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Guild Associates |
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Columbus, OH
50
$18,000,000
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Company Background
During 2001, Guild Associates was profitable with revenues of almost $17 million. This income was derived from a blend of R&D contracts and sale of equipment/products to both military and commercial accounts. At the end of 2001, Guild's staff numbered approximately 50 individuals with offices in Columbus, OH, Baltimore, MD and Charleston, SC. 2001 marked the twentieth year of Guild's participation in the SBIR program. In those 20 years, Guild has received 15 Phase I and 6 Phase II SBIR awards. Guild's first Phase I award (in 1981) was awarded by DoD. The Phase I research was a success, and the program was awarded a Phase II SBIR in 1983. This first award was the catalyst for our then 5 person start-up company, bringing in sales totaling $8,000,000. The award winning proposal was based on a novel adsorption process applied to chemical defense. Guild's second Phase I DoD SBIR was awarded in 1984. It involved a system that produced high purity oxygen (99.5%) using combined adsorption/membrane technology. Again, the Phase I research was successful and a Phase II award was granted in 1986. While an oxygen system has not been subsequently offered, the research from the SBIR was used to commercialize another striking innovation. Guild, adapting the knowledge and experience gained from the DoD SBIR, teamed with Engelhard Industries to produce a system which eliminates nitrogen from natural gas and produces the purified natural gas at well-head pressure. The system has been met with enthusiastic interest at a time when natural gas availability is of particular national interest.
Innovative Technology Developed
The SBIR Program helped Guild to solidify our expertise while broadening our audience. Today, Guild is widely acknowledged as the premier technology firm in applying a vast array of process technologies to Chemical Defense needs. Examples include awards of $10 million Chemical Protection task order agreement in 1995 (one of only two and the only small business), several multi-million dollar BAA (Broad Agency Announcement) contracts and, in early 2000, the award of the filter design subcontract for the Joint Services General Protection Mask. Furthermore, Guild successfully expanded its presence in Chemical Defense to a broader spectrum ofDefense efforts, so that Guild's revenue stream in 2002 is liberally sprinkled with manufacturing projects based on extensions of its system design expertise. These production contracts include: an Laundry Advanced System (LADS) that uses 25% of the labor and less than 1% of the water of its predecessor; and a sorbent decontamination system that replaces caustic liquids, which jeopardize personal safety and equipment integrity, with a non-toxic dry powder that saved the Government more than $6 million in its first year of deployment, offsetting much of the development cost.
DoD Implementation and Commercialization Summary
Guild also has demonstrated direct success in commercializing technologies that began in the NSF SBIR program. The most recent examples, two catalyst systems targeted for controlling greenhouse gas emissions in the semiconductor industry, generated wide interest and were concluded by agreements with two industry leaders in the semiconductor equipment industry (Novellus and Applied Materials). The projects yielded industry funding in excess of the total NSF commitment before Phase II was even completed. This unit is currently in production. Another catalyst technology focused on the electrical power industry is being submitted to current Phase II solicitation. It will include a funding agreement with the largest catalyst manufacturer in the world. Guild's efforts at commercializing technology with SBIR program origins have spanned our entire corporate history. Guild Associates has remained faithful to Roland Tibbetts' original vision of how the program was supposed to function and we point with pride to this evidence that his vision was both feasible and profitable in practice.
