Sherry Morian, President, Quality Engineering Solutions, used a Market Access Grant to pursue international business in China.

A Market Access Grant (MAG) for Sherry Morian’s engineering solutions company allowed her to pave a path to potential business opportunities in China.

Morian, President, Quality Engineering Solutions (QES), used a MAG grant earlier this year to send a company employee to speak on the subject of pavement management solutions at a prestigious civil engineering and urban planning conference in China.

The MAG program, which is promoted by the commonwealth and funded by Team Pennsylvania Foundation, encourages the innovative use of funds to meet the specific international marketing needs of small- and mid-sized Pennsylvania companies to enhance their capability to increase export sales.

Morian said Dr. Guangming Wang highlighted the benefits of a pavement management technology system at the 3rd International Conference on Civil Engineering and Urban Planning in Wuhan, Hubei, China.

“We’re hoping that some of their provinces will adopt this technology or understand the need for it,” Morian said. “We hope to convince them that they need the technology, and then we can be the resource to provide that to them.”

Morian said Wang highlighted the benefits of the Street Saver technology, which assists in the collection and dissemination of data, to the conference attendees.

“There is a lot of data collection with this type of work and we can train them on this system. Or, if they want to do it themselves, we can use Dr. Wang to provide the expertise and teach their boots on the ground on how to collect the data,” Morian added.

Morian said the foray into the Chinese market for her Conneaut Lake-based company was the largest venture into international markets, having previously provided engineering pavement services to several smaller countries.

Morian said using a MAG grant to pursue business in China makes sense given the country’s vast size.

“This is the second conference in China that we have sent him (Wang) to be a featured speaker,” Morian said. “He has been talking to us for a number of years about the potential in China. There are opportunities with both their growing infrastructure for new projects as well as the rehab that is needed on existing infrastructure.”

These speaking engagements have paid off for QES, according to Morian.

“We have a number of small projects there now,” she added. “We’re there providing technical expertise in pavement rubblization.”

Founded in 1997, QES offers a wide variety of services with cutting-edge technology in the engineering, inspection, and construction industries, and its 50 employees have over a century of combined experience in the areas of highway, port, bridge, and airfield projects.

“Our 50 employees strive to provide solutions to challenges in the pavement and transportation field using the latest proven engineering technology, with a strong emphasis on the quality and timeliness of our work,” Morian noted. “Our principal engineers are registered in a number of states, including Maryland, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania and West Virginia.”

QES learned of the MAG program from the Northwest Commission, who applied on behalf of the company for the grant that was approved by Team PA. The Northwest Commission is a Local Development District serving an eight-county region of Northwest Pennsylvania.

For more information on QES, visit the company’s website at qespavements.com.