Novi

Macprofessionals to create 119 jobs over 5 years

By Newsroom

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January 20, 2011

Macprofessionals is continuing its fast march of job creation in Michigan, this week signing a tax break deal with the Michigan Economic Development Corp to create another 119 jobs in Michigan over the next five years.That would practically double the Novi-based firm's existing workforce of 122 employees. Macprofessionals plans to invest $2.2 million toward expanding its Novi base with the help of a $568,578 tax credit over five years. The 10-year-old company plans to hire 20-25 people each year to fulfill its hiring goal."We plan to grow our mobility division, which is our software team," says Kris Westman, a spokeswoman for Macprofessionals.The company specializes in everything Apple, ranging from iMacs to iPads and all of the cool gadgets that can be taken to a Genius Bar near you. It resells Apple products at its northern Michigan location, far away from the nearest Apple store, and teaches people about the line and how to integrate it. It also teaches hospitality businesses the ins and outs of Apple products.Macprofessionals recently opened up a retail location in Bay Harbor (near Petoskey) and a service office in Windsor. It's also in the process of moving from its 17,000-square-foot space to one that measures in at 40,000 square feet.Source: Kris Westman, spokeswoman for MacprofessionalsWriter: Jon ZemkeRead more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Oakland Co Medical Main St hits $21M in investment

By Newsroom

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Arts and Culture

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January 13, 2011

Oakland County's Medical Main Street notched a strong 2010, attracting $21 million in investment that retained or attracted about 600 jobs.The Medical Main Street program began in 2008 as a tool to help diversify Oakland County's economy by growing the health-care and life-science industries. Those industries represent 93,000 jobs today and are expected to create 45,000 new jobs over the next decade. The program helped six companies relocate or expand their operations in Oakland County."In the next couple of months you'll hear about more companies moving into the area," says Irene Spanos, senior business development representative for the Oakland County Economic Development Team. "We have a lot of projects in the pipeline."This year's totals are up from four deals worth $5.2 million in investment that took place in 2009. Spanos is expecting an even better 2011. She points to Oakland University's new medical school opening this year and its new stem cell center as reasons for optimism."This is going to be a good resource for us," Spanos says. "We can build on that."Source: Irene Spanos, senior business development representative for the Oakland County Economic Development TeamWriter: Jon ZemkeRead more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

ShindelRock grows staff & revenues, plans internship program

By Newsroom

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Arts and Culture

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January 13, 2011

ShindelRock is planning to do some hiring, but the company is basing its growth on both external and internal resources.The Novi-based accounting firm has hired two people in 2010 and expects to add a couple more this year. However, the 25-person company is looking for people that are interested in growing their career through the company's ranks in the long-term. It's also planning to start an internship program this summer."We'd like to start growing some people internally," says Steve Wisiniski, partner with ShindelRock.The 20-year-old company focuses on core and tax accounting and is growing in litigation and forensic accounting. That has allowed ShindelRock to grow its revenue by 9 percent in 2010, and it expects to score similar numbers this year. That should allow it to compete with companies not its own size, but bigger."We don't see our competition as our size or smaller," Wisiniski says. "We have really tried to streamline for costs savings across the board. It allows us to handle more complex clients. We see our competition as bigger firms like Plante Moran."Source: Steve Wisiniski, partner with ShindelRockWriter: Jon ZemkeRead more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Medical Main Street is just what the doctor ordered for Oakland County growth

By Ashley C. Woods

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Arts and Culture

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January 11, 2011

When Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson called for the creation of Medical Main Street, a concerted effort to bring life science and medical technology companies to Oakland County and Southeastern Michigan in 2008, four companies pledged what then seemed like a hefty fund: $5.2 million.

