Entrepreneur Grows High-Tech Consulting Laboratory
Michael Cockrem founded KiwiChem International, Inc. as a part time consulting laboratory in 1994. Today he and two full-time scientists provide technology development for an array of clients.
Michael Cockrem solves problems and develops technologies for some of the nation's leading chemical, pharmaceutical and food companies. His firm, KiwiChem International, Inc., develops purification and reaction processes for naturally-derived and synthetic chemicals that are used in many applications.
Cockrem is a scientist who identifies processes, performs economic analyses, develops computer models, runs experiments and examines market factors. He's also an entrepreneur who has expertly honed his skills in business.
KiwiChem International's competitive niche is being a small facility in which different aspects of a project can be readily and quickly integrated, says Cockrem. "We have great flexibility to respond to different requirements of a project as the work develops."
Cockrem completed a Ph.D. in chemical engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He founded the business as a part time venture in 1994. He went full time with it in 1997. Today he has two full time associates at his principal laboratory in a bustling business incubator on Madison's west side.
As his business has grown, Cockrem has turned to the Small Business Development Center (SBDC) at UW-Madison for counsel on some key issues. He works with counselor Jack Reiners.
"Jack can identify in a useful, pragmatic way with real day-to-day concerns of a business and offer specific advice. He can stand back and advise on the big picture, such as business development and financial issues," said Cockrem.
Actions based on counsel
Reiners addressed KiwiChem International's business development issues by providing distance education services on client negotiating skills. He also helped the company maximize its profits by encouraging it to adjust its consulting services' prices.
"We learned three years ago that you need to charge enough to cover the real costs of being in business," said Cockrem. "This counseling prompted an email roundtable I then had with some other consultants on the East Coast. The result was an increase in billing rate required for a sustainable, effective business."
Cockrem says the regulatory load on a small business with laboratory facilities is heavy. "The business must fill out over 300 forms each year for various permits, taxes, payroll items, insurance, as required by local, state and federal authorities. As a result, we track four different valuations for each asset. It took a few years to find efficient ways to deal with this aspect of the business."
One long-term motivation for KiwiChem is to make a significant contribution to the development of processes and technologies to produce fuels and chemicals in a sustainable, efficient fashion from renewable resources.
"This objective includes developing manufacturing technologies for chemicals that not only are based on renewable resources and can compete based on cost and quality, but also use less energy than the manufacturing of comparable petrochemicals.
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