Feel The Heat: Co-Founder, CEO Develops Tech Solution to Reopening
Amy Yu (left), CEO, co-founder of Antlia, speaks with co-founder Michael George at a school where their thermal screening system is in operation.
Seeing nurses and other frontline healthcare workers wearing trash bags to protect themselves during shifts at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic because of a shortage of PPE equipment made Amy Yu upset. It also inspired the engineer CEO and co-founder of Antlia Systems get to work on a solution for protection.
“It broke my heart,” says Yu, co-founder of Chicago-based Antlia Systems (named after the constellation). “So I used my connections to get more PPE and donate them. Then I was working hard to figure things out with engineering teams to find the best solutions to make safe places.”
“ The shortage of #PPE equipment made Amy Yu, the engineer CEO and co-founder of Antlia Systems, get to work on a solution for protection. #covid #safety #womenleaders”
That effort resulted in the new Thermal Detection Kiosk with Identity Verification (ANT-FR-Q9) that identifies employees and guests as they enter a building space, checks for elevated body temperature, and even confirms whether they are wearing a mask – all in just under a second. The scanner is not monitored by a person. If a person’s temperature is elevated, entrance is denied and administration is contacted. It is fast, efficient and may indeed be one factor that contributes to reopening the economy.
As the global pandemic surges in the majority of states in this country and the number of cases in this country reaches 5 million, the engineering innovation in the product is a source for growth and expansion for Antlia.
Yu says her company offers detection systems that protect physical and biological security throughout North and Central America including public schools, government office buildings, major sporting events venues, restaurants and bars, transit hubs, airports and more. Thermal screening products include kiosks, camera systems and simple sensors.
“Providing a sense of safety in public spaces is critical for recovery,” says Yu, a native of China, who grew up as an only child.
““Providing a sense of #safety in public spaces is critical for recovery,” says Yu, whose company Antlia created a thermal screening system that may be the solution that contributes to reopening the economy. #COVID19”
“I grew up in an environment where I always wanted to protect people,” says Yu, who was educated in China for her undergraduate degree and came to the University of Illinois-Chicago for her MBA, graduating in 2007.
“When I was starting engineering school, I was one of only five women in the class. It was 10 percent women in everything,” Yu says.
She began working for different companies as an engineer in 2008 until 2015 when she began thinking about starting her own firm.
“I was thinking to start something different where I would really care about my clients, providing equipment and solutions,” says Yu, who partnered with co-founder Michael George in 2016, launching the company in 2018.
“Michael has many years of experience and we met through manufacturing friends. I had this idea of a security business and we talked and something just clicked,” says Yu. “I love helping people and he has the same passion to make the best product.”
As for the name of their new company, Yu says, “I was looking for a star in the sky and most of those are taken.” She chose Antlia, she says, because, “I wanted this to shine.”
Antlia Systems clients include the U.S. Federal Reserve Banks, Kohler, Marie’s Salad Dressings, Clark in Construction, the City of Chicago, the greater Chicago area Bellwood School District, and the South Bend Housing Authority in Indiana.
Recently, Antlia installed a protective system in MxD, a 100,000-square-foot innovation center that features a factory floor with some of the most advanced manufacturing equipment in the world with corporate partners such as Boeing, Microsoft, Rolls-Royce, Siemens, Autodesk, and McKinsey & Company. The screening equipment there was funded by the U.S. Department of Defense.
With schools possibly reopening across the country, Yu sees the product expansion into schools as a key focus. “We have designed this product to make sure you don’t have any physical contact. We are working with teachers and doctors, with products for kindergarten through college,” Yu says.
“With #schools possibly reopening across the country, Yu sees the product expansion into schools as a key focus: “We are working with teachers and doctors, with products for kindergarten through college.” #COVID19”
“I look at COVID-19 cases every day and it is hard to say what will happen next,” Yu says. “If this continues for another year, what we can do is monitor temperature; it is the best we can do to prevent a sick person from entering a school or a building. It is one layer to maker places safer.”
With nearly two decades experience in engineering and innovation, Yu says as a Chinese female immigrant working in this country, she has been an anomaly.
“With nearly two decades experience in engineering and innovation, Yu says as a Chinese female immigrant working in this country, she has been an anomaly. #womenengineers #immigrantowned”
“I was usually the only woman in the room and the only woman in the deal.” She adds, “I was nervous and felt the pressure as the only one. English is not my first language so I was not comfortable. Now I see it as an opportunity.”
““I was usually the only woman in the room and the only woman in the deal. English is not my first language so I was not comfortable. Now I see it as an opportunity,” says Yu. #womeninbusiness ”
According to the U.S. Census Bureau,“Women make up nearly one-third of the manufacturing industry workforce in the United States. Women play a number of roles in manufacturing from working on the production line to running their own manufacturing businesses.”
The Census Bureau reports, “Around 7.6 million production, transportation, and material moving workers were employed in the manufacturing industry in 2016. While production, transportation, and material moving occupations employed the largest number of women within the manufacturing industry, women only made up about one-quarter (26.7 percent) of these workers.”
Read more in Take The Lead on Women in manufacturing
Manufacturing as an employment provider grew in July, according to recent reports.
According to The Institute for Supply Management, “the manufacturing index rose to 54.2 in July, up from a June reading of 52.6. Any reading above 50 signals that U.S. manufacturing is expanding,” according to the New Jersey News Network.
“While it was the second straight month that the index has been above the 50 threshold, indicating manufacturing is expanding again, economists cautioned that the outlook is clouded by spreading infections in the U.S. in the South, West and Midwest,” according to the network.
Recently the Meadville Tribune reported, “Another report done in 2017 by Deloitte and The Manufacturing Institute found women constitute one of U.S. manufacturing’s largest pools of untapped talent. Women totaled about 47 percent of the U.S. labor force in 2016 but only 29 percent of the manufacturing workforce, according to that report.”
Speaking recently to the Business Record, Mary Adringa, chairman of Vermeer Corp. and the only woman ever who was chairman of the National Association of Manufacturers, says, “I've been delighted in just the last 10 years to see more women become part of our engineering teams, and the thing that I know for sure for the future is that there will continue to be great opportunities for women in all parts of manufacturing and distribution.”
Yu says she understands the responsibility and opportunity of being a woman in a male-dominated industry.
“Yu says she understands the responsibility and opportunity of being a woman in a male-dominated industry. “I stand out. So this has been a journey to discover myself,” says Yu. #representation #womenleaders”
“I stand out. So this has been a journey to discover myself,” says Yu. “I have the knowledge, skills, and I understand what I bring to the table and what I offer. So I cannot be afraid to speak up and stand out.”
Mentoring young women in engineering and all STEM fields, Yu says, is a high priority.
“Mentoring young #womeninengineering and all STEM fields, Yu says, is a high priority. #womeninstem #mentorship”
“I love helping young women like me who feel very different. I tell them that opportunity is everywhere. Take the chance. Be passionate. Everything is possible.”
““I love helping young women like me who feel very different. I tell them that #opportunity is everywhere. Take the chance. Be passionate. Everything is possible,” says Yu. #femaleempowerment”