Oakland County makes energy efficient upgrades, saves $4 million

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Arts and Culture

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December 9, 2010

Window replacements, new weather stripping, new heating systems, and heating and cooling system management are all energy efficient improvements that Oakland County plans to make in its buildings.And with those improvements, savings are estimated at $627,000 a year on utility bills for those buildings, according to a recent audit.Art Holdsworth, director of facilities management for the county, says that although the audit turned up significant potential savings and improvements, it also determined that the county was already doing a lot of things right. "The audit was very complementary to the campus and what we've been doing here. We've gone a long way toward green activities and energy conservation."The $200,000 audit, done a few months ago, was paid for by a $4.8 million Energy Efficiency and Conversation Block Grant from the U.S. Dept. of Energy. More than $3.5 million worth of energy retrofit projects were identified, of which at least $2.5 million will be covered by the grant.Some examples of pending projects include tightening building envelopes through new weather stripping, new windows, and additional insulation; replacing inefficient heating and cooling systems; replacing light bulbs; and improving energy monitoring systems, such as controlling on and off times for heating and cooling.Holdsworth says the Dept. of Energy likes to have EECBG recipients using half their funds by the end of June, so over the next few months, the county will issue requests for proposal for the projects."Clearly the energy savings is very important because the county and local governments are seeing their revenues plummet, property devaluation, and so on," he says. "At the same time, if we can be environmentally friendly on top of the energy savings, and pursue them both hand in hand, then that's a real win-win."With other energy management technology, Oakland County has already saved about $4 million in utility bills over the last few years. These energy savings are part of Oakland County Executive L. Brooks Patterson's OakGreen Program and Challenge announced in May to encourage local governments, businesses and residents to reduce their energy consumption 10 percent by the end of 2012. For more information on the OakGreen Program and Challenge, click here.Source: Art Holdsworth, Director of Facilities Management, Oakland CountyWriter: Kristin Lukowski

Diversifying economy boosts Oakland County’s bond rating

By Newsroom

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Arts and Culture

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December 2, 2010

Seven years ago, Oakland County executive L. Brooks Patterson saw a headline proclaiming that 200,000 jobs had left Michigan. He turned his director of economic development onto a research project: look into what new sectors of business were being developed.By the next year, they had a program - Emerging Sectors, dedicated to growing new economy jobs.Now, six years after that program took effect, the county is reaping awards in addition to the jobs now in place -- Emerging Sectors was among the reasons the county's AAA bond rating was reaffirmed on the $3 million Bloomfield Township Combined Sewer Overflow Drainage District bonds and $1.2 million Highland Township Well Water Supply System bonds.What this means for the taxpayer is millions of dollars in savings. With a higher rating, there's less interest on the bonds, and taxpayers end up paying less. "It's a reflection of the confidence by Wall Street of how Oakland County is managing in these tough times," Patterson says.And, "It gives me as an elected official bragging rights," he jokes.Through Emerging Sectors, the county focused on growing the health care sector and worked to diversify the county's job base. "When we're done, we won't be recession proof, but we will be recession resistant because we have diversified our economy among many sectors," he says. "Wall Street saw that.""It's proof that we can and we will manage our way through these very tough times," he says.The sale of bonds was approved earlier this year for inspection and rehabilitation of the Bloomfield Township system; the Highland Township system will see 6,500 feet of new water main to connect two well water systems.Source: L. Brooks Patterson, Oakland County executiveWriter: Kristin Lukowski

MEDC deals spur $96.5M in investment, 269 jobs

By Newsroom

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Arts and Culture

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November 18, 2010

The latest round of tax incentives dished out by the Michigan Economic Development Corp are heavy on the automotive end again, scoring $96.5 million in new investment that should create 269 new jobs in Metro Detroit over the next five years.At the top of the list are Bright Automotive's plans to establish an engineering center in Rochester Hills for its plug-in hybrid operations. The Indiana-based firm plans to spend $11 million to create the office that will hire 204 people over five years, including 111 in the first year. Bright Automotive has developed a 100-plus-mile-per-gallon, plug-in hybrid electric vehicle called the IDEA."We want to be able to grow and expand rapidly," says Michael Brylawski, executive vice president of Bright Automotive. "There is no better place to do that than in the Detroit area when you're talking about high-quality auto engineers."Among the other tax incentive deals are:- Chrysler is receiving a state tax credit valued at up to $10 million to invest $80 million in its Sterling Heights Assembly Plant, a move that should help retain 1,809 jobs. Chrysler also received a state tax credit worth up to $15 million annually over three years to house the engineering for the new City Electric hybrid plug-in vehicle at its Technology Center in Auburn Hills.- Montaplast, a manufacturer of plastic injection molded products, plans to invest $2.3 million to move its research & development facilities from Southfield to a bigger space in Auburn Hills. The move is expected to create 25 jobs over the next five years.- Toyota Boshoku America plans to consolidate and expand its prototype operations to a new facility in Novi. The $3.2 million investment will create 40 new jobs over the next five years.Source: Michigan Economic Development Corp and Michael Brylawski, executive vice president of Bright AutomotiveWriter: Jon Zemke

