Business Connection August 2012 by AIM Media Indiana

A publication of

AUGUST 2012

Documenting lives

J. Hartley Co. continues to honor achievement on paper and wood

2 The Business Connection August 2012

Contents

Electronic meetings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Filling empty plants . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8 On the move . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9 Around the watercooler . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Morton Marcus column . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Manufacturing in U.S. . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Mark McNulty column . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Business leads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Machinery boom . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15

Business Indicators for Bartholomew County Percent changes May 12/ May 12/ Description May 12 Apr 12 May 11 Apr 12 May 11

Labor Force

42,019 41,498 37,986 1.3

10.6

Household Employment

39,481 39,094 35,214 1.0

12.1

On the cover: Brent and Pam Hartley of J. Hartley Co. “I never realized when I got my diploma that I would marry the man who made it,” said Pam. Photo by Andrew Laker. Story page 4.

Unemployment Rate (pct)

6.0 5.8 7.3 — —

Comments should be sent to The Business Connection editor, 333 Second St., Columbus, IN 47201 or call 379-5625. Advertising information: 379-5652. ©2012. All Rights Reserved. Editor, Doug Showalter; copy editor, Katharine Smith; writer, Barney Quick; graphic designer, Phillip Spalding.

Housing Units Permitted

—

— Center for Business and Economic Research, Ball State University

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4 The Business Connection August 2012

J. Hartley Co. produces the documents that honor achievement

For the record

By Barney Quick

Among the things that distinguish Columbus is its legacy of inventors and industrial pioneers. These were generally people with wide-ranging interests and a keen eye for how to make daily life more convenient, safe and comfortable. It may seem surprising at first to put James Hartley, founder of J. Hartley Co., in that category. After all, citations and diplomas existed long before the firm’s 1937 founding, but in the process of starting it and making those products, Hartley’s fertile mind contributed to a number of fields. Brent Hartley, his son and current company president, and the rest of the current team have continued the tradition of adaptability. In addition to awards, J. Hartley Co. makes various wood products, an outgrowth of expanding into plaques. Even Brent will tell you that the life of James is essential to the company’s story, however. The classical pianist and watercolor artist, whose first degree was in music from Arthur Jordan Conservatory, had always been interested in machines as well. Not only that, but he’d also had an interest in stylized lettering. In 1937, at age 21, he built his first printing press. It was capable of printing individual letters, from which personalized document-making was a logical next step. He eventually built five presses. “He did a lot of what he called seatof-the-pants engineering,” says Brent. “He went to Cleveland to learn to weld.” From 1942 to 1946, James served in the military, in cryptography. He worked on breaking Japanese code by analyzing the frequency of letters. During that time, he also noticed that airplanes skidded upon landing. This led to several years of research, culminating in a patent for pre-rotation technology for transport-size aircraft landing gear. He started a company to

Brent Hartley demonstrates the old No. 3 printing press built by his father, James Hartley, in the 1930s.

South American mahogany to be made into plaques fills the wood shop.

produce and supply this technology and spent the majority of his time on that during the remainder of his working years. Upon returning to Columbus after World War II, he resumed the awards business, first out of the family’s apart-

ment, and from 1949 to 1976 in an area of the family’s house on Pennsylvania Street. The company has been located on National Road since then. In the mid-1970s, the elder Hartley hosted piano festivals in the East High School auditorium. For its three-year

Photos by Andrew Laker

run, the festival series featured the works of Rachmaninoff, Chopin and American composers. He was also active in the Driftwood Valley Arts Council, the forerunner to the Columbus Area Arts Council. Additionally, he was a cellist in a string quartet. James scaled back his involvement in both business and the arts as health issues became a factor. He passed away in 1997. Brent joined the company in 1971. Indiana University was an early customer. Hartley has made awards and citations for its various regional campuses over the years. It did supply diplomas as well, until the university’s in-house print shop took on that activity. Life Office Management Association, which creates and distributes educational materials, including examinations, for the life insurance industry, has been a J. Hartley customer for more than 40 years. The company supplies LOMA with several types of documents. The business also has a long relationship with Marquis Who’s Who, the

August 2012 The Business Connection 5

Wooden plaques dry on racks in the finishing room after receiving a coat of Danish oil.

