Excera Materials Showcases Body Armor Technology
COLUMBUS, OHIO (December 9, 2004) - Governor Bob Taft today commended Excera Materials Group, Inc. of Columbus, which was awarded a loan worth nearly $1 million through the Innovation Ohio Loan Fund, part of the Third Frontier Program. The loan is a key part of a $1.3 million project that will retain 13 jobs and create 56 high-paying positions over the first three years of the project's initial operation. Excera executives demonstrated for the Governor the latest advances in ceramic tile body armor used by U.S troops.
"Excera's innovation and dedication has created a product that helps keep our troops safe in Iraq and a company that keeps good jobs in Ohio," said Taft. "Excera is exactly the type of business we are trying to grow more of through our Third Frontier Project."
Excera, a previous winner of a $175,000 Third Frontier grant, commercializes a family of proprietary materials and products using its patented ONNEX process. The process, based on technology developed at The Ohio State University, is a method for processing ceramic-aluminum composite materials into various end products. The materials offer inherent toughness, the ability to fabricate intricate shapes, and lower-cost manufacturing than competing materials. The primary use is in the manufacturing of small arms protective inserts used in bulletproof vests.
The $964,100 loan, approved by the Development Financing Advisory Council, will help Excera scale-up its manufacturing operations in order to meet market demand. The company plans to purchase equipment and software that will enable it to move currently sub-contracted activities, injection molding and sintering, to a new facility in Worthington. The loan carries an interest rate of 6.5 percent for a seven-year term and is pending final approval from the Controlling Board.
"We believe we have developed a superior process that results in a superior product with a variety of marketable applications," said Michael Breslin, Excera's President. "The continued support through the Third Frontier Project is making it possible for us to expand our operations to better serve the market."
The IOF was created as part of the Third Frontier Project to assist existing Ohio companies develop next generation products in industry sectors that include: advanced materials; instruments, controls and electronics; power and propulsion; biosciences; and information technology. The IOF can finance up to 75 percent of a project's allowable costs up to $5 million. Allowable innovation costs include, but are not limited to: the cost of building acquisition, construction, renovation, enlarging or improving existing facilities; the acquisition and installation of equipment for eligible innovation projects; research and development; obtaining or creating any requisite software or computer hardware; product testing; and the protection of intellectual properties.
"We developed the Innovation Ohio Fund to fill an identified gap in available financing," said State Development Director Bruce Johnson. "The fund provides established firms with needed capital, allowing them to create new products and supply good jobs to Ohioans."
