New company means new jobs for the U.P. : News : UpperMichigansSource.com

New company means new jobs for the U.P.

Posted: 05.07.2010 at 5:41 PM

Frontier Medical Devices, Inc. will be hiring this summer

KI SAWYER -- Nationwide, 290,000 jobs were created in the month of April, the most in four years.

Michigan is still struggling with the highest jobless rate in the country, but locally, things are slowly, but surely looking up.

A new company called Frontier Medical Devices, Incorporated hopes to bring dozens of jobs to the Upper Peninsula, and sooner, rather than later.

Friday, Frontier CFO John Sonderegger and President and Chairman of the Board Matthew Songer took a walk-through of a space they hope to soon call home. Right now, it's just a vacant building at KI Sawyer, owned by the county and used for storage. But in a few short weeks, 13,000 square feet could belong to Frontier.

"Contingent on finalizing a CDBG (Community Development Block Grant) and a Renaissance Zone address change, we will locate in this facility," says Sonderegger.

Frontier is the brainchild of Dr. Matthew Songer, the same man responsible for Marquette's Pioneer Surgical Technologies.

"The concept behind Frontier Medical Devices is a development company. This is a company that will take an idea and develop it and bring it all the way to the market. We will make components that are implanted in the human body in various different areas," explains Songer.

If all goes as planned, Frontier will begin leasing the space later this month, move in their equipment in June, then start the hiring process. And good news--they're looking locally.

"We anticipate having about 15 employees this summer, and we'll be working our way up to just about 50 employees after 24 months. We anticipate being able to find the vast majority of employees right here," Sonderegger says.

The jobs will be across the board, everything from product designers to manufacturers, marketers and administrators. As for the type of person Songer is looking to hire: "Thoreau said: 'If one advances in the direction of his dreams and endeavors to live the life he's imagined, he will meet with the success, unexpected in common hours.' That's the person I'm looking for."