Sweetwater County, Wyoming
Business in Focus is visiting Sweetwater County, Wyoming once again. After reporting on the area’s major mining and industrial projects and highlighting the county’s burgeoning economic opportunities, we sat back down with community leaders to focus on the positive impact and increasing potential that tourism has within the region.
St. Landry Parish, Louisiana
Business in Focus previously profiled St. Landry Parish, Louisiana in 2017. This month, we circled back to learn about the remarkably effective economic structures the community has put into place over the last several years.
3DXTECH
The story of 3DXTECH began when, after thirty years of working for global leaders in the high-performance plastics and composites industry, the emerging technology of three-dimensional (3D) printing caught Matt Howlett’s eye. He bought a 3D printer, quickly recognized the untapped potential, and launched 3DXTECH in 2014
The Triple Bottom Line
According to the Triple Bottom Line (TBL), businesses must commit to social and environmental concerns in equal measure to their commitment to profits. In other words, there isn’t just one bottom line; there are three: people, planet, and profit. In fact, the theory maintains that if a company only focuses on its earnings, without regard to the social and environmental impact, then it is impossible to gather a full and accurate cost of doing business.
Entrepreneurship Among Women Veterans
The United States is home to more than 2 million women veterans—and this number is on the rise. In 2000, women veterans made up just four percent of the veteran population, but that figure is predicted to make a dramatic leap to 18 percent by 2040, according to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.
Maricopa Economic Development Alliance
Maricopa, Arizona is enjoying remarkable growth as newcomers are drawn to the community’s economic opportunity, exceptional diversity, quality of life, and affordability, which make the city an attractive alternative to nearby Phoenix. Since 2000, Maricopa’s population has skyrocketed from approximately 1,200 people to 75,000. Just two decades ago, “We were nothing but farmland,” says Christian Price, the former Maricopa mayor and current President and CEO of the Maricopa Economic Development Alliance (MEDA).
Universal Technologies
Universal Technologies is a woman-owned IT consulting firm focused on servicing the government sector, primarily in New York City. The company provides projects, personnel, and solutions to deliver well-designed, well-managed, secure, and stable infrastructure and computing environments. This wide range of services and products covers everything from individual jobs to enterprise-wide solutions.
Bell and Howell
Technology-enabled field services company Bell and Howell services a wide range of automation equipment for multiple original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and markets across North America. We spoke to the company a year ago, reporting on how the Durham, North Carolina-based business helps customers increase efficiency and reduce operational costs through its comprehensive solutions in retail, grocery, pharmacy click-and-collect, automation, and production mail. This month, we sat down with senior executive and grocery commerce expert James Hermanowski to learn more about the company’s work to fight food insecurity through food bank technology.
City of Craig, Colorado
Nestled among canyons, rivers, and forests, Craig, Colorado, is a nature lover’s dream. “We have so many natural amenities to offer,” says Economic Development Manager Shannon Scott.
City of Converse, Texas
Converse, Texas continues to grow and thrive. Since Business in Focus profiled the San Antonio suburb in 2015, the community’s prime location, affordable living, and convenient amenities have kept drawing new residents—and the city can accommodate them all.
City of La Porte, Texas
The City of La Porte is a hidden treasure nestled along Galveston Bay. The slower pace of life in this friendly, tight-knit community feels light years away from nearby Houston. “You truly don’t realize you’re fifteen miles from downtown Houston, the fourth largest city in the nation,” says Assistant City Manager Matt Daeumer. “We’re a gem on Galveston Bay that people don’t know about. And we like it that way because it’s a quiet and comfortable place to live.”
Logistics & Transportation Association of North America (LTNA)
The Logistics & Transportation Association of North America (LTNA) is a member-driven networking organization for individuals, non-profit clubs, associations, and corporations in any branch of the transportation, logistics, and supply chain management industry throughout the United States and Canada. The goal of the Collinsville, Illinois-based organization is to promote and support the people who make supply chain logistics work.
Lanau Industries
Martin Rondeau founded Lanau Industries in his hometown, Saint-Gabriel-de-Brandon, Quebec. The concept took off when Mr. Rondeau and his small team designed and built his first truck body in his humble welding shop and recognized that he was onto something. That dump body still runs to this day, nearly two decades later.
