May 2014 newsletter - Duke Energy Center for Innovation

May 2014 Newsletter
FME Nuclear Solutions becomes first DECI graduate
Early in 2014, Houston Penny III
approached Robert Fletcher, professor
at the S.C. Governor’s School for Science
and Mathematics, and board member of
the Duke Energy Center for Innovation
(DECI) seeking help on a new idea for the
nuclear energy field, and a partnership
which would create DECI’s first business,
FME Nuclear Solutions, was born.
Penny proved to be a perfect fit for the
DECI mission. A Maryland graduate with
multiple engineering degrees and an MBA,
DECI Director Ben Chastain and the
Center’s board were very pleased with
the expertise and knowledge Penny
brought to the table during planning
sessions. He truly understood the app he
was creating, and was very determined to
commercialize the idea.
After a month of detailed planning and
evaluation of the concept with the help of
Clemson University and consultants within
app development, Penny and DECI created
a strategy for the venture. They secured seed
funding and developed a partnership with
a graduate of the Don Ryan Center for
Innovation, a sister Technology Village
business incubator program in Bluffton.
The software app tracks maintenance
equipment and foreign materials to
manage risk and revenue loss created
by foreign Materials Exclusion (FME),
insuring that maintenance equipment
Houston
and Catrina
Penny of
FME
Nuclear
Solutions,
LLC
which go into a nuclear reactor are traced
and taken back out.
“After years of lost revenue due to FME
issues, I developed an app to save millions
for the nuclear industry,” Penny said.
The team presented the app to Duke
Energy’s H.R. Robinson nuclear plant for
demonstration. Very impressed, Duke
Energy entered into a contract to use the
application throughout their nuclear plant.
Penny and his wife Catrina are now
opening their business in downtown
Hartsville, leasing a building from the City
of Hartsville with the option to buy after
Ribbon cutting, graduation for FME
The public is invited to a Ribbon Cutting and the Grand Opening of FME Nuclear
Solutions, LLC on Tuesday, May 13 at 11 a.m., 147 W. Carolina Ave. The event is
sponsored by the Greater Hartsville Chamber of Commerce. For those who cannot
attend, feel free to drop by the location anytime during the day.
The public is also invited to the Duke Energy Center for Innovation’s graduation
social for FME Nuclear Solutions, next door at 145 W. Carolina Ave. at 5:15 p.m.
Tuesday, May 13. Light refreshments will be served.
the first year. They plan to have at least five
employees within 2014 and up to 50 by
the end of 2015, developing apps for the
nuclear industry as well as safety
controls and risk management for other
manufacturing industries.
“We’re very happy Houston and the Penny
family are moving on from our incubator
to their own facility,” DECI Director Ben
Chastain said. “We expect great things in
the future from FME Nuclear Solutions,
I anticipate great things from the Pennys
beyond this first venture to better our
community. This is the first of many
companies we expect to graduate from
DECI and be successful in our community.”
About DECI
The Duke Energy Center for Innovation
is designed to support new company
formation and commercialize emergingtechnology products and services. DECI
links innovators to business development
resources as well as seed financing, and
provides support services through Clemson
University’s Regional Entrepreneurship
Center. DECI partners with organizations
including Clemson University, the City of
Hartsville, the Community Foundation
for a Better Hartsville, the Duke Energy
Foundation, and the Byerly Foundation.

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