A private, Warsaw-based musculoskeletal product developer focused on extremities plans to integrate its manufacturing and development operations at a location in the city where it will expand its workforce more than four-fold.
Nextremity Solutions Inc. employs 24 at a couple of locations in the city. It is partnering with West Hill Development to invest more than $4.5 million transforming a West Hill shell building in Warsaw Technology Park to accommodate the operations it plans to start relocating by the end of the year.
Nextremity kept its headquarters in Warsaw to keep it in the unofficial orthopedic capital of the world, it said in an announcement.
“Indiana has a rich tradition of strength in life sciences, ranking second in the U.S. for these critical exports like pharmaceuticals, medical devices and orthopedics,” Indiana Secretary of Commerce Jim Schellinger said in the announcement.
“Nextremity Solutions’ commitment to innovating and growing its operations in Indiana is a testament to our industry strength and skilled talent pipeline. The company’s expansion will create more high-quality career opportunities for Hoosiers while providing life-enhancing products for customers across the U.S.”
Work on the building at 1195 Polk Drive is underway and is scheduled for completion by April 2021. By the end of 2024, the company expects to employ more than 111 there.
“This is such an exciting time for our team at Nextremity Solutions as we expand our capabilities to create, manufacture and deliver innovative solutions to our strategic alliance partners and to other orthopedic companies,” Rod Mayer, Nextremity president and CEO, said in the announcement.
“The shell building provides the ideal location for us as we create a synergistic partnership with Lakeland Technology going forward.”
Earlier this year the company announced the acquisition of Lakeland Technology, Inc., a contract manufacturer for the medical device industry.
With an ISO 13485 quality standard certification, Lakeland Technology does precision machining, finishing, inspection, custom instruments and instrument packaging as well as design for manufacturability, and is known for building complex assemblies.
“We are excited to support a locally-owned, locally-grown company like Nextremity Solutions pursuing an aggressive growth plan in our community,” Warsaw Mayor Joseph Thallemer said in the announcement.
“We had companies like this one in mind when we first sought to establish the Warsaw Tech Park nearly 10 years ago.”
The IEDC offered Nextremity up to $1.6 million in conditional tax credits and up to $100,000 in training grants based on its job creation plans.
The Warsaw Redevelopment Commission and Warsaw Common Council also planned to support the project with economic development incentives.
The economic development incentives offered for the project demonstrate “our ongoing focus on supporting the future of the orthopedic industry in Warsaw,” Alan Tio, Kosciusko Economic Development Corp. CEO, said in the announcement.
“We will continue to draw on our hard-to-match industry supply chain and workforce, competitive state and local business climates, and nationally known quality of life amenities, to build on our legacy as the ‘Orthopedic Capital.’”
The technology park was established through a West Hill partnership with the Warsaw Redevelopment Commission. The developer has put up three shell buildings there.
WEOC receives $420,000 award from the SBA
The Women’s Entrepreneurial Opportunity Center has received a $420,000 award to expand its services at the Northeast Indiana Innovation Center during the pandemic.
Projecting up to half the nation’s small businesses are at risk of closing within the next 12 months, the Small Business Administration awarded the funding to support the launch of a 12-month program called Equity and Prosperity for Women Reimagining Their Businesses.
EmPWR services will provide education, training and business advising in 83 Indiana counties.
“We appreciate their leadership to marshal financial resources to enable WBCs to provide a cadre of value-added services and support to our most vulnerable small businesses in Indiana,” Leslee Hill, WEOC director, said in an announcement.
“This grant will allow us to offer targeted reset and reimagination services to meet small businesses where they need us most − capital access, innovation services, and addressing critical supply chain gaps and dislocations,” she said.
Some of the services are designed specifically for small businesses that have seen declines in customer or sales levels, staffing challenges, supply chain disruptions or closures as a result of COVID-19.
“What we have seen with the emergence of COVID-19 is Indiana small business challenges fall into two categories: near term and longer-term,” Karl LaPan, NIIC’s president and CEO, said in the announcement.
“They need to redefine their new normal and focus on liquidity and cash flow. This will improve their chances of survivability. Longer-term, they need to reimagine how to address major business issues, customer acquisition gaps, logistics issues, new solutions, new methods of working, and reinventing themselves.”
The Innovation Center is recruiting part-time staff for EmPWR, including a community outreach coordinator and a project manager.
“Since 1953, the mission of the SBA has been to help small businesses start, grow, expand, and recover,” Stacey Poynter, SBA Indiana district director, said in the announcement.
“We are honored to fund initiatives through our resource partners like WEOC at the NIIC that will help entrepreneurs get back on track by reimagining and building their businesses for the future.”
Accessibility to EmPWR participants and helping them form partnerships will be among the more important responsibilities of program staff, along with providing the kind of guidance that can help reduce frictions typically encountered when building a business.
More information on the program is available at https://theniic.org/empwr/.
Ignite Institute welcomes applicants
High school students has through June 7 to apply for a two-year Ignite Institute summer program that Founders Spark and Young Leaders of Northeast Indiana created to immerse them in a world of entrepreneurship.
“This program aims to recruit 15 young leaders who show promise and interest in entrepreneurship to learn how to manifest that into something greater,” Founders Spark said in an announcement.
“Students will gain fundamental knowledge in entrepreneurship, a connection to mentors and resources in our community, and access to a YLNI Leadership Institute.”
Applicants must be at least 16 and no older than 21 and live in Fort Wayne by June 15 to qualify for the program. More information on it was available at http://foundersspark.com/ignite/.
First commercial spacecraft launches
A reusable, orbital class SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched the company’s Crew Dragon capsule with NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley on May 30 so it could dock to the International Space Station over the weekend.
The demonstration mission launched from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida was carried out by the first commercially built and operated U.S. crew spacecraft.
“Today a new era in human spaceflight begins as we once again launched American astronauts on American rockets from American soil on their way to the International Space Station, our national lab orbiting Earth,” NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said in an announcement.
“I thank and congratulate Bob Behnken, Doug Hurley, and the SpaceX and NASA teams for this significant achievement for the United States,” he said.
“The launch of this commercial space system designed for humans is a phenomenal demonstration of American excellence and is an important step on our path to expand human exploration to the Moon and Mars.”
As the Crew Dragon’s second test flight and the first with astronauts aboard, the mission was designed to validate the SpaceX crew transportation system for regular flights to the space station as part of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program.
“This is a dream come true for me and everyone at SpaceX,” Elon Musk, SpaceX chief engineer, said in the announcement.
“It is the culmination of an incredible amount of work by the SpaceX team, by NASA and by a number of other partners in the process of making this happen. You can look at this as the results of a hundred thousand people roughly when you add up all the suppliers and everyone working incredibly hard to make this day happen.”
SpaceX leased a former space shuttle control room as a base from which to control its Falcon 9 rocket until switching control of the mission to a center in Hawthorne, California, after the Dragon Crew ascended into space.
