On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the COVID-19 outbreak to be a pandemic. It was with some disbelief that the relatively few “remote workers” back then (did we even have a name for them?) witnessed the beginnings of an epoch that would see them joined in home-based industry by millions of citizens of every country.

Suddenly, workers of every kind were in the kitchen – their own – eating dry cereal straight from the box, vegging out in front of their computers in pajama bottoms, and, in Zoom attire, dressed for business from the waist up, the new office chic.

Even host-or-hostess pajamas were too elegant for the millions of people sobbing into their syrah over the sheer discomfort that lockdown and shelter-in-place regulations brought to their existence. But oddly, many well-seasoned remote workers felt a deep sense of gratitude (and possibly guilt) for being so strangely comfortable under this virtual house arrest.

A new take
For others, the time was an opportunity to reconsider how they do life, to work on themselves and their relationships with others, among several other noble pursuits like contributing to community-based programs in whatever permissible ways they could.

Reflective isolation aside, the big lockdown of 2020 brought with it major changes in how businesses run and how people are managed.

What stands out from every conversation I have had with directors and executives of a wide variety of businesses across North America in the past year is how well staff reorganized themselves. In terms of both how they work and when they work, people the world over have made a concerted attempt to adapt to the challenges presented by the international crisis.

And they’ve done this often to the (very great) surprise of their superiors – frequently without much practical help or counsel from those in the corner offices who usually, it is believed, are sources of business wisdom, or at least, craft and experience.

While many companies and their staff are getting on with business as usual now, for many others life may never return to its former normal at all. In some cases that may be a good thing. In others, perhaps not.

We have real sympathy for every single person adversely affected by COVID-19. We also have real gratitude for those frontline workers who were out there every day for us without the protection that we had simply by working from home. Today, however, the fact remains that businesses across North America have to rally to get the global economy back on its feet. How do we do that in the most efficient manner possible? What do we take away and what do we ditch? And how has managing staff changed over the past year?

Creative approach
Instead of making stern demands for staff to return to work pronto as some major financial institutions did in the media recently, most businesses appear to be taking more creative approaches to getting all hands back on deck. Several experts have shared their take on new metrics that track human productivity and how businesses can implement them. I was sent in search of this year’s choicest morsels in human resources wisdom to shed some light on how North America is managing people differently in 2021.

It didn’t take long to pick up the clear impression that a new status quo with regard to productivity is here to stay. “Remote work will now be the norm,” David Lewis, CEO of OperationsInc told Forbes earlier this year. “It is locked in as a result of COVID-19. Employers are best off accepting that fact and focusing on how to make it work for them, versus planning to revert back to pre-COVID ways,” he said.

One of the stand-out messages emanating from many different sources revolves around having more empathy for people; making a conscious effort to appreciate our work communities and networks more. When the chips are down, we are a whole lot more effective when we work together – whether virtually or on the front lines.

In this stressful time we’ve also learned to appreciate people for the fallible, vulnerable but also resilient and trustworthy human beings they are rather than mere cogs in the engine rooms (and board rooms) that keep companies, and the economy, running.

Healthy people, healthy business
As a result of this ‘great awakening’, employees’ physical and mental wellness has become imperative to the wellness and even the very survival of businesses rather than the “optional extra” it used to be viewed as, pre-COVID.

“Whereas my conversations about employee engagement and burnout prevention used to primarily be with HR executives, last year I had more conversations about our mental fitness programs with board members, CEOs and other executive leaders,” Elizabeth Sander, SHRM-SCP, HR consultant and CEO of Juliette Works in New York City said on shrm.org.

Better communication and transparency, as well as flexibility are also noted as big takeaways by Kathy Gurchiek in the same article. Training, adjusting to variables, digitalization, and the security of knowing what is expected were other lessons learned by human resources personnel.

“COVID-19 has reminded us of the dual imperatives of worker well-being and work transformation, but executives are still missing the importance of connecting the two. Organizations that integrate well-being into the design of work at the individual, team, and organizational levels will build a sustainable future where workers can feel and perform at their best,” Deloitte said in December 2020.

It is against this dappled backdrop of hope and challenge that the new metrics for gauging employee performance in a remote workforce are developing. For those working from home in high-engagement family scenarios, achieving something close to their office best was mostly challenging to start with.

But, as people adapt and become more adept at managing workflow in domestic environments, productivity seems to improve for many.

Setting and tracking new key performance indicators (KPIs) assist us in ensuring that how we work in this new world of digitized distancing evolves in the best and fairest way possible. People’s homes are, after all, their private sanctuaries and finding the fine line between effective management and intrusive management is therefore imperative.

Studies show that, in theory, the freedom and autonomy that comes from employees having more personal space to work in means they can be expected to reward managers with higher levels of innovation and creativity than ever before.

Trust – then double-check
Sending large groups of team members off in all directions of the wind suddenly became the ultimate test for how in touch managers were with their teams. In another sense, it also became a massive litmus for the quality of management methods and how confidently HR professionals could gauge the pulse of employee engagement over more than a year of dealing with remote working conditions.

Teams had to learn to trust one another on a whole new level and, in spaces where micro-management may have been an issue before, simply double-checking on progress while allowing people more space than usual became unavoidable.

It also became perfectly okay for parents, from PR consultants to CEOs, to halt video conferences while saving a kid from setting the kitchen alight.

Just as brevity is the soul of wit, it also appears to be the secret to successful employee engagement surveys. Experts note that one of the best ways to ascertain whether and how well staff is coping is to ask them, straight up. By designing succinct, well-thought-out questionnaires that are answered anonymously, firms like Nerdery and many others have positively transformed employee job satisfaction and, as a result, productivity, by genuinely building their interventions on people’s feedback.

To help us measure how happy our workforces are, hrforecast.com generously offers a way of setting up four concise questions for such surveys. Answers can range from #1, classed as a “positively yes”, escalating to “neutral” across #2,#3, and #4, ending with a “positively no” placed at #5.

It suggests that a couple of questions should revolve around the level of commitment employees feel and the pride that they have for the organization and how that feeling affects their motivation.

Two more questions should touch on how likely they are to remain with the company for any amount of time as well as how likely they are to recommend the company as a preferred employer to others.

To calculate the overall engagement value, isolate the number of all “positively yes” responses from all “neutral” and all “positively no” responses. The latter group provides the percentage of low to no engagement folks.

Planning the unknown
Planning an entire organization’s work distribution more effectively becomes especially important when considering that studies show that people typically apply their time sovereignty (as it is referred to by the International Labour Organisation) a lot more generously when working from home, resulting in much longer working hours than had they been at the office.

It would appear that time which would have been spent traveling to work becomes work time at home, as do big chunks of evenings and weekends. It also appears that without sufficient structure, staff working from home run the risk of allowing life to turn into one large gray zone in which mostly only work happens.

This is, naturally, not a good thing. Long-term, people lose touch with their playful selves and the activities and loved ones that light them up. This in turn leads to lower creativity and employee engagement. All work and no play takes the shine off both Jill and Jack.

Communication clear-up
Keeping tabs on one another, mostly via the telephone, smart applications, or video calls, has been a feature of these restricted times, but now newly-developed software – mainly in the form of next-generation dashboards that track and trace projects remotely – has proven invaluable in providing hard data on real-time performance metrics as well as on how successfully teams communicate.

Experts believe that this new level of transparency will allow companies to actively improve their remote-working game, as they continuously work to narrow the gap between assessing performance and developing structures that support optimum delivery.

Erik van Vulpen, someone who thinks about such things as HR and technology and founder of the Academy to Innovate HR (AIHR), had this to say in an article on the measurement of performance: “Most companies try to [establish metrics] by asking managers and colleagues to review people’s performance, in a 180 or 360-degree feedback loop. And we think that’s the way to go. The best metric is a combination of different qualitative and quantitative employee performance metrics, done by multiple people.”

AIHR prides itself on ‘future-proofing the evolution of HR’, making it a contributor to watch as the world settles into new ways of working.

