Throughout Kansas, Missouri, and Southern Illinois, the St. Louis – Kansas City Carpenters Regional Council works for its more than twenty thousand members. The organization’s work provides contractors with a highly trained, safe workforce.

In 1970, four innovative brothers strived to start a business that was set apart by the way that it treated its customers. Tony, Harry, Steve and Jack Sarmazian started a Guelph, Ontario-based flooring installation company, and have since branched into other related services.

Award-winning concrete construction firm Milis Flatwork is a fairly young company, having been in business less than a decade. However, it was successful right from the start, thanks largely to owner and founder Dylan Milis’ extensive experience. Milis Flatwork specializes in agriculture-related and commercial concrete construction projects.

STANDARD Products is the second largest manufacturer and distributor of lighting solutions in Canada and it is through innovation, quality, performance, and a passion for efficiency that the company has been able to establish itself as a leader in both the markets and the communities it serves.

Valcor Engineering Corporation designs and manufactures fluid control components for a wide range of industries with aerospace, nuclear power, industrial, medical, and scientific laboratory applications. The company specializes in highly-engineered, custom solutions over commodity components.

Four years ago, Business in Focus explored the world of semiconductors through the lens of Minnesota-based Talon Innovations, a manufacturer of machined parts and complex assemblies for semiconductor tools. At the time, the company had been on a steady growth path with a plan to fully execute an acquisition, after which it would focus on the two primary goals of diversification and added capacity. We recently touched base with this ambitious company to see if it achieved its goals and find out what its plans are for 2019 and beyond.

SupplyOne partners with companies to deliver packaging solutions that simplify operations, ensure cost savings, and increase efficiency. Their interests are focused on the customer’s needs, both short and long term.

Marc-Antoine Cantin and his brother Jean-François have turned a once bankrupt fireplace manufacturer into an international player that is bringing warmth and comfort to homes around the globe. So you, too, can sit back and enjoy the coziness with a glass of wine.

In 2007, a group of IT professionals in Montreal, Quebec decided to launch a full-service IT solutions business that focused on value-added, engaged client services for mid- to large-sized businesses around Canada and the United States. The company, Quadbridge Inc., has experienced 2,100 percent growth in the last five years and is partnered with many of the technology industry’s major players – including Microsoft, HP, and Lenovo – while also serving its community through giving back.

Mid-States Aluminum Corp. of Fond du Lac, Wisconsin, is a leading aluminum extrusion company. From initial design and die creation to alloy specification and in-house anodizing capabilities, here, creative solutions take shape for diverse industries.

Back in June of 2015, I had the pleasure of speaking with Joseph Shulfer, President of Mathews Company, a grain dryer specialist that has helped farmers by making their lives easier. We touched on challenges that include global economics and the price of corn. When last we spoke there was an issue surrounding Section 179 capital equipment depreciation. But Joseph was unable to gauge its effects as there were other issues within the industry that were more dominant. We caught up with him again to find out about the company’s progress.

What does it take to create a company that lasts over 120 years? According to the Kaspar Companies, there are three core values that have contributed to its identity and longevity since its foundation: stewardship, versatility, and family.

Dyna Torque Technologies, Inc. is a Texas company with pipe welding products that continue to solve the increasing quality and safety needs of the market. The Houston-based firm’s proprietary LoneStar automated welding system uses internal microprocessor technology and leading-edge software to solve many of the pipe welding requirements of today’s Oil and Gas industry by reducing defects, controlling labor costs and increasing overall quality while providing increased workplace safety, to name a few advantages.

US Cargo Control is a bit of an anomaly. In an industry where success is built on immediacy and turnover, this company offers a personal customer experience and genuine relationship building, something for which no other company can match it.

To maintain a business over time is no mean feat. To keep it on the road, weathering financial and national crises for fifty-four years, is something even beyond that. Specialist hauling company Trans-United was started in 1964, in Burns Harbor, Indiana. The company now operates in forty-eight U.S. states, Canada, and internationally.

Discovering a new industry niche to fill is quite possibly the goal of every company, and Al Fisher of Tantara Transportation has carved out his. Tantara offers a wide array of services as a fully-licensed, Department of Transportation compliant company…

Logistics company Swan Transportation has locations throughout the United States and specializes in providing back-office management services to independent freight brokers. “We partner with freight brokers so that they can focus on developing relationships and building their book of business,” says company President Roy Martinez.

For SPI Logistics, impossible asks and just-in-time deliveries are business as usual. The SPI team members are the experts who take the worry out of getting your products to wherever you need them.

Complete supply chain provider Schilli Companies delivers raw materials and finished goods all over the world and offers road freight transportation, logistics, and warehousing services from its base in Remington, Indiana. It is made up of four divisions that were originally considered to be four separate companies when it was established in 1960.

Huntington Beach, California is where you will find the head offices of Freightsaver. The company acts as a freight brokerage, the middleman between the shipper and carrier. Therefore, it owns no equipment to move shipments but instead manages the logistics behind that goal, going that extra mile and doing things that larger entities avoid. Cloud-based technology has greatly added to its abilities, and despite multiple challenges, Freightsaver is growing. We spoke to its Executive Vice President of Sales Jay Hughitt.