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RMJ Tactical produces top-quality tomahawks, knives and other tactical gear for members of the
IMPO • SEPTEMBER 2017
Chattanooga’s
Start-Up Boom
By Rachelle Blair-Frasier
W
ith a population of more
than 176,000, Chattanooga
is the fourth-largest city
in the state of Tennessee. Surrounded
by the Tennessee River and served by
multiple railroads, the city has a long
and storied history in manufacturing.
“It started with a pretty active
industrial development period,”
says Charles Wood, vice president
of Economic Development at the
Chattanooga Area Chamber of
Commerce. “In the late 1800s, early
1900s we were known as the ‘Dynamo
of Dixie’. There was lots of industry and
that grew through the ‘50s and ‘60s.”
However, Wood says the area began
to see a significant decline starting
military, law enforcement and the avid outdoorsman. (RMJ photo)
IMPO tours three tech-oriented manufacturers
in Chattanooga, TN
in the 1960s when air pollution was
at a high. The steel industry fell and
population dropped.
“The city put a lot of effort on
cleaning up air pollution and started
community planning on what we wanted
to be in the future,” he says. “The idea
was to make this a place where people
wanted to live.”
Fast-forward to the early 2000s when
a plan to reinvigorate the manufacturing
base went into effect. Land was
acquired from the federal government
and redeveloped into an industrial park
where Volkswagen now calls home.
“The whole focus was around landing
a very large manufacturer that would
bring in that supply chain,” Wood says.
“It wasn't to just win the big fish. It was
to win the big fish and the little fish that
come too. That really reinvigorated the
manufacturing base.”
Wood estimates Volkswagen’s
investment alone is pushing $2 billion,
and they have a lot of room to grow.
The company’s supply chain has
invested an additional billion dollars if
he had to guess.
“We've had a pretty significant amount
of investment that has come out of that,”
he says. “I tell everyone that we make
everything from over the counter
Allegra to Zebra Cakes and everything
in between.”
In late July, IMPO visited three up-and-
coming, technology-based companies
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in Chattanooga to get a feel for things in

IMPO • SEPTEMBER 2017

Tennessee’s manufacturing hub.

Welcome To Gig City

Chattanooga has a rich legacy of
entrepreneurs, and in recent years,
the area has seen a resurgence as new
service, tech and industrial businesses
have popped up. Many are attracted to
the area because it is “Gig City” — the
first city in the western hemisphere
to offer 10-gigabit per-second fiber
internet service to all residents
and businesses.
The Gig, as it’s affectionately called
by residents and business owners RMJ Tactical combines traditional blacksmith methods and
alike, came to Chattanooga in 2010. industrial machining to produce its high-quality tactical gear.
(IMPO photo)
The question was, what to do with all
that high-speed internet? That’s where
GIGTANK 365, a boutique accelerator that rises between every layer, because The key piece of Collider’s
for startups developing ultra-high we aren't stopping between every layer,” technology is what happens inside
bandwidth business applications, came Bredemeyer says. “We also get better the machine after the mold printing
into play. Many of the first startup surface quality in the hollow 3D is done. Collider’s tech is different
companies that moved to Gig City printed shell, which is also incredibly from most 3D printers in that instead
were in the 3D printing industry. cost efficient.” of printing the actual part, the Orchid
“That bandwidth has allowed the 3D
printing industry to gear up in a more
significant way here than you would
find in other places,” Wood says. “It's
a good industry sector that blends high
tech innovation with more traditional
manufacturing.”

Collider
First on IMPO’s Chattanooga tour
was Collider Tech. Founded 18 months
ago, it was the newest startup we
visited. CEO and co-founder Graham
Bredemeyer first came to the city as
part of GIGTANK, looking to put
together America’s first 3D printing
accelerator program, and ended up
forming his own company.
In developing the company’s flagship
printer — Orchid — Bredemeyer and his
team revolutionized how 3D printing is
done. The system uses DLP printing and
a specific wavelength of light to cure the
liquid resin into the shape programmed
into the machine. But unlike traditional
DLP printing that has the build plate
moving out of the resin in between each
layer, Collider’s technology enables for a
continuous pull.
“Continuous pull gives us incredible
speed compared to a typical 3D printer
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IMPO • SEPTEMBER 2017
prints out a shell, or mold. It can then
be filled with basically any material
used in traditional injection molding,
including rubber, silicone, plastic and
even metal.
The material cures inside the mold,
is removed from the build plate and
put into a hot water bath. The mold
dissolves, leaving you with a finished
piece. For the metal parts, the process
is finished in a furnace where the metal
Experienced MRO technicians provide solutions to customers. (MRO photo)
An MRO employee runs a repaired industrial robot through a testing program.
is sintered and the binder-resins are
burned off.
“It’s like an injection molding
machine where the mold can change at
the push of a button,” Bredemeyer says.
The technology shortens the product
development lifecycle allowing companies
to make prototypes in production quality
materials. Another benefit of the new
technology, Bredemeyer says, is cost and
time savings. The traditional mold process
(IMPO photo)
usually costs more than $10,000
per mold.
“If you compare this to the traditional
molding process, Collider's process is
going to save you weeks,” he says. “There
is no mold to wait for and no shops to
coordinate with, and Collider's machine
can make your part in a matter of hours.”
Currently, Collider leases Orchid
to innovation departments at major
manufacturers, as these companies
The Collider team: Luke Bechtel,
Graham Bredemeyer, Cacky
Calderon and Joseph Alnas.
(Corey and Emily Critser photo))
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improve their speed to market by

IMPO • SEPTEMBER 2017

RMJ Tactical president Richard Carmack displays some of the top-quality
focusing on improved prototyping. tomahawks and knives the company manufactures. (Jaime Smialek photo)
Soon, they will lease to service
bureaus, R&D and design shops, and
other manufacturers.
“We're looking at reducing product
development lifecycle, reducing
inventory costs for high-inventory
products, and mass customization,”
Bredemeyer says. “I think there is a
mindset that 3D printing isn't going to
disrupt the supply chain for decades, but
it's happening way faster than that.”