As we’ve seen, there are several valuable takeaways that can help managers navigate these uncertain times. Firstly, experience has taught us to never underestimate the tenacity, creativity, and sheer power of goodness that exists in a well-respected workforce that feels understood and appreciated.

From this perspective, perhaps COVID-19 is the unexpected answer that we needed to speed up workplace transformation of somewhat outdated human resource-management models. Most importantly, we now know that supporting all team members in doing the awesome stuff that we all need to remain quintessentially thriving human beings, might not be such a bad idea after all.

The post Leading from Home<p class="company">Managing a Remote Workforce</p> appeared first on Business In Focus Magazine.

While there is no denying the value of hard work and the role that sacrifice plays in the achievement of personal growth or professional development, very few people can say that they achieved greatness without the support of someone who came before them.

Mentors may be teachers, coaches, professors, managers, friends, family members or respected members of the community who are looked to for advice, wisdom, encouragement, and guidance. They have already experienced success in their own lives and can give back to their community, organization, or place of business by uplifting the next generation.

Behind the most famous or well-known people are mentors. Without Socrates, there would be no Plato, and without Plato, no Aristotle. Before Zuckerberg came Jobs and before Jobs, Campbell. Ruth Bader Ginsberg served as a mentor for a number of women, both directly and indirectly, and that mentorship has been invaluable to many.

A source of power
While these are all different examples in different industries and sectors, the one thing they share is that there is great power in mentorship.

In some cases, though, the power can become the source of struggle. When the student seeks to become the teacher, mentorship can become the source of friendly (and sometimes unfriendly) competition which has led to some of the greatest talents and innovations of our time.

Mentorship is a good way to create networks and drive innovation. It is a free resource that is available to schools, places of employment, organizations, and professional networks to preserve institutional memory, convey culture and share some of the dos and don’ts to promote success.

Mentors offer information about their own experiences and offer guidance, support, and motivation to those taking first steps on their career paths or those seeking professional development or networking opportunities. It is a relationship based on trust, honesty, communication, and confidentiality that helps mentees set and achieve their own goals while becoming leaders in their own right.

Mentorship is a very effective onboarding tool for interns or new hires and can add a great deal of value to the lives and organizations the participants are a part of. The advantages of mentorship programs are threefold: they serve the organization, the mentee, and the mentor in very different ways.

A Fortune 500 kind of thing
Over seventy percent of Fortune 500 companies have some form of mentorship program in place. Of those who have had a mentor, ninety-seven percent found value in the program, but unfortunately, only thirty-seven percent of professionals in the workforce have a mentor. Of those who had a mentor, eighty-nine percent will become a mentor themselves.

Mentors support growth of the individual and the organization by improving the knowledge and skill base, creating a system of encouragement and accountability, and an image to be emulated. It is a way to help someone learn from your mistakes, so they don’t have to share the same experience while also growing qualifications, networks, and potential to succeed.

Of course, it feels good to do good, but there is far more to be gained from being a mentor than the confidence and pride of knowing that you helped someone and also strengthened the organization you are a part of.

For both the mentor and the mentee, mentorship programs are the platform through which growth of technical and interpersonal skills and success is facilitated. It is a source of improved confidence, an opportunity to gain new perspectives and a trusted ally who always provides a sympathetic ear.

Mentorship programs can be one-on-one, project-based, or group-based. Sometimes all it takes is a peer to listen, a simple pairing of two people at different stages of development, and at other times it is a full-fledged program dedicated to advancing mentorship and the advantages it brings.

Ten Thousand Coffees is an example of one of those programs. It powers career development through professional networking and mentoring opportunities and offers the option of one-on-one or group connections. The system is designed to automatically connect relevant participants within an organization.

Ten Thousand Coffees partnered with RBC Future Launch to create networking and mentoring programs at leading schools across Canada to bring students, recent graduates and alumni working in their respective fields together. At the time of publication, RBC’s website listed seventy participating organizations.

Millennial choice
Mentorship is particularly valued by millennials, who are set to become a majority of the workforce in the coming years. Mentorship programs are a component part of increasing the rate of promotion and retention, in addition to improving minority representation. They also contribute to improved productivity, skills development, employee satisfaction and most importantly, greater profitability.

There is no limit to how much industries can benefit from mentorship. From students to professionals, athletes to entertainers, it is a fact that behind many of the great successes across industries and sectors is a mentor. The same can be said about the strongest, most profitable companies and brands.

There are some simple principles to creating an effective mentorship program. As there is no one-size-fits-all model of mentorship, organizations or mentors/mentees have the flexibility to create a program that best suits their needs. While there is no perfect answer, there are some questions to consider for success.

First things first: what is the objective or purpose of the mentorship program? What do you hope to get out of it? What strategy will you employ or how will you model the program to ensure that the correct candidates participate in the program so that both the mentor and the mentee (as well as any participating organization) optimize the mutual benefits derived?

Other things to consider: is your program going to be formal? Will it be informal? If your organization is defined by structured processes, perhaps a formal program will be the most impactful. If your organization is grass roots, a less formal approach like a sharing circle or collaborative group work might best serve your needs.

Maximizing reciprocal benefits
It is important to create meaningful matches between mentors and mentees. It is also imperative to ensure that mentors are given adequate training and resources to maximize the reciprocal benefits of the relationship. Systems of accountability can be built into the process to monitor progress.

For many businesses and organizations, there is a significant demand for skilled labour and talent development is an outcome of mentorship. Mentorship can be used to attract high school students or job seekers to careers in the trades, or it can help companies preserve institutional memory that is being lost through attrition.

Mentorship is a simple tool that can have a profound impact and is an easy way to engage employees to be the best version of themselves. It can improve productivity and profits, employee retention and development, organizational success and brand strength. Mentorship will also encourage and enhance a culture where people are empowered to improve, not only for themselves, but also for others and the greater organization.

The post Mentorship<p class="company">The Gift that Gives Right Back</p> appeared first on Business In Focus Magazine.

“There’s a lot to do for families here,” says Waseca Area Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Ann Fitch. Popular destinations range from a water park with almost ten miles of walk-able and bike-able trails to an art center and library with “an array of activities.”

Waseca County’s location continues to be another key asset for the community. “On the economic development side, we’ve got a tremendous location as far as transportation and access to markets,” says Economic Development Coordinator Gary Sandholm. “We are a very strong area for food processing and food production.”

“We’re close to the Twin Cities. We’re close to Mankato. We’re at the apex of a triangle between those three and… that’s a real winner as far as a location strategy for businesses,” Economic Development Recovery Coordinator Paul Snook adds.

Waseca County is just thirty minutes from the regional center of Mankato and an hour-and-a-half drive from the heart of Minneapolis. The southern part of the city is even closer. Close enough, in fact, that Snook lives in South Minneapolis and commutes to Waseca County every day. “Our workforce is really a regional workforce,” he explains. “It’s not just focused in on Waseca. We pull from a wide stretch.”

“Our geographical location allows a lot of workforce mobility,” Fitch adds. “We drop people from the south metro from northern Iowa, Rochester, New Ulm, and that’s about an hour each direction. It’s not an outlandish statement to say that we draw from sixty miles away.”

This has been a longstanding strength for the city of Waseca, which is the county seat, despite the presence of more populated neighbors. “Historically, Waseca has had more people driving into the city for work then drive out of Waseca for work, even though we have some significantly larger communities nearby,” Sandholm says.

Companies are taking note of the community’s advantages. Plants with locations facing closures in other regions of the country are shifting the workload to Waseca. “They are receiving a lot of work from plants that were either being cut back or shut down in the southern part of the United States,” Sandholm says of several local facilities.

Birds Eye is behind one of the biggest local facility expansions. The food company’s new, $300 million, 250,000-square-foot building will include state-of-the-art vegetable processing equipment and will replace the existing facility, which will be sold as soon as operations relocate to the new site. The new facility is built with future expansion in mind, so operations can continue to grow. Production is expected to begin at the new location during summer 2022.

