March 2005

Above: Dan Ross, CFO of Stargate Defense Systems Corp. in Eastlake, shows the SG1, a device to detect chemical agents in the air. Photo by Marc Golub.

Local Defense Manufacturers Take Pride
by Annemarie Donnelly

In 2001, terrorism at home became an unfortunate reality in the lives of all Americans. Four years later, daily news continues to center on the United States’ efforts to protect its citizens.
    A number of Lake County businesses partner with the U.S. Department of Defense, both in arming soldiers abroad and protecting against terrorism here.
    Companies must undergo a rigorous application process to secure a defense contract and then adhere to the strict inspection processes required by the government. The end result, however, can provide a business with a strong bottom line, along with the patriotic opportunity of protecting the country.
     “We take the work that we do very seriously,” said John Ribic Jr. of Rimeco Products Inc., a Willoughby company that makes spare parts for guns, tanks and airplanes used by the military. “We know that our parts are on a gun a soldier is using in Iraq, and it can’t fail. We are very aware of our responsibility.”
Ribic said that Rimeco also manufactures parts used on airport launch and recovery systems on military ships. “The inspection requirements for these parts are very strict, and the Defense people require that each and every part is individually inspected.”
     With the high stakes at hand, however, Ribic is not surprised that the government inspections are stringent. “It’s always amazing to me to be able to watch the news and see soldiers using guns with our parts.”
One well-known defense contractor is Steris Corp., based in Mentor. In response to the anthrax incidents of 2001, Steris’ Defense & Industrial segment successfully decontaminated mail facilities for the State Department and the General Services Administration. The company also decontaminated valuable records and one-of-a-kind artifacts for Tom Brokaw and the NBC News Studios.

Active in decontamination

      “After 9/11 happened, we knew we needed to work faster to develop large capacity decontamination and sterilization technologies,” said Kevin Marsh, senior director of communications services for Steris D & I. “The government realized that there were private companies that could provide these capabilities, and since 2002, we’ve worked with various government agencies interested in both gaseous and liquid decontamination technologies.”
     Marsh said Steris D & I is currently doing research and development work on technologies that could be used by soldiers in the field, or by anyone who might come in contact with biological or chemical agents. Steris is engaged in several collaborative R&D projects with the U.S. Army Edgewood Chemical Biological Center (ECBC), NASA and the Federal Aviation Administration. In addition, Steris is continuing to develop high capacity, large-scale decontamination systems, regional deployment of chemical-biological decontamination systems and biological sensor strips that can be incorporated into bio-detection kits.
     “It’s also important to note the awareness of the need to be able to decontaminate any environment as the spread of infectious disease is becoming more prevalent around the world, without harming the environment,” Marsh said. “The technologies we’re developing are environmentally friendly. For example, we’ve decontaminated a room with computers where computers were present, and afterward, they are still running.”

Protecting water supplies

      Eastlake-based Stargate Defense Systems Corp. was recently awarded a $1.27 million contract from the Army Research Center to develop a liquid agent detection system.
     Jim Woodruff, president of Stargate, said troops would use the system to detect the existence of chemical warfare agents such as nerve or mustard gas.
     “Our unit will detect substances like arsenic that are naturally occurring in water, as well as weapons of mass destruction like sarin gas or ricin,” he said. “There aren’t many devices that can do this, and currently the Army has a very complicated method of testing water. Our system will be used to check both actual water supply sites in advance of a purification process as well as water that is ‘tanked in’ to the military.”
     In addition to the water detection system, chief financial officer Dan Ross explains that the company is also working on a unit that will detect agents in the air. Moreover, systems are being developed that both the government and the private sector could use at walk-through detection sites such as those in airports and government buildings.
     “We’re working on units that will detect the residue of any chemical, as well as being able to detect a mass of any sort that may be hidden on you, not just something that’s metal,” Ross said. “The hardest thing to detect is biological agents, but we are one of the companies working on that technology. Eventually, we’ll have that ability.”
     Kaeper Machine is a small, family-owned business in Mentor that provides recoil buffers for machine guns used by the Army. The company was able to obtain its government contract with the assistance of the Northeast Ohio Procurement Technical Assistance Center, which is part of a statewide network of counseling offices providing free help to businesses interested in selling to government agencies.
     “In 1998, we received certification as a disadvantaged company, meaning that we’re small and our capacity is small. In addition, my father (company owner Kye Hwang) has a severe language problem, which helped us to qualify,” said Jinu Hwang of Kaeper Machine. “PTAC has really helped us through the paperwork and the entire process.”
     In fact, several companies interviewed named PTAC as the “go-to” place for local companies wanting government contracts. The center offers a list of contracts currently out for bid, and can guide a company throughout the application process. PTAC provides education, training and consulting services to businesses throughout the bidding process, as well as post-award assistance, said Bob Fenn, regional manager for PTAC. “We should really be the first place people go to learn about the contracts available and how to apply for them.”
     For Hwang and his father, the hardest part of working with the government was understanding and meeting the paperwork requirements.
“Working with the government requires an incredible amount of documentation and paperwork,” said Sam Dessecker of Ordnance Technology Services, a company that sells spare and replacement parts for Navy torpedoes. “When you sell something to government you have to have a trace on every single aspect of the product, almost like a pedigree, really. If a product is supposed to be manufactured of stainless steel in accordance with certain requirements, you must have every aspect of the manufacturing process documented to reflect that.”
     Dessecker said Ordnance Technology secures parts from a number of companies, most located locally, then represents those parts to both government and foreign navies using U.S. torpedo technology.
“That’s part of the service we provide, that we deal with the paperwork for these companies and handle the inspections,” he said. “So we’re able to work with a lot of companies that sell mostly commercial, and would not want to deal with the government on their own.”
     For those companies who learn the system, doing business with the government can be a profitable niche in their marketing strategy. Thermotion Corp. in Mentor has been selling tachometers used in avionics for the Defense Logistics Agency “for decades,” said Jim Ramsey, manager of government sales. Sold under the company’s Madison Electric Products division, the tachometer is used on compressors by the Navy and the Air Force.
“Each order includes a rebidding process that takes hours and hours of diligent research working with the various bidding or soliciting agencies of the government,” he said. “In some cases you have to be source-approved, and in others there is open solicitation.”
     Earning the “pre-approved” designation can be a challenge to a business working on its first government contact.
     “You can’t become a prime government contactor until you have credit, and you can’t get credit until you’ve done contract work,” Woodruff said. Stargate had been doing contract work for the Army for about seven years, which led to their new, large government contract, he said.
     Paperwork aside, each of these companies shares a sense of pride knowing they are supporting the military’s efforts.
     “It’s good to work on something that really has a benefit for people, that solves a problem that really exists today,” Ross said.
     Ramsey agrees. “Our employees and our suppliers absolutely feel a real sense of responsibility about the products we sell,” he said. “We know that our soldiers are using them and relying on them to operate well, maybe in critical situations.”

Annemarie Donnelly is a Mentor freelance writer.