Precision Industrial Automation is receiving $719,000 through Ohio's Third Frontier Fuel Cell program. Gov. Bob Taft recently presented five awards for fuel technology research to Ohio-based teams.

The company, which develops and implements manufacturing systems for product manufacturers, will study converting the chemical energy of hydrogen into electricity, considered to be a feasible use for fuel-cell technology to propel cars and other mobile uses. More specifically, the grant will be used to study proton exchange membrane fuel cells. Precision's job will be to make the production of the cells more efficient.

"Ohio has been on the leading edge of fuel cell technology for several years," said Taft, in a release.

Citing cost as the barrier to implementing the technology on a more widespread basis, Precision's vice president of engineering, Thomas Willis, said the company hopes to find ways to make the production more affordable.

"Utilizing high-volume manufacturing technology concepts is the proven route to competitive costs," Willis said in a release. "Just look at what a cell phone cost only 15 years ago."

Precision will collaborate with Dayton-based Edison Materials Technology Center, Faraday Technologies in Clayton, Ohio, and Cleveland's Case Western Reserve University on this project.