Design : Innovation & Job News

It’s a standard question in the metromode interview – are you hiring? Do you plan to hire anytime soon? (It’s not called the Innovation and Jobs News column for nothing.)  For Steve Frey of Universal Parametrics, Inc., the answer was simple: “We’re looking to fill six positions, immediately,” he says. “We are desperately seeking people.”

Ann Arbor-based Universal Parametrics, founded in 1999 to provide design and finite analysis services, has been on an upswing, growing exponentially over the years and recently moving into a new, 5,000-square-foot facility that Frey says gives the company room to work.

The new building, located on Highland Drive, includes a training center separate from the company offices, room for visiting companies to work and a shop where UP engineers can examine equipment.

Finding people to fill the space has been something of a challenge.

“Our biggest growth has been in sales staff,” he says. “When we started out in 1999, we did project work, where a company would hire us to work on a new design. Over the course of the last nine years, we expanded that, and we’re selling two different brands of software now."

Highly-qualified technical experts aren’t easy to come by, he says.

“Our customers look for very specific qualifications,” Frey says. The company is currently looking to fill six positions, five newly-created.

Source: Steve Frey, Universal Parametrics
Writer: Nancy Kaffer

As company growth goes, Creative Technology Services is on a stellar trajectory. Purchased from parent company MSX International just two years ago by the Creative Tech management team, the company is following a carefully-mapped growth plan obtaining new clients, launching a new company and adding 45 new positions in 2007 alone.

Canton-based Creative Tech is a contract assembler focused on the medical device marketplace primarily dealing with major players like the Johnson & Johnson companies, explains Vice-President of Sales and Customer Service Jim Smyth. For years, Creative Tech has done major assembly of the iBot, a smart wheelchair invented by Segway guru Dean Kamen that can climb stairs and master curbs.

Smyth says the company has recently obtained new contracts, such as life sciences corp MacuChek to assemble the MacuScope. The MacuScope is the first commercial instrument capable of accurately measuring and tracking macular protective pigment density (MPPD) in the center of the eye, according to the company’s Web site.

In the past, Smyth says, Creative Tech has only assembled such devices, but is expanding into another market sector.

“We’re also in the process of launching a new company, Next Mobility, which is basically a distribution company for mobility devices for the disabled,” Smyth says.

The company’s 45 new jobs, he says, have been added across the board – quality technicians, engineering staff, program managers, assembly techs, marketing support for Next Mobility, product developers, designers, and has added members to the customer service team and complaint-handling department, required for the company’s top-level Food and Drug Administration certification.

"We expect that we will continue to grow," Smyth says. "2008 is really a year for the execution of all the plans we’ve put in place - we’ve launched two new products in the last quarter, as well as a new company."

Source: Jim Smyth, Creative Technology Services
Writer: Nancy Kaffer

SmithGroup has learned that in today's economy sometimes it pays to think local.

A national architecture and engineering firm with 800 employees, 150 of them housed at their Detroit office, the company has bolstered its profile with work on a number of prominent local projects, including the MGM complex, the DIA expansion, the renovation of the Cranbrook Art Museum and the Boll Family YMCA in downtown Detroit.

In the green scene, the company designed the new Science and Media Building at Madonna University (pictured) and the Visteon Village corporate head-quarters. Both projects are seeking Silver LEED certification.

SmithGroup actively recruits talent from University of Detroit Mercy, Lawrence Technological University and the University of Michigan to meet its staffing needs. SmithGroup also sustains an active internship program that not only gives students real world experience, but exposes students to the social network of downtown Detroit. A full 50% of interns become full-time hires.

Even younger future architects and engineers are developed through Exploring Post, sponsored by the Boy Scouts of America. In this program, co-ed students are exposed to these careers through hands-on training activities.

Building Design+Construction named SmithGroup as one of the "Best AEC Firms to Work For." While the internship and mentoring programs surely contributed to the nod, the company mandates 8.5 hour workdays and 42.5 hour work weeks -- which adds up to 15 Fridays off a year.

Source: Camille Thompson, SmithGroup
Writer: Kelli B. Kavanaugh

When Christina Lovio-George founded her public relations firm in Midtown Detroit more than 20 years ago, people were skeptical to say the least.

Today, the company has an expanded purview and some of the most high-profile clients in Southeast Michigan -- all housed in the same 1904 Victorian she started the company in.

