Tiny company in Youngstown has big plans

YOUNGSTOWN — A tiny medical device company has big plans — international sales, local manufacturing and distribution plants, hundreds of jobs.

But Gary Wakeford, president of Syncro Medial Innovations, makes it clear those are just projections.

“There’s a lot of work to do,” he said Tuesday after a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the company’s new office at 20 Federal Place, the former Phar-Mor Centre.

Right now, the company has just three executive employees and contracts out its distribution and manufacturing to a Florida company. Its product, a feeding tube that is magnetically guided into place, is being used in just a few hospitals.

Wakeford isn’t the only one hyping the company’s growth prospects, however. U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan of Niles, D-17th, noted he’s impressed that Wakeford is calling his new office a “world headquarters.”

“That sounds really cool,” Ryan said.

Ryan is so taken with the company that he has placed a $1 million in funds for the company in the federal defense bill that’s expected to be passed later this year. Ryan said he expects the money to be approved because of the company’s work in the burn unit at an Army hospital in San Antonio, Texas.

For more on this story, see Wednesday’s Vindicator or www.vindy.com.