Spinworks: Providing a New Twist on Energy Savings
All bottom lines are affected by rising fuel prices-and rarely is that more true than in the industrial heat-treating sector. In this industry, even modest improvements in energy-use efficiency can spell tremendous cost savings in a short amount of time. And for entrepreneurs with vision and experience, this reveals a promising niche market.
Five years ago, Penn State faculty member Tom Briselden, Lecturer in Engineering at the Behrend campus in Erie, partnered with Marty Kasprzyk to address that need and carve out Spinworks, a small business that manufactures silicon carbide inserts for industrial furnaces. The company, which opened for business early in 2001, weathered a rocky start in the tumultuous 9/11 economy but has been on the upswing ever since.
Increasing the Efficiency of Heat Transfer
Heat transfer is driven by temperature but is limited by surface area, says Briselden, company president. SpyroCor improves efficiency by doubling the amount of surface area available. This is done through a patented twisted “Y” design that produces non-turbulent high convection flow, resulting in the highest rate of uniform heat transfer possible.
The product helps manufacturers reduce fuel costs while allowing them to improve productivity and avoid new capital expenditures, says Briselden, who runs the company from Knowledge Park on the Penn State Behrend campus. Joining him are his brother, Jim, who oversees financing; Roy Hardy, who manages sales; and Kasprzyk, the original inventor of the SpyroCor product that Spinworks markets to major manufacturers such as Ford, GM and Chrysler.
“Providing a technology-based solution to an ongoing industry problem is a real challenge, and we believe we’ve met that challenge head-on. The competition for our product is more than 20 years old and can be very costly to implement,” says Briselden.
Steady Growth
The company has grown from a skeleton staff of two to nearly 20, including interns from the engineering department of Penn State. Spinworks is poised to grow to nearly $40 million in sales over the next decade.
Along the way, the company was aided by the Ben Franklin Technology Partnership three times, including the original $100,000 start-up grant. That grant came at a pivotal point for the fledgling business, Briselden says. Six months into 2002, the company was still reeling from the unpredictable post-9/11 economy, and its principals met to make the difficult decision to close its doors.
“That afternoon, someone from Ben Franklin contacts us to let us know that they have a check for $100,000 for us,” he says. “It was literally the exact same day. It could not have been more dramatic.”
Spinworks has been on the upswing ever since, he says. After a series of refinements, the company settled on a successful sales, marketing and distribution formula during its second year, and faces little competition on the technical side of the business equation.
A Smart Investment
“There are other companies out there that promote energy-saving devices,” Briselden says, “but we’ve been able to show that the energy payback with SpyroCor is greater.”
Briselden credits BFTP with smoothing out many of the bumps along the way, and he’s confident his company will show sustained growth over the next five years.
“No question about it,” he says. “We’ve made the commitment to innovation and we’ll be coming out with at least two new products over the next couple years. No question that they’ll take our company where it needs to be.”
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