Just because a product feels like wood, looks like wood and is used like wood, doesn't necessarily make it wood.
Eovations LLC, which is investing $16 million to open its headquarters in the former Thomson Bay Co. building in Bay City, is developing EoTek, a synthetic "lumber" that has all the qualities of wood except those that aren't so appealing: it doesn't degrade in the weather and is far more durable.
Claude Brown Jr., president and CEO of Eovations, a start-up company that began operations in mid-summer, has a rather clever way of describing his product. "It replicates lumber, only the molecules are different," he says.
Brown is a former research and development director for
Dow, which developed the technology for EoTek. Brown teamed with local investors and some from other areas to buy the technology and begin Eovations.
Setting up shop in Bay City is big news for the area. The 77,000-square-foot building could be the home to 64 new jobs, and it reuses a building sitting vacant.
The new Eovations headquarters will be used primarily as an applied development facility. The technology developed by Dow is in place. The applications of the technology--the products made with EoTek--will be the focus of the research conducted at the new facility at 1645 Marquette.
"This technology is capable of making a broad range of products," Brown says. "We know how to make it work; it's just a matter of getting it done."
The Eovations headquarters will be home to creativity, to innovation, to invention.
"Of course, we think of things such as building construction and outdoor pavilions and things of that nature," he says. "It is perfect for piers, docks, ski platforms, window systems, pallets, guard rails and so much more because it is flexible and picks up no water and because of its many other properties that make it perfect for outdoor applications."
Choosing Bay City as the company's headquarters was helped in no small part by its proximity to Dow, and its rich history of chemistry-related products.
Frederick Hollister, of
Bay Future, Inc., an economic development engine that helps companies finds suitable locations in and around Bay City, worked for more than a year with Eovations.
"Bay City was a 19th century lumber center, and it seems fitting in some ironic way that a new synthetic lumber product is calling Bay City home," Hollister says. "This is one of the most satisfying parts of my job, to be able to connect people with situations with that help a number of people."
"When you think about the creation of jobs, and the fact that perhaps you had a hand in it, no matter how small, it's a good feeling," he says.
There is plenty of local knowledge concerning EoTek, and many important people related to the business reside in mid-Michigan, including some investors. The
Michigan Economic Growth Authority chipped in with $1.3 million in state tax credits spread over seven years.
"Our continuing efforts to bring new investment and jobs to Michigan are paying dividends," Granholm said when announcing the tax credits.
The $1.3 million in tax credits to Eovations were part of a larger statewide package of incentives involving 16 companies. The hope behind the incentive packages is to potentially retain more than 215,000 jobs, create more than 6,000 jobs and generate more than more than $2 billion in investment.
Landing the Eovations facility in Bay City marks a major economic diversification of the local economy. If EoTek technology takes off as Brown thinks it will, Bay City could be home to products that make some serious noise in the building products industry.
"The best description of a board or plank with the EoTek technology is that it is synthetic wood," Brown says. "If you split it open, it looks exactly like what you'd see if you split oak. We have replicated the structure of wood, except our product is made from synthetic material that does not degrade in the weather."
In other words, natural wood--because it is less expensive than EoTek products--probably will always be the way to go where weathering is not an issue. But when freezing or rainfall is a concern, planks or "lumber" made from EoTek technology should be a far better long-term option, if the Eovations technology proves sound.
EoTek may never actually replace wood, but it certainly could revolutionize the way the construction industry does business--at least out of doors. And imagine never having to stain that deck again.
Jeff Barr is a freelance writer who has lived in Michigan for 45 years. He has covered every part of the state, including the Bay area. You can reach Jeff via email.