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French firms thrive in .Detroit
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PAGE 5 ~Women
start their own businesses PAGE 26
Detroit's largest ad agencies PAGE 25
WEEK OF MAY 13 - 19,1985 VOLUME 1 0 NO. 15
Business booms at Metro Airport BY BRADFORD WERNLE CRAIN'S DETROIT BUSINESS
DWIGHT CENDROWSKI
Longer lines reflect the increased passenger traffic at Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport. ".
Early on the morning of May 1, a record 110 airline flights landed or took off at Detroit Metropolitan Wayne County Airport in one hour. That record confirms what passengers have suspected - business at Metro has skyrocketed. The number of passengers served in the first months of"i985 is far ahead ofth'Cl record 1984 pace. "It's only been in recent months that we have seen airplanes, maybe seven of them, waiting in lines to use the runways," said Louis Sugo, Metro's director of public information. "That's a real measure of activity." "You sit there looking out the window," said Joseph Hartman, vice president of Commuter Transportation Co., which offers van and limousine service from the airport,
"and it seems like there's one of them taking off every five seconds. This growth of flights now is unbelievable." The surge of passengers at Metro has coincided with a booming local economy and the decision by Republic Airlines and Northwest Airlines to increase their flights out of Detroit. Despite the big crowds, the airport and its businesses seem to be handling the increased traffic easily. Passenger statistics are available only for the first two months of 1985 - before the big increase in Republic and Northwest flights. But for those two months, the number of departing passengers was 882,256, up 17.8 percent from the 748,871 who departed in the same period last year. Figures for arrivSee METRO, PAGE 30
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New firm plans tire-to-fuel plant
Stroh plans national TV sports show
Environmental Recycling hopes to break ground on t he facili t y J une 1, according to Gordon CepA new Southfield company, En- nik, who is vice president of Ross, vironmental Recycling Technology Clifton and Clark of Southfield, the Inc., plans to build a factory in project's investment banker. Melvindale that will recycle scrap Between 45 and 60 jobs would be tires into low-grade fuEtl. created at the plant, which could However, the company's pro- be ready for busjness in six months posed tire-recycling technique, to a year, Cepnik said. The comcalled pyrolysis, has been termed pany is seeking $8 million in tax"not very viable economically" by a free industrial revenue bonds, but U .S. Department of Energy re- hasn't made a formal application. searcher and questioned by tire The Melvindale Economic Develmanufacturers. Melvindale ecoopment Corp. designated the 15nomic development officials are acre site sought by Environmental taking a cautious attitude toward the company's interest in tax-free See TIRES, PAGE 29 ~ industrial revenue bonds.
BY JANE WHITE BY RAYMOND SERAFIN
CRAIN'S DETROIT B USIN ESS
CRAIN NEWS SERVICE
P ursuing a strategy of going "where t he big guys ain't ," Stroh Brewery Co. will introduce the "Stroh's Circle of Sports" June 15 on the USA cable network and a broadcast TV syndicate. The weekly , two-hour sports magazine show is being produced by Ohlmeyer Communications Companies, New York, which is working with Stroh to develop other sports and entertainment programming. "Stroh's Circle of Sports" also signals that the No. 3 brewer will continue looking for niches instead of always going head-up against beer industry giants AnheuserBusch and Miller. "The two Goliaths are well-entrenched in traditional program areas," said David Martin, Stroh executive vice president/corporate media director. "We don't have the resources to play a table stakes poker game with them, even though we spend more per barrel on promotion than they do. We're trying to adapt in an innovative fashion to a very competitive market." In a similar vein, Detroit-based Stroh will sponsor six American Motorcycle Association races that See STROH, PAGE 29
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1980
1981 SLiDEWORKS
Loans by finance companies in Michigan (in millions of dollars) have fallen sharply in recent years. Source: Michigan Financial Institutions Bureau. Story, Page 3~
Preemptive PR enhances Fermi II's image BY AMY BODWIN CRAIN'S DETROIT BUSINESS
Workers filing out of The Detroit Edison Co.'s Fermi II nuclear power plant in Monroe pass a couple of trailers where they are invited to come in, grab a cup of coffee and a doughnut, and chat about nuclear safety. . Some of them avoid the trailers on their way home. But eventually nearly all of them have stopped by at one time or another. Their visits are part of a highly-orchestrated communications campaign designed to monitor safety and keep criticism of the nuclear plant under control at a time when other nuclear plants - particularly Consumers Power Co.'s
Midland plant - have been under a public microscope. The Midland plant was originally projected to take seven years to complete and cost $350 million. When it was scrapped last summer amid intense public criticism, 85 percent completed, . Consumers had spent $4.9 billion over 13 years. Edison's record at Fermi II wasn't much better. The plant was to take four years and cost $229 million. The final tally was 15 years and $3.37 billion. But Fermi was never plagued with the public relations problems Midland had. Edison attributes part of its success in public relations about Fermi to the company's communication policies. "The one word I would use to characterize
communication on Fermi II is openness," said 40-year-old Leland Bassett, director of communications analysis and planning at Edison. Bassett said that Edison employees and independent contractors working at Fermi II were "encouraged to tell anything that bothered them, and were promised a written response to every concern." "It did help curb whistle-blowing," Bassett said. "People become whistle-blowers because somebody won't listen to them." He said Edison's three-person communication analysis and planning department presents the See FERMI, PAGE 30
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