Entrepreneurial Development Center

Capitalizing on the systems integration experience he acquired at Cherry Burrell, David Garrelts landed a major project, years ago, with processing chip maker, Intel, leading the systems integration effort for a new plant in Arizona, and thus AES was born.

Systems integration is the process of making all the different software and hardware systems in a facility communicate and function according to the requirements of the customer. Garrelts' jobs are no small tasks, an Intel facility, for example, requires the monitoring or control of more than 100,000 different devices.

AES customers look to the company when considering facility expansion, adding new processes, or building a new facility. In addition to Intel, AES also provides services to the food, beverage, chemical, gas and oil industries.

To leverage AES' capabilities with aseptic manufacturers (those that use a process to remove bacteria from food?eliminating need for refrigeration), Garrelts sought to purchase VRC, a company that made aseptic processing equipment for the food industry. It was then that Garrelts turned to EDC's Curt Nelson for advice in navigating this transaction.

"Curt was instrumental in that acquisition, as this was all new territory for me. Actually, when I came to the EDC, I had come to the conclusion that I couldn't afford to buy VRC," said Garrelts. "He helped structure payments and define a deal that would be equitable for both parties-and it worked."

This acquisition rounded out the AES offering, making it a one-stop shop for service, systems integration, process engineering, aseptic equipment, pumps and heat exchangers. 

With the new machinery added to his product/service mix, Garrelts found that he didn't have the operations/general management talent on staff to run the new company effectively, so he returned to the EDC for advice.

"Curt insisted that I bring on leadership to help me run the sales and operations side of the business. EDC connected me with Jeff Hornickle, which has allowed me to focus on servicing customers. In addition to Jeff's talent, EDC has made numerous key introductions for us, including McGladrey, our accounting firm, and Simmons, Perrine, our legal counsel."

"EDC has been instrumental to many of AES' successes," said Garrelts. "In fact, there have been times when I didn't listen to Curt and we had to overcome obstacles that we could have avoided if I would have just followed his original advice."

He admits, "It can be difficult for entrepreneurs to let go of the day-to-day operations and leave that to someone else. But you absolutely need to do that in order to grow-which we certainly expect to do given our turnkey solution and the favorable market conditions in the aseptic food industry."