One of the chief goals of technology is to improve efficiency—to make it quicker and easier to do our jobs and to make money. Baton Rouge is home to a growing number of tech companies that are coming up with software products and services that increase efficiency in a variety of sectors. 

Joel Costonis is CEO of Advanced Concepts and Engineering. The company’s signature product is the ACE Auto-Grade Laboratory. It’s a mobile testing lab about the size of your average washing machine, and it streamlines and improves the accuracy of aggregates testing, which, if you know anything about commercial construction, you’ll know is very important because aggregates are key components used to strengthen the  composite materials like concrete and asphalt. Until Joel’s mobile lab came along, such testing was done manually, which is time-consuming, expensive and prone to human error. The ACE Auto Grade Laboratory is making this testing process quicker and easier, and a lot of major companies, including Martin Marietta, have begun using it. 

Matt Mullenix is a local public relations consultant and partner in a firm that has developed a new GPS-based tracking software called VIP Signal that is making it quicker and easier for governments and companies to track their employees in the field.  One of Signal’s initial applications was in tracking participants and emergency services providers at the Louisiana Marathon. Since then VIP Signal has gotten the attention of municipal organizations throughout the region. 

Photos at Mansurs on the Boulevard by Karry Hosford.