20100906-NEWS--0003-NAT-CCI-CD_-- 9/3/2010 6:04 PM Page 1

September 6, 2010 CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS Page 3

Inside Tour explores alt-energy biz Seeking the in mid-Michigan, Page 4 UM-Dearborn Innovation Index up in 1Q, Page 20 DPS seeks proposals on Lions’ share sharing services, Page 21

Investment in players could Company index come back to help bottom line These organizations appear in this week’s Crain’s NATHAN SKID/CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS Detroit Business: Paul Savage, CEO of Nextek Power Systems Inc., shows off his company’s new BY BILL SHEA Ambrose Law Group ...... 1 1,600-watt power server, which converts AC power to DC power for home or CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS office use at a proposed energy savings of 10 percent to 40 percent. Amherst Partners ...... 4 There is a lot of Angle Advisors-Investment Banking ...... 25 The Detroit Lions have invested “ a collective $202 million in fan Bazonzoes ...... 24 Matthew Stafford, Belfour USA Group ...... 25 Ndamukong Suh and Calvin excitement Nextek hopes to spark Belle Isle Women’s Committee ...... 10 Johnson over the long term, BlackEagle Partners ...... 25 to revive the moribund fran- and Burton Bros. General Contractors ...... 25 chise on the field, at the gate Cannabis Connection ...... 24 and in the ledger books. anticipation CB Richard Ellis ...... 25 Two years removed from electronics revolution the National Football League’s over these Chrysler ...... 25 first 0-16 season, the Lions’ players. Conway MacKenzie ...... 3 efforts to shed their doormat ” Power server converts AC to DC Dana Holding ...... 25 reputation appear to be showing DeMattia Group ...... 24 Bob Raymond, Detroit Lions initial dividends, thanks in part BY TOM HENDERSON Detroit Lions ...... 3 to those players. specifics on ticket sales, but did CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS Detroit Public Schools ...... 21 “There is say season-ticket sales at 65,000- We’re a digital A small Detroit company will Dow Corning ...... 4 a lot of fan seat Ford Field are up 10 percent “ DETAILS launch a product this week that it First Commercial Realty and Development ...... 1 excitement over last year, with a rush of world ... and digital hopes will lead to $4 million in rev- Ford Motor ...... 25 Top dollars: Lions and antici- sales expected before the season enue in the next year and eventu- Ford Motor Land Development ...... 13 contract highlights, pation over begins next week. It also cut loads mean DC Page 22 ally change the way offices and these play- prices on 19,000 seats this year. General Electric ...... 25 electronic devices are powered. power. ers we’ve Detroit saw four of its eight General Motors ...... 25 drafted and developed,” said Bob Nextek Power Systems Inc., which ” regular-season home games in Hacienda Mexican Foods ...... 12 grew out of research at Brookhaven Hawk Asgreirsson, Raymond, the team’s vice presi- 2009 blacked out on local televi- dent of business operations. National Laboratory in New York, DTE Energy Co. Hemlock Semiconductor ...... 4 The team doesn’t disclose See Lions, Page 22 plans to be at the forefront of a HYDRA Professionals ...... 25 movement to convert office and has formed an alliance with For- InStar Services Group ...... 1 home power systems from alter- tune 500 heavyweights that say International Automotive Components Group ...... 4 Young fans at a preseason game at Ford Field get right to the point. Players nating current to direct current. Nextek’s technology will be key to Johnson Controls ...... 3 Matt Stafford and Calvin Johnson have the top two contracts with the Lions. In the process, it hopes to prove a major green advance in the way McTevia & Associates ...... 21 — after more than 100 years — that offices are powered. Thomas Edison was at least partly The company is taking on the Michigan Opera Theatre ...... 1 right. (See related story, Page 23.) way electric vehicles will be Nextek Power Systems ...... 3 Nextek may be tiny, with just 15 charged, too. NextEnergy ...... 3 employees, 12 hired in the past two As a recipient of about $400,000 Principal Associates-GVA ...... 24 years. It has been incubating at De- Priority Health ...... 13 See Nextek, Page 23 troit’s NextEnergy since 2005, but it Signature Associates ...... 25 Skillman Foundation ...... 11 Southwest Detroit Business Association ...... 12 Sports Value Consulting ...... 22 Tri-Star Engineering ...... 4 Visteon closing Chapter 11 UAW Retiree Medical Benefits Trust ...... 15 United Way for Southeastern Michigan ...... 11 Timing may position it for growth wave University of Michigan-Dearborn ...... 20 Visteon ...... 3 BY DUSTIN WALSH to emerge by Oct. 1. Wayne State University School of Medicine ...... 15 CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS “Visteon is exiting at the right Yazaki North America ...... 12 time, during a recovering mar- As the dust nearly settles on a Your Comfort Care ...... 1 ket,” said Van Conway, founder of 15-month battle through U.S. Bank- Birmingham-based Conway Zausmer, Kaufman, August, Caldwell & Tayler . . . . 10 ruptcy Court, Van Buren Township- MacKenzie Inc. “There’s more mar- based supplier Vis- gin potential because customers teon Corp. is are stronger now.” Department index re-entering a re- REAL ESTATE The supplier shed most of its covering auto Visteon U.S.-based manufacturing plants BANKRUPTCIES ...... 23 market on a mis- Village: With and some in Mexico, including sion to leverage new name, CAREERWORKS ...... 19 selling off its climate controls its strengths and campus filling CLASSIFIED ADS ...... 20 up, Page 25 plant in Connersville, Ind., a plant put to work the ex- in Saltillo, Mexico, and one in KEITH CRAIN...... 6 pertise of a re- Highland Park to Johnson Controls vamped corporate board. LETTERS...... 6 Inc. and its Mexican subsidiary The bankruptcy court in OPINION ...... 6 Johnson Controls Automotriz Mexico, Delaware approved Visteon’s reor- S de RL de CV, in an April deal. OTHER VOICES ...... 7 ganization plan last Tuesday, in- Over the past eight months, the PEOPLE ...... 19 cluding a $700 million exit financ- ing package. The company expects See Visteon, Page 25 RUMBLINGS ...... 26 NATHAN SKID/CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS STAGE TWO STRATEGIES ...... 4 Crain's blogs WO EN In their own words WEEK ON THE WEB ...... 26 THIS WEEK @ Read the latest dispatches Four videos of Women to Watch honorees from our newsroom at TOWATCH are available online at WWW.CRAINSDETROIT.COM crainsdetroit.com/blogs 2010 crainsdetroit.com/womentowatch 20100906-NEWS--0023-NAT-CCI-CD_-- 9/3/2010 5:16 PM Page 1

