PROSPER®

PROSPER --- GOING UP
Commuter
Powers App
HELPING CONSUMERS
MANAGE ENERGY USAGE
By Sydnee Thompson
Every Monday, Manoj Kumar gets on a
plane in the San Francisco Bay area for his
weekly commute to Oakland County.
Kumar is CEO of Powerley, a joint
venture of DTE Energy and Royal Oakbased
Vectorform that was launched in
March 2015. The partnership combines
Vectorform’s expertise in inventing digital
products with the resources of the largest
utility in Michigan in a platform that enables
consumers to use their smartphones to
understand and reduce their energy usage.
With an MBA from the University of
Michigan and master’s in semiconductor
physics from Michigan State University,
Kumar lives in Silicon Valley with his
family. His charge is to expand the
availability of Powerley’s technology to
utility companies beyond metro Detroit.
Kumar runs Powerley from Vectorform’s
office in Royal Oak. The company has rapidly
expanded as it targets markets nationwide.
As of early November, Powerley had 14
employees — up from two a few months
Top and center, OPS
Solutions' Light Guide
earlier — and was slated to move into its
own Royal Oak office in early 2016.
Systems; left, Suture
Removal Innovations'
medical device.
Photos: Courtesy of the companies; Powerley by Oakland County
processes. The proprietary software-based
system projects a canvas of visual guides
over a worker’s elaborate tasks, providing
prompts, alerts, next steps and quality
control along the way.
LGS serves clients ranging from Ford
Motor Co. and General Motors to Delphi and
Johnson Controls. Though LGS was initially
designed for manufacturing, Ryznar feels the
applications for his product are limitless.
“We’re already in Canada and we’re
expanding internationally to Europe, Mexico,
Brazil, Asia,” Ryznar says. “The problems
occurring in different manual processes
are worldwide and LGS is a tremendous
solution to fix those problems.”
Even as his homegrown invention goes
global, Ryznar has no plans to leave Oakland
County.
He says, "Quite honestly I don’t think
there’s any place better to be in the world
than in Oakland County.”
Kumar worked with Oakland County
business development representatives for
marketing and research support and for
help identifying a permanent location.
“I’m excited to be here,” Kumar says.
“There’s a lot of technology happening and
the companies are here.
“The opportunity is huge. And the county
is encouraging investment and jobs.”
ADVANTAGEOAKLAND.COM 2016 51