Within a six-hour drive from the Midwestern office there are approximately 75 ethanol plants currently online - over half the total number of plants in the entire US. The office is working with many of these plants as well as a number of start-ups which are coming online within the next 12 months.

"We serve a large number of the nearby plants, so we are pretty busy," says Cam Fowler. "Luckily, our closeness allows us to reach customers without undue travel on our part."

Scheduled calls and troubleshooting made easier
There are two main types of support that the office provides to customers: scheduled calls and troubleshooting visits. Close proximity to the plants make both types much easier.

"Our goal is to visit every one of our customers' plants at least twice a year. We feel this is necessary to make sure that the plants are functioning optimally," says Cam Fowler. "Some of the plants we visit are still quite young and we like to make sure they get the support they need. Most often we make sure that they are dosing the enzymes correctly and check that their process is still running optimally, even if they have made significant process changes."

Training, dosage optimization, and fermentation optimization for better yield are common issues that the team deals with when visiting customers. But sometimes plants run into a critical issue and need help immediately. Troubleshooting visits are greatly expedited with the new office.

"When we get urgent calls from our customers, we can respond to them very quickly," says Cam Fowler. "More often than not we can get to our customers within 24 hours if a really urgent issue comes up. This is much quicker than we could previously. And this is why customers really appreciate that we are located here."

He continues: "Customer response has been extremely positive. The move to be closer to one of the most important agricultural regions in the US has shown our customers that we are clearly interested in investing in the industry, and in them. From a political point of view it also shows that we are investing in America - you can't get much more American than Iowa."

Expansion is imminent
Cam Fowler is working with three other Customer Solutions scientists in the Midwest office, but that will soon change. Due to the great response from customers and the high amount of work taking place there, plans are underway to hire one or two more scientists as soon as possible.

Currently the Midwestern facility contains offices and a conference room, but construction has started to build a small laboratory to be finished early in 2008. The laboratory will be available to cross-check samples as well as run specialized customer projects, which are difficult to run at a live plant. Investment in lab equipment will be made on an ongoing basis, depending on needs and customer requirements.

The facility is located in the Iowa State University Research Park, which was a strategically-planned placement. Access to experts and academia closely involved in cutting-edge biofuel research as well as pilot laboratories and facilities is just an arm's length away.