Forrestal Incubees — Two Years Later
Corrections or additions?
These articles edited by Barbara Fox were prepared for the October
8, 2003 issue of U.S. 1 Newspaper. All rights reserved.
Factories Closing
Two of Central Jersey’s oldest manufacturing facilities
— Johnson & Johnson’s Consumer Products facility on Route 1 in
North Brunswick and Coca Cola’s Minute Maid bottling plant in
Hightstown
— may shut down. At risk are more than 750 jobs, adding to the
more than 67,000 manufacturing jobs that have left the state in the
last three years.
The most recent announcement came Friday, October 3, when Coca Cola
announced that after more than 37 years a juice packaging plant on
Mercer Street will close, eliminating about 275 jobs. The production
line will shut down in mid-November, but the product distribution
center will stay open for a few months. Coca Cola is offering
severance.
The first warning came in January, when Coca Cola said it would
integrate
the Minute Maid and the food service and hospitality division into
Coca Cola North America. In March 1,000 people were laid off and the
integration began. So far, only the Hightstown plant has been labeled
redundant. Production will be handled by other facilities in North
America, says Ray Crockett, a spokesperson.
Politicians are rallying to persuade Coca Cola to change its mind,
but meanwhile the state labor department has promised to deploy its
rapid-response team to help displaced workers apply for unemployment
compensation, find new jobs, and learn about retraining programs.
“We will try to contact other employers to help them look for
other opportunities,” says Crockett. “We know this is a
difficult
period for both the employees and the community.”
Johnson & Johnson’s news is not yet so dire, because the reduction
is not definite. J&J is saying only that it might close the
consumer products production lines at Route 1 and Aaron Road in North
Brunswick. In jeopardy are the jobs of 490 union employees who make
Band-Aid brand bandages and J&J baby products, including shampoos
and lotion. Approximately 600 other workers at that site would not
be affected, says Mark Monsour, J&J spokesperson.
“J&J Consumer Products Company is seriously considering ceasing
manufacturing at that facility,” says Monsour, “but a final
decision will not be made until after a thorough review. A decision
will be made in mid November.” “If the decision is to cease
manufacturing, the plant would be closed by the end of 2004.”
The company notified the employees as required by a labor contract
with the union. Monsour says it is premature to speculate where the
jobs would go. J&J could move the work to other company-owned
manufacturing
sites around the world or outsource the production.
Known as the eastern surgical dressing plant, the facility opened
in 1957 and was expanded in 1965 and 1974. The 600 unaffected
employees
work for J&J’s implantable device firm, DePuy; the J&J sales and
logistics
company, which provides a single point of contact for all the
products,
and E-J&J, a business development firm that focuses on new web-enabled
healthcare business models. J&J could be expected to try to lease
the empty space, since it already has two outside tenants at the site
— American Express and GAF, a roofing company.
Headquartered in New Brunswick, J&J has more than 200 different
companies
and employs about 3,800 people in Central New Jersey. The Grandview
Road offices of J&J Consumer Products would not be affected.
