Kinetic Vision Celebrating 30 Years of Excellence in Product and Process Development

Kinetic Vision is a story of locally grown talent doing some of the most creative, innovative and progressive product and process technology development work in the world. From healthcare, consumer packaged goods, aerospace and automotive to manufacturing, oil, gas and many other markets, the company serves an international customer base of more than 500 companies and has successfully completed more than 30,000 projects since its founding in 1988.

While he cannot make public the company’s list of customers, President and Founder Rick Schweet explains that there are many products we all use daily that Kinetic Vision has helped design or improve. The company both develops and tests cutting-edge products from scratch and works with existing products to improve them or lower costs. And Kinetic Vision also helps evaluate and improve customers’ R&D processes—studying “how things are done,” so customers can make their products better (e.g., automating tasks, making processes more accessible and easier to do).

From its original staff of two 30 years ago, today Kinetic Vision is a national leader in its industry, employing more than 120 multidisciplinary professionals in industrial and graphic design, engineering, prototyping, software/app development, augmented reality/virtual reality/real-time simulation, digital design, medical illustration, mechatronics, robotics, IoT (“Internet of Things”) and industrial 3D scanning.

“Kinetic Vision’s strength is its diversity of skills,” says Schweet. “We are creative and curious, driven to help our partners and customers use new technology in better ways. Bringing together our diverse design, engineering and development teams allow us to address each of our projects from many different points of view.

“Refinement of products we buy every day is ongoing—companies are constantly trying to improve the customer experience,” says Schweet. “That we are a one-stop shop creates efficiencies for our customers—dealing with one company to solve tough problems, as opposed to others in the industry who specialize in just one or two areas.”

Building a Future

For five years in a row, Kinetic Vision has been recognized as an Enquirer Media Top Workplace. “Turnover at Kinetic Vision is extremely low,” says Schweet, “At one point, we calculated that 95 percent of our employees started working here as University of Cincinnati co-ops. Our mission is to change lives by developing great people and great products that in turn create great experiences. We believe our physical facilities—where we do our jobs—plays a critical role in ensuring Kinetic Vision is a place people want to work.”

Kinetic Vision had grown out of its 2,900 square-foot office space when it began working with Miller-Valentine Construction, which has provided site selection within the Evendale Commons Business Park, incentive negotiations, design and construction services for each of the company’s now three buildings.

Says Schweet, “The correlation between our growth and our relationship with Miller-Valentine making facilities for us is undeniable. Our sales have grown five-fold since we opened our new 9,956-square-foot headquarters building in 2010. We were 30 people in an office in Blue Ash who moved into a building that would hold 60—and from then on it has been up and up and up.”

“We thought it would take five years to grow into it, but we filled it in three and expanded our space with a second 8,499-square-foot building in 2013. This spring, we completed a third facility, 9,866 square feet, which houses a lab and prototyping equipment, and a fourth building is proposed for 2020.”

“The triad of Kinetic Vision’s success is quality, value, and timeliness, wrapped in an envelope of customer service,” says Schweet. “I really believe that having buildings into which we can expand helps, yes, but also integral to our success is that who we are as a company is reflected in our facilities—the high-tech work we do, that our work revolves around innovation and creativity and that we are committed to the environment (one-third of our overall electric usage comes from our solar panels).”

“From day one, our buildings have been very beneficial, generating great feedback from our employees—it is a place they are proud to come to work every day—and our customers, who easily associate our buildings with who we are,” says Schweet. “We feel the buildings give us a legitimacy we wouldn’t have gotten if we continued to rent.”

Undertaking the construction projects has been a new experience for Schweet. “Miller-Valentine understands we have very specific goals for these buildings,” he says. “From the start, I have worked with the same senior project manager and been confident that they are on my side. Working with Miller-Valentine, I’ve always felt like they are a partner in these efforts, not just a vendor doing a job. My guess is that that is probably unique in the industry.”

For further information on Kinetic Vision, visit their website at kinetic-vision.com (be sure to view their virtual reality tour of Cincinnati’s Union Terminal).

Contact Miller-Valentine Construction for your next building project at 877.684.7687 or info@mvg.com.

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