Fayetteville-based Nano-Mech is finalizing plans to triple the size of its production plant in Springdale and open sales offices in Nashville, Tenn., Detroit and Dallas.
The expansion will add between 50 and 100 jobs in the next year and increase the production plant’s size from 9,000 to 30,000 square feet, company officials said. NanoMech currently employs about 30 people.
“You have to go from being a science fair to a whole industrial complex,” said Jim Phillips, chairman and chief executive officer of the company. “What we produce will affect million-square-foot factories.”
Phillips said the company is weeks away from breaking ground.
NanoMech was founded in 2002 and develops nanotechnology products for use in machining and manufacturing, lubrication, packaging, biomedical implant coatings and military applications.Nanotechnology deals with the manipulation of individual atoms and molecules.
The company began selling its nGlide lubricant and TuffTek cutting tool coating in April.
Phillips said nGlide is used by Cameron International Corp., an oil and gas drilling and transportation equipment manufacturer, to extend the life of its Little Rock-made valves.
He said TuffTek is used by a domestic car company to manufacture transmissions.The product allows the automobile manufacturer to save money by prolonging the life of cutting tips by 300 percent to 1,000 percent.
“This becomes very important because it will provide a huge competitive advantage to the companies that use it,” Phillips said. “Everything has to be cut, whether it be windowsills or the block in your engine.”
Ajay P. Malshe, Nano-Mech’s founder and chief technology officer, said Tuff-Tek was conceived while he was researching diamond coatings at the University of Arkansas.
He said he finds inspiration for the designs of the company’s friction-beating products in nature. He said lotus leaves, which have tiny lumps and pockets that repel water, and sea urchins, which have self-sharpening teeth, inspired the design for TuffTek.
“We’re combining the power of the building blocks of nature,” Malshe said.
The company has secured grants from the U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S. Department of Defense, the Environmental Protection Agency and the National Science Foundation for products that include advanced motor oil that improves engine efficiency and antimicrobial body armor.
Malshe said the company’s products are good for the environment because they prolong the life of equipment, decrease the need for oil and help machines run more efficiently by reducing friction and heat on internal parts.
TuffTek also reduces the reliance on Chinese-mined carbide, which is used for manufacturing cutting tools.
Joe Holmes, spokesman for the Arkansas Economic Development Commission, said the company received $2.5 million from the Governor’s Quick Action Closing Fund and Equity Investment Tax Credits. The grant was finalized in November 2011 and is to be used for equipment purchases. Of the $2.5 million, about $2.1 million has been disbursed.
Malshe said NanoMech faces competition from around the world, but he believes that the company’s focus on broad manufacturing and equipment needs will spur growth.
“There’s more than silicon,” he said. “People forgot that our fathers and forefathers built the modern world using metal.”
Business, Pages 21 on 07/11/2013