Ionic Engineering Ltd. Innovation award.

There is something incongruous about Stephan Matusch's and Steve Reichle's office.

It is not the office itself that forms the nerve centre of Ionic Engineering Ltd. on Kelly Lake Road in Sudbury. A couple of desks, a computer and a laptop, file cabinets; pretty much what one would expect of the office of a couple of industrial engineers. Nor is it Matusch. Bespectacled and slight of build, but with a strong hand shake grip denoting someone as comfortable with an AutoCAD display as he is with a wrench, Matusch seems to be what one might expect from engineer.

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It is the South American blowgun hanging over Matusch's desk - a gift from a relative on their return from a vacation. It seems both out of place and strangely appropriate because in this office, where new and complex machines to simplify operations of companies across the globe go from concept to drawing to reality, is displayed one of the simplest and most effective machines ever created by people.

"I always joke with the sales guys that I'm going to use it whenever they go out the door to get them moving quicker," Matusch quips. His partner is not in for the interview. He is out of the office helping out one of the company's clients.

Finding either of them in the office at any particular time is a challenge. Both may be called away at a moment's notice to jet off to the province next door or to another country to meet with potential clients or oversee the installation and startup of one of their creations.

"We're an engineering company specializing in automation and robotics," Matusch says in describing the company. "If a client has a problem - such as three guys doing a job that can be done by one, or one doing a job that's unsafe, or if they are looking for cost reduction and need to reduce the manpower involved in a process - we can design systems that make that happen."

Matusch says their combined talents have proved a natural formula for success.

"We met through a mutual acquaintance, and, as we talked, we realized that our skills complemented one another," says Matusch. "My background was mixed designing mechanical control systems while Steve's background was in industrial process control and electronic design ... he and I were successful and felt working together was worth the risk.

"Together, we realized we were able to fill a broad spectrum of requirements," he says. "What makes us successful is (the fact that) we are very flexible in finding solutions."

Ionic Engineering Ltd. is still a young company, but it has been growing steadily over the last few years. The seed of this company started back in 1995 when Matusch returned home to Sudbury to help out in his family's business. He soon decided to go into business for himself and branched out, working at first out of his garage.

"Being in business for myself was something I had always wanted to do since I was 18," says Matusch. "At some point, I realized, 'here I am, 30 years old. If this is something I'm going to do, then now's the time."

He incorporated Ionic Engineering in 1998, and by 1999 had landed a couple of small contracts from Inco in Sudbury.

In 1999, Reichle, who had been working with Inco, left the company to strike out on his own and joined Matusch as a 50/50 partner in Ionic. By the end of 1999, Ionic Engineering moved out of Matusch's garage and into a small office in Copper Cliff.

The years 2000 and 2001 were years of growth for the fledgling engineering company, adding clients and hiring a number of full-time and part-time employees. Ionic was also winning progressively larger automation projects with existing customers, and adding new clients.

In the past year, the majority of the company's sales came from outside of the Sudbury area, and it has won a number of contracts from outside of Ontario including China, the U.S., the Middle East and Manitoba.

Matusch describes, with some pride, the recent completion of a project for a copper mining interest in China. The project was the development of an anode receiving system that takes semi-refined copper anodes for further processing. It was a system that was designed and built in Sudbury.

"It was one project that created more than 20 man-years of work," says Matusch, adding Ionic Engineering competed successfully against companies from around the world for that contract. "It was very exciting and fun."

With a family background in business, Matusch says much of what he knows about starting and running a business he learned while sitting at his parents' kitchen table.

"Steve is also one of the brightest and quickest-learning people I've ever seen. But, at the end of the day, engineering is our best skill. You have to design a good system. Once you've done that, the rest will come," he says.

There is a lot of competition and the pair are still in the process of proving to potential clients that they have the right stuff to get the job done.

"In this business, being the 'new guy' is the toughest position to be in because it's the hardest thing to prove that you can do it," says Matusch. "There have been jobs we have done just to prove we can do it. It's a battle we continue to fight."

Matusch says the company is "at a cusp" in its fortunes and is expecting to see unprecedented growth in the coming year. He says the company's strength is its access to a skilled and hard working labour force in Sudbury. It is an asset he trumpets at every opportunity and says not enough is done to tout that resource.

"Sudbury has world-class machining and fabrication skills and facilities here, and with it, we're able to do work worldwide," he says. "There is a need to market this city as a business-friendly city that wants the jobs. We have the people and the environment that can help a business grow."