Gov. Bob Taft visited Sunpower, Inc. of Athens yesterday as part of a three-city tour through Southeast Ohio, showcasing local small businesses and the turn-around of Ohio's economy.
Sunpower, Inc., 182 Mill St., employs 46 people as a leader in the cooling systems industry, the company's CEO Neill Lane said. Sunpower invents and patents cooling systems used in medical, industrial and aerospace applications.
Most of the company's business comes from the licensing of those patents to other manufacturing companies that operate outside the United States.
We do very little business in Athens or Ohio
Lane said. Sunpower is probably better known in Tokyo than in Columbus.
Taft praised Sunpower as an example of the type of business that Ohio needs.
We need to build on our strengths he said. Sunpower illustrates these strengths of cultivating new customers and the potential for more jobs in Southeast Ohio.