Another notable area of growth is the local cannabis industry, which broke onto the scene within the last five years. “We had a revitalization of what once was the hosta capital of the world into growing indoor hemp,” Fitch says. “I think we are one of the first areas in the state to be doing indoor hemp, and then that turned into a substantial operation for extracting the CBD oil.”

Waseca County has a range of schools to prepare local workers for new jobs coming into the community “and get them up to a very high quality employee in a very short period of time,” Sandholm says. “There are a number of colleges and universities as well as our tech colleges in the area.”

The community also boasts an excellent public school system, which has had recent improvements to strengthen it even further. “We’ve had a significant upgrade in our secondary education building,” Fitch says. “Not only in just the looks, but also the attitude and culture out there about work readiness, and there’s a little more activity in the students getting their hands dirty literally and figuratively with seeing what careers are available in Waseca.” Local leaders are also in conversation with the University of Minnesota “to find ways to bring more training to the high school students,” Sandholm says.

The community managed to rise to meet the challenges of the pandemic. “The community has weathered it very well, not just from a health aspect of our numbers of people that got sick or [were affected by] COVID, but economically,” Fitch says.

“We didn’t lose one business to COVID… Waseca did a great job stepping up and supporting their local community,” Sandholm adds. “Both the city and the county put some significant resources in to support local businesses to get them through some of the stress from COVID.” Already, the community is nearly back to pre-pandemic unemployment numbers.

Several initiatives are being implemented to keep Waseca County’s economy thriving. A manufacturing resource center will “focus on manufacturing and education and combine the two to really step up our manufacturing sector and to make a move forward,” Snook says.

The regional center will serve industries throughout southern Minnesota with leadership training, job training, and a variety of other services. It will partner with various higher learning institutions as well as other industries throughout the region. In addition, the center will match manufacturers with one another to help extend their vendor base. “So it’s also going to be a manufacturer connector,” Fitch says.

The Lead for Minnesota program opened its headquarters in Waseca in 2019, which has been a boon to both the city and to the region as a whole. “Its purpose is to help bring young people back to rural communities especially from our colleges and universities,” Sandholm says.

“Having Lead for Minnesota in Waseca, it really puts young thinkers at the fingertips of our businesses,” Fitch adds.

The chamber is partnering with the Waseca Economic Development Authority and several community organizations to create an exciting entrepreneurial challenge this year. “We launched a competition to start a new business in Waseca, and the winner is going to get over $30,000 to start their new business,” Fitch says. The hope is that this one-time opportunity will motivate potential entrepreneurs to pursue their dreams. “It definitely shows the initiative and thinking outside the box for our community and what we’re willing to do to push us forward,” she says.

This kind of innovative thinking caught the attention of the television show Small Business Revolution two years ago. “We were a top-ten candidate to win that show,” Fitch says. “We were picked [as] one of ten from over six thousand submissions of communities around the country, so we’re pretty proud that we made it that far in that competition.”

With so many programs working together to promote business development, Waseca County is certainly headed in the right direction, but the community is not resting on its laurels. Local leaders, with input from community members, are actively pursuing the bright future that they envision.

“The Waseca 2030 document outlines where we want to be as a community,” says Fitch. “There’s a road map on where they want our economic development to go and how vibrant and dynamic they want our community to be.” The next few years will be ones to watch as Waseca County travels along this promising road.

The post Focused on Business Development<p class="company">Waseca County, MN</p> appeared first on Business In Focus Magazine.

Founded as a Madison farming suburb in 1837, Sun Prairie was formally incorporated as a city in 1958 and has seen steady growth since then, boasting an estimated 35,000 residents as of 2019. A boom in industrial production, first begun in the 1960s, continues today through a diverse industrial base.

Today, the city enjoys steady expansion while keeping its charm. Far from being enveloped by the Madison area, it has claimed a strong identity of its own. “Sun Prairie is all heart. The love that people have for this growing community – from newcomers to lifelong residents – makes it feel like a cozy town instead of a city that has record housing and commercial development growth year over year,” remarks Economic Development Director Taylor Brown.

Through a combination of a lower cost of living and its proximity to Madison, the city attracts residents from across the nation. Publically-owned power and water utilities keep development costs low; while cutting-edge fiber optic internet helps area businesses remain competitive in a global economy.

One of the most visible amenities is easily accessible, high-quality education, which Brown describes as “unmatched.” With a new high school currently under construction and the previous one completed in 2008, the district is able to serve a young, growing population. Despite the rapid growth, the town has not lost sight of its roots. “People stay because Sun Prairie is the biggest small town,” Brown explains. “You get all the perks of the city, close grocery stores, and amenities, but then you also have a historic downtown area, and close-knit neighborhoods that help provide that ‘small town’ feel. When you can live in a community that has both, as it is located next door to Madison, why would you not want to live, work, or play here?”

The downtown area is bouncing back in the wake of a tragic 2018 gas main explosion that rocked the community both literally and figuratively. Sun Prairie is working to redevelop the area with new offices, apartments, and restaurants to keep the downtown bustling. Ground was broken in June 2021 on a new, three-story, 15,000 square foot mixed-use development by one of the property owners who lost his business, which was made possible through the town’s own leadership and the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation. A newly designated tax increment financing (TIF) zone in the downtown area hopes to further incentivize businesses to the downtown area.

The existing traditional business park was one of the first business parks in Dane County and continues to grow in the face of rising construction and development costs. Indeed, Brown notes that Sun Prairie had one of its busiest construction years in 2020, despite the pandemic. “So far in 2021, the City of Sun Prairie has gained $149 million in net new construction value. We’re seeing as much development in the TIF districts as out, proving how much development there is in the community,” she says.

New businesses flocking to Sun Prairie are part of its evolution into a high-tech powerhouse. Biotechnology is a mainstay industry, reflecting its heritage as a farming community and closeness to the University of Wisconsin at Madison, which works with the town to test new agricultural technologies. But like many towns across the Midwest, the town benefits from an influx of residents leaving high-cost areas for greener pastures and bringing their skills with them.

Brown pays tribute to UW Madison’s gaming program, which aside from its obvious value to entertainment also gives graduates vital skills in the ‘gamification’ of modern business, which can then be applied across a variety of sectors. As an example of this, she cites Continental Mapping, recently named to Inc. Magazine’s list of 5,000 fastest-growing companies. Using geospatial analysis and advanced LiDAR technology, the local company is helping produce advanced two-dimensional and three-dimensional geospatial models usable for the telecommunications, transportation, and utility sectors, among many other possibilities.

Even with pandemic-induced telework drastically altering the state of the average workplace, Brown says that these high-tech industries still need brick-and-mortar offices. “It’s a mix of old and new,” she says. As an example, Milwaukee Tool, which operates a subsidiary in Sun Prairie, last year completed a 60,000-square-foot, $7.5 million expansion to its local office last year. The company plans to create 870 new jobs across the state by 2025.

Low-tech industries are also receiving high-tech upgrades. Madison-based Quarra Stone, a globally-recognized importer of rare Swiss Vals quartzite, will be relocating to Sun Prairie. The company uses advanced technology to precision-engineer each piece, while honoring the traditions of hand-cut details. “Quarra has worldwide clientele,” Brown states, “and this new location will showcase their incredible innovations in stonecutting.”

Sun Prairie has experienced these expansions even in the midst of a pandemic, further showcasing its attractive amenities and quality of life. “We have hit record numbers of single-family building permits,” Brown reports of construction last year, observing that 2020 was one of the best in that industry. “We’ve prided ourselves on moving development through quickly, and I think, somehow, the pandemic made us faster.”

The community, like all communities, relocated its services into the digital world, offering easily navigable permit application software. This, Brown points out, has helped streamline construction progress and limit red tape. “It’s still easy to work with Sun Prairie,” she says.

It is said that a community’s mettle is most visible during times of crisis, and Sun Prairie’s citizens clearly stepped up. Brown relates examples of a local pizzeria providing free meals for the unemployed multiple times per week, and other non-profits such as the local Boys and Girls Club volunteering to pick up the slack when local businesses suffered. Brown says these examples, only two of many, further exemplify area’s atmosphere of neighborly care and selfless service. “Everyone was willing to try new things and jump into action when needed,” she says. “It’s been nice to see the community support.”

