I first established Eisenhawer TDS in 1993, but suspended operation when I moved to Fort McMurray in 1998 to manage a new branch office for a major laboratory company. There, I marketed laboratory services to gas plants, SAGD facilities, bitumen mines and upgraders, including writing bid packages with detailed economic and technical analyses. Among the projects I managed was a major major refinery (upgrader) assay campaign, with testing essentially all major hydrocarbon streams in the plant.
After a couple of years, during which the business grew 4-fold, I was recruited by a specialty chemical company to help expand their business in the oilsands. My business expanded rapidly to include numerous large chemical programs to address fouling, corrosion and emulsion separation issues, until, in 2007, I moved to Edmonton in a technical consulting role. For the next decade, I leveraged my plant experience and customer and academic relationships to help the firm harness the ever-expanding need for our services. For a few years, I was also seconded to a major client on a half-time basis to provide consulting on process chemistry issues.
In 2016, I found myself drawn to my product development roots, this time armed with even more powerful technologies and management experience. I joined a small engineering and fab shop under a 2-year Alberta Government funded program that teams up experienced business people with companies seeking to develop new export markets. A focus of my work recently involved hardware and software design, such as lab/manufacturing automation instruments and computer vision web development with small biotech start-ups.