 New Scale is expanding its facility and automating production of its tiny SQUIGGLE motors. |
Jan. 22, 2007 — New Scale Technologies, Inc. of Victor, NY announced plans to create a $1M automated, high-precision manufacturing center for its patented SQUIGGLE motors. The new 15,000 square foot facility will allow New Scale to increase its production capacity to 100,000 SQUIGGLE motors per month. This capacity will be used to fulfill existing and anticipated contracts for SQUIGGLE motors for mobile phone camera modules and other miniature devices.
The company expects to begin using the new facility, located near its current Victor, NY headquarters, in March 2007. “This investment highlights the success of our newest and smallest SQUIGGLE motor,” said New Scale CEO and chief technology officer David Henderson in a prepared statement. “It is part of a phased plan to expand production of these tiny ultrasonic motors through increasing automation of our assembly processes.”
The state-of-the-art manufacturing center will feature micrometer-precision robotic assembly, which is essential for achieving the precision and repeatability needed to produce these millimeter-scale motors in high volumes. The new facility is also designed for flexibility, allowing New Scale to manufacture multiple SQUIGGLE motor products to target multiple OEM (original equipment manufacturer) markets.
New Scale is also actively pursuing market opportunities in medical devices, where the SQUIGGLE motor enables smaller devices such as drug pumps and MRI-compatible systems. Additional opportunities exist for electronic security locks, intelligent fasteners, cryogenic imagers for homeland security, and emerging microfluidic and lab-on-a-chip applications.
New Scale was founded in 2002 and shipped its first SQUIGGLE motors in 2004. It doubled its workforce in 2006 and plans to do so again in 2007, hiring approximately 30 new employees in skilled manufacturing, quality assurance, quality control and automated manufacturing equipment operation.
The new Victor manufacturing center is three times the size of the company’s existing facility. The investment is funded by the company’s ongoing profitable operations, with additional support planned from Ontario County’s Office of Economic Development Revolving Loan Fund. New Scale is already planning its next phase of manufacturing expansion, evaluating several potential locations for a facility with capacity to produce one million motors per month.
“New Scale Technologies is a great Ontario County success story,” said Ontario County Industrial Development Agency director Mike Manikowski in a prepared press release. “This high-tech product was invented here, first produced here by skilled technicians, and is now creating high-tech manufacturing jobs of the type that can’t easily be done using low-cost offshore labor.”