While the town has changed to deal with COVID-19, it is focused on the future. Even as most communities were locking down in early 2020, its tourism commission completed an intricate tourism and event feasibility study to ascertain resident needs. Particular attention was paid to the local corn festival, an annual August event dating back to the 1950s.

A feasibility study might sound inappropriate in the midst of a pandemic, but Brown says it shows Sun Prairie’s look forward. “It’s easy to just function at a status quo level,” she says, elaborating that the study has resulted in new community developments to increase amenities and attractions such as community concerts, and an expansion of its public park system, opening its first splash pad in June 2021.

Additionally, a housing needs assessment study, commenced in early 2021, is helping to ensure development remains steady through a sound housing strategy. “The information we hope to gain from the final analysis will allow staff to provide developers with information on what types of housing are needed and at what price points,” Brown says. As building costs and rents rise, it is more imperative than ever for workers and their families to have affordable housing.

While rapid development is bolstering Sun Prairie’s growth, transportation is a concern. As so many workers shuttle to and from neighboring Madison daily, the town is investing in more mass transit connections. A new Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) line will connect the two areas in 2024. “There are still a lot of moving pieces,” Brown admits, “but the commitment has been made, by the city and by Madison Metro, to do this.”

Finally, the town is hoping to expand childcare options, an issue identified by many employers as an impediment to getting workers back in the office in a post-pandemic future. It is engaging with business leaders to explore childcare options for parents who need traditional childcare hours as well as for those who work second and third shifts. “Later this fall we plan to host a round table with local businesses to understand the issues specifically related to childcare, and then brainstorm solutions,” Brown says.

As Sun Prairie looks to the future, its growth is staying on track. A range of industries now call the town home, thanks to its many amenities, lower cost of living, slower pace of life, and community-centric mindset. With new public and private initiatives to keep growth stable and address the challenges of the future, Sun Prairie is poised to continue seizing the opportunities presented by a rapidly and radically changing world.

The post A Dynamo in the Dairy State<p class="company">City of Sun Prairie, WI</p> appeared first on Business In Focus Magazine.

In a small but growing city in South Carolina, Spartanburg Meat Processing is churning out their well-loved, fully-cooked, baby back ribs under their Licensed brands, Larry the Cable Guy and TGI Fridays. TGI Friday, already boasting their famous baby back and St. Louis pork ribs, have recently expanded their product line to include chicken tenders and leg quarters, along with meal kits. The additional products have meant both expansion and innovation for Spartanburg Meat Processing.

“Now under the TGI Friday’s brand, we are supplying three chicken tender options in regular, Italian-breaded and Kickin’ Chicken which are found in the frozen food aisles,” shares Joanne LaBounty, Spartanburg Meat’s CEO and Founder. “We’ve also just introduced a meal kit that includes fully-cooked chicken breast fillets with an accompanying two-pound package of mac ‘n cheese.”

While increased business during a pandemic was comforting, it also presented challenges. “In March of 2020 while in the early stages of the virus, customer order quantities started to triple,” says LaBounty. “By April, our normal two-week lead time had grown to ten weeks, which was certainly disappointing for customers trying to market and sell their products.” With steadfast determination and quick thinking, today the company is managing a four-week lead time and maintaining a 99 percent fill rate.

But the rapidly changing dynamics in the food industry were a wake-up call for the need to diversify the company’s food portfolio. It was time to take a serious look at what was changing in the market and then to find innovative ways to adapt to those changes. Business Development Manager, Mallory Smith, proposed some new ideas for the certified woman-owned business and they have translated to double-digit growth for the company.

The first initiative was to create a trade division that could maximize the company’s certifications as both woman-owned and a small business. Coupled with their HUBZone certification, this new aspect of the business opened the gateway to supporting state and federal institutions in their procurement needs. “As a woman-owned, small business in a HUBZone, buying agencies can check off all three of those boxes which helps them meet commitment goals and percentages,” explains LaBounty. “Providing this service is a win/win.”

Via the trading division, the company can now pursue contracts of all sizes including ones that others may overlook. “We had plenty of experience and knowledge in utilizing PPE equipment when the pandemic arose,” LaBounty shares. “That led to an opportunity to become a Tier 1 supplier of PPE equipment to the local BMW plant.”

The second business development initiative was a little bit sweeter – both in product and financial results. The company launched Voulez-Vous Foods, a decadent dessert line geared to an adult audience. The statistics about food and drink consumption habits during COVID are public knowledge – increased eating of comfort food desserts and imbibing of alcoholic beverages. The Voulez-Vous product line combines the two and now offers the aptly-named cakes of Cookies and Cream Martini and Late Night Bourbon. The first utilizes vanilla vodka, while the second contains a top-of-the-line bourbon. Though the alcohol percentage is minimal, a half percent, the combination of sweet comfort food with a splash of intoxication is drawing huge interest in the market.

Spartanburg Meat Processing feels extremely fortunate having retained their team while surviving a global pandemic. In addition to pay increases, the company prides itself in their corporate culture – treating employees like family. Five rounds of bonuses during COVID-19 have proven to be rewarding for employees and the company as a whole. Company leadership understands the importance of incentive programs to retain staff.

As if the global pandemic wasn’t enough of a challenge for Spartanburg Meat Processing, a recent occurrence of African Swine Fever reared its ugly head. The highly-contagious virus affects pigs, but luckily cannot transmit to humans. China lost half the country’s pig livestock in 2018/19 when a devastating transmission swept the country. The result of the current transmission is a tight market for raw materials and a substantial rise in the price of pork.

While keeping their business robust during a pandemic and a swine flu outbreak took a lot of innovative thinking and hard work, Spartanburg Meat already had a good foundation on which to build, having built strong relationships with both customers and suppliers based on their core values. What sets the company apart from others? Many companies espouse their values and commitments, but Spartanburg Meat puts them into action. When it comes to the food industry, competition is strong, and the company’s research and development team works closely with clients to ensure that recipes and flavor profiles align with each customer’s “desired taste”. Add the company’s commitment to transparency, open communication and reliability to the mix and you have the perfect recipe for enhancing customer loyalty.

While many in the food service industry are feeling permanent downsides from the pandemic, Spartanburg Meat Processing is preparing for an expansion. CEO LaBounty states, “The blueprints have been drawn and we are working with an architect and a designer to move forward.” There is also a succession plan in place that will keep the company within the family. “Everything relating to management is set up in perpetuation. It will be a seamless transfer with my son as General Manager, my son-in-law heading up Procurement, my daughter overseeing Accounting, and Mallory, my daughter-in-law, continuing her role in Business Development.” The talents and experience of this next generation will allow the company to keep expanding their wheelhouse, making them even more sustainable going forward.

The South Carolina Chamber of Commerce has recognized Spartanburg Meat Processing with nominations for awards in categories including Top 50 Fastest Growing Companies, Roaring Twenties and Excellence in Business. In 2019, Joanne LaBounty was honored with a Trailblazer Award by the Greater Women’s Business Council.

Recognized as a leader in the meat processing industry, Spartanburg Meat Processing sees its future as one of growth and diversity. “We are still standing,” says LaBounty. “We are your go-to, ready-to-eat, made-to-order meat team. Tell us how we can help you.”

The post Stick-to-Your-Ribs Meat and Desserts – How One Company Expanded and Diversified During a Worldwide Pandemic<p class="company">Spartanburg Meat Processing</p> appeared first on Business In Focus Magazine.

Using the freshest ingredients – never frozen – David’s Burgers takes the flavors and food memories that survived in the traditions of his family and brings them to diners across Central Arkansas.

David’s Burgers was born when David Alan Bubbus decided to transition away from his career in finance just over a decade ago. Seeking a new beginning for himself and his family, a suggestion from a family member prompted him to consider a completely new direction.

