Feature Story
Conductive Composites Company to Expand Manufacturing, Employment in Emery County

When George Hansen was in the second grade, his parents gave him a book about plate tectonics during a visit to Craters of the Moon National Monument in Idaho. For his 10th birthday his father gave him a chart of nuclides (which distinguishes the isotopes of Earth's elements as compared to a periodic table, which maps the chemical behavior of those elements).

"The chart was probably something my dad (a nuclear physicist) picked up at a convention, but I thought it was really cool," Hansen says with a chuckle. "We were an extremely scientific family…I wasn't interested in sports."

Nanotechnology
Studies of plate tectonics and nuclides were Hansen's launch pad to a serious study of the sciences and eventually into nanotechnology--controlling matter on an atomic and molecular scale and developing materials or devices within that size. After obtaining a degree in chemical engineering from BYU ('79) Hansen joined IBM for a five-year stint. However, in 1985 the entrepreneurial itch was too great and Hansen left IBM to form a company focused on a relatively new and growing industry called composites. Much to the chagrin of his wife, Cynthia, their kitchen became Hansen's chemistry lab. It was there that he developed his early ideas and processes on which his new company would focus--making composite materials electrically conductive. While composite materials were becoming increasingly stronger and lighter than metal products, they lacked conductivity. Making composites conductive is essential for their use in digital communications, computers and warfare technologies.

Hansen's early efforts led to a $750,000 contract with the military, which seeded the company for future growth. Today, Conductive Composites Company is a world-class leader in the industry and has developed a suite of electromagnetically active nanomaterials that are used to create high performance electrically conductive adhesives, paints, resins, elastomers, coatings, gaskets, and surfacing films. "It's really cool!" Hansen declares. Conductive Composites' customers range from the Department of Defense to an array of high-tech companies in the telecom and computer industries.

World-class Technology
Says Hansen: "This is world-class technology, home-grown in Utah. It wasn't bought or moved here from somewhere else, it essentially came out of my kitchen! There is nothing that even comes close to what we are able to do. Our materials have been used to achieve unsurpassed levels of electromagnetic performance in composite and polymer systems."

Having grown out of its 5,000 square foot facility in Heber City, the company is now in the process of relocating its manufacturing facility to rural Green River, Utah, where it plans to manufacture its products in greater volume. When the new manufacturing facility is complete, production will ramp up and employment will grow from the current team of 23 to between 40 and 50 employees.

A Home In Green River
Conductive Composites Company will begin manufacturing at a temporary facility near the airport in Green River, while its permanent manufacturing facility is constructed. When the expansion project began, Conductive Composites sought EDCUtah for help in finding a good location for its new facility. The company wanted to locate in rural Utah. EDCUtah contacted Mike McCandless, economic development director for Emery County and worked closely with him and county leaders to help the company find a suitable manufacturing location, housing and financing.

Why Green River? Hansen prefers a rural setting, for security and other reasons. Green River is also highly accessible, since it is situated next to I-70 and State Highway 6. Naturally, McCandless and Emery County leaders couldn't be more thrilled. "This is a real shot in the arm for Green River, which is largely dependent on its hotel industry and has nearly as many hotel beds as residents," says McCandless. "The company's wages will be 135 percent of the median wage for the community. We hope Green River will be a nice fit for Conductive Composites. The project is a really great step in our efforts to diversify the Emery County economy from coal mining and power plants into other industries."

Utah's Composites Industry
It's no surprise Conductive Composites Company is flourishing in Utah. The company's highly innovative products are often 1,000 times more conductive than those of its competitors. In 2005 the company was awarded a Defense Acquisition Challenge Grant for $1.7 million from the Office of the Secretary of Defense--one of only 26 winners from 477 applicants. Furthermore, Hansen is a recognized leader in his field. He has published numerous technical papers at conferences and in 2006 he received an RD 100 award, which is essentially an "Oscar of Industry" for being one of 100 best industry ideas. What's more, by being headquartered in Utah, Conductive Composites is able to draw on the strength of Utah's leadership and rich history as a center for advanced composites R&D and manufacturing. The Beehive State has one of the highest concentrations of advanced composites companies in the world. Over the years, the state has developed a complete infrastructure supporting the advanced composites industry, including raw materials, engineering capability, an excellent workforce, manufacturing capability, sales experts, machine design, manufacturing support and general support.

Because of the high concentration of advanced composites companies in Utah, the Governor's Office has identified composites as one of the state's major economic clusters, which are groups of related businesses and organizations whose collective excellence and collaboration provide a sustainable competitive advantage. Consequently, EDCUtah works closely with the Governor's Office of Economic Development (GOED) to help composites companies grow here and encourage out-of-state companies to consider relocating to Utah because of the excellent environment and strong support for growth.

Like Conductive Composites Company, the overall future of the composites industry looks bright for Utah as government and industry demand continues to grow. Utah's advanced composites industry has always been highly innovative. For that reason tremendous breakthroughs have and will continue to occur here.