Thank you very much for finding this...
This is what is needed...
It is a starting place and was a lot better than I would have expected...
The fact that First Albany may get back into the picture and the explanation of the Supermarkets in the Albany area testing subcoolers even before CERN order kicks in are all reasons to take a second look at IMG...
Interesting that Frigc will get into these supermarkets as well...
Thanks again...
Markets hot for firm's cold-temperature products
Neil Springer Business Review Reporter
Carl Rosner, chairman and chief executive officer of Intermagnetics General Corp. of Latham, was reflecting about the Capital Region's
chances of landing a multibillion-dollar computer chip fabrication plant.
It is a topic that has gotten a lot of high-publicity treatment over the last year, and has raised expectations in many circles that the Albany
area will be on chip manufacturers' short list of new building sites when the semiconductor market rebounds--hopefully in about 18
months.
Rosner's opinions on this matter are informed--part of the product mix at Intermagnetics General includes cryogenic refrigeration
equipment used in a range of markets, including the semiconductor industry.
It is "eminently possible" that the Capital Region will be selected, but everyone concerned should extend the time line by at least five
years, he said.
"We should adopt some Japanese perspective," Rosner said. "We are often too optimistic; we don't have patience."
Have high expectations, yes, but also realistic expectations.
"I have adopted the truism that everything takes longer and costs more," he said.
Intermagnetics General, which develops and manufactures products based on superconductivity and related technologies, is in many ways
the product of realistic expectations married to patience and persistence.
Founded by Rosner in 1971 as a spinoff of General Electric Co., Intermagnetics General reported profits of $2.75 million on sales of
$95.9 million for the fiscal year ended March 31. It employs 242 workers in Latham, and more than 300 others worldwide.
It has taken 27 years, but the company is on the verge of becoming a $100 million corporation--in the first quarter of the new fiscal year,
the company had sales of $26.5 million and net income of $1 million--and is primed for a decade of what could be explosive growth.
Superconductivity is the phenomenon in which certain materials lose all resistance to the flow of electricity when cooled to low
temperatures. How low? Well, as low as minus 459 degrees Fahrenheit, or 4 degrees above absolute zero. The message to laymen:
Superconductivity occurs at very, very cold temperatures.
The phenomenon was discovered in 1911, but as Rosner pointed out last year at a cryogenic engineering conference in Portland. Ore.,
prophesies of near-term positive developments and commercial opportunities in superconductivity have been dispelled over and over
again. However, it appears that more of the promise may become a reality over the next decade and beyond. Opportunities in areas such
as energy, health care, commercial refrigeration and electronics are expected to drive Intermagnetics General's growth.
So far this year, the company has made a number of acquisitions, has entered into strategic partnerships, has expanded the distributor
network for its line of non-ozone-depleting refrigerants, and has won an important contract for work on the European particle collider
project in Switzerland. These developments not only have improved the company's current position, but also have set the stage for the
future.
The prime mover of the company's growth will be products for the electric industry. That market sector always has been the company's
"No. 1, ultimate target," Rosner said, but a number of factors--such as utility regulatory policy and electric industry reluctance to buy
equipment without a track record of 20 to 30 years of trouble-free use--held down sales of superconducting equipment.
Now, the deregulation of the electric utility industry, in the United States and abroad, has increased the pressure on the industry to pursue
more efficient, cost-saving and environmentally friendlier equipment. It has opened avenues for the sale of superconducting transformers,
cable, operational power equipment, and, further down the road, superconductive magnetic energy storage systems.
Intermagnetics General currently is working with the U.S. Department of Energy, Rochester Gas & Electric Corp., electric research
organizations and power equipment manufacturers to speed up the commercialization of these products.
Nicholas Lyman, a spokesman for Niagara Mohawk Power Corp. of Syracuse, said that although the utility is not involved in any
research projects with Intermagnetics General, its research and development staff is watching developments in superconductivity with
"more than a passing interest."
The company isn't focused solely on the electric generation and transmission side of the power equation; it also sees promise in products
that reduce a user's consumption of energy. In fact, through its InterCool Energy Corp. subsidiary, the Intermagnetics General early next
year will be field-testing subcoolers expected to cut energy use by 30 percent to 40 percent when added to standard commercial
refrigeration systems.
The subcoolers for the field test, which were designed and developed by InterCool, are being fabricated by a Canadian subcontractor.
However, sometime later in 1999, Rosner expects InterCool finally will have its own manufacturing facility at the refurbished Schenectady
building that was once home to the old Maqua printing company.
The field test will be conducted in a number of Capital Region Price Chopper supermarkets, where the subcoolers will be monitored in a
joint program with Niagara Mohawk and Golub Corp. of Rotterdam, which owns Price Chopper.
Joanne Gage, vice president of consumer and marketing services at Golub Corp., said no decision has been made yet on the location of
the test stores.
Currently, Golub Corp. is testing Intermagnetics General's refrigerant, which is used as a replacement for ozone-depleting refrigerants
such as Freon, at a Price Chopper in Latham. The company expects to test the product in its Watervliet supermarket as well, Gage said.
Another growth sector will be in Intermagnetics General's development and sale of magnetic resonance imaging equipment.
In 1997, the company's magnet systems group, which includes MRI-related sales, accounted for about 56 percent of overall revenue.
The company expects to continue its position as the supplier of superconducting magnets to three of the world's leading medical diagnosis
MRI systems manufacturers: Phillips of The Netherlands, Hitachi of Japan and Elscint, an Israeli company recently purchased by General
Electric Co.'s medical systems division. And it also figures to break into the field of supplying MRI systems to inspect and analyze a
number of products and materials, from foods and beverages, plastics and rubbers to petrochemicals, ceramics and explosives.
Intermagnetics General developed its food and material inspection MRI systems so as not to compete with medical MRI customers, and
Rosner thinks the food inspection system is "a potentially powerful tool" that has significant market opportunities in supermarkets and,
someday, even in homes. As the new markets unfold, Rosner said the company will be on the lookout for other acquisitions, but will
continue to be selective, focusing on small, privately held companies that have the potential for significant growth.
"They have to add to our existing product capability, be a leader in the marketplace, and be profitable, so that the money we spend will
come back to us right now," he said.
For all the notice Intermagnetics General has garnered in certain circles, the investment community does not yet have the company on its
radar screen Rosner thinks the company is pretty much a secret in the Capital Region and the United States.
"The marketplace does not know us," he said. "We are a sufficiently complicated company, and I think analysts are reluctant to follow us.
We are like a mini-conglomerate."
Currently, there are no stock analysts covering the company, although George McNamee, chairman and co-chief executive officer of
First Albany Cos. Inc., an Albany-based investment bank and brokerage, has promised to stop by with some analysts to become familiar
with the company, Rosner said.
McNamee, who also is chairman and chief executive officer of Mechanical Technology Inc. of Latham, a manufacturer of advanced
products, is a keen follower of high-tech industries.
Intermagnetics General, which is traded on the American Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol IMG, has used part of its positive cash
flow to buy back about 1.3 million of its shares for $12.7 million since 1997.
"I strongly feel that we are undervalued," Rosner said. "And there is no better way to spend our money."
© 1998, Capital District Business Review
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