Feb 23, 2007
by Lisa van der Pool, Journal Staff

Mikel Inc.: Navigating growth
Family-owned biz has niche in undersea warfare technologies

FALL RIVER -- Kelly Mendell [photo right] derives a sense of pride from her company's work -- helping design navigation systems for U.S. Navy submarines to avoid oncoming enemy torpedoes, thereby saving lives.

Mendell, president and CEO of Mikel Inc. in Fall River, has carved out a niche for her family-owned business: Its engineers work to solve complex technical issues surrounding the improvement of undersea warfare technologies, including submarine combat systems, tactical training and performance analysis for sailors and undersea tracking and ranging, so that submarines can avoid torpedoes, other submarines and even whales.

"There's a lot of pride that goes along with that," said Mendell. "We're contributing to something that really matters."

Since 2002, Mikel has grown from a two-person operation to a 15-person company with projected revenue of $3.5 million in 2007, up from $2 million in 2006. The company attributes its growth to the addition of several new contracts, including a Small Business Innovation Research grant, which it won earlier this month to help develop a combat system for the next generation of submarines.

Bootstrapped from the beginning, Mikel was founded by Mendell's father, Brian Guimond, in 2000. When naming the company he blended his daughter's name with his son Michael's name to form Mikel. Initially, Brian worked as a sole proprietor and worked on consulting projects for the U.S. Department of Defense. Guimond's 35 years as an electrical engineer at the Naval Undersea Warfare Center in Newport, R.I., gave Mikel a foot in the door with U.S. Navy contractors.

When Mendell joined as the second employee in 2002, father and daughter moved to their office in Middletown, R.I. Soon after that, the fledgling company won a $750,000 SBIR contract to work on a project for Naval Sea Systems Command, in Washington, D.C., one of the U.S. Navy's material organizations, which builds ships and submarines, among other things.

The contract proved to be a turning point for Mikel, infusing the small-business owners with confidence -- and capital -- to build up the ranks.

Soon after, Mikel needed more space and contacted the University of Massachusetts-Darmouth's incubator, the Applied Technology and Manufacturing Center in Fall River, which had vacancies. Mikel took on 1,500 square feet of space.

Later in 2002, Mikel began a business development campaign, which, despite Guimond's deep naval connections, is a difficult proposition for a tiny company to gain the attention of the Navy.

"This industry is totally based on relationships," said Mendell. "People in the government, your customers, have companies that they work with and trust, so breaking in can be a challenge."

 Becoming a certified woman-owned business with Mendell at the helm, as well as hiring staff with both engineering and military experience, helped the company collect a handful of naval contracts. In June 2006, the company left the incubator to move into 3,300 square feet of office space. The company has already added three new staffers this year and plans to add between three and five more program managers and engineers. Mikel has plans beyond its new office and has carefully mapped out its growth strategy. The company hopes to align itself with a large prime contractor such as Raytheon Co. (NYSE: RTN), a coup that would give a large boost to its cachet in the market, according to Mendell.

John Miller, head of the UMass-Dartmouth incubator, said Mikel is one of the incubator's most successful graduates.

"It's a concise model," said Miller. "They are focused on a sector in which they have confidence, and that seems to be a winning proposition for them."

Lisa van der Pool can be reached at lvanderpool@bizjournals.com.