Bethlehem technology company Element ID and Forks Township manufacturer Harvel Plastics Inc. will receive $50,000 apiece.
An artist's rendition Ben Franklin TechVentures, a business incubator at Lehigh University. The Ben Franklin organization issued $50 apiece to help two local companies grow operations. Element ID, a Bethlehem maker of technologically advanced scanners, and Harvel Plastics Inc., a Forks Township manufacturer of piping and duct systems, were local recipients in the latest round of funding.
Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Northeastern Pennsylvania distributed $315,582 in state money to seven companies, according to a news release today.
Element ID, based at Ben Franklin’s incubator at Lehigh University, is receiving an eight-year, $50,000 loan to support increased sales and marketing efforts.
The company makes a proprietary scanner that reads radio frequency identification tags, which are like UPC bar codes but contain more information. RFID tags can also be scanned by the caseload instead of individually.
Element ID systems have been deployed in North and South America and the Middle East. The company has received prior loans from Ben Franklin.
Harvel Plastics is getting a $50,000 grant, which it will match, to complete an analysis advising the company how to reduce energy costs by 15 percent. Energy expenses are a key cost in plastic production.
Harvel was purchased last month by $50 million by Swiss company Georg Fischer AG, a global supplier of plastic piping systems.
Harvel employs about 108 at its Keubler Road headquarters. It has additional sites in Texas and California.
The Ben Franklin organization issues state-funded loans or grants to start-ups and established manufacturers that deploy new technology. The local group covers 21 counties, including Northampton and Lehigh.
Other recipients in the latest round of funding are in Monroe, Lackawana, Lycoming and Luzerne counties.
Pennsylvania operates four Ben Franklin groups statewide.