MassDevelopment

Advanced Microsensors to Expand, Upgrade Manufacturing Equipment Thanks to $2 Million Emerging Technology Fund Loan


November 1, 2011


Contacts:
Kelsey Abbruzzese, MassDevelopment, 617-330-2086 & 617-448-9077
Glenn J. Fricano, AMS, 631-834-5065

MassDevelopment has provided a $2 million Emerging Technology Fund loan to Advanced MicroSensors (AMS) in Shrewsbury, a company that manufactures microsensors that are used in a variety of products and end uses such as cell phones, automobiles, and medical devices. The company will use the loan proceeds to upgrade its manufacturing equipment used to produce the microsensors.

“Upgrading the manufacturing line will help AMS increase its output and revenue while lowering its costs, thereby helping the company to expand and create innovation jobs in Massachusetts’s high-tech sector,” said MassDevelopment President and CEO Marty Jones. “MassDevelopment is pleased to invest in the capital equipment that will help AMS grow its operations in the Commonwealth and employ more engineers, technicians and production operators in Shrewsbury.”

AMS produces these microsensors through unique and proprietary microelectromechanical systems (or MEMS) and Spintronics. Plures Technologies, a New York company focusing on high-potential innovations, recently purchased a majority interest in AMS and invested $3 million in the company. Plures plans to use the MEMS and Spintronics technologies developed by AMS to expand AMS’s product lines and the number of end uses for its technological applications. Founded in 1999, Advanced MicroSensors was a privately-held company that previously manufactured magnetic thin film recording heads under several prior owners.

“This ETF loan from MassDevelopment and the private investment from Plures are having an immediate, positive impact, as we expected, on rapid AMS business growth and the creation of high-tech jobs in Central Massachusetts,” said Plures Technologies President and AMS CEO Glenn J. Fricano. “Attracting new business, particularly from our international customers, strongly validates the unique technology and manufacturing expertise that has been developed here.”

MassDevelopment, the state’s finance and development agency, works with businesses, nonprofits, financial institutions, and communities to stimulate economic growth across the Commonwealth. During FY2011, MassDevelopment financed or managed 277 projects generating investment of nearly $3.7 billion in the Massachusetts economy. These projects are projected to create 10,291 jobs (2,507 permanent and 7,784 construction) and 1,323 housing units (309 new and 1,014 rehab).