Ben Franklin Program Invests $740,000 in Six PA Companies

Sept. 22, 2011 - PRLog -- September 21, 2011

For further information:
Liz Wilson, Ben Franklin Technology PArtners CNP
814-898-6650
lizwilson@psu.edu

Ben Franklin Program Invests $740,000 in Six Central PA Companies


STATE COLLEGE, PA – On September 20, 2011, the Board of Directors for Ben Franklin Technology Partners/CNP, approved investments totaling $740,000 in five tech-based start-ups and one established manufacturer located in central and northern Pennsylvania. The Center’s Board also approved funding for a university-based research project involved in developing fuel conversion kits for heavy duty fleet vehicles.

For nearly 30 years, Ben Franklin has made investments in central Pennsylvania’s entrepreneurs, tech-based start-ups, and small manufacturers with the goal of assisting them in developing new technologies, hiring additional employees, and increasing sales. For more information on the program, click on http://www.cnp.benfranklin.org

The companies that received a Ben Franklin investment are:

Located in Centre County, Buzby Networks, LLC has developed the BuzNet™ Real-Time Locating System (RTLS), an innovative wireless indoor positioning system.  The product, which is based on ZigBee wireless mesh-networking technology, accurately tracks the position of tags placed on equipment and individuals.  With applications in many markets, the company is focused initially on the problems associated with keeping elderly patients secure in senior living care centers.  For more information, click on www.buzbynetworks.com

Established in Huntingdon County for nearly ninety years, the John R. Wald Company, Inc. specializes in the establishment of industrial facilities in correctional institutions as well as license plate manufacturing plants worldwide.  The company has developed an Inkjet printing system that allows printing direct to license plate blanks.  This innovative concept enables their customers to accept short run orders and lowers scrap levels.  Digital printing eliminates long lead times, and Inkjet printing is a fraction of the cost of digital thermal transfer printing.  For more information, click on www.jrwald.com  

Pequea Machine Company, located in Lancaster County, is a family-owned manufacturer of several product groups including farm equipment.  One of the company’s larger niche markets is hay tools. Their leading product is a rotary hay rake that relies on a rugged gear box that is currently only available from European suppliers.  As delivery, reliability, and cost have been major problems for the company, Pequea along with the help of Lehigh University, intends to design and manufacture an improved gear box in their own plant. For more information, click on www.pequea.com

Kendall Innovation LLC, also located in Lancaster County, plans to become the leading supplier of innovative, high-efficiency heating equipment for residential applications.  The company’s initial product is an ultra-efficient heating boiler which, in addition to using much less energy, is simple to install and retails at twenty-five percent lower than standard modulating condensing (mod-con) boilers.  The average household in the Northeast, where most heating boilers are sold, spends $1,000 each year on home heating.  Competitors in this space offer high-efficiency boilers, but they carry a high price tag, and the payback period is often in excess of ten years.  For more information, contact Mr. Mark Kendall at 717-393-2312.

Green Lighting LED, a division of JCR Sales and Mfg, is located in Erie County.
Green Lighting has designed a LED light fixture that replaces the fragile, energy-inefficient traditional fluorescent fixtures commonly used in the harvesting of mushrooms. The state of Pennsylvania, currently houses 81 million square feet of production in mushrooms and along with California represents sixty percent of the mushroom growing market in the United States. During the cleaning process, the average mushroom farmer typically breaks 300 fluorescent tubes.  In addition to the expense involved in replacement and clean-up, the breakage exposes personnel and crops to traces of mercury. For more information, click on www.GreenLightingLED.com  

Also located in Erie County, PSI Medical Catheter Care, LLC has developed a catheter care system engineered to prevent bacterial contamination in hospital/operating room settings. Infections, resulting from bacterial contamination, are one of the nation’s largest public health challenges.  On an annual basis, 1.7 million patients are effected and nearly 99,000 die as a result. The company’s innovative product, which includes the DOCit™, HubScrub™, and Station, disinfects 30 times faster and is compatible with all needle- free access devices including connecting tips, injection sites, and their accessories.  PSI Medical is currently in clinical trials in 11 operating rooms at Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center.  For more information, click on www.psipartners.com

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Ben Franklin Technology Partners/CNP, an initiative of the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development and funded by the Ben Franklin Technology Development Authority, provides investment capital, operational assistance, and entrepreneurial support, to emerging tech-based companies and small, existing manufacturers for the purpose of creating and retaining jobs in Pennsylvania. Contact the central office of Ben Franklin in University Park at (814) 863-4559, or see our website at www.cnp.benfranklin.org for a listing of satellite offices.