The Bubbus family had a long history of successful food and restaurant ventures and there was a wealth of knowledge and experience from which he could draw. And, of course, he had a family, including his father, David Bubbus Sr. (called the “The Butcher Boy,” because he attained master butcher status at the age of sixteen), that would stand behind him every step of the way.

Family history
With family history on its side, David’s Burgers came to be. It was an affirmation of Bubbus Sr. and his sixty-plus years of achievements, as well as the fame David had gained for his family cookouts where he offered simple fare made with the best ingredients, prepared with love, and delivered with care – exactly what the restaurant set out to do.

“We take pride in offering a very focused menu. We feel like we can do a few things very well and want to continue to put that same intention behind out great burgers, fries, and chicken sandwiches,” explained Kala Strickland, director of guest relations and sales.

The strategy has been successful, seeing the company grow to ten locations in Central Arkansas in ten years. Its most recent location in Hot Springs is set to open soon and will provide that same exceptional quality and service.

From the unique quality of its ingredients and standard of its menu selection, to its culture, people, and service delivery, everything is intentional at David’s Burgers. Intentional growth, in particular, is the reason for its ability to replicate success across its locations as it expands.

Enter the commissary
Key to this growth is a well-designed infrastructure which is enabled by its commissary approach. Each of the restaurants locations is serviced by a centrally located commissary that provides freshly prepared ingredients on demand. No freezers and no microwaves – at David’s Burgers, only the freshest ingredients will do.

“When I first started, we were doing everything in house, prepping food in house, and as a manager that sometimes gets overwhelming,” said President of Site Services Will Davis, who has grown with the company.

The commissary facilitated a shift in focus for management, who could instead focus on the guest relationship with confidence knowing that food quality would be optimal and that they could optimize space in their restaurant sites as well.

“We have a team,” Davis says, “that works everyday trying to find the best possible products available. We try to source locally – from local farms and local distributors – and we’re constantly trying to find the best possible ingredients to put out there.”

That includes freshly ground Grade A choice chuck and the use of a proprietary, patent-pending burger tool in the preparation of its burgers, as well as a new, delicious, chicken sandwich offering and never-ending fresh-cut Idaho potato fries.

At David’s Burgers, you really can’t go wrong. That’s especially true when it comes to price. Despite rising food costs and supply constraints, prices at David’s Burgers remain fair and portion sizes remain ample to ensure that its guests don’t go home hungry.

“The owners give us permission to just love on our guests,” explained Creative Director Ryan Rooney of the freedom to deliver a truly authentic guest experience, and the positive work culture that empowers team members to go above and beyond for guests.

People business
“While we are in the burger business, we’re mostly in the people business and we want to make sure our crew is taken care of as well as our guests,” Strickland says. This can be said to be particularly true of the way David’s Burgers pivoted during the COVID pandemic.

When in-person dining was temporarily halted, the team at David’s Burgers prioritized the safety of its guests and associates, while also improving access to its affordable, delicious menu items. As Rooney explains it, “we beefed up our drive through.” The company also established a partnership with Door Dash to provide delivery.

Now that lobbies have reopened to in-person service – whether guests choose to order at the nostalgically designed glass meat counter, or opt for the expanded drive through, or go for delivery – the only thing that’s changed is the personal protective equipment (PPE) now donned by staff. David’s Burgers locations have always been immaculate examples of perfectly cleaned and cared for food venues.

For the love of chicken
Not only has David’s Burgers expanded, the Bubbus family has embarked on a new venture – Jess’s Chicken. Jess’s will bring the commitment to quality, safety, and service that guests have come to expect and will once again pay homage to the family’s past.

According to Strickland, “Chicken has been in our DNA since the beginning. Before we ever had the burger restaurants, Mr. David had a chain of chicken restaurants that we called Chicken Country.” So successful was the project, in fact, that it had grown to 67 locations before its acquisition by Church’s.

“Mr. David always had a love of chicken,” Strickland says, “so with the new restaurant he’s able to focus on the chicken while at David’s we can focus on his time being a master butcher. It’s a different venture, a different avenue of what we love to do.”

Named for David Alan Bubbus’ wife, Jessica, who has been a pillar of the company’s success, as well as the growth and wellbeing of the family, it remains a truly family affair. Guests and team members are an extension of that family.

“We’re excited about having that same kind of intention towards our guests and crew,” says Strickland of the opportunity to transplant the energy of David’s Burgers into the Jess’s Chicken concept. “While the food offerings may be different and while it may operationally work a little differently, that heart that beats at David’s will be the same at Jess’s.”

Future focus
With a tenth store on the way and Jess’s Chicken set to launch, the team at David’s Burgers is ever focused on the future, and optimistic that they will have a starring recipe for success at both brands.

“As we look at growth and where we want to be in a few years, we want to make sure that we have our existing stores, and that the footprint we have here is super successful and strong.

“But we are also always looking at different markets we want to be in, where we can recreate the hub of stores and the way that it works here,” says Strickland.

“It’s that attention to detail and making sure that we get those little things right at every level of what we’re doing operationally. From Will’s team in the commissary to how Ryan designs and markets our stores and the food, we’re about service and how we take care of the guest,” Strickland says.

This has come to be the standard at David’s Burgers, and it is what can be expected of Jess’s Chicken and any other venture the Bubbus family undertakes because they approach life and business with an open heart and the best intentions.

All this simply great food, served with warmth, has made for a great family legacy to be enjoyed by everyone lucky enough find themselves in Central Arkansas. And it comes from the Bubbus family to yours.

The post A Recipe for Success – Great, Simple Food<p class="company">David’s Burgers</p> appeared first on Business In Focus Magazine.

Reinhausen Manufacturing Inc. so successfully and famously produces high-quality and long-lasting components for the power transformer industry that over 50 percent of the world’s electricity flows through products created by this company.

Working with well-known and respected power transformer manufacturers, energy utilities, and heavy industry, Reinhausen’s decades of experience, quality products, innovative solutions and outstanding service makes the company a top choice for a certain kind of customer – experienced transformer manufacturers who demand longevity and dependability for their high-voltage systems.

Active in every area dealing with the flow of energy, Reinhausen Manufacturing’s commitment is to innovation in voltage regulation and the global supply of energy.

With extensive experience and core competencies second to none, the company’s products crop up in a variety of applications, including transformer production, oil transformers, dry type transformers, and sealed power transformers.

From on-load tap-changers and off-circuit tap-changers to voltage regulators, monitoring systems, drives, protective relays and a great deal more, any power transformer must stand up to the harshest conditions at all times. That’s non-negotiable.

“Transformers have a long life,” says Bernhard Kurth, President of Reinhausen Manufacturing Inc. “They are not something that you replace after five or ten years. Transformers built in the 1920s and 1930s are still in use. It is very important for the owners of those transformers that there are still opportunities to maintain the components that were used by the original transformer manufacturers so many years ago.”

Kurth joined Germany’s Maschinenfabrik Reinhausen – an established and prominent company with a rich history – back in 1987. With its operations expanding to other locations across Europe and worldwide, including Milan, Moscow, the Middle East, India, Africa, the United Arab Emirates, Sydney, Japan, China, and Canada, Kurth traveled to Humboldt, Tennessee in April of 1991 to head up Reinhausen’s American operations.

150 years of excellence
With over 40 subsidiaries and affiliated companies around the world, Maschinenfabrik Reinhausen has grown to almost 3,000 staff globally, with approximately 110 working at Reinhausen Manufacturing’s operations in Tennessee.

Founded in 1868, the company is headquartered in Regensburg, Germany, which remains the global hub for marketing, sales activities, research and development, significant production, and the testing and innovation center.

All of these activities at the center of Maschinenfabrik Reinhausen contribute to the success of the company and its global network of over 20 subsidiaries, which includes production sites in Germany, Sweden, China, and the United States.

“We are a company that started producing products back in 1876,” says Kurth. “Reinhausen has been in the business we are now in with transformer components since the 1920s – our first patent was filed in the 1920s – and we have been able to continue as an independent company since the start.”