Johnson & Johnson Consumer Products (JNJ), Route1 and Aaron Road, North Brunswick 08902-9498. 732-422-5000; fax,732-422-5514.Minute Maid Company (KO), 480 Mercer Street, Box351, Hightstown 08520. Alan Vanderneut, plant manager. 609-448-5100;fax, 609-448-0377. Home page: www.minutemaid.comTop Of PageCorigin MiddlewareEladio Alvarez says his company, Corigin Inc., has afaster, cheaper way for programmers to extract data from mainframesand export it to PCs or open system computers. “Today 70 percentof the world’s data sits on mainframes,” he says. “It is veryhard and expensive to get access to that data. It used to take 10hours to get data from a mainframe to a PC, now we take two hours.People can save millions of dollars.”Alvarez has moved the U.S. headquarters of the Israel-based companyfrom Saddle Brook to 100 Overlook. The firm is a one-year-old whollyowned subsidiary of Corigin Ltd. Offering a way to extend the lifeof legacy databases, its middleware technology delivers secure,high-speeddata, while reducing data center operational costs. This mainframedata acceleration software is particularly appropriate for financialservice, utility, and data communications companies.A native of Caracas, Venezuela, Alvarez graduated from Simon Bolivarin 1977 and also has a master’s degree from that university. He hasworked for Oracle, Sterling Software, IBM, and Ask Jeeves, and hehas built software divisions with revenues from $20 to $180 million.He has lived in the Princeton area for 21 years and has the titleof president of Corigin’s North American operations.Alvarez turned to his office manager at Corigin, Margaret Sproehnle,for help in finding space for Corigin. Sproehnle was his executiveassistant 20 years ago, when he came to the United States in 1982to work at Applied Data Research. She enlisted Jon Brush of HiltonRealty to locate Corigin at Regus, a shared office company at 100Overlook, and negotiate for the firm’s next location.Main frame computers carry 70 percent of the world’s data, saysAlvarez.Every Fortune 3000 company in the world has a main frame, and thereare more than 15,000 in the United States. “One reason why mainframes are so prevalent is that these companies have been in businessfor a long long time,” he says.Alvarez notes that because running a main frame is much more expensivethan working on open systems, most IT departments favor doingprogrammingon PCs, Unix, or Linux. But how to get access to the data? The largestplayers in the software industry (IBM, EMC, and Hitachi) and suchsmaller middleware providers as Boston-based Informatica use themethodof extracting the data from the mainframe itself.Alone among its competitors, Corigin retrieves data from the datastorage controller, the box outside the mainframe that correspondsto the hard drive of the PC.Corigin has an exclusive worldwide patent on this method, developedby Michael Rothschild, and its business plan calls for it to marketits own products and also form partnerships. Current partners areHitachi Data Systems and Information Builders. Corigin also supportsall mainframe architectures.”Our software provides access to the data on the mainframe. Anyprogrammer can get access to that data. They don’t need to knowanythingabout the main frame,” says Alvarez. Using system architecture,the software can be used in Intel-based, Unix-based, or Linux-basedsystems. “All new development can happen on the open side of thehouse.”Corigin is a private company with stock held by the employees twoventure capital firms — Vertex Venture Capital, an Israel-basedfund, and Genesis Partners. It was founded under the name NewFrameby Tsvi Misinai, who had previously founded Sapiens (Nasdaq: SPNS).Officially launched in 2002 as an independent software vendor, CoriginInc. has a very aggressive growth plan. Alvarez, the first employee,arrived in June. With six employees now, 10 or 12 employees by spring,he expects to quadruple his business in 2004 and again in 2005.— Barbara FoxCorigin Inc., 100 Overlook Center, Second Floor,Princeton 08540. Eladio Alvarez, president of North Americanoperations.609-375-2440; fax, 609-375-2740. Www.corigin.comTop Of PageElder Guardianship & the LawAfter working for the Office of the Public Guardianfor Elderly Adults of New Jersey, Nina Weiss and Anthony Serraestablisheda private practice specializing in guardianship issues.The state office, Weiss explains, is “the guardian of last resortfor people who have no family or friends.” Referred to the officeby the courts, these individuals are often suffering from dementia,and are often deemed no longer capable of handling their financesor of making sound healthcare decisions.Sharing a similar