September 6, 2010 CRAIN’S DETROIT BUSINESS Page 23 Nextek: Company has high hopes for AC-DC conversion device ■ From Page 3 of a Phase I $2.5 million grant to fornia, said DC-powered offices are Ventures LLC, of Aspen, Colo. NextEnergy from the U.S. Depart- the wave of the future. “That gave us some working ment of Defense to build a variety of Electrical systems have “It’s a major trend. We’re a digi- capital, but we’ll be back in the prototype recharging stations for tal world and we’re going to get marketplace in a year or so for ex- military use, Nextek has built two more digital, and digital loads pansion capital,” said Savage, who prototype charging stations in the mean DC power,” he said. said he will target a round of parking lot at NextEnergy. a lot of switching going on Nextek got its first major funding $25 million to $50 million. The stations convert AC power in 2008, a round of $10 million led by Tom Henderson: (313) 446-0337, to high-voltage DC power, which Paul Mitchell, founder of Two Seven [email protected] In the 1880s, George Westing- cost savings. sharply cuts recharging time for house and Thomas Edison be- For homes or offices that use electric vehicles. came bitter adversaries over the solar panels, the current system NextEnergy has won a Phase 2 best way to transmit electricity is even less efficient. Solar panels grant of $2.5 million to move the pro- — direct or alternating current. generate DC power, which has to totype program to military bases, Edison backed DC, the stan- be converted to AC power before and Nextek will share that, too. Self-Employed? dard in the early days (and the it is fed to office or home electric The real benefit of the DOD pro- one on which he held patents). lines, then converted back to DC gram to Nextek, says its CEO, Paul But as demand grew, it became by individual electronic devices. Affordable Insurance Savage, isn’t the grant funding, impossible to carry enough pow- Nextek’s equipment will elimi- but the potential for using its mili- er using DC transmission, and nate those conversions. tary recharging stations as an en- AC took over. Nextek was founded in 1995, trée to the potentially far larger Today, electricity transmitted based on work by Bill Wilhelm, a commercial electric auto market. Life by power lines enters the home division head at Brookhaven Na- “It’s a big concern. Will con- or office in AC form and is con- tional Laboratory in New York who sumers tolerate large recharge Health verted to DC by individual elec- specialized in thin-film solar pho- times?” said Savage, a former bond tronic devices, such as comput- tovoltaics and who realized there dealer at Credit Suisse First Boston Retirement ers and televisions. Each would be a need for a DC system and member of risk management conversion results in energy loss. to avoid energy losses during DC Long-Term Care at Lehman Brothers. Nextek’s power server per- to AC to DC conversions. But for now, Nextek’s improv- forms the conversion before the The company moved to Michi- ing fortunes lie with its new prod- power reaches individual de- gan in 2005. (800) 987-0290 uct, the 1,600-watt Nextek power vices, with less energy loss and a — Tom Henderson server, a device that will sell for $1,550 and convert AC power to DC power for office use, at a proposed in a metal grid, Armstrong’s Flex- Dutch giant Philips Electronics; Osram Zayti Agency energy savings of between 10 per- Zone system energizes the metal Sylvania; and Worthington Armstrong IIS000320 cent and 40 percent. Each server grid to power overhead lights and Venture, a joint venture of Worthing- will power between 500 and 1,000 other devices, carrying low-voltage ton Industries Inc. and Armstrong. Call your local Insphere office for a FREE quote today! square feet, depending on the load. DC power that is safe to touch. Today, there are 65 members. Currently, Nextek generates The DC system frees lights and Nextek remains as one of five gov- revenue — about $1 million in the other devices from typical elec- erning board members. DTE Energy last 18 months — selling small de- tronic cabling and allows offices to Co. is joining. vices called ballasts that convert be easily reconfigured. “(DC is) an interesting concept. AC power at 30 hertz (cycles per “We’ve been looking to lay the It’s neat and it makes sense. It’s a second) to DC power and then back groundwork for a new system in movement that has grown legs over to AC power at 30,000 hertz, a com- green buildings, and we’re going to the last few years,” said Hawk As- plicated process needed to light make a big marketing push next greirsson, manager of power sys- fluorescent bulbs. year,” said Susan Rhoades, the di- tem technologies for DTE. Even before the official commer- vision’s manager. “Everything runs on DC now, so cial introduction of the power She declined to say what the mar- there’s a lot of energy loss doing the server, Nextek has done more than ket for Armstrong’s new ceiling sys- conversion from AC,” Asgreirsson- 40 installations in the U.S. and the tem might be, but said it is large. said. “Our customers are putting United Kingdom, Spain, Saudi “Nextek is very well networked quite a bit into solar panels, and if Arabia, Singapore, Japan and for a small company in the circle they have a way to use that DC pow- Canada, including the Char- that matters for green building er directly, it’d be nice. “ lottesville, Va., office of green ar- sustainability,” said Rhoades. While Nextek has no direct com- chitect William McDonough, who “Their product is absolutely criti- petitors in AC-to-DC devices yet, designed the green roof at Ford Mo- cal for us to sell our product.” because of its strong portfolio of 12 tor Co.’s River Rouge plant. Rhoades said a tipping point for patents, Asgreirsson said inertia Nextek will have help hitting its DC-powered buildings will be the will be a barrier to market. revenue milestones from Armstrong fast-growing market in LED (light- “There’s a lot of legacy infra- World Industries Inc., the world’s emitting diode) lighting. structure. Can you afford to make largest maker of ceiling tiles and of- “You can get up to a 20 percent the change?” he asked. “Arm- fice ceiling systems. It is a $3 billion efficiency savings on LED lighting strong is a huge supplier of ceil- company, with about a third of its if you have DC power,” she said. ings, and they’re very excited revenue coming from ceiling sys- Two years ago, Armstrong and about this, but it will take a long tems in commercial buildings. Nextek were two of five founding time to become prevalent.” Armstrong recently formed a new members of a California-based non- Karl Johnson, on the advisory division, DC FlexZone Systems, based profit called the Emerge Alliance, to council of the EMerge Alliance in Lancaster, Pa., to market office promote DC power usage. The oth- and the program manager for the ceilings with integrated DC power. ers were Johnson Controls; Philips California Institute for Energy and the In a typical office ceiling of tiles Lighting, the U.S. division of the Environment of the University of Cali-

