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A small company in Littleton, Colorado has a unique story to tell. It's about how eight
people, working from eight different locations successfully take on the challenges of their business
and challenges of working as a virtual team.
The company is Cullimore and Ring, Incorporated, or C & R, started by just two people:
Brent Cullimore and Steve Ring. Cullimore believes that it takes a certain kind of person to thrive in their virtual office.
As individuals, everyone's got certain strength and independence.
We certainly have a lot of independent, type-A folks in there. It's almost a job requirement.
The staff actually does meet about once a month or as needed, and, according to
Cullimore, not agreeing on everything also contributes to their success.
We can't be so cohesive that we're of one mind, or chances are it's the wrong mind.
have to have some disagreement, some amount of someone questioning.
This unique company has successfully managed to perfect a big toolbox for engineers
software toolbox that has evolved from a code called SindaFluint.
SindaFluint is a really a flexible code, and it's growing and changing. It gives the
opportunity for the engineer to sit down with software and manipulate software in a way most packages can't do.
The software is primarily used for heat transfer analysis. But, it's so flexible that it has
even been used to analyze windshield wipers, a model of a human heart, and a pig's trachea.
SindaFluint began with funding from NASA's Johnson Space Center, through the Small Business Innovation Research,
or SBIR, Program. Today, the software is used at all ten of the NASA Centers as the
standard tool for thermalhydraulic analysis.
Through SBIR funding from NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, C & R also created
software codes that were the genesis for two of the company's current front-end products: RADCAD and Thermal Desktop.
Cullimore feels that working with NASA gave him and Ring an opportunity to move their business forward.
What NASA allowed us to do through the SBIR program is to generate,
or at least start on these next bold ideas that turned out to be very successful.
C & R now has over 4,000 customers in aerospace, automotive, electronics packaging and more.
NASA is their number one customer. General Motors actually has a global
license, allowing every one of their engineers access. One-third of C & R's customers
are overseas. The majority in Japan, at the Japanese Space Agency, at Mitsubishi, and at Kawaski.
And, in the future, the company plans to expand in the electronics packaging area and expand their overseas base.
Everyone at C & R believes that one of the main reasons this eight-person company has
been successful is because of their excellent customer service.
It's almost a fiduciary responsibility that these people trusted us to help them through,
and we really ought to make sure they're happy.
And, C & R will continue to take on the challenge of making their customers happy.