Business View Magazine | December 2019

126 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE DECEMBER 2019 system. The MCMU allows for local and scalable manufacturing at a low capital cost. “We are building bridges in a different fashion; in a different way,” Svoboda states, “with advanced materials which eliminate corrosion and either eliminate, or reduce dramatically, maintenance factors, therein.” Today, AIT Bridges has one operation in Brewer, Maine, ten employees, and perhaps another ten, hired as needed for operations, manufacturing, or processing. If that seems small, it’s because it has taken a fairly long time for the company to get its innovative technology approved and the business up to speed. “We were bringing new innovation into the market,” Svoboda explains. “So, we had to go out and search for national approval, which we did in 2013-14. That was the first step. The public sector – federal and state governments, counties and municipalities – that’s the bulk of the bridge industry. And no state or federal agency wants to buy a product unless it’s nationally-approved. We had to go through an approval process and create market awareness that led to market acceptance, all of which took some time.” “During the approval process,” he continues, “we spent a lot of time in Washington, DC with the Federal Highway Administration, the U.S. Department of Transportation, congressmen and senators, trying to solicit support, or to work on legislative issues that inhibit innovation because of the old ‘sole source’ issue that says that the government can’t bid out anything unless is goes to three bidders with a like product, and innovation, by definition, is a ‘sole source’ product. So, we had to change laws and rules and regulations during that time.” President and Chief Engineer, Ken Sweeney