Sarah Jordan is excited by the award she and her company, Skuld LLC (pronounced "schooled"), won at this week's Mspire pitch contest: Booth space at and marketing materials for October's Manufacturing and Technology Show in Cleveland.
"We got the award we really wanted," said Jordan, who joined founders from eight other finalists on Tuesday to pitch their manufacturing-related products or services at MAGNET's seventh annual Mspire competition.
Based in Gahanna, Ohio, Skuld won the award for its hybrid additive manufacturing process that pairs 3-D printing with what is known as "lost-foam" casting to end up with complex metal products for industries ranging from automotive parts to art.
"Tooling costs are crazy" in the metal casting business, Jordan said, making the environmentally sustainable casting process too costly for all but the highest-volume jobs.
So in 2015, Jordan and Skuld co-founder Mark DeBruin, who is the company's chief operations and technical officer, started working on a less-costly process using 3-D-printed plastic foam castings that are packed in loose sand and then incinerated by molten metal, she said.
The end result is a metal replica of the cheap, 3-D printing.
"We are initially focusing on after-market auto parts," but Skuld's process could be used to make product prototypes or even artwork, Jordan said.
The Manufacturing Advocacy and Growth Network in Cleveland said it made other awards on Tuesday from an initial pool of 40 applicants.
Receiving $15,000 in engineering design services from MAGNET were:
- Cleanr, based in Cleveland, which makes microplastics filters for washing machines.
- Onedrus, based in Akron, which has designed a scroll-filter technology for commercial air filters.
In addition, ClimbaBoard, based in Lakewood, will receive $10,000 in engineering design services, and Seraphina Safety Apparel in Youngstown will receive $10,000 in marketing services from MAGNET.
The Cleveland office of New York-based Marcum LLP, the accounting and advisory firm, sponsored a last-minute $1,000 cash prize for Seraphina Safety Apparel, MAGNET said in an email.
Seraphina Safety designs and makes flame-resistant base layer clothing for women working in industrial occupations and motorsports.
Circular Cleveland, the collaboration between Cleveland Neighborhood Progress and Cleveland, which had offered one $10,000 cash prize for a manufacturing technology that offers a sustainable or circular economy benefit, will announce its winner at a later date, MAGNET said.
