Pomfret-based Loos & Co. is the first business to join a new economic development initiative in northeastern Connecticut known as the Quiet Corner Innovation Cluster (QCIC), officials announced.
Get Instant Access to This Article
Subscribe to Hartford Business Journal and get immediate access to all of our subscriber-only content and much more.
- Critical Hartford and Connecticut business news updated daily.
- Immediate access to all subscriber-only content on our website.
- Bi-weekly print or digital editions of our award-winning publication.
- Special bonus issues like the Hartford Book of Lists.
- Exclusive ticket prize draws for our in-person events.
Click here to purchase a paywall bypass link for this article.
Pomfret-based Loos & Co. is the first business to join a new economic development initiative in northeastern Connecticut known as the Quiet Corner Innovation Cluster (QCIC), officials announced.
Loos & Co., which makes wires, cables and assemblies used in aircraft steering systems and a broad variety of other applications, will work with UConn's applied chemistry department to conduct research and development on its medical wire products, an area the company is looking to expand, according to Robert Davis, Loos' vice president of sales and marketing.
Though Loos performs plenty of R&D at its 210,000-square-foot facility, where it employs approximately 300 people, UConn has capabilities and technology the company normally wouldn't be able to access, he said.
Davis said UConn — located just 25 minutes away in Storrs — has imaging equipment that allows it to analyze the surface properties of the super-thin wire, which is just one-thousandth of an inch in diameter, as well as metallurgists who can interpret the results.
The wire is used in catheters, insertion and removal of stents and other medical procedures.
“They've got the equipment and the people over there to do a bit deeper level of research and a deeper level of visibility into some of our products,” Davis said.
While expanding a product line is a plus for any company, Davis said one of the things he's most enthused about is building deeper relationships with UConn grad students who might one day bring their talent to Loos as employees.
“We're always in search of the best and the brightest,” he said.
The QCIC has $1.5 million in funding from the U.S. Economic Development Administration, UConn and Connecticut Innovations. The program is targeted at New London, Tolland and Windham counties — rural areas where the manufacturing sector has suffered economic losses.
Loos also has another project in mind to work on with UConn.
The company wants help from university process engineers to assess its business systems to become more nimble and flexible in how it stocks materials, forecasts business and markets and ships its products, Davis said.
— Matt Pilon
