DornerWorks invests $1.5 million in Grand Rapids, looking to add 50 Jobs

By: Ivy Hughes

What started as a one-man engineering consulting company based out of a Grand Rapids basement, has turned into an embedded systems engineering powerhouse that’s rapidly expanding and looking to penetrate national markets.

Grand Rapids-based DornerWorks is investing $1.5 million over five years to create 50 jobs in the embedded systems engineering market.

On Tuesday, the Michigan Economic Development Corporation awarded the firm a state tax credit valued at $600,398, which encouraged DornerWorks to expand within the state.

“The goal is to expand our facility in Grand Rapids,” says David Dorner, president of DornerWorks. Dorner expects the company to add 10 new employees a year for the next five years. “We want to double in size and employee base.”

DornerWorks works provides embedded systems engineering for the aerospace, medical device and automotive industries. A very basic example of an embedded systems engineering device is the one placed in a child’s shoe, causing the shoe to light up when the child walks.

Currently, DornerWorks’ customers are within a three-hour driving distance of company headquarters. Dorner expects the demand for DornerWorks’ services to increase vastly once the company engages in a national business campaign.

“We have a good reputation locally and we want to leverage those relationships to get national recognition,” he says.

Though Dorner doesn’t have any immediate plans to expand his facilities, he expects the five-year growth strategy to include a physical expansion. 

Grand Rapids-based Right Place Inc. worked with the state and DornerWorks to garner the tax credit.

Source: David Dorner, DornerWorks; Right Place, Inc.

Ivy Hughes is the managing editor of Capital Gains and can be reached here.