philosophy, Weiss and Serra decided to set up apractice around these issues. “We worked well together. We’reboth very rights oriented,” says Weiss. “We try to preservethe autonomy of the individual.”The cases in which Weiss and her partner are involved most ofteninvolvea hand off of the rights most people take for granted. The right towithdraw money from a bank account, for example, or to choose whereto live. When there is a question of whether a person is able to makecompetent decisions on these and other issues, courts can be calledon to rule on competency. In those cases, a guardian is appointedto protect the rights of the person whose competency is in question.While much of their work revolves around the competency of seniors,Weiss and Serra also get involved in guardianship issues involvingchildren, or with young people who are not able to function well inevery adult task. Parents of an individual with a disability, forexample, are no longer automatically considered by the courts to betheir child’s guardian.Weiss, who earned her J.D. from Fordham in 1995, and Serra, who earnedhis J.D. from Seton Hall in 1988, represent both individuals andfamiliescaught up in what are nearly always wrenching decisions.”There is a push in New Jersey for limited guardianship,”says Weiss. This trend goes along with her own views on how elderlypeople should be able to live their lives. “Guardianship shouldbe crafted around the needs of the person,” she says. Maybe, shegives as an example, an elderly person needs help with his checkbook,but is making his own decision on whether or not to enter a nursinghome. All rights should not be taken away if it is not necessary.In old age, the tables turn, and children often think they know whatis best for their parents. But the parents don’t always agree. Whenthat is the case, the family can end up in court, or perhaps inmediation,which sees as a growing trend.— Kathleen McGinn SpringSerra Weiss LLC, 118 Tamarack Circle,MontgomeryKnoll, Box 8017, Princeton 08543-8017. 609-924-4818; fax,609-924-4480.E-mail: serraweiss@worldnet.att.net.Top Of PageBarrier ExpandsBarrier Therapeutics, a pharmaceutical company thathas doubled in size in six months, moved from shared office spaceat Regus in 100 Overlook to 600 College Road. It has 29 people atthis 11,000-square foot office (part of Cytogen’s former space) andthe phone and fax are new. Except for the chief scientific officer,the medical director, and the general manager, who are working inGeel, Belgium, the rest of the management team is in Princeton.Sab Russo of CB Richard Ellis represented the pharmaceutical firmand James Kinzig of Aegis Property Group represented the PeregrineInvestment Partners, the owner of the building.The privately-held company works with dermatological drugs licensedfrom affiliates of Johnson & Johnson. “Our philosophy is to focuson dermatological prescription drugs that have a distinct advantageto what is on the market,” says CEO Geert Cauwenburgh (U.S. 1,February 19, 2003).”We hope to have another investor who will contribute to a secondround of investment by the end of this month,” says Cauwenburgh.Last year the firm raised $46 million in venture financing, led byTL Ventures and JP Morgan, who are represented on the board ofdirectorsby Marc Ostro and Srinivas Akkaraju, respectively. Also on the boardis Drew Schiff of Perseus/Soros BioPharmaceutical.Cauwenburgh, 49, was most recently vice president of technologytransferand external developments for J&J Consumer and Personal Care Products.Anne M. VanLent, Barrier’s executive vice president and chieffinancialofficer, has been executive vice president in charge of portfoliomanagement at Sarnoff and CFO for Liposome. Marcel Borgers, the chiefscientific officer, is former vice president of life sciences forthe Janssen Research Foundation. Chuck Nomides, chief operatingofficer,was R&D director of Ortho Neutrogena prescription drug development,part of J&J.Barrier’s clinical pipeline includes four products in or enteringPhase III trials to treat fungal infections, diaper dermatitis, andseborrheic dermatitis. In June the company received orphan drugdesignationin Europe for liarozole, which can treat ichthyosis, a geneticdisorderinvolving skin that looks like fish scales. Six earlier-stage clinicalproducts are in the areas of psoriasis, acne, skin inflammation,fungalinfections, allergies, and wound healing.Most recently it licensed a new Vitamin D3 derivative, Ecalcidene,from the Research Institute for Medicine and Chemistry in Cambridge,Massachusetts. Ecalcidene has a potential for treating psoriasis andacne.Barrier Therapeutics Inc., 600 College Road East,Princeton 08540. Geert