Digital 10 Media grows three-fold, adds 10 employees

By Newsroom

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Arts and Culture

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November 4, 2010

Waiting in line at the Secretary of State office turned out to be a good thing for Dan Glisky, Jr. It's where he wrote the business plan for Digital 10 Media, a marketing company that specializes in providing the advertising that flashes across TVs at Secretary of State offices in Michigan.The Novi-based business is now expanding those sort of branding/advertising services outside of government offices and into local businesses, such as car dealerships, where there are people waiting to be served. It's also expanding its offerings to social media and search engine optimization marketing efforts."The numbers are staggering as to how many people are growing toward the digital mediums," says Matt Vargo, marketing director for Digital 10 Media. "We're growing and we're going to continue to grow. You would be surprised how many people don't have a website or have horrible websites."Taking advantage of that need has allowed Digital 10 Media to triple in size over the last year. The company has hired 10 people in that time, expanding its staff to 15 employees. Vargo expects to continue that exponential growth.Source: Matt Vargo, marketing director for Digital 10 MediaWriter: Jon ZemkeRead more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Electric car charging stations coming to metro Detroit

By Newsroom

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Arts and Culture

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November 4, 2010

Car fuel has come a long way - from steam to leaded gasoline - and now the metro area is preparing for the next technology, electric charging.Throughout the state, more than 5,300 home and workplace charging stations are expected to be installed through a collaboration between General Motors, DTE Energy, Consumers Energy, and others. The utilities will cover up to $2,500 of the cost of the charging station and installation.Novi and Northville are among cities in the area that will see electric car charging stations coming soon.GM's Chevy Volt is one of several electric cars soon to be hitting the public market. By the end of 2011, General Motors plans to have almost 350 charging stations in place for employees at its facilities in Michigan; more than 100 are already installed. That includes 18 planned stations in and around downtown Detroit's Renaissance Center.GM-installed charging stations for use by its employees in Michigan will include 34 at the Detroit-Hamtramck assembly center, where the Volt is built, and 140 in the homes of employees driving early-build models for quality evaluation. In addition, more than 1,500 Chevrolet dealers across the U.S. plan to install charging stations for use by customers, which includes nearly 650 dealers that will soon begin selling the Volt.And to further take advantage of clean energy, many of the charging stations at GM facilities will be powered by renewable solar energy; the Detroit-Hamtramck assembly center already has 10 stations in place powered by photovoltaic systems. A similar system will also be put in place at the Warren Technical Center and Milford Proving Ground.A grant program also exists for businesses and municipalities interested in installing charging stations. Business and municipalities in Michigan can apply online to own these free charging stations here.Coulomb Technologies' ChargePoint America program unveiled its first networked charging station in Michigan, at NextEnergy just outside of Detroit. It is the first of hundreds of public charging stations that will be installed throughout southern Michigan as a part of a $37 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy.Source: General Motors; ChargePoint AmericaWriter: Kristin Lukowski

Macprofessionals expands staff with new hires

By Newsroom

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Arts and Culture

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October 21, 2010

Most companies that double in size do so when they have a handful of employees, maybe a dozen. Macprofessionals isn't most companies. The Novi-based tech firm doubled in size over the last year, and what a jump that turned out to be."We have had huge growth in the last year," says Lisa Glush, president and CEO of Macprofessionals. "This time last year we had 60 employees."Today the company has 122 and another 20 independent contractors. It recently opened up a retail location in northern Michigan's Bay Harbor and a service office in Windsor so it can go after the Canadian market. It's also in the process of moving from its 17,000-square-foot space to one that measures in at 40,000 square feet.Macprofessionals specializes in everything Apple, ranging from iMacs to iPads and all of the cool gadgets Steve Jobs has introduced in between. It resells Apple products at its Bay Harbor location, far away from the nearest Apple store, and teaches people about the line and how to integrate it. One area that keeps the 10-year-old company busy is teaching hospitality businesses the ins and outs of Apple products."Apple's business is very mobile based with the iPad and the iPhone," Glush says.She expects to continue the company's double-digit growth with another 25-35 percent revenue increase over the next year. That should lead to another 20-30 hires as the company expands further into the Michigan market and into the Illinois and Wisconsin markets.Source: Lisa Glush, president and CEO of MacprofessionalsWriter: Jon ZemkeRead more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.