Message from the CEO

The last two months have been extremely busy, with new investors and customers visiting us almost every day. We are not complaining! It is fascinating to see the interest generated by our technology. As one customer rightly said, “CermaClad is an impact technology – you see it in action, and you instantly realize its potential.”

Over the past couple of months we have spoken to many end-users who are interested in working collaboratively with us to solve some of their most challenging problems.

We are excited to be seen as a ‘Solution Provider,’ and not just a technology company with innovative products. We have always believed in the potential of our materials science and surface engineering expertise, and the past few months have provided overwhelming validation for that belief.

We have been meeting with potential investors almost twice a week, to demonstrate our technologies and help them to better understand our capabilities. We have been glad to host them, and as we move ahead, we are certain that we will be hosting many more.

Work Is in Full Swing at the New Eastlake Facility

It is gratifying to see an empty facility being transitioned to a full-scale production facility, and it gets even better when our motivated workforce does everything possible to exceed expectations.

At the Eastlake facility, we have already installed the robots, cladding assembly, generators, compressors, and the Pipe ID cladding lamp head. The high-density arc lamp system has been used at Oak Ridge National Lab, Caterpillar, and a few other entities. However, MesoCoat Eastlake is the first facility across the globe to use an arc lamp system that can go inside an eight-inch pipe and clad the interior with outstanding quality metallurgical and surface properties at costs lower than the competition.

We expect to start cladding pipes at this facility within a couple of weeks. In the long run, this facility will serve as MesoCoat’s component repair and manufacturing center for both PComP™ thermal spray coatings, and CermaClad™ metallurgical cladding. If you want to see the super-high-power arc lamp in action, you are more than welcome to schedule a visit.

MesoCoat Receives a 2011 ‘R&D Award’ in a Glittering Ceremony

The ‘R&D 100’ Awards ceremony unquestionably lived up to its nickname, ‘Oscars of Innovation.’ The event was no less impressive than the Oscars, in fact more so from the perspective of a scientist or engineer.

Greg Engleman, CTO, and Anupam Ghildyal, Sr. Associate received the award with great pride; and were amazed with the range of technologies that won the awards. They were also impressed with the amount of interest generated by MesoCoat’s CermaClad™.

The annual ‘R&D 100’ Awards identify the 100 most significant, newly introduced research and development advances in multiple disciplines. An R&D 100 Award provides a mark of excellence known to industry, government, and academia as proof that the product is one of the world’s most innovative ideas. MesoCoat was one of fewer than ten materials science companies honored with this award in 2011. We strive to change the world for the better with our technologies, and this award provides validation of our efforts.

Construction at the Euclid Facility is Almost Complete, Installation Begins Next Month

The construction phase of our first full-scale manufacturing facility is almost complete. Next month we will begin installation of machinery and equipment, and then will advance towards production.

It is hard to believe that this huge white box with a single cladding line and a couple of thermal spray cells will be producing ten miles of clad pipe annually by next year. Yet it represents a new paradigm, a new way of doing things, a twenty-first century manufacturing facility that will meet the growing demand for corrosion-resistant clad pipelines for sour oil and high-temperature, high-pressure oil projects.

The MesoCoat team would again like to thank the State of Ohio for its low-interest-rate loan, and also the Ohio Third Frontier for its award, which helped finance part of the facility. The Ohio Third Frontier funding is also helping us develop CermaClad™ HT, intermetallic claddings for high- temperature combustion applications. These claddings will enable significant reductions in CO2 emissions and costs for generating electricity from Ohio’s coal reserves.

Andrew Sherman Presents at the ‘Innovation Conference and Showcase’ in Houston

MesoCoat was probably the only company from Ohio in one of the largest collections of Texas Gulf Coast emerging technology companies focused on energy, life sciences, information technology, nanotechnology, and aerospace. Eighty emerging technology companies made presentations to a diverse audience that included investors, incubators, Fortune 500 companies, academics, and government representatives.

Andrew Sherman, CEO of MesoCoat, gave a brief overview of MesoCoat that included a summary of our technologies, progress that we have recently made, and our vision of the future. The presentation was very well received, and led to follow-up meetings with a handful of strategic investors and Oil and Gas majors.

MesoCoat CEO Presents at the ‘International Offshore Pipeline Forum’ in Houston

The ‘International Offshore Pipeline Forum’ is one of the biggest gatherings of engineers and scientists in the U.S. for professionals related to offshore pipelines.

Protecting offshore pipelines against caustic and abrasive fluids is one of the primary concerns for Oil and Gas companies, especially since a failure can be catastrophic for the company’s future. Offshore pipelines – this is our primary business with the largest potential, hence it provides us with a great platform to present our disruptive CermaClad™ technology.

“‘Best Defense against Wear and Corrosion’ is one of our tag-lines,” said Mr. Sherman, “and providing the best protection for offshore pipes is why we are in this business. Corrosion cannot be eliminated (at least as of today), but corrosion can be delayed to such an extent that it is no longer a risk – and our CermaClad products do that.”

CermaClad™ provides a design life for clad pipe that is approximately two to three times the project’s life, with better metallurgical and surface properties than competitors, and at a lower cost.

“All the top companies involved in the Offshore Oil and Gas value chain were represented,” reports Mr. Sherman. “As always, CermaClad™ generated a lot of interest, and we ended up having interesting conversations with several engineers and program managers. I am pretty certain that these conversations will lead to joint development and sales opportunities in the near future.”

MesoCoat Hires Accounting Manager, and Brazing and Joining Engineer

MesoCoat recently hired a new Accounting Manager, Mr. Ron Nicholson, and a Brazing and Joining Engineer, Dr. Anoop Samant.

MesoCoat is growing – with two new facilities and many new hires, we are certain this trend will continue. Mr. Nicholson and Mr. Samant both have strong value-adding experience related to their current roles at MesoCoat, and their experience with large corporations helps us to instill new approaches, processes, and discipline to accelerate our growth. It is always exciting to add new members to the MesoCoat family; especially those who share our passion, commitment, and vision.