Cauwenbergh, CEO. 609-945-1200; fax,609-945-1212.Www.barriertherapeutics.comTop Of PageExpansionsABC Computers, Princeton-Hightstown Road,SouthfieldShopping Center, West Windsor 08550. Evan Rector, manager.609-799-8525;fax, 609-799-8523. Www.abandccomputers.comABC Computers flourished in relative obscurity inHightstownfor 11 years and then followed the “Go west, young man” adviceto open a storefront at the Southfield Shopping Center. The companyexpanded from 1,200 square feet to 2,200 feet. Evan Rector, and hiswife Lori Daume’ (dowMAY) run the business along with some consultantsand investors. They sell custom-built computers and services all makesand models, including Macintosh.Rector notes that in the 11 years his company has been in business,most of his competitors have gone out of business. “Just lookat the pages of your newspaper,” says Rector. “Every pagehad a computer store advertisements, and where are they now? Gone.Because they weren’t servicing their customers.” When hisattentionis called to some computer companies that are, indeed flourishing,he points out that his is the only one now located in a retailshoppingcenter.Another differentiating factor: the store has a mascot, Harry thebrindle terrier, whose friendly wag to reduce the anxiety that comeswith a frozen hard drive. “We get people walking in crying becausethey never backed up,” says Rector. “Almost half our businessis service and upgrades — reconfiguring the computer systems.”What makes his business different, he says, is that he sells onlyhardware — no software, and no training — and that he hasthe equivalent of an “open kitchen.” Like restaurants wholet diners see into the kitchen, his employees do their work in frontof the customers, not in a back room. “Customers are able to seecomputers torn apart. They are allowed to ask question,” saysRector. “It’s like seeing your car being brought up onto the lift.`Do you see the burnt chip here?’ People like coming into the workarea.”Says Rector: “It’s a location-specific business, and our newlocationis demographically better.”Junior Achievement of New Jersey Inc., 4365 Route1 South, Princeton 08540. Paul B. Miles, president. 609-524-4050;fax, 609-524-4051. Home page: www.ja.orgAs planned, Junior Achievement moved its offices — the main onein Mountainside, and a satellite office at HQ in Forrestal Village— to the former Summit Bank building on Route 1 South (U.S. 1,July 9, 2003).M&T Mortgage Corporation, 230 Nassau Street,Princeton08542. Keith Barclay, sales manager. 609-688-1662; fax, 609-688-1664.M&T Mortgage, a subsidiary of Buffalo, New York-based M&T Bank, hasmoved from 23 Route 31 in Pennington to a larger space on NassauStreet.Keith Barclay, sales manager in charge of this office, says that hisfour-person branch specializes in unusual or hard to obtainresidentialmortgages. Among M&T’s products is a rehab loan through which aborrowercan purchase an older home and roll renovation costs into themortgage.The firm also does construction loans and refinancings.Intimate Resources Ltd. , 3 Fitzgerald Avenue,Sayreville 08872. 609-860-1922.After 10 years at Center Point Industrial Park, Intimate Resources,a privately owned lingerie firm, opened an additional distributioncenter on 500 Kennedy Drive in Sayreville 08872. Its location at 3Fitzgerald Avenue was closed for a time, but it has now reopened.The headquarters is in Manhattan’s garment district.Top Of PageForrestal Incubees — Two Years LaterTwo years ago, recent graduates of Princeton Universitywere working on advanced power conversion technologies with Ed Zschau,a faculty member at Princeton University, as their mentor andlandlord.Their company, Princeton Power Systems, was one of two Zschaucompaniesthat debuted that year. Onclave, a software firm, was on the coveron April 5, 2001, and Princeton Power Systems was featured on November28, 2001.Four engineers on the Princeton Power Systems crew employed a patentheld by the father of one of the four, Rudy Limpaecher. They wereworking on software for an uninterruptible power supply (UPS) device,intended for brief power flickers and uneven current. Later theyprogressedto making motor controllers, wind turbine converters, and grid-tiedinverters.Now Princeton Power Systems has landed a significant contract withWorldwater Corp., a public company based at Pennington Business Park,to help develop a more reliable and cost effective method forconvertingelectric power cleanly (www.worldwater.com). For Worldwater, PrincetonPower’s technology will help to control the interaction between theelectric grid, solar power, and an electric motor.Worldwater holds the prime contract from the New Jersey Board ofPublicUtilities