Michigan Instruments celebrates 50th anniversary with a relaunch of the 'Michigan Lung'

There are many very successful businesses making a big difference in the world -- and making their home in West Michigan -- but unless you work for them or follow trade journals or are part of their supply chain, you might not know they existed.

A good example is Michigan Instruments, a small and privately held design and manufacturing firm of specialized medical equipment based in Grand Rapids.

The 17-person firm is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year and recently completed a complete revision of The Training Test Lung, also known as the "Michigan Lung."

Kathrin Russell, Michigan Instruments technical advisor, says her company worked with the Grand Rapids software development firm Atomic Object to upgrade their product in order to meet new standards. "Our flagship product, the PneuView3 Training and Test Lung system, is an instrumented human lung simulator capable of realistically representing patients of almost any age and condition," she says. "This is our latest revision of a decades-old product. Atomic Object helped us develop software and firmware for the device. This was seen as a necessary upgrade since the old system could not be used on Windows 7 & 8 without going through a complex workaround."

Although the company keeps a relatively low profile, the local medical ecosystem is made up of high-profile organizations and has been a big part of Michigan Instruments success. "It is fortunate we started in West Michigan. We have benefitted hugely from the local medical industry: Michigan State University, Spectrum and GVSU have been fantastic partners," Russell says.

Russell says the firm is hiring, with an immediate opening for a technical administrative assistant, a great opportunity for anyone who values challenge. "Most of our employees have been here for more than 10 years," she adds, "and nearly 20 percent of our workforce has been with Michigan Instruments for more than 30 years."

To learn more about Michigan Instruments, you can visit their website here.

Writer: John Rumery, innovation and Jobs News Editor