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For Immediate Release
February 27, 2006 
Contact:
Bette Slayton, President
Bedford County Development Association
Phone: 814-623-4816

Contact: Dustin Troutman  
Director of Marketing and Product Development
Creative Pultrusions, Inc.
Phone: 814-839-4186
E-mail: dtroutman@pultrude.com
Web site: www.creativepultrusions.com

$1 Million Project Partners Penn State and Creative Pultrusions
Congressman Shuster secures key federal dollars

Bedford, PA (Released from Bedford County Development Association – 
A partnership between Penn State University's Applied Research Laboratory and Creative Pultrusions, Alum Bank, has been established thanks to major federal funds secured by Congressman Bill Shuster. Shuster is a member of the Armed Services Committee with a seat on the Tactical Air and Land Forces Subcommittee.

The $1 million will be used to design and manufacture lightweight composite materials for United States Army vehicles with blast resistance and damage tolerant properties.

"We have always had an excellent relationship with Penn State and we look forward to this major project for the Army," said Shane Weyant, chief operating officer, Creative Pultrusions, Inc. "We are going to manufacture lightweight, composite framing systems."

Using composite materials will add significantly to the life cycle of vehicles since there will be almost no corrosion or rusting, explained Joe Sumerak, technical director for Creative Pultrusions. "The project falls under the general topic of 'Force and Threat Protection' for Army vehicles," he said.

Creative Pultrusions is jointly developing the composite profiles and connection elements with Penn State's Applied Research Laboratory. "Penn State will do the design modeling, analysis and mechanical characterization for the project," Sumerak said. "Creative Pultrusions will manufacture, fabricate and assemble the final deliverable product to the Army.

The project is being overseen by the Army's Tank/Automotive and Armaments Command or TACOM.

The partners were brought together by Thomas Hite, assistant for program development at the Applied Research Laboratory.

"Tom Hite deserves a lot of credit for this project," said Weyant. "He put us in touch with Congressman Shuster and the ARL. Without his encouragement, this project would not have happened."

Hite note that "my job is to set the table and establish relationships. Once that was done, Creative Pultrusions and ARL were eager to work together on this vitally important project."

"This is exactly the kind of economic development project that is being encouraged by the Keystone Innovation Zones that have been established," stated Travis Collins, chair of the Bedford County Development Association Board of directors. "We are pleased that Creative Pultrusions will be working with ARL and look forward to many more collaborations in future months and years."

The KIZ program encourages partnerships and technology transfer between companies in Bedford County and Penn State University.

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