Lovio-George has quite a sense of humor about her beginnings. "Most people thought my brain had fallen out of my head," she says. But she felt that the pros --including proximity to Wayne State University, neighborhood bars and restaurants, as well as being "part of a community,"-- far out-weighed the cons.

Her decision proved prescient. Until 2000, Lovio-George estimates that 80% of the firm's business was outside of Detroit proper, including a good percentage of out-of-state work. As the area around LovioGeorge grew, that changed -- she now estimates that 90% of her work is generated from within the city of Detroit.

The firm's turning point was being engaged with Detroit 300. Within months, LovioGeorge had contracts for Superbowl XL's host committee, the Ryder Cup and the Detroit RiverFront. "I was like, 'Holy smokes!' " says Lovio-George. "It was totally an about-face. I still shake my head about that point."

The firm was able to holistically embrace such challenging jobs because back in 1994 it had added a creative group which specialized in branding, advertising design and placement, website design and more. "We found that clients were reluctant to give creative business to someone who was out-sourcing," says Lovio-George. This end of the business has netted the firm two Emmies.

Over the years, the firm has grown from 1-1/2 employees to 17. Lovio-George characterizes the growth as "steady." She anticipates more hires, but thinks that the firm will have to either cap hiring or move to a bigger space when they hit 21.

Current projects that have Lovio-George excited are the Thanksgiving Parade, continued work with the Detroit RiverFront and the opening of the Motor City Casino Hotel. Of the latter, she says, "It will give a real sense of the city to people staying in it."

Source: Christina Lovio-George, LovioGeorge Inc.
Writer: Kelli B. Kavanaugh

MGM Grand took a gamble on a small local firm when it opened its temporary Detroit casino back in 1999. Ever since, its relationship with Hamilton Anderson Associates has escalated to the point where the architecture firm has grown to 130 employees and has opened an office in Las Vegas. Now, the little firm that could is hard at work on CityCenter, a 76-acre mixed-use Vegas development billed as the largest privately financed development in the country.

HAA was founded in 1994 by architect Rainy Hamilton and landscape architect Kent Anderson. They moved from Hamilton's house into a Harmonie Park office that same year, where the firm has remained ever since. Their first move in 13 years is set for next spring, when they will relocate to the First National Building. The new office will be 10,000 square feet larger than their current 25,000-square feet digs and occupy the second and third floors of the office tower.

HAA had a growth spurt in the mid-1990's to about 50 employees, big enough to get noticed by MGM. It was hired as a "sub- sub-contractor" on the casino's build-out of its temporary Detroit location, remembers Hamilton. That work pumped the firm's numbers up to about 90.

By the time MGM was ready to begin work on the permanent casino, they felt comfortable enough with HAA to award them the lead role in a joint design partnership -- with SmithGroup -- for the $800 million complex. That, along with the CityCenter and other various MGM jobs in Sin City, has boosted the ranks to the 130 figure that exists today. "Our work has really blossomed," says Hamilton. "MGM has been a great client for us."

But don't think for a moment that MGM is HAA's only client. They've won awards from the National Association of Minority Architects for the last three years in a row, for the Detroit School of Fine and Performing Arts, Youthville and the Southwest Public Safety Center.

Although it's too soon to tell how the MGM Grand campus will impact the amount of work that HAA lands locally, the firm is optimistic. "I would say that, because it has been such a departure for what exists in Detroit, that it's raised the bar and raised expectations for entertainment and hospitality projects," says vice president Tom Sherry. "We were in a leadership role in that project, which certainly caught people's attention. People look at us a little bit differently."

Sources: Rainy Hamilton, Tom Sherry and Heather Thomas, Hamilton Anderson Associates
Writer: Kelli B. Kavanaugh

Laptop Design USA is moving from a 5,000 to a 23,000-square feet Dearborn location. The company is considering utilizing a portion of the building as an incubator.

Excerpt:

The company applies high-quality automotive coating and paint processes to the task of painting and decorating laptop computers and other electronic gear.

Among the company's highest-profile current projects: painting a special series of computers for Lenovo, the Chinese manufacturer of the IBM ThinkPad, with the theme of the 2008 Olympic Games in China.

Read the entire article here.

Mexican officials were in town last week to explore opening more than a dozen local offices for mostly auto-related businesses.

Excerpt:

The Technology Business Accelerator, or TechBA, which was created by the Mexico Ministry of Economy and the United States-Mexico Foundation for Science, helps smaller high-tech Mexican companies establish operations in the global market.

