| Big Growth Plans at
Syncro Medical, City’s Newest High-Tech Import
October 10, 2007
By George Nelson
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Celebrating the
opening of Syncro Medical Innovations Inc.’s new headquarters in downtown
Youngstown, the company’s president says he plans to bring its distribution
and manufacturing operations to the Mahoning Valley over the next two to
three years.
Formerly headquartered in Macon, Ga., Syncro marked the opening Tuesday of
its new headquarters in 20 Federal Place with a ceremonial ribbon-cutting.
The five-year-old company relocated its corporate offices to the city in
August.
The company manufactures medical devices, including an enteral feeding tube
that can be guided magnetically through the stomach directly into the small
bowels, said Gary Wakeford, president. Along with eliminating time-consuming
x-rays, using the tube to go directly into the small bowels is like
“mainlining nutrients,” he said.
Wakeford, who has been with the company for 18 months, recalled that when he
was initially contacted about joining the company as president, he accepted
the position with the caveat that he had “full authority” to bring the
company to Youngstown. He grew up in Austintown and lives in Canfield today.
Prior to joining Syncro, he was national sales manager for Arrow
International Inc. and later was recruited by TissueLink Medical.
Moving the main office to Youngstown is just the first of three phases of a
plan to relocate the company to the Mahoning Valley, he said. The next phase
will be to bring distribution to the area, followed by manufacturing. He
offered a rough estimate of 12 to 18 months between the phases.
“It’s hard to estimate because it all depends on how well we penetrate the
market,” he said. Products are now being warehoused in Palm Harbor, Fla.,
and manufactured in St. Petersburg. The feeding tube is the first in a
series of products the company is developing for the market.
The device is being used to treat soldiers at the Brooke Army Medical Center
in San Antonio, Texas, as well as at a few other hospitals. “We are saving
the lives of burn victims in Iraq,” he said.
Syncro is working on developing the technology so the feeding tube can go to
military hospitals around the world. U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan of Niles, D-17 Ohio,
secured a $1 million earmark in the Defense Appropriations Bill for the
work.
Mayor Jay Williams noted that Ryan has recently talked about creating a
“tech belt” between Pittsburgh and Cleveland, with Youngstown obviously
right in the middle of that. “To see that move from talk to action … to have
that going on right here in the city of Youngstown is something that we’re
extremely proud of,” he said.
“This is fitting into the grand plan here of trying to plug our region into
growing fields where venture capitalists want to invest, where we can
retrain our workers to work in industries like this,” Ryan said.
The congressman praised city officials for their efforts in putting Syncro’s
deal together.
“When somebody comes to us and they want to do business in the city of
Youngstown, a week later we get a call back and it’s done,” he remarked.
“That’s how you do business. That’s how you attract new business.”
Wakeford deflected praise during the program, stating that the day was not
about him or, for that matter, Syncro, but rather business working with
government at all levels. “I had heard all the horror stories” about dealing
with government red tape,” he said. “That is absolutely not true.” He said
he called Ryan’s office in May and by August has a signed lease in the
city-owned 20 Federal Place.
“My long-term goal is to make Youngstown the center of the high-tech belt
the congressman’s working on,” Wakeford said. His company is working with
physicians at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, who are
“thrilled” that Syncro will only be an hour away, and is dealing with
doctors at the Cleveland Clinic and University Hospitals. The company could
do “world-class studies right here in Youngstown” at St. Elizabeth Health
Center, he added.
Over the next six to eight months, Wakeford will be building his executive
team, with for or five people based at the corporate office.
The Syncro president has shared his company’s long-term goals with the city,
said T. Sharon Woodberry, interim economic development director, and the
city has made Wakeford aware of the incentives available when the company is
ready to expand, she said.
The potential for the company is “tremendous,” Wakeford said. He expects to
employ 50 to 100 workers over the next three to five years – or
“significantly more” depending on the success of the product in the
marketplace.
“I really believe that we can grow into something really significant, but
how significant or how quickly that will happen depends on the marketplace,”
he said, and to what degree the market will adopt the product. |