Editor’s note: Making it in Vermont is an ongoing series by VTDigger’s business reporter Anne Wallace Allen looking at companies and industries driving innovation in the state. If you have ideas about inspiring entrepreneurs or companies, send them to Anne at awallaceallen@vtdigger.org.
When Middleton Spectral Vision needed to put cameras on a 50-foot tower over an Iowa cornfield for a plant-monitoring project, they bought the computer equipment from Logic Supply in South Burlington.
The project required a computer that could tolerate very hot, sometimes rainy conditions all summer outdoors, said Chris Draves, vice president of sales and operations for the Wisconsin company. Logic Supply specializes in producing computer hardware that can tolerate conditions such as heat, cold, vibration, or dust.
Now Middleton Spectral Vision is using Logic Supply computers as they put cameras on tall buildings in New York City to assess what kind of lighting is in use below.
“The computers are out in the elements basically the entire year,” said Draves. “They are very rugged; they have a wide operating range for temperature, and so that makes them extremely reliable.”
Logic Supply, started in 2003 by Lisa and Roland Groeneveld, specializes in creating compact and hardy hardware that can withstand conditions such as dust, vibration, small dimensions, and temperature extremes that are found outdoors, on factory floors, or as part of machinery.
The Vermont-based company has made a name for itself in the industry, with a location in Taiwan and two in Europe and about $50 million in annual revenues and a compound annual growth rate of 25 percent a year, according to Sean Larkin, president of Logic Supply. The company says it has 50,000 unique customer accounts.
The privately held company has engineering, manufacturing and sales operations at its Vermont headquarters, as well as manufacturing and sales in Europe, and engineering in Taiwan.
Globally, 140 people work at the company, 110 of them in Vermont, and Larkin hopes to hire an additional 80 to 90 people by the end of 2020. Logic Supply is working on the drawings for a large expansion at its South Burlington site. The company occupies 33,000 square feet now, some of it built in 2014, and the new building could be as much as 160,000 square feet. Larkin expects to break ground on that at the end of next year.
Logic Supply works with some of the largest companies in the world, including Mitsubishi Electric, Bose, General Dynamics, Bosch, NASA, and American Woodmark.
The economy’s fast move toward artificial intelligence puts Logic Supply in a good position to grow. Computing is becoming more and more critical to everything from agriculture to recreation, and a lot of that computing is increasingly taking place in unstable conditions.
For example, companies are starting to invest big in autonomous vehicles, Larkin said. “The computer power that’s needed is enormous. How can we get the smallest computer in this thing to do robotics work in a learning environment? Their engineers and our engineers get together.”
Middleton Spectral Vision will use Logic Supply products for a project where it scans large paintings at the Virginia Museum of Fine Art. Draves said while the museum is climate controlled, the project will use Logic Supply computers because they’re very compact and can withstand being rolled around on carts and moved frequently.
“For the size and everything, they pack a lot of punch,” he said. “You can get high-end Intel processors with them. Our type of imaging requires a lot of computer power.”
Logic Supply is regularly used as an example by the Vermont officials striving to present the state as a place where technology companies can thrive. Its local manufacturing jobs are in a quiet, peaceful and clean setting; its transparent culture includes an open office layout for everyone, including executives. Larkin said all salaries are available for all staff to peruse.
Like most executives in Vermont and elsewhere, Larkin has trouble finding qualified staff. He said it can take nine months to find someone for a higher-level position, such as a director of communication or an IT worker.
“We have to communicate well in advance,” Larkin said. He added that company officials serve on boards and are active in local philanthropies in an effort to raise awareness. “We are actively in all of the schools, we come to career fairs, we are guest speakers in business classes.”
Raising pay wouldn’t necessarily solve the problem, he added.
“Obviously more money will attract more people, yes, but when you’re talking about a move to Vermont there are many other considerations,” he said. “We are always in line with the market; that has not been the concern.”
Last year, Logic Supply received a Vermont Employment Growth Incentive, or VEGI, award that will earn it up to $757,000 if it creates 83 new jobs by the end of 2020 and continues to invest in its South Burlington campus, according to the state Agency of Commerce and Community Development. The company also received approval for a Vermont Training Program grant of up to $283,000 that Larkin said had Logic supply train existing workers so they could be promoted.
Larkin said the company is committed to keeping much of its manufacturing in South Burlington, and credited the state programs for making that possible.
“Our goal is to be the most profitable industrial PC company in the world,” he said.