At a cost of $1 million to $2 million, the proposed TechBA offices would service about 15 Mexican businesses with a maximum of 250 employees, according to Mexican officials.

Representatives from several Mexican ministries and the foundation met with Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson, TechTown Executive Director Randal Charlton and Kenneth Nisbit, executive director of Tech Transfer at the University of Michigan.

Read the entire article here.

WH Canon Company is number 41 on this year's Landscape Management "LM 110" list, which ranks companies nationally by revenue.  The company's work can be seen all over Metro Detroit, including the LEED-certified Ford Rouge Plant in Dearborn. "That was a big project, a great project for us," says Karl Koto, project manager and landscape architect.

Other LEED projects that WH Canon has been involved with include the Kresge Foundation and Fairlane Green shopping center in Allen Park as well as construction on the Detroit RiverWalk. While most of their work is local, they have been commissioned for work in Texas, St. Louis, Chicago and Ohio.

WH Canon was founded in 1993 by president William Canon. While employment is seasonal, it averages 160 to 200 in the summer. "We expanded quite a bit several years ago and have somewhat leveled off," says Koto. "We have had consistent growth, billing-wise, every year, and we are at a good number for our size."

Koto has observed a shift in the type of work the company is doing because the new housing market has dried up. "There's been more investment in hospitals and universities, so our work has been more of that."

Source: Karl Koto, WH Canon
Writer: Kelli B. Kavanaugh

When Noah Kaplan and Jeff Gordon founded Leon Speakers in 1998, they had no idea that, not only would they make careers out of it, but said careers would be thriving.

Leon's niche is the design and manufacture of custom-built on-wall speakers for flat plasma screen televisions. What really sets them apart, however, is the invisibility of the speakers. Kaplan, who is the company's president, says, "We make each cabinet to exact size and color of any TV, in three to five days." That one-of-a-kind craftsmanship coupled with a quick turnaround gives their dealers around the country good reason to recommend Leon to their audiophile clients -- they are currently able to produce 3,000 to 5,000 custom boxes a year.

Leon speakers are so on the 'down low' that there is no logo identifying them. As for their sound, Kaplan describes it as "high fidelity, with clarity -- vocal clarity and directional clarity. It's like a speaker on steroids, it's night and day from what we're used to hearing coming out of television."

While the company typically built systems for high-end plasma TVs --they don't come with speakers-- they are also able to "do Leons" for those that do come with speakers built in.

Kaplan says the speakers are distributed through 500 dealers nationwide, with about 100 that he characterizes as "really super active." There are 18 Leon dealers in Michigan, including Paragon Sight and Sound in Ann Arbor and Audio Video Alternatives in Royal Oak.

Leon is in the process of moving from a 5,000-square foot building in Whitmore Lake to an 11,000-square foot one in Pittsfield Township. "We're more than doubling the joint," says Kaplan.

The expansion will also provide room for employee growth; the company plans to add 15 to 35 to its current roster of 15. Kaplan: "We're going to increase a lot craftsman and bring on interns in marketing and promotions, sound engineer guys and ramp up our manufacturing here in Ann Arbor."

The company chose to stay in Southeast Michigan for multiple reasons. Kaplan says, "Detroit is an amazing manufacturing city, with a ton of amazing machine shops and mills. The supply chain is amazing and the rents are far superior to any big major cities. We love the talent pool, with so many skilled people." He hopes for the move to be complete by the end of the month.

Source: Noah Kaplan, Leon Speakers
Writer: Kelli B. Kavanuagh

Realtime Technology AG, or RTT, a German graphics software company opened a Royal Oak office to be nearer to the automotive engineering industry in the Detroit area. The staff has grown from 1 to 15 since 2005, and is expected to reach 30 this year. The new office was designed to function for up to 55 employees.

The company designs 3D graphic software that renders products so accurately that manufacturers use it to modify product design and materials without actually having to build prototypes.

RTT's client list includes Adidas, Audi, BASF, General Motors, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, Thyssen Krupp and Volkswagen. They were recently awarded The Favourite Web Site Award for their Audi R8 marketing video. 

In a statement, RTT COO Peter Stevenson said, "RTT is dedicated to bringing our design software to new companies in Michigan and promoting the growth of the state's economic future."

