5 minute read
CHASING INNOVATION
Chasing Innovation By Tabari McCoy Scooter Media
Northern Kentucky companies continue to push forward in their respective industries
Advertisement
What do most people think of when they think of Kentucky? Could it be bourbon, college basketball or perhaps the famous bluegrass that gives the Commonwealth its nickname? The expanding Northern Kentucky business community, however, suggests a different answer altogether: Innovation.
In February 2020, it was reported that the Greater Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky region was home to more Fortune 500 companies per capita than New York, Chicago or Los Angeles. Amazon, Citi and L’Oréal USA are among the national brands that have a home in Northern Kentucky, but they are far from the only companies thriving south of the Ohio River.
Get to know three of the dozens of companies helping Northern Kentucky to lead the way in innovation across their respective industries.
Innovative Kentuckians
Ephraim McDowell (1771-1830): Performed first successful surgical removal of an ovarian tumor, 1809. He settled in Danville and began his practice as a surgeon. Matthew Bacon Sellers (1869-1932): Among first to experiment with gliding and power flight, aeronautical research.
Garrett A. Morgan (1877-1963): African-American inventor who originated a respiratory protective hood similar to modern gas masks. Invented first automatic, tri-color traffic signal, 1923. John T. Thompson (1860-1940): United States Army officer, inventor of the Thompson Machine Gun (tommy gun).
PICTURED: Nathan B. Stubblefield (1860-1928): Successfully demonstrated wireless voice transmission radio, 1892. Born in Murray, died in Almo, Kentucky.
MAZAK USA
Founded: 1974 Location: Florence No. of Employees: 600 at the Florence facility
“We make the stuff that makes the stuff.” This description of Mazak from company president Daniel Janka is simple, but it makes sense. That’s because there is no denying Mazak’s innovation has pushed the company to be one of the world’s largest machine tool companies, essentially serving as the start of the supply chain. The North American headquarters of the Oguchi, Japan-based company, Mazak’s Florence complex manufactures machines that create parts to build machines across the automotive, medical, aerospace and consumer technology industries, among others. This includes machines that can make titanium landing gears for airplanes to small components like cylinder heads in engines.
Janka says the company is actively innovating several projects designed to meet current needs. This includes developing more automation to help resolve the deficit in the U.S. manufacturing labor force while potentially creating new, high-paying jobs and digital manufacturing solutions that can connect machines on the production floor. The company is also tackling the heightened focus on cybersecurity with edge devices that prevent information being transferred from one machine to another from being hacked. What’s key to being successful and innovative in a high demand sector? Janka’s answer is simple: “The people.”
“Our human capital is our most valuable resource and having access to the education and technology in this region helps us fuel innovative thinking and innovative ideas. There’s almost nothing we can’t make when we put our minds to it.”
CAR-PART.COM
ETHOS LABORATORIES
Founded: 2011 Location: Newport No. of Employees: 158 full-time + contracted
Voted one of the 2021 “Best Places to Work in Kentucky” by the Best Companies Group, Car-Part.com has grown significantly from its origins as a family-run salvage yard in Ft. Wright. Now operating with employees in 25-plus states, the company’s innovative foresight has made them a leading provider of web solutions for automotive parts recyclers nationwide.
Company co-founder Roger Schroder says his company uploads several million parts from 4,000 different parts suppliers throughout North America daily. This allows body shops, insurance claim repair personnel and dealerships to use their web site as a one-stop shop to find parts. “Instead of looking at 1,000 websites, you can just go to Car-Part.com and it'll tell you who has the part, how much it costs, and you can contact them directly,” says Schroder. Now looking to expand into processing e-commerce transactions directly, Schroder says innovation comes from following an old business staple: Listening to your customers when they tell you what they need and figuring out how to best give it to them.
“It’s having the insight to know that if you can save people time and make life easier for your customers, suppliers, the parts’ buyers, it’s a good thing,” he says. “It’s better to spend the extra time to do it right for people whenever you can.” Innovation is one of the 12 core values fundamental to Ethos Laboratories, the Newport-based medical testing and assessment facility dedicated to “positively contributing to the pain management community by improving the lives of patients.” Accredited by the College of American Pathologists in August 2014, innovation has allowed the high complexity toxicology lab to experience significant growth from its original home: A former children’s daycare facility in Fairfield, Ohio, with playground equipment and child-size restroom facilities to match. Ethos’ dedication has resulted in the development of its Foundation Pain Index (Foundation PI), which looks at 11 biomedical origins of chronic pain to find non-opioid-based treatments for patients. This is in addition to last year’s development of Tru-Immune™, a test that “detects the presence and magnitude of neutralizing antibodies that prevent infectivity of the COVID-19 virus.” According to Ethos, the test was the first of its type, processing samples in less than three hours. Ethos Laboratories Director of Human Resources and Compliance Colleen Kirkpatrick credits employee engagement for the company’s success. Says Kirkpatrick, “Without our employees we would not be as successful as we are, nor as innovative.” Kirkpatrick believes the same can be said regarding future innovation throughout the Northern Kentucky region.
“We sit in a wonderful Tri-State area … We have access to some of the best schools in the country with the University of Kentucky, University of Cincinnati, and Xavier. When you look at the hospital system with Cincinnati Children's Hospital and some of the other systems, it just provides a wonderful place to find talent for what we do in the medical arena,” she says. “(Likewise), the NKY Chamber and other local government agencies are always looking at ‘How do we make the environment better?’ When you do that in an area, you are ensuring everyone is getting huge benefits and making sure this the best place to remain our home.” NKY
