Penntap Helps Small Businesses And Entrepreneurs
June 13, 2000
Paul Keeler’s Uticom Systems, in Coatesville, did quite well for itself for 13 years, producing labels for fiber optic cables and other utility-owned equipment. The firm produces, among other things, plastic markers that are rolled around fiber optic cables so phone and cable companies can identify their lines. It is a time consuming process because the heating procedure that "teases" the markers into scrolls is done by hand.

As the possibility of providing products and services for companies such as AT&T and Bell Atlantic surfaced, Keeler was in a quandary. These communications giants would expect a fast turnaround, and the slower manual process at Uticom was likely to cost the firm new business.

Keeler knew the process needed to be fully automated, but the cost to his firm to have it improved commercially was likely to be at least $25,000, for starters. For a company with 15 employees and sales under $5 million annually, that was a considerable expense.

"We didn’t have the manpower or time to come up with this thing (ourselves), and yet to continue to do it manually when you know that there’s obviously a way to automate it, is like making a cardboard box by hand," he said.

So Keeler contacted PENNTAP — the Pennsylvania Technical Assistance Program, an outreach program provided by Penn State University. PENNTAP provides assistance to Pennsylvania businesses through a network of technical specialists.

Doug Tharp, a PENNTAP technical specialist based at the Penn State Great Valley campus, put Keeler in touch with the Penn State Learning Factory, a program to help engineering undergraduates gain hands-on business experience.

For a fee of $1,800, which helps maintain programs at the Learning Factory, students came into Keeler’s shop, got a firsthand look at his production process, and began working on a plan to fully automate it.

Uticom Systems is one of hundreds of businesses that PENNTAP helped in 1999, and they are a diverse group.

Eastern Baptist Theological Seminary, in Wynnewood, called on PENNTAP to help the school integrate technology into its curriculum.

Entrepreneur R. Daryl Gross received PENNTAP’s help in launching a videography business through Gross’ involvement with Assets Montco, in Norristown, an organization which helps small start-up companies to devise business plans.

James Chan, of Asia Marketing and Management, a one-man consulting business in Philadelphia, turned to PENNTAP to find other successful small business owners whom Chan could interview for a new book. Chan’s book, Spare Room Tycoon: Succeeding Independently, the 70 Lessons of Sane Self-Employment, will be published next month.

From 1998 to 1999 alone, the economic benefits reported by PENNTAP clients from such things as cost savings and sales increases went from $6.7 million to $9.9 million – an increase of 48 percent. At the same time, clients served increased from 525 to 620 – or 18 percent. While serving more customers, PENNTAP still managed to garner a 98 percent client satisfaction rating, up one percent during 1999.

Tharp notes that fewer and fewer companies are in manufacturing and there has been steady growth in service, technology, and other fields. "In the Philadelphia area, we give a lot of assistance to startups and entrepreneurs at computer/software companies," he said.

Tharp predicts that PENNTAP’s next challenge will be to help companies thrive in the world of electronic commerce, without losing too much focus on providing quality customer service. He said that it won’t be easy.

"I think that people who embraced the technology changes in the 90s will still be in business in the new Millennium," said Tharp. "While the Internet is making serious inroads, you still need to integrate technology with the needs of customers."

PENNTAP is supported by state and federal government agencies, and serves its clients through the assistance of Bell Atlantic – Pennsylvania, NASA’s Mid-Atlantic Technology Applications Center, among many others. PENNTAP can be accessed locally by calling Doug Tharp at 610-648-3298.

This story by David Jwanier, manager of public information for the Philadelphia campuses, first appeared in the Penn State issue of the Philadelphia Tribune this spring.