UB Business Alliance Awards SPIR Funds to 6 Companies

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- The local branch of the Strategic Partnership for Industrial Resurgence (SPIR), based in the University at Buffalo School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS), has awarded grants to six Western New York companies.

The SPIR program is designed to help create and retain manufacturing jobs at small and medium-sized companies in New York State.

Through the UB program and similar ones at the SUNY university centers at Binghamton and Stony Brook, and the SUNY College at New Paltz, SPIR aims to bolster the state economy by promoting the transfer of knowledge from university to industry and providing consultation, research facilities and resources for industrial restructuring.

Funded by New York State, the SPIR grants cover up to 50 percent of a project's cost for hiring faculty members, students and other technically trained personnel and fees for using sophisticated research facilities, such as those available at UB.

The program provides partial funding for technical projects supported by SEAS at the University at Buffalo. Qualifying projects include those focusing on new product development, product redesign and/or enhancement and process improvement activities.

"The program's success is largely a result of the knowledge, skill and resourcefulness of the faculty, staff and students of the School of Engineering and Applied Sciences," said Becky Landy, chief operating officer of the UB Business Alliance. According to Landy, engineering faculty, staff and students working with the extensive analytical and testing laboratories and facilities of the SEAS have helped to drive job growth and job retention for SPIR participants.

In the past year, 16 SPIR projects, collectively awarding over $130,000 of SPIR funds, have helped local business throughout the region. Receiving the six recent grants were:

* Buffalo Color Corporation, which manufactures indigo dye - the coloring in blue jeans -- received $19, 583 in SPIR funds to more effectively recover and re-use plant waste.

* Val-Kro, Inc., an industrial metal finisher, received $2,000 to conduct compliance assessment of its quality system against the current industry standard.

* OhmCraft, Inc., a manufacturer of fine film resistors, received $6,570 to evaluate the performance of its Indium Tin Oxide resistor series and to help evaluate the advantages of a new product.

* Renold, Inc., a manufacturer of power transmission equipment, has received $3,456 in SPIR funds to provide training in lean manufacturing and worker productivity improvements.

* An-Cor Industrial, a plastics manufacturer, has received $4,193 to do industrial "pressure drop" analysis for current and proposed exhaust systems at company's power generation plants.

* American Allsafe, Inc., which manufactures personal protective equipment, received $2,528 to develop ergonomic solutions to improve productivity of assemblers in manufacturing cells.

Local firms interested in learning more about the SPIR program should contact the UB Business Alliance's director of business development at 636-2568, ext. 15, fax at 636-5921 or by email at dhollen@uballiance.buffalo.edu.