Tuesday, January 17, 1984AFhe Battalion/Page 3 New business center established at UTA United Press International ARLINGTON — Many small msinesses could be more profit- ible if the owners only under- tood how new technology could elp them cut costs and become note efficient, Dr. John Rouse if the the University of Texas at Arlington believes. Rouse’s efforts have been the ley to establishment of a Small lusiness Development Center eared toward new technology it UTA, where he is dean of en- ;ineering. “Ths Small Business Admi- listration is very excited about his concept,” Rouse said recent- y. "There are 29 SBDC’s (na- ionally) but this is the only one hathasa high technology base.” The SBA is putting up 10,000. UTA also is putting 10,000 into the technology levelopment center, $50,000 of nhichcame from local contribu- “I took the position that if I couldn’t get the Dallas-Fort Worth community to put up the money we needed, then I did not think there would be enough community participation to en sure success of this program,” Rouse said. Programs to help small businesses are needed. Statistics show that about 80 percent of all small businesses fail within the first few years. The Development Center will help small businesses become more profitable by helping them use technology in production, by helping in development of a high tech product, or by iden tifying new markets. Faculty members at UTA, which a large School of En gineering, will direct their ex pertise to the specific needs of small enterprise being helped by the Development Center. who hold Ph. D.s in engineer ing,” Rouse noted. Thousands of small busines ses in Dallas-Fort Worth and the surrounding area of North Texas are engaged in some aspect of high technology, Rouse estimates. Many of them exist because the founder de veloped a high-tech product. In such a case the Development Center probably would not help with product development, he said, since the businessman him self has done that. But the De velopment Center might help the developer take the long step from creation to marketing and production. Other small businesses could be helped in choosing computer systems and programs, or in streamlining manufacturing methods. “We have 100 people here “As an example, we recently had a call from a venture capital ist backing a small business man,” Rouse said. “He said the business was not making enough profit and he asked if we could visit it. An industrial engineer ing professor spent one day at the plant and he discovered an inefficient assembly line opera tion.” The professor then put together for the manufacturer a list of suggestions that would make it possible to produce the product with a higher profit margin. If outside consulting is needed to help make a small business project go, the UTA center will direct the business man to a consulting firm. The center does not want to compete with existing businesses. “After all, the consulting firm usually is a small business, too.” Rouse notes. School board reviews options for assistant By CHRISTINE MALLON Staff Writer Monday night’s CSISD meet ing didn’t turn out to be the nor mal, beginning-of-the-new-year meeting everyone thought it would be. As the small meeting room gradually began to fill with a capacity crowd of about 40 peo ple (an audience of 9 is about normal), it was obvious some thing was up. Back-to-school business deci sions were flowing at a fast pace until Board President Bruce Robeck introduced an item on the agenda which discussed the pros and cons of hiring an admi nistrative assistant for the dis trict. Robeck said the most impor tant responsibilities of a poten tial administrative assistant would include having primary responsibility for public rela tions on behalf of the board, maintaining all board records and documents, assisting in drafting board policies and serv ing under direction of the board president. Superintendent H.R. Bur nett said he didn’t approve of the position because under state law many of such an administra tor’s duties are the responsibi- lites of the district’s superinten dent. Trustee John Reagor said no body should be hired as a full time employee of the district to work directly for the board pres ident. ®0