It was, however, in 1926, when Dr. Bernhard Jansen invented the high-speed resistor-type tap-changer that allowed the transmission ratio of transformers to be changed under load without interruption that the company truly became a global force.

Working in collaboration with brothers Oskar and Richard Scheubeck, Jansen achieved an industry breakthrough that became known worldwide as the “Reinhausen tap changer,” and demand for the company’s high-quality products grew.

With tap-changers – devices used in power transformers to regulate output voltage to required levels – as the company’s main product, every one of Reinhausen’s tap-changers are customized. Built to exacting specifications from each transformer manufacturer, they are precision made and tested.

“Almost everyone who builds power transformers in the North American market buys from us,” says Kurth of the company, whose clients include Virginia Transformer, Delta Star, CG Power Systems, Mitsubishi, WEG Electric Corporation, Siemens, and many other well-known and respected global entities.

At the Reinhausen operation in Humboldt, the primary focus is not on the manufacturing of the company’s products, but assembly.

Parts are purchased from suppliers across the United States and Germany and brought into the facility, where assembly and testing is carried out. “All parts are exclusively made for us with our own tooling. So the tooling that is necessary to produce the part belongs to us,” says Kurth.

These assembled components are then sold to transformer manufacturers. “The tap-changers that we produce in Tennessee are not produced anywhere else in the world. Even our main plant in Germany does not produce the same type and model that we produce here in the States. The product that we produce here is dedicated to the U.S. market.”

Research and development
The products assembled at Reinhausen’s Humboldt facilities are the result of rigorous research, development, and ongoing testing at the company’s main operations in Germany, where there are over 200 engineers solely dedicated to R&D.

One of the key pillars of the company’s success for decades, Reinhausen is dedicated to not only maintaining the superior quality of its existing products, but remaining ahead of the competition by investigating emergent technology and product ideas that offer clients added value.

“Our engineers are also inspired by unconventional ideas,” says the company. “To develop new, innovative products, they pursue their own paths and constantly question existing rules and conventions.

One thing counts
“At the same time, they use MR’s unique wealth of experience to continuously improve the reliability of our products. Because only one thing counts in the world of energy supply – the reliability and availability of the operating equipment.”

All products are tested, and every new development must be absolutely reliable from the moment it is launched. At the company’s unique Test Center, tap-changers are subjected to a number of tests – electrical, mechanical, and climatic – to ensure they will be able to perform reliably in extreme conditions without exception.

In addition to providing clients with the most reliable products on the market, Maschinenfabrik Reinhausen will tool products based on customer feedback. “The products are not developed to be sold by themselves, they are designed to be installed in a bigger piece of equipment, which is a transformer,” says Kurth.

Tap-changers, drive systems, and accessories created by Reinhausen are not only the result of years of design and manufacturing excellence, but are made to have an extremely long lifespan, in many cases lasting for decades.

In recent years, the company has taken on a number of initiatives, including the introduction of SAP (Systems Applications Products), the re-examination of a number of existing products, and plans to introduce a new motor drive for tap-changers later this year.

For customers, the delivery of products from Hamburg, Germany to the U.S. will also be greatly expedited, from an average of 14 to 15 weeks to just seven or eight. “That’s a big step for us,” says Kurth. “That, and the ability to respond to customers more quickly when clients need quotations and drawings. With the system in place, within five days we are able to provide all drawings needed to a customer.”

New product development
Back in 1999, the company acquired MESSKO® Albert Hauser GmbH and Co KG, which were added to other companies within the Reinhausen Group family.

A sister company in Germany, MESSKO® concentrates on smaller components, such as oil level devices, relays, sensors, and transducers. Some, like the Buchholz Relay, are commonly found in Europe; in the U.S. they are only used in very large power transformers. In this case, the design was driven by the European market.

Other MESSKO® transformer accessories include voltage-regulated distribution transformers, active filters, and oil level and temperature indicators for transformer manufacturers, utilities, and industrial customers; pressure relief devices, dehydrating breathers, electronic thermometers, and more.

“Our continual investment in technology and new products is the foundation of our continuing existence in this market,” says Kurth. “We have the same values we had when we started almost 150 years ago.”

Independence and quality
While many companies grow through acquisition, Reinhausen remains independent, and offers the same quality, selection and exceptional service it has provided for decades.

“We have a unique proposition to customers, in that even today we offer support for products that we produced 50 or 60 years ago,” Kurth shares.

“We are still the original manufacturer, not a company that got bought up by another company and at some point discontinued a line of products and support. We have maintained it, and still offer support to any of the products that we have produced.”

The post Long-Lasting and Powerful Transformer Components<p class="company">Reinhausen Manufacturing</p> appeared first on Business In Focus Magazine.

Where some press manufacturers specialize in a core faculty, Macrodyne’s repertoire embodies various forming, extrusion and molding specializations including, but definitely not limited to compression molding, forging, stretch forming, and superplastic forming. It offers custom presses, automation, and die handling equipment for any application.

Macrodyne’s presses serve countless industries including automotive, aerospace, refractory brick, pulp and paper, and other market commodities. Its expertise is diverse, yet it continues to expand, as new clients challenge its capacities with new applications.

This diversity was particularly important during COVID. The pandemic emphasized the fragility of global supply chains and their susceptibility to unforeseen interruptions, but it also posed a unique opportunity for Macrodyne to pivot to where the market was strongest.

As sectors like aerospace and automotive slowed though decreased demand and supply shortages, there was a defined uptick in sectors such as home improvement products like bathtubs and doors.

In lieu of vacations abroad, homeowners were investing in renovations, particularly among those who moved to a work-from-home lifestyle, and set out to bring a better balance of work and life to their home space. Service-based spending was low, but goods and commodities were in high demand.

Demand grew in other sectors like paper and packaging, which experienced a surge in unison with the increase in online shopping. Raw commodities like steel and aluminum production are also picking up steam in the market.

Aluminum extrusion, in particular, is growing rapidly. So to ensure that it can service this market fully, Macrodyne has established a relationship with Belco to offer stronger post-handling automation for that industry and provide turnkey solutions to customers who need the support.

“The whole supply chain is probably under the most stress it’s been under in a hundred years, but those who take on that challenge and find solutions for it will take market share. And that market share will continue indefinitely,” says President and CEO Kevin Fernandes.

“What happened in the first year or eighteen months of COVID was that everybody was shy to spend money,” he adds. “They thought the sky was falling. As the election came to a close and as COVID started to settle out and people got accustomed to it, they felt more comfortable spending money and the first thing that goes is Capex.”

This spending is apparent in the increasing demand for Macrodyne’s presses, encouraging the company to invest in new capabilities.

One such investment was the acquisition of a 60,000-square-foot facility directly across from its headquarters in Concord, Ontario to help it deliver on any and all orders that come its way, whether from new or existing customers.

As a press manufacturer, Macrodyne has established itself as the leader in the North American market, with a reputation for high performance presses and service that cannot be beaten. However, it is expanding its international presence as well, with growth that has been both intentional and strategic, especially during the pandemic.

“When COVID hit, we knew that we had to reach out much more broadly than we had in the past, otherwise we wouldn’t be successful when the economy started to pick up again,” says Fernandes.

Historically, upwards of ninety percent of Macrodyne’s orders were from the U.S., so while it generated business leads internationally, it was compelled also to maintain its relationships with its American customers as a priority. It accomplished satisfying both markets by bolstering its U.S. and international field services network to offer better remote support. This made installs significantly different from what they were in the past.

During the pandemic, the manufacturer completed many installations in the U.S. and Mexico. Much of that work could be done remotely thanks to its American and Mexican field services support who were, as Fernandes said, “able to get these customers up and running without us being able to be on site. That was something we’ve never done before.”

Having the infrastructure in place for international projects during a pandemic has been paramount for Macrodyne, especially in the context of the European market which is a challenging market to break into. According to Jeff Walsh, director of business development, “We’re finding that we’re competing more often now in Europe, not just in our backyard but theirs.”

