Sterling Heights

UHY adds nearly 20 jobs in Farmington Hills, Sterling Heights

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May 9, 2013

UHY, an accounting firm, has traditionally scored its revenue gains from word-of-mouth marketing for most of its 40-plus years of doing business. Now the Farmington Hills-based firm is helping buffet its current growth streak with some more conventional marketing efforts. "We have done a lot of branding over the last couple of years," says Dennis Petri, partner with UHY. "We have done a billboard campaign highlighting some of the principals in the firm." That work has allowed the company to notch significant revenue gains (either high single digits or low double digits) in each of the last few years. Last year it hit 8-percent growth and is on track to do it again in 2013. UHY specializes in providing financial, tax, and business consulting services to mid-sized and larger companies. It has been able to attract a number of new clients in the last year, which has allowed it to hire nearly 20 people in the last year. The company now has 260 employees and more than a dozen interns, most of which are in its Farmington Hills headquarters and its Sterling Heights office. "We have an excellent recruiting program," Petri says. "We have a couple of excellent individuals who do recruiting for us, most of which occurs at college campuses." Source: Dennis Petri, partner with UHY Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

AQABA Technologies leverages Google partnership for growth

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Technology & Innovation

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May 2, 2013

AQABA Technologies is enjoying double-digit growth because of its growing relationship with one of the biggest names in tech, Google. The Sterling Heights-based firm began working with the Google Engage Agency Program last year, which required months of training and flying back and forth between Detroit and Silicon Valley. "We have been landing large contracts and more intricate work because of our relationship with Google," says Ramsey Sweis, president of AQABA Technologies. The 9-year-old tech firm's revenue has been on a steady trajectory since the economic downturn. It went from clocking single-digit revenue gains in 2010 to 40-percent growth in 2011 and 62-percent growth last year. The firm has watched its client list expand to more than 200, which includes not only work from new clients but expanding existing work with old customers. "The key to our longevity is the loyalty of our customers," says Ramsey Sweis, president of AQABA Technologies. That allowed the company to hire three people, expanding its staff to nine employees and two interns. It is currently looking for an account executive and expects to make one more hire later this summer. Source: Ramsey Sweis, president of AQABA Technologies Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Metro Detroit ranks 14th nationally in percentage job growth

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Community Development

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April 25, 2013

In a good comeback story, Metro Detroit is no. 14 in the country in terms of percentage job growth from 2011 to 2012, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. More here.

Post-industrial? Detroit needs a new word

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Community Development

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April 25, 2013

Detroit's economy is facing forward. Now it just needs some new verbiage. Excerpt: "Former heavy manufacturing hubs around the Great Lakes like Pittsburgh, Detroit, Cleveland, and Milwaukee often get roped together under the heading of "post-industrial" (when, that is, we're not otherwise identifying them by their prevalence of rust). The term poses at least two problems, though: Industry still exists in many of these places, and the very notion of defining them by their relationship to the past can hamstring us from planning more thoughtfully for their future. "You've got the 'post-war,' you've got 'post-modern,' you've got 'post-9/11,'" says Paul Kapp, an associate professor in the school of architecture at the University of Illinois and an editor of the book SynergiCity: Reinventing the Postindustrial City. He was speaking Sunday at the annual meeting of the American Planning Association (hosted in what's often considered the post-industrial city of Chicago). "You get to a point," Kapp says, "where you've got to say, 'When does post-something end and you do something new?' I think with 'post-industrial,' we're at that opportunity now. I think it's now time to come up with a new term." More here.

Munetrix triples revenue on sales of software to cities

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General

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April 25, 2013

Munetrix is starting to gain traction in its market. The 3-year-old tech firm has tripled its sales over the last year and is on track to double its revenue again this year. The Auburn Hills-based start-up is developing a software platform that focuses on making local municipalities (think school districts and cities) more transparent and accessible. The platform incorporates social media, web-based financial tools and database management. The idea is to enable local government to network more effectively and build long-range fiscal roadmaps in a fraction of the time legacy systems require. "It's not just a business intelligence tool that a client installs," says Bob Kittle, president of Munetrix. "It's an open forum that is available to the world." Kittle adds that the software is "built from a citizen's perspective," making it more accessible to everyday people. The price for each customer is set by its population base, so smaller municipalities like Ferndale (a customer) don't pay as much as Wayne County (also a customer). Munetrix now has approximately 750 jurisdictions at low-level subscriptions and more than 140 at premium subscriptions. "It works out well for everybody," Kittle says. Munetrix, which is a client of the Sterling Heights-based Macomb-OU INCubator, currently employs a team of nine staffers and an intern. It recently hired a marketing coordinator and is looking to hire an office manager. Source: Bob Kittle, president of Munetrix Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Atlantic Cities maps Metro Detroit’s creative class

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Arts & Culture

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April 18, 2013

A great, comprehensive article on how the 7.2-square-mile greater downtown Detroit is growing posher by the minute, it seems, and how and why its deindustrialized metros (and certain Detroit neighborhoods) are landing the creative class. Excerpt: "Two of the top 10 creative class tracts are in Birmingham; two are in Bloomfield Township, and another is in Bloomfield Hills, home to some of the priciest real estate in the U.S. and the Cranbrook educational community. Designed by Finnish architect Eliel Saarinen, the architecture critic Paul Goldberger called Cranbrook "one of the greatest campuses ever created anywhere in the world." University of Michigan's Little points out in an email to me: "Cranbrook graduates have added to the cutting edge design and creative communities of Detroit and the nation for decades." Another top creative class tract is in nearby Troy, a sprawling middle-class suburb with excellent public schools, and the site of a high-end mall, the Somerset Collection. Two are in Huntington Woods, a leafy neighborhood that boasts such notable amenities as the public golf course Rackham and the Detroit Zoo. Two more are in the "Grosse Pointes" — Grosse Pointe Farms and Grosse Pointe Park — the communities of choice for many of Detroit's old industrial magnates, whose lakeshores are lined with sprawling Gilded Age mansions." More here.

