What a week for Angela Alban.
The CEO of Winter Park-based simulation and training firm Simetri Inc. celebrated the grand opening of the company’s new headquarters on March 24, before standing on the court at halftime of a March 27 Orlando Magic game to be recognized as one of the winners of the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce of Metro Orlando’s Ignitor Award.
While Alban closed March with a couple of major successes for the company, she’s looking ahead to the growth on the horizon after a strong year for Simetri in 2021.
Namely, Alban is interested in beefing up Simetri’s manufacturing capabilities in the new headquarters at 937 S. Semoran Blvd., she told Orlando Business Journal. “Manufacturing is where I want to grow the company.”
Built by Longwood-based Rhodes Building Co. LLC, the headquarters equips the 45-person company with 15,000 square feet of space. Simetri develops moulage, products that fit onto manikins to simulate various injuries, for the U.S. military and medical field.
A third of the new facility — 5,000 square feet — is reserved for future growth, including future manufacturing capability. Plus, it’s equipped with a 2,500-square-foot innovation lab, where Simetri will integrate its work with other companies in its field, Alban said. “We’re just now starting to prepare it for integration later this year.”
The opening of the new facility is only the latest success for Simetri. In 2021, the company’s training systems were chosen by Norwegian medical training giant Laerdal for use in a contract to provide prolonged field medical care training for the U.S. Army. Last year, Simetri expanded further into the extended reality space when it began work on the second phase of its training system that uses physical patient simulators, augmented reality and haptics technology.
Plus, Simetri in March won a follow-on contract to continue work its employees have been doing in San Antonio, Texas, to train medical workers before they’re deployed by the U.S. Army. These contracts all were won through a competitive bidding process, Alban added. “We’re competitive, which is important for sustained growth.”
Meanwhile, Central Florida’s modeling, simulation and training sector is a $6 billion economic engine that employs more than 30,000 people, according to the Florida High Tech Corridor. Central Florida Research Park, adjacent the University of Central Florida, is a hub of U.S. military simulation commands, defense giants and simulation-focused small businesses, and often is considered the world capital of modeling, simulation and training.
Even though business and leisure travel to Orlando dried up when the Covid-19 pandemic hit in 2020, eyes have remained on the region’s robust simulation industry. In fact, membership at the Orlando-based National Center for Simulation exploded 32% from 250 members before the pandemic to 330 today, President George Cheros told OBJ.
Companies do not have to be based in Orlando or Florida to join the organization. However, companies based in states from California to Louisiana that joined the National Center for Simulation in the last two years later established presences in Central Florida, Cheros said.
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