Tech Companies Like Temperature of Delaware’s Business Climate
Published Apr 16, 2008
Micropore cartridges that filter out carbon dioxide have applications for national defense, homeland security and civilian uses.
When Boeing designers were looking for the best way to insulate the company’s new 787 Dreamliner for a quieter ride, they tapped the expertise of Bob Prybutok and his team of noise reduction engineers at Polymer Technologies Inc. The Newark-based company helps customers reduce noise in their products by laminating and fabricating custom-engineered composites.
“We serve a broad range of markets with considerable work in the areas of medical equipment and power-generation equipment. We also serve as a technical resource by consulting with customers on product design,” says Prybutok, the company’s president and chief executive officer.
Products manufactured by Polymer Technologies can be found on almost any medical device that makes noise. The company’s list of clients includes some of the world’s most influential names in business.
General Electric uses Polymer Technologies as its primary supplier of insulation to surround engines inside wind turbines to muffle noise. Defense contractors are working with the company to design, develop and manufacture acoustical and thermal components for the U.S. military’s family of medium tactical vehicles – known as FMTVs – and its mine-resistant, ambush-protected vehicles – MRAPs.
Prybutok says Delaware’s business-friendly environment and New Castle County’s forward-thinking attitude toward high-tech businesses have helped his company as it has grown over the years.
“Delaware’s economic development office has supported us in a variety of ways, including providing training funds to help us develop lean manufacturing,” Prybutok says. “New Castle County is also a very progressive place to do business.”
Prybutok founded Polymer Technologies in 1989 from his dining room after moving to the area in 1972 to work for a polyurethane foam lamination and fabrication company. Today, Polymer Technologies employs 140 people and occupies nearly 87,000 square feet of space in the Pencader Corporate Center, with a molded-products division in northern New Jersey.
Filtering out Carbon Dioxide
Also in the Pencader Corporate Center is decade-old Micropore Inc., the developer of ExtendAir technology. According to Chief Executive Officer Doug McKenna, the technology involves using absorbent chemical powders to make cartridges that filter out carbon dioxide.
ExtendAir has applications for national defense, homeland security and civilian uses – for example, aboard submarines, in mine-safety shelters, and for firefighters’ and scuba divers’ “rebreathing” gear.
“The product has really taken off,” McKenna says. “Since the end of 2006, we have gone from 15 full-time employees to 27 at the end of July 2007, and we increased our production capacity by 600 percent. We are in the process of bringing on new equipment that will increase our capacity by 10 times today’s rate.”
This growth will require Micropore to move to a larger facility, and McKenna affirms that it will be somewhere in New Castle County. The county’s location, well-educated workforce, favorable tax structure, desirable communities and access to elected officials made the decision to remain here an easy one, he says.
Recruiting people from far and near
Another local high-tech firm on the rise is Quantum Leap Innovations, an information technology company that conducts research and development for artificial intelligence.
Housed in an 18,000-square-foot building in the Delaware Technology Park, Quantum Leap Innovations has attracted employees from technology hotbeds such as Redmond, Wash., and California’s Silicon Valley to work on classified government projects.
“We have employees who can work for Microsoft or Google, but they choose to come here to Newark because the work is very exciting,” says the President and CEO Joseph Elad. “Our goal is to take the technology we develop with the government and focus on applying it to the public sector, particularly in the health-sciences area.”
With both the University of Delaware and its Delaware Biotechnology Institute within walking distance, Elad says Quantum Leap Innovations recruits interns locally from a highly qualified pool of applicants. The company also maintains a synergistic relationship with other major universities in the region.
“There are tremendous resources nearby, and the location is very central for easy travel to Washington, D.C., or New York City,” Elad says. “The community as a whole is very supportive of the technology sector in New Castle County.”
Story by Valerie Pascoe
Photo by Stephen Cherry
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