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CRAIN’S CLEVELAND BUSINESS
WWW.CRAINSCLEVELAND.COM
Manufacturer paints promising scenario AlSher APM plans for growth after move to Cleveland
“Sherwin-Williams is encouraging a number of third parties to develop ... technologies surrounding titanium dioxide.”
By DAN SHINGLER dshingler@crain.com
– Mike Conway, spokesman, Sherwin-Williams Co.
Tiny titanium particles are creating a few jobs on Cleveland’s East Side — and could produce a couple score more if a new company there is successful. AlSher APM (the APM stands for Advanced Performance Materials) last week unveiled its new, 20,000square-foot plant on Detour Avenue, with Cleveland Mayor Frank Jackson and a few other politicians and business leaders in attendance. AlSher chairman Tom Forman said the company will make products that consist of micron- and nanosize particles of titanium dioxide, which can be used in white paint, dyes and pigments, as well as in special air filters that use fabric coated with the materials. The company received about $500,000 in financial incentives from the state and city and about $1 million in tax abatements, Mr. Forman
said. It’s backed by between $10 million and $15 million in private investment. It only employs about six people at present, he said, but plans eventually to employ about 40, as dictated by demand for its products. Mayor Jackson praised the company for choosing to move to Cleveland from Nevada and said it is exactly the kind of long-term, sustainable business the city needs and is working to attract. AlSher officials credited city economic development director Tracey Nichols, specifically, for her work in facilitating the move. The company already makes some products, such as coatings for UVactivated filters, but will need to develop more, Mr. Forman said. So, right off the bat, the company is hiring two Ph.D. chemists to bolster its research-and-development staff, he said. Once it develops more products
that can be used in paints and coatings, the company might have a leg up on selling those products, because it works closely with Sherwin-Williams Co. here. AlSher originally was a joint venture of Cleveland-based Sherwin-Williams and Nevada’s AltairNano, Mr. Forman said. SherwinWilliams bought the company outright in 2010 and then sold it to Cleveland-based venture capital firm 5iTech, which moved it to Cleveland. As for whether the company will sell large volumes of product to Sherwin-Williams, that remains to be seen, Sherwin-Williams spokesman Mike Conway said. “Sherwin-Williams is encouraging a number of third parties to develop new or improved technologies surrounding titanium dioxide,” Mr. Conway said. “AlSher is one of these parties.” That said, Mr. Conway did note that his company will work closely with AlSher. Whether it buys from AlSher largely will depend upon AlSher’s success in developing products, he said. “They certainly have a close dialogue with our technologists,” Mr. Conway said. “So this is something we welcome, having them in our back yard.” ■
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SEPTEMBER 19 - 25, 2011
IT: Some businesses expand operations; others on standby continued from PAGE 1
Rising tide
expansion is Thinsolutions of Lakewood, which over the past 12 months has hired 10 people, including five this summer, said Mr. Fischer, the company’s CEO. The IT services company — which employs 39, including 30 in Northeast Ohio — endured a “scary” 2009, but now enough new business has been coming in to justify expanding, Mr. Fischer said. Though the economic news that has rattled Wall Street has gotten his attention, Mr. Fischer said he’s not all that worried. Not only is he hiring, but so are many of the 13 other IT companies from across the country that he meets with every few months. “Everybody that I talk to is definitely growing, even if it might be a slower pace,” he said. The percentage of companies reporting that they are not hiring has declined by 22 percentage points — or more than half — since the third quarter of 2010, when it stood at 40%. That figure fell to 26%, a record low at the time, in the fourth quarter. It hovered in that range before dropping to 18% in the second quarter. By comparison, 56% of companies reported that they were not hiring during the first quarter of 2009. Other statistics in the survey backed up the hiring trend, though not every number in the report was positive. For instance, 21% of respondents described their performance in the most recent quarter as “very good.” That figure was lower during the second quarter of 2010, but it has fallen by 9 percentage points over the past two quarters, said Brad Nellis, executive director of NEOSA. Mr. Nellis said he was shocked by how few companies said they were not hiring, though he does see a lot of anecdotal evidence to support the low number. “Virtually every tech company is hiring somebody right now,” Mr. Nellis said.
Steve Wiser of Specialized Business Software Inc. in Solon was among the respondents who reported that their companies are expanding. The business, which sells document management software, custom applications and IT services, has filled five new positions since the start of 2011. It now has 23 employees. Specialized Business Software started hiring people mainly because of a few big contracts the company won in late 2010, Mr. Wiser said. “Everything seemed to improve with the economy,” he said. Same goes for OEConnection LLC, a Richfield company that provides software that allows car and truck dealers to exchange parts online. OEConnection has hired about 40 people so far this year and now has more than 220 employees. When the auto industry stalled in 2009, so did OEConnection’s growth. The company, which typically expands its staff by 15% to 20% each year, started filling new positions again in 2010, said Amy French, director of marketing. “For us it was a direct tie to the recovery in the automotive industry,” Ms. French said. Virtual Hold Technology LLC, based in northwestern Summit County, has been in a “constant hiring” mode since March, said president Mark Williams. The company, which sells software that helps call centers call people back instead of putting them on hold, employs more than 100 today, up from about 90 on Jan. 1, and it’s shooting for 125 by year end, he said. His company’s experience aside, Mr. Williams noted that he works with several IT companies outside the region that aren’t hiring. Plus, he said he’s “seeing a more cautious tone from customers” because of uncertainty in the broader economy. “I think companies are going to know where they stand by the end of the year,” he said. ■
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