Kalexsyn, Inc: your science deserves the best scientists

News and Events Press Releases

SBTDC awards Kalexsyn, Zeeland Farm Services

Monday, April 18, 2005
MiBiz Network

GRAND RAPIDS — Kalexsyn Inc. and Zeeland Farm Services Inc. were two of 12 companies honored with 2004 Best Small Business Awards by the Michigan Small Business & Technology Development Center. The companies were chosen on the basis of their success in sales, employment and business strategy as well as the their economic impact. Kalamazoo-based Kalexsyn provides medicinal chemistry services to scientific customers involved in the drug discovery process. Company founders Robert Gadwood and David Zimmerman conceived and implemented the design for laboratories in the Southwest Michigan Innovation Center, a business incubator/accelerator. Through MI-SBTDC, the company received personalized business plan development and financial modeling services. With the help of MI-SBTDC and a $200,000 economic milestone grant, the company now has 34 pharmaceutical and biotech clients. In May 2004 the company more than doubled its square footage to 6,500 square feet. Zeeland-based Zeeland Farms Services, the largest meal and oil producing facility in Michigan, can process approximately 25,000 bushels of soybeans per day and is expected to strengthen Michigan's agricultural industry. The soybean meal primarily is used in animal feed as a source of protein, while the soybean oil is used as a food product for human consumption or as an input into biodiesel, a renewable fuel alternative. The MI-SBTDC Ottawa County Economic Development Office assisted ZFS in obtaining the designation of its 14-acre site for the construction of a new $4 million soybean oil refinery and bleaching plant as an Agricultural Processing Renaissance Zone by the Michigan Economic Development Corporation and the Michigan Department of Agriculture. ZFS also obtained two P.A. 198 tax abatements from Zeeland Charter Township for its $5 million investment in the construction of a six-mile gas pipeline and improvements to its processing plant to utilize this new energy source.