under its new REED (Renewable Energy and EconomicDevelopment)program. This program aims to stimulate the renewable energy industryin New Jersey and to make New Jersey the new “Silicon Valley”for renewable energy economic development.”Our patented AC-link technology offers the potential for reducingthe current control subsystem cost by more than 50 percent,”explainsDarren Hammell, president and CEO of Princeton Power Systems. AC-link,says Hammell, uses simpler, more reliable components and incorporatesadvanced algorithms for controlling various aspects of the electricpower, which allows the use of less complex, less expensive hardwareto achieve precision power control.AC-link will be integrated into WorldWater’s proprietary solar pumpingsystem, which controls power flow from a solar photovoltaic arrayand dynamically interacts with the utility grid and/or uses it torun an AC motor to power water pumps, compressors, etc. The systemwill be designed and a prototype developed, installed and tested atRutgers University’s Snyder Farm test-bed facility.Princeton Power Systems is also working with the Office of NavalResearchto determine the feasibility of using its products to power largeshipboard propulsion drives and other electrical systems.Three of the four founders — Hammell, Erik Limpaecher, and JohnMark Holveck — are still with PPS, and a fourth, John W. Lerch,has left to found Proximities, at 501 Forrestal Road, which isdevelopingradio frequency identification wristbands for entertainmentvenues(www.proximities.com U.S. 1, May 14, 2003).PPS has hired three new people for a total of six. “Those guyshave really done a masterful job,” says Zschau. Onclave, the otherfirm that started under his wing, has not had similar success. Itoffered a software product for PR firms that was endorsed by a tradegroup and was beginning to service customers, but the corporationwas dissolved last year. “In this climate, we couldn’t raise themoney to continue to operate until we could become profitable,”says Zschau.Princeton Power Systems Inc., 100-C Forrestal Road,Forrestal Campus, Princeton 08540. Darren Hammell, CEO. 609-258-5994;fax, 609-258-7329. Home page: www.princetonpower.comWorldWater Corp. (WWAT), 55 Route 31 South,PenningtonBusiness Park Building B, Pennington 08534. Quentin T. Kelly, chairmanand CEO. 609-818-0700; fax, 609-818-0720. Www.worldwater.comTop Of PageName ChangesThe Seibel Group, 741 Alexander Road, UniversityPark Plaza, Princeton 08540. Kenneth Seibel, president. 609-799-3279;fax, 609-987-0185. Www.seibelgroup.comThe 31-year-old printing company has changed its namefrom Easy Graphics Creative to the Seibel Group. “New clientelewould hear `Easy Graphics’ and think we were a quick print shop, whenwe are a mid size commercial printing company. Everything else isthe same,” says Kenneth Seibel, who has been with the companysince it was founded by Newton Milner and his wife. He bought thebusiness 10 years ago, and it does graphic design, printing, mailing,and fulfillment services with an emphasis on corporate communications.”It did start out as a quick print shop but has evolved to a16-personfirm,” he says. “With our on-staff art department andfulfillmentcapabilities we can take a project from soup to nuts, Most printingcompanies don’t have an agency-caliber design staff, they have onlya prepress department. We can go one step further — take the jobbefore it is designed and do it all for them.”Seibel’s pride and joy is a five-color printing press, a HeidelbergSpeedmaster 74, with an aqueous coding system that seals the ink tothe paper. “It is a lot faster and a lot less expensive than otherprocesses.”Top Of PageNew in TownCelator Technologies Corp., 1 Airport Place,Princeton08540. Andrew Janoff, executive assistant/office supervisor.609-430-1100;fax, 609-430-9995. Home page: www.celator.caCelator Technologies, a Vancouver-basedbiopharmaceuticalcompany, has opened an administrative office at 1 Airport Way. Thecompany, founded in 2000, named former Elan executive Andrew Janoffchairman and CEO in 2002. Janoff, a Yardley resident, divides histime between this office and the company’s headquarters.Karen Simmons, executive assistant and office supervisor, is alsofrom Elan, as is Christine Swenson, head of pre-clinical development.Rounding out the administrative staff in this location is the headof pharmaceutical development and the chief medical officer. Labfacilitiesare located in Vancouver.Celator received $6.8 million in its first round of venture capitalfunding in late-January. The company, a spin-off of the BritishColumbiaCancer Agency, is developing new technology for targeting synergisticcombinations of rationally selected chemotherapeutic agentsto sites of disease. This approach seeks to modify the existing cancerchemotherapy discovery process by fixing the ratios at which drugcombinations act to kill tumor cells.MaidPro, 501 Plainsboro Road, Plainsboro 08536.Tim and Janis Ketchmark, owners. 