American Hydrostatics triples Sterling Heights space

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Economic Development

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April 11, 2013

American Hydrostatics has moved to a bigger facility in Sterling Heights, allowing the automotive supplier to continue expanding its staff at an aggressive clip. The 30-year-old business has hired seven people in the last year with most of the hires coming in the control engineering, electrical engineering and skilled trades areas. Its staff now sits at 20 people and the company expects to double its employee base this year thanks to its new home, which is three times as big as its previous home. "We couldn't find a space as big as ours in Troy for the price we're paying in Sterling Heights," says Sri Bramadesam, principal of American Hydrostatics. American Hydrostatics, a minority-owned firm, provides industrial automation, maintenance, repair and operations (MRO) distribution services, controls engineering, field service, maintenance, and engineering services. It recently landed a $1 million investment from Delta Asset Advisors. American Hydrostatics plans to work with local community colleges and technical institutes to find the 20-25 hires it expects to make this year. Bramadesam sees this expansion as an opportunity to replenish the local manufacturing talent pool that was significantly drained in the most recent economic downturn that bankrupted a lot of automotive suppliers like his. "We navigated through it," Bramadesam says. "We emerged much stronger." Source: Sri Bramadesam, principal of American Hydrostatics Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

LogiCoul Solutions hires 3 after move to Macomb-OU INCubator

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Economic Development

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March 28, 2013

LogiCoul Solutions spent its first couple of years trying to gain traction for its battery enhancement technology in Massachusetts. The 4-year-old start-up began to pick up speed last year when it switched its focus market from mobile devices to automotive and made the move to the Macomb-OU INCubator. That shift brought three jobs to Sterling Heights and brighter prospects for the firm. Its team notes the difference in how Metro Detroit's business community is more collaborative and helpful as a significant reason for its optimism. "If people here can't help you, they point you in the right direction," says David Stout, executive vice president of LogiCoul Solutions. LogiCoul Solutions is developing technology that sends electromagnetic waves to a battery, which lowers resistance and creates more useful energy. The bottom line is a longer-lasting and more energy-efficient battery. The company won the Emerging Business award at the 2011 Great Lakes Entrepreneur's Quest business plan competition, an experience that played a significant role in attracting the business to Michigan. LogiCoul Solutions also recently received $9,872 from the Business Accelerator Fund of the Michigan Small Business and Technology Development Center. That seed capital will help the business do more testing on its technology. "If we get the results we expect to get, we think our technology will be in automobiles within a few years," Stout says. Source: David Stout, executive vice president of LogiCoul Solutions Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Macomb-OU INCubator scores more than $1.2M in grants

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Community Development

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March 21, 2013

Macomb-OU INCubator has landed a couple of large grants this year, totaling to a bit more than $1.2 million in new funding. The business accelerator based in Sterling Heights has won a $500,000 marketing grant from the state of Michigan to help get the word out about its entrepreneurial efforts. It has also scored a $776,000 federal grant from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency to help get more local companies involved in the defense and homeland security industries. The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency grant is meant to help encourage more Metro Detroit companies to engage the growing defense sector in Macomb County. The grant helps pay for educational programs, such as showing them how to clear the federal hurdles to compete for defense contracts. It is also looking to set up a $350,000 matching funds program for companies looking to raise seed capital. "We want to help some people with some matching awards," says Larry Herriman, director of Michigan's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency Matching Funds program. "We want to sweeten the pot." The Michigan Economic Development Corp also awarded a $500,000 grant to the Macomb-OU INCubator. The money will allow the business accelerator to provide entrepreneurial resources, capital, and provide more assistance and access to Oakland University resources and the student internship program. It will also beef up program offerings to small business clients, such as the Lunch and Launch series, Fireside Chats (where successful entrepreneurs tell their stories), an Executives-in-Residence program, business advisory boards and a monthly Capital Raise Meetup. Source: Larry Herriman, director of Michigan's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency Matching Funds program Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.

Range Gen hires 10, scales up in Sterling Heights

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Economic Development

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March 14, 2013

When Nathan Oakes launched his energy and mechanical services firm Range Gen two years ago, he looked at only one space to base it out of, the Macomb-OU INCubator. The Sterling Heights-based incubator helps companies and organizations with large automotive fleets become more fuel efficient and operate in a more optimal manner. The Macomb-OU INCubator's deep contacts and resources in Metro Detroit's defense and homeland security sectors provided the prime platform for Range Gen's launch. The company is now preparing for a significant scale-up this year. "It is really in a class of its own," says Oakes, president & CEO of Range Gen. "There isn't one organization that is doing the type of work that is being done at the Macomb-OU INCubator." Range Gen now employs 14 people and is getting ready to welcome a handful of interns (its first batch) this spring from Oakland University. It has hired 10 people in the last year and expects that number to grow exponentially in 2013. "We are turning the corner, so to speak," Oakes says. "With Diesel at $4.15 a gallon, our services are in high demand. ... We are growing pretty quickly. We believe in the next 100 days we will have 200 bodies (120 permanent jobs, 80 temporary positions). We are close to signing a couple of big clients." Source: Nathan Oakes, president & CEO of Range Gen Writer: Jon Zemke Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.