[Congressional Record Volume 153, Number 167 (Wednesday, October 31, 2007)]
[Senate]
[Page S13622]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 CONGRATULATING FLOTATION TECHNOLOGIES

 Ms. SNOWE. Mr. President, I wish to congratulate Flotation 
Technologies, an extraordinary global leader in the design and 
production of deepwater buoyancy products from my home State of Maine. 
Flotation Technologies of Biddeford recently received the Manufacturing 
Excellence Award from the Maine Manufacturing Extension Partnership, 
MEP, for ``superior manufacturing practices'' that have successfully 
propelled the firm into the international market.
  Flotation Technologies creates and manufactures syntactic foam 
buoyancy and polyurethane elastomer products for the offshore, 
oceanographic, and seismic industries, as well as for the U.S. 
military. Founded in 1979, the enterprise has been manufacturing 
syntactic foam longer than any other company in business today. This 
year, to meet the company's rapid expansion, Flotation Technologies 
relocated to a 45,000-square-foot facility in the Biddeford Industrial 
Park. The new facility will allow Flotation Technologies to install 
state-of-the-art automated production equipment that will triple 
production capacity.
  This pioneering company makes extraordinarily resilient products for 
extreme environments. Flotation Technologies' buoys are lowered miles 
below the ocean surface, where they face up to 10,000 pounds of 
pressure per square inch, equivalent to the weight of a truck. They are 
as dense as oak, yet still relatively lightweight, and the buoys can 
survive under the frigid polar ice in the Arctic and under the searing 
heat in West Africa. These high-quality products were even relied upon 
to help shoot the 1997 Oscar-winning blockbuster movie ``Titanic.''
  Flotation Technologies began as a small family enterprise, primarily 
serving scientists engaged in oceanographic and earthquake research. In 
2002, as energy prices rose sharply, interest in offshore exploration 
grew rapidly. Flotation Technologies' buoyancy products are crucial to 
support the miles of flexible piping needed to extract resources from 
the ocean floor. In the last few years, the company has become a major 
supplier of these products, and most recently, Flotation Technologies 
won a $4.1 million contract to build buoyancy modules for Frontier 
Drilling, a Houston oil company.
  Expansion into this business has been a rewarding endeavor, and 
Flotation Technologies is setting its sights on further growth. The 
firm currently employs 42 people in Maine, and they expect to add at 
least 10 more employees by the end of the year. Revenues are expected 
to hit $10.5 million this year, and management is aiming for $30 
million in sales within 3 years. Flotation Technologies recently worked 
with the Maine MEP to develop a strategic business plan that 
dramatically improved the efficiency of its operations. The Maine MEP 
is part of a nationwide network of technical, manufacturing, and 
business specialists linked together through the U.S. Department of 
Commerce. By implementing the Maine MEP's streamlining techniques, the 
company was able to double sales for 2006.
  Despite such impressive growth, Flotation Technologies has remained 
in the hands of a tightly-knit group of family members. Tim Cook, the 
current president, is the son of the company's founder, David Cook. As 
Tim notes, his family has ``put it all on the line'' for this venture 
for nearly 30 years. I congratulate Tim and his family on their success 
and wish them well in the years to come. Their dedicated 
entrepreneurial spirit is very much a part of what makes our Nation 
great, and I am proud to have them in my home State of Maine.

                          ____________________