Gage Products Opens New Gage Innovation Center Laboratories
October 15, 2015 | By Business Wire News
FERNDALE, Mich.
Gage Products, an industry leader in automotive paint systems, solvents and fuels, today officially opened a new multi-million-dollar Gage Innovation Center at the company’s 12-acre headquarters campus in Ferndale.
Community leaders along with a number of state and local officials took part in grand opening ceremonies for the new facility, which will house research-and-development, quality control and customer service laboratories.
“The new Gage Innovation Center underlines our ongoing commitment to customer service, innovative product development and continued growth,” said Dan Finkiewicz, chairman and president of Gage Products. “It also will lead to up to 10 to 15 new jobs over the next several years.”
He added that the company has invested more than $3 million in the new 5,000-square-foot facility, which nearly doubles laboratory space previously housed in two separate buildings at Gage’s Ferndale headquarters.
Gage Innovation Center Director Bob Patzelt noted that laboratory “bench space” devoted to quality control and R&D work will more than double along with storage capacity for customer-product test samples.
More than a dozen technicians and scientists work in Gage’s quality control and research-and-development labs. Co-locating quality control and R&D activities in the same building will facilitate more collaboration and enable both teams to make full use of new state-of-the-art laboratory equipment installed at the center.
The new Gage Innovation Center will contain more than 50 pieces of highly technical lab equipment. The new facility will include the additions of a gas chromatograph and a combination gas chromatograph/mass spectrometer, both critical to a multitude of tests run by Gage scientists.
Officials on hand for the grand opening ceremonies included Congressman Sander Levin, Oakland County Sheriff Michael J. Bouchard and David Schreiber, Oakland County Government’s chief strategist and business development team leader. Representatives from nearly three dozen key automotive customers and other neighboring civic and business leaders from Ferndale and Oakland County also were present.
Sheriff Bouchard and Congressman Levin took part in ribbon-cutting ceremonies with Dan Finkiewicz, the company’s chairman.
“Gage Products’ investment in Oakland County improves the quality of life for all of our residents,” Bouchard said. “The company’s innovative techniques for responsible recycling will bring long-term benefits to the region.”
Ferndale Mayor Dave Coulter added that “As one of Ferndale’s largest employers and oldest companies, Gage has succeeded in a tough market by giving customers great service. The Gage Innovation Center is another example of Gage growing to meet the changing needs of their industry. It should help them remain leaders in their field and successful employers in our community.”
Steve Hellem, executive director of the Suppliers Partnership for the Environment, noted that Gage has been the recipient of the SP’s Creativity in Implementing Sustainable Practices Award. “This new, impressive addition to their facility in Ferndale will expand and enhance their ability to collaborate and innovate in ways that further enhances their growth in this community, while improving the environment,” he said.
“We’ve seen significant growth over the past several years and this investment will allow us to further improve customer service and grow our business in the years to come,” Gage Chairman and President Finkiewicz concluded. “The Gage Innovation Center will help us bring new products to market and bring new markets to Gage.”
ABOUT GAGE PRODUCTS
Gage Products customers number nearly 100 and include most major automakers and suppliers as well as other manufacturers of consumer products and fuels. A third-generation, family-owned business, Gage was founded in 1936 and has more than 29 years of chemical distillation experience. The company has pioneered development of “sustainable,” closed-loop manufacturing processes for automotive paint systems and custom chemical mixing capabilities to reduce process costs and increase effective resource management.
Gage provides high-performance solvent blends, solvent reclamation, recycling and custom chemical toll manufacturing and remanufacturing, custom test fuel blends, calibration fluids, as well as paint line cleaning programs and specialty product solutions for its customer base of more than 20 global vehicle manufacturers and two dozen automotive and industrial suppliers.
Note to Editors: High resolution photography of the new facilities and the official grand opening ceremonies is available on request.
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