FlexSys uses flexibility to triple employment in Ann Arbor

Wednesday, October 15, 2008 | Source: Concentrate

Flexibility is something will all strive for, but it's Ann Arbor-based FlexSys' bread and butter.

University of Michigan Engineering Professor Sridhar Kota started the firm in 2001 after being inspired by nature. He noticed how many man-made objects are strong and rigid, but how most things in nature are strong and flexible.

His company, now seven employees and three independent contractors strong, is taking that natural approach to heart. It designs products that are strong, have few parts and are incredibly flexibility.

"We can design things to have a minimal number of parts that can still perform a number of sophisticated functions," Kota says.

The products range from blades for windshield wipers to helicopters. It has also worked to make the wings for airplanes more flexible (an idea the feds have been unsuccessfully trying to develop for years), thus reducing drag and making them more efficient.

The company went from starting with a $100,000 grant to $5 million budget. It’s now trying to create flexible blades for wind turbines. Kota expects that such flexibility could make them 15 percent more efficient, a huge step forward in developing that sector of sustainable energy.

FlexSys expects to build and test a full-scale wind turbine employing their technology by the end of next year. If it pans out, it will mean at least 10 more research positions in the company and many more manufacturing jobs.

"We would add a significant number of people," Kota says.

Source: Sridhar Kota, president and CEO of FlexSys
Writer: Jon Zemke