The 48-year-old great grandson of automotive pioneer Henry Ford also joined in the Chamber’s salute to Specialized Enterprises Inc. and Tricycle Inc. as the area’s most outstanding business innovators of the year.

In pursuit of a competitive edge, Ford Motor has launched five new hybrid models and renewed its commitment to the midsize sedan market in recent months, Ford told a sell-out crowd of 1,200 in the Convention Center.

Ford’s hybrid Escape, the first sport utility vehicle to be powered by both gasoline and electricity, has achieved 75 percent improved fuel efficiency in city traffic compared to the standard Escape, he went on. The midsize Fusion sedan has been designed to carry the contest for consumers to Asian markets and establish a "beachhead" in a part of the world dominated by Japanese manufacturers.

"I don’t want to compete with Toyota," Ford said. "I want to win."

2005 Kursie Award Winner, Speacialized Enterprises, Inc.

Asserting that Ford Motor is applying principles of sustainability to everything it does, Ford called innovation the prime mover for his company’s strategic focus on profitability which is compatible with social and environmental responsibility. Alternative energy sources such as solar, wind, and paint fumes have begun to power Ford facilities and resulted in tremendous cost savings, he said.

In addition, the company continues research on hydrogen-powered engines and has delivered a fleet of such vehicles to the state of Florida. Ford has also transformed its Rouge plant into the world’s largest brownfield redevelopment project. Utilizing a "living roof" which reduces stormwater runoff, conserves energy, and gives off oxygen, the formerly contaminated and derelict industrial site is now a model for sustainability in the 21st century.

Generous in his praise for Chattanooga’s "green" efforts, Ford said, "Few cities in America have done as much to popularize electric and hybrid transportation. You’re a national leader in research and development of clean fuel and transportation technology."

During the luncheon Ford applauded as seven area companies were saluted for innovative products and practices. Specialized Enterprises Inc., a Cleveland, Tennessee, company which originated an automated fluid exchange system to efficiently and rapidly change oil in vehicle engines, received the fifth annual Kreusi Award, while Tricycle Inc. was honored with the first annual

Technolgy Innovation Award for its digital tufted carpet samples.

"This particular innovation is important from the standpoint that it eliminates the opportunity for technicians to be exposed to contaminated or used oil and also prevents oil spills because it is a closed loop system," explained Specialized Enterprises president David McKin.. "The oil is actually discharged into a waste container and never has to be handled by any operators. Another benefit is that you can do a standard automobile oil change in under a minute."

The process can also be completed on large trucks in as little as five minutes compared to a standard 45 minute procedure, McKin said. Besides saving time and money, the positive environmental impact is substantial as well.

"According to the Environmental Protection Agency, if you can prevent one gallon of oil from going into the groundwater then you have kept one million gallons of groundwater from being contaminated," McKin continued. "So, if there are 11 gallons of oil from one large truck’s oil change, a total of 11 million gallons of groundwater will not be contaminated. In states such as

Florida and California, where there is a lot of concern about the groundwater, we are seeing a tremendous amount of interest in the process."

Originally founded in Rome, Georgia, in 1987, Specialized Enterprises has been located in the Chattanooga area since 1995. During the past year, the company has hired more than a dozen new employees and expanded its market into Canada. It has also developed computer software and color correction techniques for portrait artists and fiber technology for the military.

"Our company is based around product development and design, and that is exactly what we do," concluded McKin. "We look for innovative ways to do things that are sometimes mundane and often approach them from outside the box as far as the original purpose of the project is concerned. Companies are beginning to understand the validity of our product not just as a good idea but as a truly innovative product performing to national levels."

The Chattanooga Technology Council recognized Tricycle Inc., for its SIM by Tricycle TM technology, which provides carpet manufacturers with digital textured and color accurate images of carpet samples which may be viewed on-line or as high quality paper prints. Tricycle Inc. began operations in the United States in 2002 and exists today as the combination of an enterprise which originated in the United Kingdom and expanded to this country.

"The technology is a modeled image which is computer generated," said Tricycle president and COO Jonathan Bragdon. "There is no photography involved, and we are modeling the way the tufting machine manufactures the product, the way the yarn and the carpet react to the machine. We are mimicking the manufacturing process through the computer and can generate everything through it in as little as 24 hours and reduce costs by as much as 90 percent."

Environmental awareness and potential cost savings have prompted 18 commercial and hospitality carpet brands to work with Tricycle, and in a single year it is estimated that these manufacturers saved $1 million while more than 18 tons of waste materials were not added to landfills. Bragdon said that a few companies were receptive to the new technology in its infancy, seeking solutions to waste and cost problems in product development and sampling, which had spun out of control during the last 20 years.