Technical Problem Solutions adds staff on growth in work abroad

Paul Rosko has one of those storybook careers in the automotive industry that starts on the factory floor and ends in a management office. However, Rosko's story isn't over yet now that he has his own company, Technical Problem Solutions.

Rosko worked as a machinist in a tool-and-dye shop for 20 years before he worked his way into the management at General Motors. That worked for a little while as Rosko solved technical problems in the corporation. But it didn’t take too long to see the writing on the wall.

"When you get to a certain age at a big company your career aspirations can become limited," Rosko says. "I was 50 and had gone about as far as I could at General Motors."

So he left and started his own consulting company, Technical Problem Solutions, in 2007. The Troy-based firm helps larger companies, primarily in the automotive industry, figure out better ways of doing business. Rosko says he named the company Technical Problem Solutions because that is what he is good at. He didn't realize at the time that the acronym for the firm would be synonymous with the hated reports from the movie Office Space.

"I didn't think about Toyota Production System either," Rosko says. "I wanted to name it something that I could sell in 10-15 years."

Prospects for a sale are looking up these days. Technical Problem Solutions doubled its revenue in 2013 and is on track for 25-50 percent revenue growth this year, thanks to increasing workload abroad.

"We've been doing a lot of work in Russia over the last two years," Rosko says. "That has helped us a great deal as we expand globally."

Technical Problem Solutions now serves markets in Europe and Asia. That has allowed it to hire two people over the last year, expanding its staff to seven employees and about 40 independent contractors.

Source: Paul Rosko, CEO of Technical Problem Solutions
Writer: Jon Zemke

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