Manufacturing Repair &

Overstock (MRO)
Next up on our tour was
Manufacturing Repair & Overstock
(MRO). Five years after first starting
the business, MRO has recently moved
into new, larger, digs. Even before any
photos were hung on the walls, its 38
employees set to work checking in,
diagnosing and repairing equipment
sent in from customers.
Co-founders Justin Wilson and Russell
Looper describe the company as a
solutions provider. On any given day
MRO receives anywhere from 20 to 100 IMPROVE OPERATIONAL FLEXIBILITY
boxes with broken equipment looking to
be repaired — everything from a circuit WITH TMI INDUSTRIAL CURTAINS
board to industrial robots.
“We try to be the solutions provider,”
• Fast and easy
Looper says. “Our whole goal is to installation
reduce our customers’ downtime.”
It is MRO’s job to find the best • Separate
environments to
solution for their customer. Sometimes
control temperature,
that means replacing diodes and
noise, contamination
capacitors or buying a refurbished piece
and the elements
of equipment. The machine part could be
new, or it could be decades old. • Can be opened, closed
“That’s the benefit of companies like and reconfigured as
us. Maybe you have a $1,100 touch needed
screen on a machine that's damaged and Industrial Curtains from TMI
the original manufacturer of that piece are an affordable way to divide
doesn't support it any more and you end large spaces into smaller work
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Looper says. “Whereas people like us, we easy access. Unlike fixed walls
can take that part, repair it and keep that that can require plans, permits
machine going.” and approvals, Industrial
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Looper likes to equate diagnosing
time.
a broken piece of equipment to a
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IMPO • SEPTEMBER 2017
Collider's Orchid uses DLP printing
and a specific wavelength of light
to cure the liquid resin into a mold.
(Collider photo)
Incubating
Startups
Both MRO and RMJ Tactical
got their start at the Hamilton
County Business Development
Center’s business incubator in
Chattanooga, and that’s where
Collider currently calls home.
The 127,000-square-foot
building offers space and
support for those looking to
start their own business and
make it a success. The INCubator
helps entrepreneurs succeed
through a three-year progressive
development program. It also
provides shared administrative
services, manufacturing
and office space, training
workshops, use of a state-of-
the-art technology conference
center and access to free onsite
business counseling.
Currently the facility is at
capacity with 73 companies.
Kathryn Menchetti, director
of small business and
entrepreneurship, says the
INCubator graduates one-third of
its population every year.
Now in its 30th year, the
INCubator boasts 560 graduates.
MRO was the 500th graduate.
“We have below-market rent
so they can put their money back
into the company,” Menchetti
says. “We soften the blow for
them. One out of every two
businesses fail and we have a
92-93 percent success rate.
It’s a rich environment
of entrepreneurship.”
MRO receives boxes with broken equipment looking to be repaired —
everything from a circuit board to industrial robots. (MRO photo)
just lying on the gurney and you have
to figure out how to get them back to
consciousness and alive.”
MRO and its expert staff currently
services thousands of facilities from all over
the county. Many of the technicians have
specific skills — some good at electronics
others at servo motors. In addition to regular
training, the team also share knowledge and
work together to make sure a repair is done
right and quickly. The average turn-around
time on a repair is 10 days.
“What I love about our system is
if something comes in that someone
is having a hard time figuring out or
isn't familiar with it, we have all the
experience of all these guys and girls that
can put their heads together and figure out
an answer,” Looper says.
Utilizing a repair company such as
MRO is beneficial to manufacturers
because not many companies can afford
to have the number of experienced
technicians on-hand that MRO does.
“A plant wouldn't hire this number
of people; it wouldn't make sense
financially,” Looper says.
RMJ Tactical
Finishing up our tour was RMJ Tactical.
RMJ Tactical founder Ryan Johnson got
involved in the art of blacksmithing at
the age of 12 years, when he took up an
interest in ninja tools such as throwing
stars, knives and swords.
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“He thought ‘if I make them, my
parents will let me have them’,” says
Johnson’s business partner and RMJ
Tactical president Richard Carmack. “So
he got a hibachi grill, a piece of railroad
track and a ballpein hammer and he
started making knives.”
That interest grew into a calling and a
career path. In 2001, Johnson was tasked by
an Air Force Special Operations member to
make something capable of penetrating a
Kevlar helmet. From there. the modern day,
all-steel tomahawk was born.
Since then, RMJ Tactical — officially
founded in 2005 — has been producing
top-quality tomahawks, knives and
other tactical gear for members of
the military, law enforcement and the
avid outdoorsman. Carmack says the
tomahawk is more than a weapon — it’s
an all-purpose tool.
RMJ Tactical production has been
growing steadily and quickly outgrowing
space. It currently operates with 12
employees, but Carmack expects to need
four more by the end of the year.
Prior to moving to its new location
the company was producing 300 units
each month. In the new space, Carmack
estimates producing 500 or more —
basically doubling output.
“We’re world-class as far as
tomahawks go,” he says. “Now
we’re learning how to be a great
manufacturer.”