MSG Mfg. constructing clean room at Germantown facility

The MGS Mfg. Group, a provider of engineered manufacturing solutions to the plastics industry, is building an ISO Class 100,000 clean room at its molding facility in Germantown.

“With continual growth at our medical molding facility in Antioch, and steady growth within the medical industry as a whole, we determined that now is the right time to expand our clean room molding capabilities” says Jeff Kolbow, COO of MGS Mfg. Group. “The addition will allow us to enhance our manufacturing and value-added services for existing and prospective customers in the healthcare market.”

The 6,250 square foot clean room will house presses capable of single and multishot production and will have an extended ceiling height with a 10-ton overhead crane system to facilitate larger cavity production molds and higher tonnage molding machines. The clean room will also be home to automation equipment capable of providing post mold value added operations. This plant within a plant concept has been designed to be scalable to approximately twice the square footage in 90 days as demand dictates.

The company produces parts for a wide range of markets, including consumer, medical, packaging, electronics and automotive.
Construction of the new clean room will be completed in June of this year, with ISO Class 100,000 Certification to occur simultaneously. The company is also working towards obtaining ISO 13485 Certification by summer.
Along with its production facility in Germantown, the MGS Mfg. Group currently has facilities in Libertyville, Ill., Antioch, Ill., and Chihuahua, Mexico.

Drug resistant bacteria studied with New Innovator Award

Christopher J. Kristich, Ph.D.,  assistant professor of microbiology and molecular genetics at The Medical College of Wisconsin, has received a National Institutes (NIH) of Health Director's New Innovator Award. The five-year, $2.3 million grant will support research on antibiotic-resistant bacteria, addressing the crisis of escalating hospital-acquired bacterial infections.

Kristich is also lead researcher for a five-year, $1.9 million grant from the NIH's National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases for an investigation of Enterococcus faecalis — one of the more common antibiotic-resistant bacteria responsible for hospital-associated infections.

Infections that cannot be controlled by antibiotics can progress rapidly, leading to pneumonia, meningitis, sepsis and other life-threatening conditions. Each year, 99,000 U.S. deaths are caused by hospital-associated infections, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and the number is rising.

The increase in hospital-acquired infections is due in part to advances in medical care. Widespread use of antibiotics to combat these infections has caused existing antibiotics to lose their effectiveness against common bacteria. Because of their natural occurrence in the human body and their increasing resistance to treatments, these bacteria have become prevalent in hospital settings where, through contact with health care workers, they are spread from patient to patient.

Dr. Kristich was one of 54 investigators nationwide who received an award in 2009.

MOVERS

>> New Berlin-based United Heartland has appointed Rick Bartelme as director of loss control.

>> DCI Cheese Co. in Richfield has added Susan Scar as national sales manager - specialty foods.

>> Phoenix Coaters, a division of Mayville Engineering Co. Inc., has added Brad Graber as regional sales manager.

>> Waukesha-based InvestorsBank has hired Patti Kowall as treasury management operations vice president.

>> Scheibel Halaska has added Senior Account Manager Dru Popper. >> Stork Cellramic of Milwaukee has added Operations Manager Ken Ebenhoch.

>> Pepi Randolph has been named CEO of the Potawatomi Business Development Corp.

>> Tom Leunig is the new product manager package water systems at Cleaver-Brooks Packaged Boiler.

BUSINESS BRIEFS

MILWAUKEE: Jefferson Wells, a global provider of risk advisory, tax, and finance and accounting-related services, has established an alliance with Sawyer & Co., a specialist forensic and investigative accounting firm based in Atlanta, Ga. The alliance agreement was completed on March 1, 2010.

>> Miron Construction Co. Inc. plans to open a new, 10,000-square-foot office in the Milwaukee County Research Park to house its Milwaukee operations. The office will ultimately house 15 full-time Miron employees, and staffing will focus on hiring experienced local construction professionals. The project is slated for a July completion.

RACINE: Design Partners is celebrating 25 years of business in historic downtown Racine. The firm, which has grown from a staff of four to 30, has a strong roster of clients.