609-243-0006; fax, 609-243-0008.Home page: www.maidpro.comTim and Janis Ketchmark have opened a home and office cleaningfranchise,one of more than 30 businesses franchised by the Boston-based firm,MaidPro. Tim Ketchmark, a 1981 graduate of Loyola University inChicago,had worked for 18 years for Siemens Medical. When the business unitmoved from Iselin to Malvern, Pennsylvania, he decided to go intohis own business. Until now, Janis had devoted herself to the couple’sthree school-aged children. They have eight employees so far, andtheir territory covers the greater Princeton area, including all ofMercer County.”The people who do our cleaning are employees of our company,so we are responsible for bonding and insuring them,” Ketchmarksays, “and we are paying the proper payroll taxes. After a week’straining, our employees earn $10 an hour, and full-time employeescan accrue vacation and sick time, but unfortunately not healthinsurance.”Established in 1991, the company was rated 419 among the top 500franchisersby Inc. Magazine.UPS Store, 10 Schalks Crossing Road, Plainsboro08536. Andrew Narine, manager. 609-275-9UPS; fax, 609-275-9897.Homepage: www.theupsstore.comRenu Singal opened the UPS Store at Plainsboro Plaza, one of morethan 3,000 in the chain of mailing and office services stores. Itoffers full service packaging, mailbox and postal services, blackand white and color copying, document finishing, office and packagingsupplies, notary services, and passport photos. Singal had been areference librarian at the Princeton Public Library and the EastBrunswicklibrary.So-Deep Inc., 1572 Route 130, North Brunswick08902.732-422-4141.So-Deep, a company based in Manassas Park, Virginia, has opened anoffice in North Brunswick. The 100-person company, founded in 1981,provides information to project designers and owners on the existenceand location of underground utilities. The company, which has 13 otheroffices, lays claim to creating subsurface utility engineering asa specialty.The company employs engineers, land surveyors, and geologists,supportedby CADD and field technicians and by utility records and coordinationspecialists.Yellow Book USA, 30 Vreeland Avenue, Skillman08558.Ken Pizzico, manager. 609-613-5300; fax, 609-613-5310.Www.yellowbook.comYellow Book, which competes with phone companies for advertising inits phone directories, has opened an office in Skillman. Ken Pizzico,manager of the office, says he has 20 sales reps. The office sellsads to companies throughout the state, but is primarily responsiblefor Mercer, Somerset, and Hunterdon counties.Top Of PageContracts AwardedSarnoff Corporation, 201 Washington Road, CN 5300,Princeton 08543-5300. Satyam Cherukuri, president & CEO. 609-734-2000;fax, 609-734-2040. Home page: www.sarnoff.comSarnoff Corporation has signed onto a three-year, $8 million projecton video compression for DSL. Half of the money is coming from thecommerce department through the National Institute of Standards andTechnology. The remainder is coming from DSL equipment maker Alcatel;set-top box maker Thomson; SBC, a Baby Bell that is the largestnationalprovider of DSL, and Sarnoff.Sarnoff plans to use old copper wire lines to deliver twobroadcast-qualityvideo streams, so one family can watch two different programs.Ranbaxy Pharmaceuticals Inc., 600 College RoadEast, Suite 2100, Princeton 08540. Dipak Chattaraj, managing director.609-720-9200; fax, 609-720-1155. Home page: www.ranbaxy.comRanbaxy Pharmaceuticals has received tentative approval from the U.S.Food and Drug Administration for a generic version of Zocor, thecholesterol-loweringdrug in the statin class that is made by Merck. Zocor is the world’ssecond-largest selling drug, and Merck’s patent on it is expectedto expire in 2006.Top Of PageDeathsCatherine D. Tylus 75, on October 1. She was a nursingsupervisor at the Medical Center of Princeton.Eileen T. Smith, 46, on October 1. A registered nurse,she worked at Deborah Heart and Lung Center and Bayada Nurses HomeCare.Mariea E. Cassio Labasi, 59, on October 1. She workedfor CNA Insurance Company as a regional warehouse coordinator.Jack A. Rimalover, on October 2. He worked at EducationalTesting Service and Creative Playthings and was active in thePrincetonand Rockingham historical societies.Corrections or additions?This page is published by PrincetonInfo.com— the web site for U.S. 1 Newspaper in Princeton, New Jersey.