There are countless reputable press manufacturers in Europe, and regardless of how competitive Macrodyne is in price, service, and performance, it often makes more sense for European customers to purchase European-built presses. The good news is that things are starting to change, and the company is positioning itself to be a contender in the European market via strategic partnerships.

Macrodyne has proven that it can compete with large European press manufacturers by demonstrating the same commitment to quality, and by its possession of a rich engineering tradition similar to what put these companies on the map. Its presses are designed to perform and are built to last.

As Machiavelli notes in The Prince, “For one change always leaves the toothing for another,” the delivery of one project typically leads to more advanced, or increasingly complex, press designs for new applications, which is an area in which Macrodyne thrives.

A recent example of this incremental growth in capacity was Macrodyne’s ability to deliver three ten-thousand ton forging presses for a client. Upon project completion, the team was able to turn around and quote a thirty-thousand ton forging press for another client leveraging that expertise.

“Just by taking these steps and executing on them,” Fernandes says, “allows us to take more and more market share away from our competitors.” One project validates the next and Macrodyne continues to push the limits of what’s possible.

Whether it is the sheer size of the presses, the force they deliver, the complexity of their function, or the integrated automation, each press is a mammoth accomplishment, especially in the longevity and performance they deliver.

In fact, it’s quite common for Macrodyne’s presses to outlast their original purpose and hold their value in the resale market. In an economy where product life cycles are short and most things easily disposable, this is a breath of fresh air.

Solid success in the hydraulic press industry for over three decades is a testament to the quality and service Macrodyne offers. Despite the physical growth and increased market share it has gained, the culture at Macrodyne remains one of innovation and the drive for growth and collective success is strong.

“Macrodyne prides itself on fostering a good team environment. The successes we had during the challenging times of COVID are apparent, and we couldn’t achieve all of those successes without the support of the employees,” said Nadia Bomben, Director of Human Resources.

“This time has been an important opportunity to strengthen our trust and engagement with employees – and through the successes we’ve achieved, it really has shown.”

The post Applying Pressure to the Competition<p class="company">Macrodyne Technologies</p> appeared first on Business In Focus Magazine.

The company manufactures overhead bridge cranes, gantry cranes, jib cranes, monorail systems, hoists, and custom lifting equipment. This overhead lifting expert has grown to become the largest independent crane and hoist company in the United States, providing manufacturing, distribution, and full customer-centric service.

“We do everything from the design, the engineering, the installation, the inspection and maintenance, and the repairs of overhead cranes and hoists. That makes us very unique because the industry is often fragmented,” says Ace Industries’ Chief Operations Officer Daniel Arwood.

The various services offered by Ace Industries are frequently split across separate design engineering firms, steel erectors, inspectors, service providers, and original equipment manufacturers. “We really bridge the gap for our customers, but we specialize in the niche of overhead lifting with overhead cranes.”

Ace Industries provides light-duty ergonomic lifting solutions as well as large overhead cranes with the capacity to lift hundreds of tons. The lighter lifting solutions, which are regularly used for automotive plants and assembly operations, require a deep understanding of ergonomics, since employees are using lifts repeatedly throughout the day. The heavier projects in need of large equipment such as power generation, metals production, and forestry operations call for Ace’s expertise in automation and reliability engineering for process applications.

In addition to establishing itself as a quality manufacturer and designer of lifting equipment, Ace is known for providing exceptional customer field support in these demanding environments. Its equipment goes into heavy industry processes, so in order to design the equipment efficiently, the team must comprehend its application. Ace has the experience to navigate the safety requirements, physical requirements, and other environmental factors within heavy industries.

“We’re a technical company at heart, and we really focus on servicing and manufacturing critical equipment. We focus on building reliable equipment, and we try to service that equipment with efficiency and speed, and that makes us a unique fit for companies in aerospace, military and defense, paper and forestry, metals production, automotive, oil and gas, energy, and power,” says Arwood.

Ace Industries was founded in 1932 under the name Ace Electric Company, by Daniel’s grandfather Harold Arwood, Senior. It began as a motor repair facility with an office on Edgewood Avenue in Atlanta, Georgia, steps away from the Georgia State Capitol. The intention, from the outset, was to create a family business, and by the 1970s, Harold’s son Bud had taken over and led the expansion into the crane business. The current chief executive officer is Josh Arwood, Harold Sr.’s grandson and Daniel’s brother.

With Bud Arwood at the helm of the company in the 1970s and 1980s, Ace transitioned from a small electric motor repair shop to a parts and new equipment distributor for US-based hoist and crane manufacturers. The company had excellent inventory controls and the ability to ship the same day, which was rather unique at the time. This quality led Ace to become a master dealer for Coffing, Yale, Budgit, Shaw-Box, Harrington, R&M, Stahl, Duff Norton, and the Columbus McKinnon Corporation.

The expansion into manufacturing and services in the nineties was based on a combination of market changes and end user demands. As international equipment manufacturers entered the U.S. market just as domestic suppliers went through a wave of aggregation, customers began to look to Ace to guide product design and selection decisions for increasingly complex lifting scenarios. As the company was able to offer both domestic and internationally supplied components for its clients, Ace was able to simplify selection decisions and provide the most effective solution to its clients.

To increase its capacity to manufacture overhead cranes, Ace acquired a new facility just outside of Metro Atlanta and soon began to open regional service centers. The first were in Birmingham, Alabama and Cincinnati, Ohio, and since that time, the company has continued a methodical expansion both organically and through the acquisition of other crane companies. Ace now has over thirty-six offices in the U.S. from Florida to Washington State, and in the future, it hopes to expand further into the Midwest and Northeast.

Ace began during a difficult time following the Great Depression, and it has endured a number of economic and political challenges throughout its journey. These have taught the company to be adaptable and pivot when necessary. “There are great legends at Ace about the many changes that have happened, and I do say legends because Ace has been around for a lot of years, and we have developed a reputation in the industry for being ethical, responsible, responsive, customer-centric and good at what we do,” says Arwood.

Many companies in the manufacturing industry have experienced a ripple effect in material prices and demand due to the pandemic. Steel has seen significant price fluctuations and caused inflationary pressures for overhead crane manufacturing since it is the primary commodity used in a crane. “When you’re building a crane project that has 200,000 pounds of steel in it, and the price of steel goes up from $0.85 a pound to $1.35, it’s a problem, but I think we can reasonably expect to see that stabilize,” explains Arwood.

The company’s services are considered essential since overhead cranes are used to transport products through manufacturing facilities. If it had suspended its services, it would have caused a bottleneck in production. “It has been really important for our business, for Ace to be able to continue to faithfully serve our customers safely through the pandemic because of the highly essential [production]. Lights need to come on; oxygen needs to be produced; toilet paper needs to be made, and we are right there lockstep with our customers during this time through it,” says Arwood.

Another current challenge in the market is the demand for sub-assembly components. However, Ace has also found ways to work around this complication to ensure that its customers do not have to face the chaos behind the scenes. “Our inventory on hand has been able to float the sub-assembly components problems. Our sourcing and materials management for steel has enabled us to price effectively and not pass massive cost price increases to our customers and that directly translates to our customers being more competitive, saving money, and being more efficient,” says Arwood.

Ace is leading the overhead crane and hoist manufacturing industry with its experience and drive. Chief Executive Officer Josh Arwood is the outgoing president of the Crane Manufacturers Association of America (CMAA), an organization that helps set the standards for the entire industry.

This display of leadership is also clearly extended within the team. The company’s leadership regularly spends time in the field working on equipment with the service technicians and all employees support each other and each other’s customers as one large team across regions.

The overhead crane industry is rapidly changing hands due to consolidation, and the future of the market is somewhat unknown. No stranger to this type of environment, Ace is focused on its strategic goals, and it is strongly committed to continuing the enduring legacy that has been established.

“My daughter, who is nine years old, has repeatedly reminded me over the past few years that someday she wants to work in the family business, so I think we’re doing something right,” Arwood says proudly.

