Designetics got its start more than 30 years ago, when an automotive manufacturers was tasked with finding a better way to assemble glass to vehicles. The founders of Designetics, Wally Krueger and Craig Williams, worked in Krueger’s single-car garage in Toledo, Ohio to develop a new fluid applicator that would dispense an even amount of fluid onto a substate. The applicator was a success, and Designetics was born. As our customer base – and our product range – grew, our operations expanded, and in the early 2000s, we moved to our current, state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Holland, Ohio, where all of our fluid applicators and automated systems are “Made in America.”

In fact, we’ve created a vertically integrated manufacturing operation, where we control the supply chain and all manufacturing processes – from injection molding of plastic components to machining metal parts such as applicator tracks and air compliance adapters. All of this means that our customers get a high-quality, American-made product – and it allows us to deliver in accordance with our customers’ needs, typically within days rather than weeks.

Congratulations are in order: our very own Sydney Spraw, Ph.D., president of Designetics, has been named a finalist for the Entrepreneur of the Year® 2021 Michigan and Northwest Ohio Award. This prestigious award recognizes business leaders whose drive, acumen and ingenuity position their business for success and growth now and into the future.

According to Ernst & Young, the creators of the award competition that is now in its 35^th year, the Entrepreneur Of The Year is one of the preeminent competitive award programs for entrepreneurs and leaders of high-growth companies. The nominees are evaluated by an independent panel of judges on six criteria: entrepreneurial leadership; talent management; degree of difficulty; financial performance; societal impact and building a values-based company; and originality, innovation and future plans. Since its inception, the program has expanded to recognize business leaders in more than 145 cities in 60 countries around the world.

The award winners will be announced during a special virtual celebration on Thursday, August 5 at 6:00 p.m. ET and will become lifetime members of a community of Entrepreneur Of The Year alumni from around the world.

“I’m deeply honored and humbled to be nominated for such a prestigious award,” Spraw says. “As an entrepreneur, I’m keenly aware of the challenges and struggles facing businesses today, and I’m heartened by the dedication and commitment to excellence Designetics’ employees have exhibited during these unprecedented times. That makes this nomination all the more special.”

Regional award winners are eligible for consideration for the Entrepreneur Of The Year National Awards, which will be announced in November of 2021. The Entrepreneur Of The Year National Overall Award winner will move on to compete for the EY World Entrepreneur Of The Year™ Award in June, 2022.

In industries as diverse as automotive, aerospace, and consumer goods, the proper application of fluid to a substrate can be an important factor in product quality, performance, and even safety. This is why at Designetics, we focus on manufacturing applicators and automated systems that provide the highest accuracy and consistency in fluid application. And now, to help our customers monitor, inspect, and record their critical fluid application processes, we’ve partnered with Coherix – the leader in machine vision 3D process control solutions for fluid dispensing – to develop the Ce360 path scanner for quality inspection.

The Ce360 provides reliable, consistent, 3D quality inspection and recording of the fluid dispense path.

Further cementing its reputation as the preeminent provider of fluid applications and systems, Designetics was recently honored as a top Industrial Adhesives Solution Provider for 2021 by Manufacturing Outlook magazine. Annually, the magazine selects ten companies that are “at the forefront of providing industrial adhesives solutions and transforming businesses.”

Designetics has long been acknowledged as creating the fluid applications industry, as, in the 1980s, it worked with automotive manufacturers to create a more efficient way of applying adhesives to assembly line automotive windshields. In creating applicators that performed to exacting measures on a repeatable basis, Designetics spawned a new way of helping a wide variety of manufacturers advance their business interests while allowing for more technical assembly.

When the worldwide pandemic truncated the 2020 Major League Baseball season and eliminated the entirety of the Minor League Baseball season, many fans, players and pundits were left to wonder if there would be a viable 2021 season. But careful measures and a focus on safety have given new life to baseball in 2021. And the Toledo Mud Hens are no exception.