Bell and Howell
Technology-enabled field services company Bell and Howell services a wide range of automation equipment for multiple original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and markets across North America. We spoke to the company a year ago, reporting on how the Durham, North Carolina-based business helps customers increase efficiency and reduce operational costs through its comprehensive solutions in retail, grocery, pharmacy click-and-collect, automation, and production mail. This month, we sat down with senior executive and grocery commerce expert James Hermanowski to learn more about the company’s work to fight food insecurity through food bank technology.
IOA Healthcare Furniture
IOA Healthcare Furniture has roots that go back to the mid-1920s when Gigi Delmestri launched a furniture business in northern Italy. “He inherited a company that was making horse-drawn steel ploughs for agricultural use, and when the tractor finally came around to Italy, he had a workforce of about seventy people, and he didn’t want to have to shut down,” says Gigi’s great-grandson and IOA’s Executive Vice President Matthew Delmestri. To save the jobs on which his rural village depended, Gigi reinvented his company as a steel furniture manufacturer.
Special-T
Special-T delivers Grade-A tables at Grade-C prices through innovation, supply chain best practices, and a customer-first attitude. The company’s story began twenty years ago when Loren Rozeboom recognized an opportunity. As a furniture dealer, he saw a need for a budget table base, and as the father of a son struggling with addiction, he saw the need to give a second chance to people who had completed rehabilitation and were seeking employment.
Walgre Transport
Walgre Transport is an asset-based, full-truckload and less-than-truckload logistics service provider specializing in dry-van services, refrigerated services, hazardous materials services, and heated services. Launched in 2014 by two brothers, the Ontario-based family business has grown quickly to serve not only Canada but the United States as well. Today, the company boasts 210 trucks and multiple terminals throughout both countries.
Town of Enfield, Connecticut
Home to 42,000 people and over 3,000 businesses, Enfield, Connecticut is the hub of the Hartford-Springfield interstate area. “It is the largest commercial and economic base for this north central region,” says Town Manager Ellen Zoppo-Sassu.
Artizan Finishings
Artizan Finishings specializes in the installation of Exterior Insulation and Finish System (EIFS), architectural moldings, stone veneer, and cornice molding. As genuine craftsmen with years of knowledge under their belt, the team makes it their mission to provide quality work and takes great pride in their stellar customer service.
Arizona Association for Economic Development
Arizona has a remarkable track record when it comes to economic development. In fact, the International Economic Development Council (IEDC) recently named the Greater Phoenix Economic Council the top economic development organization in the entire world. “We’ve got top notch talent,” says Arizona Association for Economic Development (AAED) Executive Director Carrie Kelly.
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Cushing Terrell
There is a quote attributed to Wayne Gretzky that you have likely seen in PowerPoint presentations. It is the one about skating to where the puck is going, rather than where it is. In hockey, Gretzky seemed to have a preternatural ability to anticipate the best place to be. In business, Cushing Terrell has that same knack.
Animal Arts Design Studios
When thinking about architecture and building design, we know much time and thought goes into creating sound, healthy, and attractive structures for people, but what about housing for our animal friends? Animal Arts Design Studios specializes exclusively in animal care design, including animal shelters and veterinary hospitals, with a proven track record of success with more than 1,500 projects in 40 U.S. states, Canada, and overseas, ranging in size from 600 to 110,000 square feet.
A-LINX Building Technologies
A-LINX Building Technologies, headquartered in Ontario, offers comprehensive contracting services specializing in the prefabrication of roof trusses and both exterior and interior load-bearing wall systems. Through its innovative approach, A-LINX enables clients to achieve faster and more cost-effective completion of superstructures compared to traditional construction methods.
STI Technologies Limited
For over 20 years, STI Technologies Limited has made a positive difference in the lives of Canadians. By leveraging reimbursement funding, STI constantly improves access to medications through technology and analytics.
Collicutt Energy
One of the top producers of customized power generation machinery, Collicutt Energy Services Corp. provides high-efficiency prime power CHP systems to standby power units, and engineers, designs, and produces complete power solutions. To ensure power solutions are the best in their class, the company’s technical and manufacturing teams continually strive to improve the quality of products and services while fostering strategic alliances that guarantee strong, capable and reliable results.
Managing Sustainable Supply Chains
Once, supply chain management was primarily about logistics—delivering raw materials to manufacturers and processers and finished products to retailers, and doing it on time and cost-effectively. While those are still critical factors, industries around the world from manufacturing and construction to hospitality and retail now face pressure from governments, shareholders, and consumers to ensure end products support environmental and societal values and are as sustainable as possible.
