Calvert County, Maryland Manufacturer Outsmarts the Outsourcing Trend with Innovative Technology

PRINCE FREDERICK, Md., -- February 12, 2005 -- It is no secret that the American manufacturing industry is troubled. In fact, the National Association of Manufacturers reports that more than 2.7 million American manufacturing jobs have been lost over the past several years, most of which have been outsourced to lower-priced competitors in countries like China, South Korea and Mexico. With abundant land and labor pools, lower energy costs, wages and employee benefit expenses, it has become increasingly difficult for American manufacturers to stop the hemorrhage of customers to overseas outsourcing.

Don Wooldridge, founder of Batching Systems, Inc. (BSI) in Prince Frederick, Maryland, recognized this alarming trend in his own company during the economic slump that followed 9/11. “It just became increasingly difficult for us to compete on jobs that required little-to-no proprietary expertise,” said Wooldridge. The company specializes in building customized, state-of-the-art production equipment for other manufacturers that need machines to count and/or weigh their products very precisely. “So BSI designed new machines of the very latest technology and best efficiencies for our customers to help keep the process in this country,” said Wooldridge.

BSI and its design team realized the market potential of the food and pharmaceutical industries. Unlike other manufacturers, those that box, bag and package food- and pharmaceutical-grade products must adhere to strictly mandated regulations and must be able to certify the validity and sterility of their entire production process. Any manufacturing equipment used to process food, vitamins, drugs or any other product for human consumption in the United States must be accurate, easily cleaned and made of seamless stainless steel components. Such strict processing standards and regulations help ensure that these markets remain domestic and do not succumb to the international outsourcing trends rampant in other markets. By improving and expanding its technology and product line to meet or exceed these regulatory standards, BSI has successfully found two stable target markets here in the United States.

BSI uses a patented electronic scanning process to count products while others in the industry use the beam of light method. The beam process, however, is not effective when complicated, shiny or very small items need to be counted and often results in waste, overage and inaccurate counts. BSI’s electronic scanner provides counts and volume totals for a much broader range and size of product, from a grain of sand to PVC piping. “The food industry is very excited by this technology,” said Wooldridge. “Rather than having to package their products by weight or volume, which frequently results in overages and additional expense, the counting method provides a much greater degree of accuracy and uniformity of product.”

Currently, BSI is producing and testing the second in a line of new tablet counting and bottle filling machines based on the scanner technology and is producing a revolutionary counting and dispensing machine for Bayer Healthcare. When completed, the machine’s patented optical scanner will inspect 40,000 tablets per minute and fill bottles at a rate of 400 per minute while also calculating and analyzing out-of-tolerance rejections and allowing for downstream inspection of electronically tagged suspect bottles. “The efficiencies a pharmaceutical company can gain by using our bottle filling station are mind-boggling,” said Wooldridge. “This is a 21st Century solution to the old slot-counter system still used by many in the industry which requires expensive changeover tooling not needed on BSI systems. We believe this product alone has the potential to raise quality and reliability to new heights.”

BSI is a 15-year-old company based in the Calvert Industrial Park. It is a member of the Maryland Manufacturing Consortium and the Packaging Machinery Manufacturers Institute. Their client list includes Hasbro, Delta Faucet, Lucent Technologies, Charlotte Pipe and Foundry and The Siemon Company just to name a few. With more than 40 employees and clients all around the world, Wooldridge’s company is a leading example of the impact and importance that Calvert County’s manufacturing sector has on the local economy.

For more information on Batching Systems, Inc., please call 410.414.8111, send an e-mail to sales@batchingsystems.com or visit their Web site at www.batchingsystems.com.

For more information on the Calvert County, Maryland Department of Economic Development, our visitor sites and attractions and the services available to assist County businesses, call 410.535.4583, 800.331.9771 or 301.855.1880; or send an e-mail to info@ecalvert.com