The city, Federal Farm and Ranch Lands Protection Program and Webster Township Land Preservation Fund are all chipping in to make the purchase.The city's Greenbelt Program has been on a bit of a spending spree as of late as developers and locals sell the development rights to land to the Greenbelt in this tight economy. Voters approved the Ann Arbor's Greenbelt Program in 2003. The program collects a 0.5-mill millage for the next 30 years. That money is used purchase the development rights to rural land around the city, preserving and protecting open space, natural habitats and farms. The program has acquired the rights to hundreds of acres or rural land.Source: City of Ann ArborWriter: Jon Zemke

Adaptive Materials adds 13 staff, named top women-owned biz

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Economic Development

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March 4, 2009

Last year was a good year for Ann Arbor's Adaptive Materials. The University of Michigan spin-off recorded 64 percent revenue growth in 2008. That allowed it to add 13 people to its staff and another 16 interns. "Almost every engineer had an intern last year," says Michelle Crumm, chief business officer for Adaptive Materials.The company was also named as one of the Top Women Owned Businesses in the State of Michigan by DiversityBusiness.com, the nations' leading multicultural Internet site. It's the second year in a row the company received this honor. It hopes to continue that success this year. The firm has several pending contracts this year, so it could be a grow-like-gangbusters or hold-the-line year. Crumm expects to keep hiring as her company takes on more work. Adaptive Materials got its start in 2001 when University of Michigan grad Aaron Crumm came up with a way of turning fuels like propane into electricity instead of heat. That means its technology can convert a small propane tank used for camping into a generator that can keep a fridge going in a blackout. Think an emergency generator strong enough to power appliances but small enough to carry in your pocket.The technology has taken off so fast that its had to move to three newer/bigger locations to handle the growth. It employs 61 people today and calls a 60,000-square-foot space on Ann Arbor's south side home. Adaptive Materials has also received a $6.2 million cash infusion from the state's 21st Century Jobs Fund that helped make all of this possible.Source: Michelle Crumm, chief business officer for Adaptive MaterialsWriter: Jon Zemke

ICON Creative Tech buys Ann Arbor Art Center annex

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Development News

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March 4, 2009

Creative people have inhabited 220 Felch for years but the type of creatives are changing now that ICON Creative Technologies Group has bought the building from the Ann Arbor Art Center.The single story structure, a block west of Main Street just north of downtown, served as an annex for the Ann Arbor Art Center, which has its headquarters in the heart of downtown. ICON plans to slowly yet steadily renovate and move into the space. The idea is to establish a bigger home for the 14-year-old Internet firm, which is about to burst at the beams at its current office. The company has 20 people at its 3,500-square-foot office on State Street in downtown. It expects to grow its staff to 60 people within five years. The 11,000 square feet of 220 Felch gives the company more than enough room for that growth."As we continue to grow, we don't want to be confronted with space issues every few years," says Rob Cleveland, CEO of ICON Creative Technologies Group. "With this footprint, we can easily accommodate our 5 year growth plans and open up other opportunities for services that we previously were not able to provide to our customers."ICON will occupy 6,000 square feet of the space this year, allowing a few of the building's tenants to stay on for the time being. Some of the space will also be leased back to the Ann Arbor Art Center so it can finish its classes through June.Purchasing 220 Felch gives ICON a bit of a port in the financial storm these days. Rents in downtown Ann Arbor have been steadily increasing and the other costs have swung violently. The addition of 220 Felch gives ICON a dependable and controllable overhead cost while giving the company enough space to expand.Source: Sara Johns, project manager for ICON Creative Technologies GroupWriter: Jon Zemke

Ann Arbor’s Cybernet Systems hires 3 PhDs, looks for staff

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Community Development

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March 4, 2009

When local leaders talk about creating the next generation of start-ups that will create the jobs that carry Washtenaw County into the future, they must have something like Cybernet Systems in mind.The Ann Arbor-based firm is celebrating its 20th year as a center for local research and development in the medical and defense fields. It employs about 50 people, along with a handful of independent contractors and interns. Last year it added three PhDs and grew its revenue by 20 percent. It expects to grow its revenue at least another 20 percent this year while adding another 8-9 people. Those are conservative estimates, according to Cybernet Systems' CEO Heidi Jacobus."Probably more," she says.The company plans to build on its existing federal contracts this year to propel its growth in 2009. That's a long way from where Cybernet Systems started on Jacobus' kitchen table two decades ago. Among its products are the Large Caliber Automated Resupply, which loads ammunition into tanks and unloads unwanted casings or ammunition remotely. Its Automated Tactical Ammunition Classification System sorts ammunition a costly and time-consuming task in the military. Cybernet Systems medical division developed a telemedicine service that enables physicians to remotely gather and review outpatient physiological data over the Internet. It was used in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.Source: Heidi Jacobus, CEO of Cybernet SystemsWriter: Jon Zemke