BANKRUPTCIES The following businesses filed for MEM Investments LLC, 101 W. Long Entertainment Holdings LLC, 22828 Chapter 7 or 11 protection in U.S. Lake Road, Suite 210, Bloomfield Hills, Woodward Ave., Ferndale, voluntary Bankruptcy Court in Detroit Aug. 27- voluntary Chapter 11. Assets and lia- Chapter 11. Assets and liabilities not Sept. 2. Under Chapter 11, a company bilities not available. available. files for reorganization. Chapter 7 in- Post Six Inc., 42875 Grand River Ave., BCB Development Associates LLC, volves liquidation. Novi, voluntary Chapter 11. Assets 22828 Woodward Ave., Ferndale, vol- HDH Properties LLC , 415 W. 11 Mile and liabilities not available. untary Chapter 11. Assets and liabili- Road, Madison Heights, voluntary ties not available. S & J Post Inc., 22828 Woodward Ave., Chapter 11. Assets and liabilities not Credit One Inc., A Michigan Corp., available. Ferndale, voluntary Chapter 11. As- sets and liabilities not available. 28651 Southfield Road, Southfield, vol- Perazza Products LLC, 775 Berkshire, untary Chapter 7. Assets and liabili- Grosse Pointe Park, voluntary Chapter Real Entertainment LLC, 3880 Lapeer ties not available. Rd., Auburn Hills, voluntary Chapter 7. Assets and liabilities not available. , 28908 11. Assets and liabilities not available. A.S.A.P. Express & Logistics Inc. Howard City Associates LLC, 775 Berk- Highland, Romulus, voluntary Chapter shire, Grosse Pointe Park, voluntary The Elephant Inc., 208 W. Congress, 11. Assets and liabilities not available. Chapter 7. Assets and liabilities not Detroit, voluntary Chapter 11. Assets available. and liabilities not available. — Shawn Wright