ALMCO’s parent company, Innovance is in the works of creating a Research & Development Group. The primary purpose of the group will be to develop new machines, products, and services for our product companies such as ALMCO, Mass Finishing, Panels Plus, and any other product companies that Innovance acquires in the future.
Innovance recently hired Calvin Leisenheimer as the Lead Principal Engineer for the R&D Group. He previously worked at ALMCO for several years as an Electrical Designer and has a good grasp of our equipment and the industries we serve, as well as brings a vast knowledge of electrical design, controls engineering, and programming to the team. Calvin has been working with the various Innovance product companies to prioritize projects and identify ways to best help each organization with their goals. He has also been analyzing current projects and looking for ways to improve processes and make them more efficient, as well as identifying ways to better utilize our current software features and tools.
“It’s going to be a really fun and cool opportunity to build up this department and tackle some of the R&D projects that we’ve wanted to work on for quite some time now. I think it’s great that Innovance is looking towards the future and looking to develop and design new products to stay ahead of technology and our competitors,” stated Calvin Leisenheimer, Lead Principal Engineer.
In addition to working on projects, Calvin will be managing the staff and resources for the R&D Group, and he recently negotiated an office space located in Bloomington, MN for the team. The office will hold approximately 8-12 people and can also be used for current employees like those on our sales teams if they’re working in the area. Calvin is hoping to have the office completely furnished and move-in-ready in the next couple months. Innovance has hired three engineers tasked with initiating programs and processes that lead to new product development along with existing product enhancements. This group will be expanded in the following years. We’re looking forward to this new team getting up and running!