Source: RTT
Writer: Kelli B. Kavanaugh

Sibling entrepreneurs Nowal and Karim Motawi have grown a two-person tile-making operation into one that utilizes a 12,000-square foot factory in Scio Township, produces 25,000 square feet of artisan tile per year and was recently awarded the sole contract to produce Frank Lloyd Wright tile designs.

Excerpt:

Q: How will you grow the business in the future?

Nawal: We outgrew our last five-year plan in three years, so we are reassessing now. Karim: We will be adding a bigger retail location here and adding some of our products on the outside (of the building). And the Frank Lloyd Wright project is a big, big project for us. Nawal: I'm still not clear on the potential in that for us.

Read the entire article here.

Effective September 1, 2007, Reed Kroloff will become director of Cranbrook Academy of Art and Art Museum, succeeding Gerhardt Knodel, who is retiring following more than 30 years of service for the Academy. 

Currently Dean of the Tulane University School of Architecture, former editor-in-chief of "Architecture" magazine, Kroloff was chosen following a seven-month national search.

Having arrived at Tulane a year prior to Hurricane Katrina, Kroloff had a significant impact, spearheading the recovery and prominence in the post-storm environment of the school. Kroloff helped raise a record # million in gifts and research grants, retained 97% of the school’s students and 100% of the faculty following the storm. 

During his tenure as the Editor-in-Chief of Architecture, the magazine received more awards for editorial and design excellence than any other publication of its kind.

Prior, Kroloff was a tenured professor and the assistant dean at Arizona State University, where he received the first-ever "Award for Academic Excellence" from the Arizona chapter of the American Institute of Architects.

Cranbrook Academy of Art is a preeminent graduate level school of art, design and architecture. For more information, visit cranbrook.edu.
 
Source: Cranbrook Academy of Art and Art Museum

The hunt for high quality architects is on! SSOE, an international architecture and engineering firm, currently employs 160 professionals in their three Michigan offices-- Troy, Portage and Flint—and plans to expand each.

Their Southeast Michigan office, located in Troy, employs 116 and plans to add additional staff by the end of the year. David Rose, the manager of the office's health care division, says,  "We have a number of requisitions open right now—we are actively trying to hire."

Rose says that SSOE has found it "challenging to find good, qualified people." He explains that many mid-career architects left the field in the late 1990's up through 2002-03 because of loss of work. Therefore, the field of architecture is "very thin" when it comes to that level of the profession. 

The Troy office also has a retail division; Rose says both are seeing growth. He explains that the retail component of the office's business is expanding because of its work with national clients such as Meijer's, Mervin's, Rite Aid and PetSmart. 

As for health care, the industry in Michigan is also growing, albeit conservatively. SSOE recently completed surgery additions to the Mt. Clemens Regional Medical Center and Oakwood Hospital and are planning an addition at Children's Hospital in the Detroit Medical Center. They are working to expand their health care expertise into Ohio. "We want a strong regional presence centered in the Troy office."

As for the general state of architecture in Southeast Michigan, Rose observes "reasonable growth," noting that many local firms are finding out-of-state work while major national firms are opening up branch offices here, further "contributing to the current difficulty in hiring."

SSOE is the 14th largest engineering and architecture firm in the country. Founded in 1948 and headquartered in Toledo, it has more than 800 employees in 16 offices in the United States and China.

Source: David Rose, SSOE Troy office
Writer: Kelli B. Kavanaugh

Jacobsen/Daniels Associates (JDA) just signed a contract with Cleveland International Airport to provide on-call planning. It's just the latest success for the Ypsilanti-based firm which has seen 400% revenue growth in the last five years.

From concept and planning through design and construction to facility management and operation, JDA client list includes some of the largest and busiest airports in the world, with projects around the country that have a total value of $3 billion dollars.

Since incorporating in 2001, Bradley Jacobsen and Darryl Daniels  have grown from an office of two to a firm 20 strong. The firm has an active internship program that has hired 8 of the 40 interns they've had over the last six years and since January they've added three fulltime positions. By the end of 2008 JDA hopes to bring in another 6-8 hires.

"We're at the stage where we need to invest if we want to grow to $5-10 million in the next 5 years," sas founding partner Bradley Jacobsen. JDA's revenues for 2007 are expected to reach $2.4 million.
 
"We read all the news about MIchigan's economy and we think it's small businesses like ours that are going make the difference. Along with local talen we've actually brought in four or five people and had them relocate from other states."

Source: Bradley Jaconsen, Jacobsen/Daniels Associates