Pittsburgh : Innovation & Job News

UMF Medical, a Johnstown company that makes exam tables and other equipment for hospitals, clinics and doctors' offices, has sold to international customers since the business' founding in 1956. But in recent years, it has switched from merely taking orders to actively seeking overseas customers.

Eileen Melvin, UMF's president, says many Pennsylvania manufacturers could find markets for their products in other countries if their executives took the time to pursue them. She credits the state's Center for Trade Development with helping businesses like hers with research on promising markets abroad, setting up meetings with potential customers and arranging visas, passage through customs and hotel stays. Through this office, which employs 20 trade representatives in various nations, UMF has been able to connect more easily with businesses in the Middle East and Latin America. "When we got there, we could actually talk business," Melvin says.

UMF's fastest-growing market is Saudi Arabia, which has a growing, aging population increasingly facing health problems such as diabetes. The company also has a promising customer base in the United Arab Emirates and is expanding into other countries in the region. "They really appreciate the quality of U.S. manufacturing," Melvin says.

Additionally, her business is reaching out to customers in Latin America and Europe. It is planning to take part in a business development trip to France and Germany later this month, along with Gov. Tom Corbett.

Source: Eileen Melvin, UMF Medical
Writer: Rebecca VanderMeulen

Two healthcare companies on opposite sides of the state are joining together in a move expected to help both businesses grow.

Earlier this month The Tomayko Group, a Pittsburgh firm that sells, maintains and finances medical imaging equipment, announced that it was the new owner of the majority of shares for CardioLogic, a Philadelphia-area startup that sets up and staffs nuclear imaging laboratories. Tomayko's lines of business also include hiring staff for medical testing offices and providing employer health programs.

Jack Tomayko, president of The Tomayko Group, says the deal seemed like a good idea after his company financed several CardioLogic projects. The new arrangement will give Tomayko a foothold to expand its business in the Philadelphia region, he says. Between them, the two companies cover all of Pennsylvania.

CardioLogic, based in Bala Cynwyd, manages Philadelphia-area labs that run medical procedures such as cardiac stress tests. Its new partnership with Tomayko will make it easier for CardioLogic to pursue its goal of expanding into more hospitals and into new geographic areas, company President Dan McNally says.

"We can now tap much larger resources through their management team in Pittsburgh," McNally says. He will keep his job and CardioLogic will remain its own business.

Sources: Dan McNally, CardioLogic; Jack Tomayko, The Tomayko Group
Writer: Rebecca VanderMeulen

The new CEO of an economic development organization in northwest PA plans to tap into the region's assets to attract and retain more businesses.

Randy Seitz, formerly head of the Oil Region Alliance of Business Industry & Tourism, took over last month as CEO of the Penn-Northwest Development Corp., covering Mercer County, on the Ohio border. He stepped into the role after Larry Reichard retired.

Seitz sees his new job as a natural progression from his last position in a similar role in Oil City and its surrounding county. In his seven years there, he was credited with helping lure new businesses, including an asphalt plant and a FedEx distribution center that moved to a bigger facility within Venango County.

Seitz sees several strengths in Mercer County, which has about 117,000 residents compared with 55,000 in Venango. Mercer has plenty of inexpensive land that's ready for modern industrial parks, access to Interstates 79 and 80, and a low cost of living. Plus, the 6 million visitors that shop at the Grove City Premium Outlets every year make the area perfect for retail expansion, he says. Seitz plans to draw more business to Mercer by marketing these assets, and assembling attractive financing packages.

"If I can get companies that never knew they wanted to be here and attract them, it's a win-win for everybody," he says. "We are truly a low-cost alternative to corporate America's expansion plans."

Source: Randy Seitz, Penn-Northwest Development Corp.
Writer: Rebecca VanderMeulen

The safety and efficiency of our cars, roads and bridges affects us every day, and the U.S. Department of Transportation is giving colleges around the country millions of dollars to find ways to improve it.

One of those grants, for $3.5 million, is going to Carnegie Mellon University and the University of Pennsylvania, which plan to work together over the next two years on several transportation-based research initiatives. Ten faculty members at
Carnegie Mellon and six at Penn have been assigned to the project, and each will focus on a specific subject. Areas of study will include transportation policy, road safety and technology that can make driving more efficient.

Government officials from Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, along with the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation, will advise the researchers. Raj Rajkumar, the Carnegie Mellon engineering professor who will direct the group, explains that the federal funding will last for two years and he hopes it will be continued later.

He sees several possibilities for technological improvements that could come out of the project. For one thing, vehicles may be able to collect information about unsafe intersections and warn drivers to be especially careful when they approach these areas. This communication could also communicate with traffic lights and prevent annoyances like waiting at a red signal for several minutes at a deserted intersection. Vehicles in the future might be able to signal to these traffic lights so they turn green. "Your car can basically tell the traffic light, 'I'm here,' and it's not getting that signal from anyone else," Rajkumar says.

Source: Raj Rajkumar, Carnegie Mellon University
Writer: Rebecca VanderMeulen

Access to super-fast Internet is one of the building blocks of 21st-century life. Over the next few years, that access is expected to arrive in parts of Pennsylvania that still don't have it.

An organization called KINBER, which stands for Keystone Initiative for Network Based Education and Research Network, is in the process of assembling 1,600 miles of fiber that will form a network of high-speed Web access. When it's completed, the network will connect cities including Williamsport, Mansfield, Bradford and Lewisburg to faster Internet. All told, the network will snake through 39 counties. Its name is PennREN, short for the Pennsylvania Research and Education Network.

Jeff Reel, KINBER's executive director, explains that PennREN is meant to connect nonprofits including libraries, school districts, local governments and public broadcasting stations. These groups often lack the money to get high-speed Internet on their own, and building networks in sparsely populated areas makes little commercial sense.

"At my house, the best I can do is a 300K uplink to a satellite to get something approaching Internet," says Reel, who lives about 10 miles from State College. "That's just not acceptable in the modern world."

The first segment of the network, from Bethlehem to Philadelphia, is expected to be finished in March. The plan is for community institutions, such as colleges and hospitals, to serve as local hubs for the network. Then smaller organizations can connect to the hubs. The effort is being funded by $99.6 million in federal stimulus money, and KINBER plans to help pay for the connections through partnerships with private organizations.

Source: Jeff Reel, KINBER
Writer: Rebecca VanderMeulen

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A southwestern Pennsylvania company that makes custom-designed metal buildings is adding onto its plant and expects to hire more workers.

Corle Building Systems designs and builds structures for a variety of customers including churches, farms, schools and water parks. About 120 people work at its facility in Imler, about 30 miles south of Altoona. While its shop takes up about 130,000 square feet now, that space was becoming inadequate for a company that experienced its best year in 2011. One problem with Corle's current setup is that when steel for its buildings is painted, it can take as much as 18 hours to dry.

A 33,000-square foot addition that's expected to be finished by May will include a system in which paint will be mechanically sprayed onto the metal and cured in an oven. The whole process will take an hour or two. Frank Kmetz, Corle's national sales manager, adds that the painting area will have its own ventilation system that will prevent paint vapors from leaving the building. The company expects to hire about 10 more workers for the plant.

Kmetz says a talented workforce has allowed the company to grow. Also, some competitors have closed and others have consolidated in recent years. As a result, he says, other companies can take up to 16 weeks to fill an order. Corle's average lead time is between four and six weeks. "We’re extremely busy," he says.

Source: Frank Kmetz, Corle Building Systems
Writer: Rebecca VanderMeulen