5 companies receive awards from RCBI - Beckley, Bluefield & Lewisburg News, Weather, Sports

5 companies receive awards from RCBI

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By Whitney Burdette - email

  • BusinessBusiness

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Rep. Nick Rahall, D-W.Va., applauded Marshall University, Concord University, community colleges and the Robert C. Byrd Institute for partnering in an effort to boost jobs with funding from the U.S. Economic Development Authority.

Rahall announced May 23 that five of the region's small businesses will team with RCBI to boost jobs with funding from the EDA. Marshall, Concord and RCBI are partnering to form a new program called INNOVATE WV through an EDA grant awarded to Marshall last year. Five companies will participate in the program to create jobs and retain and grow existing businesses, especially those in the technology-based manufacturing sector, according to information from Rahall's office. Rahall, speaking at the University Center Advanced Manufacturing Awards ceremony, said the program needs and deserves support.

"We need continued federal investment in RCBI, Marshall, Concord and our community colleges to match the national need for worker training and fostering innovation," Rahall said. "It is a little bit like Yankee ingenuity marrying Southern hospitality. How do we best wed the entrepreneur's idea to the latest tools in technology and get them working, living and producing jobs together? And, hopefully, producing more than one job every nine months. Today were are building on the jobs mission of the center by presenting these five awards."

The INNOVATE WV program will help small manufacturers and inventors use the facilities at RCBI to turn their ideas into working models with awards of up to $10,000.

The companies receiving awards are:

 

  • Blue Gold Inc., located in White Sulphur Springs. Blue Gold has a water purification device that, when installed in water lines for large HVAC units, eliminates buildup of calcium and other chemicals. Blue Gold will use its award for design and will use RCBI for fabricating some of its material. In addition, Blue Gold has a patent pending on the water purification product, and its application for health care facilities is under review.
  • Siston-Lane LLC, located in Williamsburg. Siston-Lane will work to design an energy-efficient lighting system. The company will work with RCBI on design drawings and building prototypes of houses of different sizes for installing the lighting technology.
  • VinTech Manufacturing, located in Gauley Bridge. VinTech will use advanced software packages for design drawings to produce 3-D prototypes of a lightweight coal mine man-trip that will transport miners underground. The current man-trips are made of steel, and battery life is short. By using ultra-light weight materials, VinTech hopes to increase energy efficiency and production. RCBI'S Advanced Manufacturing Centers will work with VinTech to prototype components for fabrication.
  • Carbon Fiber Composites, located in Ona. This company produces prototype aircraft components for Samson Motorworks Switchblade, a three-wheel motorcycle type vehicle with a fully enclosed cabin and folding wings. RCBI will help tool the prototype's composite parts at RCBI Bridgeport and at CFC Ona Airpark.
  • Tramco, located in Williamson. Tramco is working to double the life of electronic motors used in coal mining through innovative design and fabrication processes. Design and 3-D modeling work and advanced manufacturing will be performed at RCBI.

 

Rahall said companies attempting to learn and understand new ways to produce more efficient and cost saving products is "at the heart of any hard-driving economy." He also said he has high hopes for the future of the RCBI awards.

"The efficiencies achieved with the ideas being showcased today not only build a better product, they save energy and costs," Rahall said. "Businesses, workers and the family consumers all win.

"More importantly, we do not expect the life of these awards to end with our first five businesses receiving today's awards," Rahall added. "We hope they will continue as ambassadors for the program, spreading the word to other local entrepreneurs. We hope other small businesses can devise, design, manufacture and market other new products or inventions urged on by learning about these successes."