Pure Michigan
Export Program
Company: Wineman Technology, Inc.
Location: Saginaw, Michigan
Products/Industry: Control systems, data acquisition systems, and test machines
Top 5 Countries Exporting to: Canada,
Mexico, China, Brazil, South Korea
When James A. Wineman was offered an early retirement from
General Motors in 1991, he took the opportunity to use his 30 years of
manufacturing engineering experience to provide the engineering and building of
control systems, data acquisition systems, and test machines by building
Wineman Technology, Inc. (WTI). What
began as a one-man company has now grown to almost 50 employees and has
expanded to have locations in Saginaw and Clarkston, Michigan and Raleigh,
North Carolina. Over the last decade, WTI has focused on data systems and test
machines for their international customers that are primarily involved in the
auto, off road vehicle, residential product, military and aerospace industries.
WTI’s participation with the Michigan Economic Development
Corporation (MEDC) began in 2009 when the MEDC made WTI aware of a trade
mission to Turin, Italy. With MEDC’s support, WTI was able to attend the trade
mission and meet with Fiat and other major international companies. MEDC also helped introduce the services of the
import/export bank to WTI by assisting in the organization of meetings.
“By availing ourselves of their services, it reduced our
risk of exposure while doing business with foreign companies in their
countries,” said Jim Wineman, founder and CEO of Wineman Technology, Inc.
“Therefore, increasing foreign exports as a result.”
WTI’s experience with the Pure Michigan Export Program began
in 2012.
“After making us aware of the opportunity for financial
assistance, they gave us pertinent information about how it worked and how easy
it was,” said Wineman. “Then they helped us tailor the information so that it
focused on what would benefit our company the most.”
WTI first utilized
the STEP grant incentives to fund its attendance at the National Instruments Week
trade show in Austin, Texas. This annual trade show provides technical
networking and instruction for engineers. This was a great opportunity for the company
to set up displays and demonstrate its engineering, programming and build
expertise. In addition, WTI attended the
Global Trade Show, which gave the company the opportunity to network with
representatives from China and Brazil. As a result of the Pure Michigan Export
Program’s support, WTI saw a 200% increase in foreign sales between 2012 and 2013.
“The Export Program was extremely helpful in educating us
about different trade shows that we’d be interested in and organizations that
could inform WTI about business in foreign countries,” said Wineman. “They also
helped us maximize the financial assistance of the STEP grant incentives which
enabled our company to participate in more trade shows.”