PRSRT STD U.S. POSTAGE
GBJ 9 Broad Street, #7 Glens Falls, NY 12801
VOL. 36 NO. 3
PAID
GLENS FALLS, NY 12801 PERMIT #600
HH The Business Newspaper of Warren and Washington Counties HH
www.glensfallsbusinessjournal.com
MAY 2024
Erbessd Instruments Utilizes Cutting-Edge The Glens Falls Dragons Will Compete This Technology To Help Analyze Machine Health Season In Vastly Improved East Field Stadium
Pictured is the Phantom Generation 3 Bluetooth Vibration Sensor With Embedded Temperature Measurement capabilities developed by Erbessd.
Ben Bernard, owner of the Glens Falls Dragons, looks forward to having his baseball team play in the upgraded East Field stadium.
Courtesy Erbessed Instruments
BY ANN DONNELLY Erbessd Instruments has become a global leader in a highly specialized field: machine health monitoring. The company develops and manufactures a prescriptive analytics platform that uses artificial intelligence, machine learning, and wireless sensor technology to help customers understand their machines’ health. “They can predict if there is going to be some kind of outage and take action, rather than just wait for a failure to occur, “ says Chairman and CEO Dr. M. David Howard, who started in the industry as a journeyman aircraft maintenances specialist in the United States Air Force. President and Founder Dr. Thierry Erbessd, based in Mexico, worked in the first iteration of the business his father started 35 years ago and went out on his own 15 years ago. Then, eight years ago, Howard
partnered with Dr. Erbessd to bring that vision to the U.S., .and other English-speaking markets. Megh McCane-Howard, Howard’s wife, also came on board. The couple, originally from South Glens Falls, decided to base all but the Spanishspeaking operations in this area. First working from the basement of their home, they tried offices in a few other locations until three years ago, when they took over and refurbished 19 Exchange St. in Glens Falls. The company has customers in nearly every country and works with 145 distributors and partners worldwide. It has approximately 140 employees working between Glens Falls, two locations in Mexico, a European office in the United Kingdom, and a facility in India added last year. The company’s agility is a crucial factor in its success. As Dr. Howard explains, “We are incredibly Continued On Page 13
BY PAUL POST Area businesses have stepped up to the plate to help the Glens Falls Dragons get off to a good start at East Field, where several major improvements have been made for the 2024 season. More than 450 comfortable stadium seats from a minor league ballpark in Newark, N.J. are in place behind home plate, first-base bleachers have new wooden seating, and electrical and water lines have been installed for the right-field concession stand and rest room area. “We’re just trying to get the place fixed up to keep baseball here in Glens Falls,” team owner Ben Bernard said. “We want to keep this an inexpensive family attraction for the area.” The Dragons are led by first-year coach Ryan Deo, a College of St. Rose player-coach, and open at home on Friday, May 31 at 7 p.m. against the
Paul Post photo
Amsterdam Mohawks. St. Mary’s High School alum Pete Brown, a former minor league hurler, returns as pitching coach. Teams play in the Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League, featuring some of the nation’s top college players. New stadium seating is the latest in a series of East Field capital upgrades the past few years, which includes new LED lights and a new scoreboard. “When we got the lights we knew the city was serious about having this place continue,” Bernard said. “A lot more businesses are getting involved with us now. After COVID things were so messed up. Now we’ve got to turn the corner and you can see, that’s the idea.” Work is far from over as Bernard, supported by Continued On Page 12
The Blade Doctor Provides Quality Mobile Olympic And World Cup Coach Named Sharpening Services To A Variety Of Clients To Head Up West Mountain’s FIS Program BY JILL NAGY Gabriel Frankewich bills himself as the Blade Doctor and tries to bring military precision to sharpening knives, blades, and surgical tools. Headquartered in several former garages in Ballston Lake, he does most of his work from his van “I am in my van almost all day,” he said, bringing the business to the customer. He brings some very large jobs back to his shop. He describes himself as “detail oriented. . . . a little on the perfectionist side.” He attributes that to his military training and experience as an MP. He covers a broad area, roughly from Lake George to the Catskills. As a boy, he was fascinated by his grandfather’s grindstone and began grinding everything he could lay his hands on, including a shovel. His grandfather taught him how to use the grindstone properly and he was off to a lifetime of grinding and sharpening. In the military, he sharpened his buddies’ pocket knives. Later, when living in Israel, he spent so much time sharpening knives and utensils for other people that his father suggested that he make a business out of it. So, he did. He had a sharpening business in Tel Aviv, Israel,
Gabriel Frankewich, aka The Blade Doctor, comes to clients with his services. Saratoga Business Journal
for three years before returning to the United States seven years ago. Much of Frankewich’s current work consists of sharpening the surgical tools of area Continued On Page 15
West Mountain has hired Olympic and World Cup Coach Teresita Birkner as head women’s FIS coach for West Mountain Racing. Her daughters, Macarena and Belen, individually or collaboratively, will serve as her FIS assistants helping U16 athletes to transition to FIS. “We are so excited for our young women FIS athletes to be coached and mentored by such a strong, powerful, globally accomplished and recognized ski racing family,” said Sara Montgomery, program director of West Mountain Racing and general manager at West Mountain. Some of the family’s past and recent accomplishments and qualifications include: • Coach Teresita: mother and coach of three very accomplished ski racing daughters; Head Coach Argentina Nat. Ski Team; 30 years coaching all disciplines FIS World Level, including but not limited to, four Olympics, 13 World Championships, six FIS Jr World Championships; South American Cup Titles-33 overall, 34 SL, 31 GS, 22 SG, 11 DH, five Combined; Argentina National Ski Championships-33 GS, 32 SL, 2 DH, 6 SG. • Macarena: Racing: four-time Olympian 2002-2014; seven FIS World Championships; 143 FIS World Cups; two FIS Junior Worlds;
Teresita Birkner will coach the women’s FIS team at West Mountain this winter. Courtesy of West Mountain
68 European Cups; 18 North American Cups. Coaching: 2004-present all levels nationally and world. Continued On Page 15