Ace plans to continue expansion on the West Coast, where there is plenty of opportunity, the Midwest will follow, and finally, the company will establish itself in the Northeast to offer full coast-to-coast overhead crane services. “In an industry that is changing and moving fast, where private equity is running through and buying up crane companies, we’re going to continue to do what we do best, which is continue to grow our expertise, our skills, and our strategic advantage,” says Arwood. “We’re going to continue to do that without taking on debt or taking outside capital, and we’re going to stay true to our people.”

The post A Family Business Committed to its Legacy<p class="company">Ace Industries</p> appeared first on Business In Focus Magazine.

“All of our groups can operate independently. They have their own set of customers and business streams but, combined, we make up ArtiFlex,” explains Marketing and Estimating Manager Lynnette Cowger.

The company’s manufacturing group is based in Wooster, Ohio and brings in the most revenue for the firm, handling stamping, assembly, and e-coating, among other duties. A tooling group in Grand Rapids specializes in tool and die and engineering work while an automation group in the same city designs, builds then installs customized robotic systems, automated machines and packaging and assembly equipment. An innovation group in Rochester Hills, Michigan is responsible for design, development, and engineering. For most projects, the emphasis is on low-volume (under 40k units) production and tooling.

“ArtiFlex is a leader in engineered solutions for large, complex metal assemblies,” states Director of Business Development Steve Delmoro.

In addition to its own work, the company has sufficient capacity and capability to offer factory assist and emergency offload services for clients in need.

Such assistance is provided when a customer “needs a quick turnaround because of a situation in their manufacturing facility. Maybe their press went down; maybe they’re over capacity or have some planned maintenance, or there’s a lack of labor. If a client has an issue and needs to have parts manufactured and they can no longer do it in-house, they can call ArtiFlex,” says Cowger.

Offering a comprehensive array of services has been central to the firm’s success, she continues. In fact, establishing a vertically-integrated operation was the primary reason “why ArtiFlex was formed—being able to be that one supplier for our customers who is involved early in the design of the part or the tooling or assembly system. [We’re] able to contribute to engineering cost-saving ideas and [ideas] for the launch of a product. We work clear through to the end of the product’s life and can provide service parts when production is over.”

Innovation is also central to the company’s vision. To this end, the innovation group “tries to find creative ways to design a product and design manufacturing processes that leverage existing [assets],” says Delmoro.

The company also demonstrates a flair for innovative thinking when it comes to seeking new niches and opportunities. He points to the heavy and mid-sized delivery truck sector as an example. The market for such trucks has grown enormously in recent years, with delivery vehicles from grocery and meal suppliers to Amazon and other companies now sharing the road with established fleets from FedEx and UPS.

“How do you create unique products that support those types of vehicles and align with the needs of the new market?” asks Delmoro. To this end, ArtiFlex developed an expertise in sliding doors, a defining feature of most delivery vehicles. Additionally, EV Battery Trays, Customized Hoods and Doors are also market segments where ArtiFlex is a leader.

The company is equally adept at business dealings, as demonstrated by its relationship with manufacturing partners in Asia. “To participate effectively in tool-and-die build, you’ve got to have partners overseas,” he says.

The company designs and builds stamping tools in Grand Rapids. ArtiFlex also leverages partners in low-cost locales in South Korea and China as needed to meet capacity, cost and timing requirements. Tools outsourced to these partners are manufactured, and then returned home to be completed. This process allows ArtiFlex to reduce costs while maintaining control over design and manufacturing.

This is a relatively new company and is a product of the recession of 2008–2009. During this grim period, Erin Hoffmann, owner of International Tooling Solutions (ITS), began seeking new prospects to boost business and teamed up with the Gerstenslager Company, a venerable Ohio firm owned by Columbus, Ohio-based Worthington Industries.

The Gerstenslager Company specialized in recreational and service vehicles. It made cargo trailers during World War Two and the first Oscar-Mayer ‘Wienermobile’ promotional vehicle. Worthington Industries acquired the Gerstenslager Company in 1997. Fourteen years later, ITS and the Gerstenslager Company partnered in a joint venture called ArtiFlex.

The name was chosen to reflect the fledgling company’s commitment to artisan-level quality and a flexible approach. Today, ArtiFlex has ISO 14001 environmental, ISO 9001:2015 quality, and IATF 16949 quality certifications, the last being standard for working in the automotive industry. “Quality is built throughout all of our processes and systems. We use the IATF standards to guide our business processes,” states Cowger.

Flexibility, meanwhile, entails “leveraging the talent, resources and equipment we have to come up with a solution,” says Delmoro.

The company has launched a growth initiative called Body by ArtiFlex which is based around potential partnerships. The client provides a design, and ArtiFlex provides enhanced support to bring the design to market economically. The program is geared towards customers who want to market a product quickly, but not in massive volumes.

The automotive industry, one of the main sectors in which it works (along with appliances, trucks, and agriculture), is the key target market. The company hopes the initiative will garner new assignments from traditional automakers and start-ups alike.

“We want to partner with the right customers. There are many low-volume [electric vehicle] start-up companies, but there are also many traditional [original equipment manufacturers] that want to bring a low-volume derivative product to the market,” says Delmoro.

Even as Body by ArtiFlex gets underway, the company is still coping with the lingering effect of COVID-19. It operates within an essential industry, so the company did not have to stop its manufacturing when the pandemic struck. The company responded quickly to the virus, forming a task force, introducing social distancing and other health measures, and sending some employees home to work remotely.

“COVID has been hard on everyone, but ArtiFlex weathered the storm fairly well. We are looking forward to continued profitability,” states Delmoro.

The company took time during the pandemic to “really improve the look and feel of our operations. We restructured some of our plant layouts and gave the plants facelifts, so to speak. We really take pride in what our operations look like,” says Cowger.

With most trade shows and industry events closed, it “increased our social media presence, trying to get more engagement with our company Facebook page and LinkedIn page. We’ve updated our YouTube page to include more in-depth reviews of what each of our facilities look like, highlighting all our capabilities,” she continues.

The firm’s efforts were recognized by Smart Business magazine, which gave ArtiFlex a 2020 Evolution of Manufacturing Award. “One of the driving factors behind that award was being able to come out of the COVID pandemic and being able to still maintain profitability and key personnel through very challenging times,” states Cowger.

ArtiFlex presently has 556 employees across all its companies, versus nearly 900 this time last year. Currently in hiring mode, it has certain prerequisites in mind for potential new employees.

“We don’t want someone who wants to come in for two weeks, grab a paycheck, and leave. There is significant training, there is significant upside [for employees] with profit sharing and 401(k) benefits. We’re looking for team members for the long term. We offer growth opportunities. [An employee can go] from being a manufacturing operator to a technician to a robot operator to tooling. We also pay competitive wages,” says Delmoro.

The company likes employees who demonstrate “a problem-solving mentality—being able to address an issue, come up with a solution on your own, or at least bring a solution to the table for review,” adds Cowger.

In similar fashion, the company always keeps an eye out for new equipment or technology that might enhance operations or allow it to take on new services. ArtiFlex utilizes 3D printers, for example, and is planning to acquire additional high-speed, five-axis laser machines.

Despite the team’s workload and ambitious growth agenda, they still manage to make time for charity and community events. The company is hosting its second annual car show this September to benefit the Wooster, Ohio Boys and Girls Club. In addition to showing off various vehicles, the event will feature plant tours for residents of Wooster.

“A lot of time, in a large manufacturing town, nobody knows what’s inside the walls. Somebody who looks at a car today doesn’t know a 1,000-ton press that made the fender,” says Delmoro. The plant tours in Wooster are further evidence of the company pride shown by ArtiFlex employees, and the company forecast is also bright.

“We’ve been working hard to be stable and profitable. Those are two main tenets in our mission statement, and the third is growth. Once stable and profitable, you have that ability to grow. We are looking to expand with current customers, expand with new customers, and see where all our capabilities can take us,” says Cowger.

The post Positioned for Growth<p class="company">ArtiFlex Manufacturing</p> appeared first on Business In Focus Magazine.