publisher of the various Who’s Who directories. “We’ve printed certificates for them for 40 years, as well as mahogany wall plaques,” says Brent. The customer base is largely elsewhere. “We used to do a lot more local work than we do now,” says Brent. “We still do the diplomas for North and East high schools.” Recent marketing efforts have included direct marketing and Yellow Pages in large U.S. urban areas. Brent says the former has been the more effective of those. The company also has a website, and it acquires some business by wordof-mouth. The company employs “a blend of old and new technologies,” according to Brent. The newer technologies include thermography, which involves application of powdered polymer to a sheet of paper and exposure to radiant heat in a special oven, as well as foil stamping, which utilizes heat seals, embossing, and printing software. Producing plaques opened the Hartley team’s eyes to other possi-

bilities for the wood, principally South American mahogany, that it was buying. The firm has ventured into the manufacture of children’s blocks and sells any wood that would otherwise be scrap as tomato stakes, kindling and sawdust. “We try to minimize anything that would go to landfill,” says Brent. The National Road facility was expanded in 1987 to accommodate increased woodrelated activities. Current personnel consist of Brent, his wife, Pam, son, Tyler, and Lisa Englehardt, who has been on staff since 1978. The business is structured as a corporation. James Hartley’s original printing press still stands in the shop area of the facility. The elaborate machine is a testimony not only to a still-viable enterprise, but to a cultural climate in the city where the business grew, one which produced a number of lively minds that made maximum use of the resources with which they worked.

Hartley holds a certificate awarded to Vice President Joe Biden from Indiana University. The college is one of J. Hartley Co.’s oldest customers.

6 The Business Connection August 2012

Let’s get together

Electronic meetings enable businesses to be more productive with less expense By Barney Quick

Certain business situations call for all parties involved to be able to see each other and examine particular documents together in real time. For decades, this has meant hopping in a car or boarding a plane. It often involved parking, dining and lodging expenses. Not only are these considerations no longer always necessary, but the electronic means of getting together now available can often make meetings more productive. The Harmon Group has certainly found this to be the case. The group is a collection of three companies, Harmon Construction, Taylor Bros. Construction and Harmon Steel, locat-

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ed in North Vernon, Columbus and Indianapolis respectively. Each of them has job sites in various far-flung places, and sometimes they wind up working on the same projects. This can call for a lot of coordination. Information technology consultant Sam Cotton says that GoToMeeting. com, a product of Citrix Systems, was the tool that launched the Harmon Group’s foray into alternatives to physical convening. “We have an internally changing model of what a meeting is,” he says. It began with a need for people from all three companies to approve costs for a particular project. “I fired up GoToMeeting in North Vernon. The go-to guy from Harmon Construction was with me. We had three people in Columbus and two in Indianapolis. We needed 45 minutes, and I don’t think I ever would have gathered all those people in one spot.” Cotton says that the typical GoToMeeting conference is conducted in presenter mode, which gives the organizer more options for communicating than the other participants. “In our business, that’s not what we needed.” However, “literally within days of our first project, GoToMeeting

came out with multiple video cameras. That’s what sealed the deal.” Taylor Bros. Construction’s goal is to conduct weekly progress meetings on job sites, at which a project manager would be able to “visit” the sites from the company’s conference room at its headquarters. “If a manager with multiple projects can drop in on such a meeting and have information funneled to him by site superintendents, he can make efficient use of his time,” says Cotton. “We’re big iPhone users,” he says. “That’s another piece of it. For instance, we have a number of projects at CVS stores in other states that only require an hour. There is an iPhone app that scans a document that a CVS pharmacist can sign, saying he approves of changes to his work area. It also takes before and after pictures.” Face Time, Apple’s version of Skype, a video communication application, is a useful tool for the company. “Along with iPhones, we now have several iPads. We can walk relevant personnel through sites such as the Wendy’s restaurants in Florida where we’re doing ADA [Americans with Disabilities Act] compliance work and show them the progress.”

August 2012 The Business Connection 7

According to Cotton, employees in the field, who tend to have big hands and fingers, find the touch-screen technology of the iPad appealing. XenApp, another Citrix product, makes telecommuting-type work possible at Taylor Bros. With XenApp, any Windows application can be delivered to anyone on any type of computing device. “All the applications reside on four servers here,” says Cotton. “You can log on from home, a job site or here. You’ll get the same screen, which is a menu of the applications available.” Sean Neimarlija, a business analysis functional excellence leader at Cummins Inc., says, “We’re piloting new collaboration software in-house. It’s a social, family-type format, a little like Facebook. A person will have groups of contacts based on who, within the company, you need to talk to on a regular basis. It’s based on shared work profiles.” He says that “one challenge we’re dealing with is the cost of bandwidth for things like real-time streaming. When you’re in industry, you can’t switch overnight to new technology.” Along with cost, security is another

reason why this is so. “We could get people quick access and deploy the architecture, but we have to be mindful of who can access what information.” Another front on which Cummins is exploring uses of new communication technology is in continuing education. “We’re looking at training people in virtual-learning systems,” says Neimarlija. “Typically, that was done face-to-face. We’re making big progress in delivering courses electronically. Advantages include reduced training costs and repeatability. You know there’s a standard message that can be conveyed.” Cotton says that gathering particular groups of people for virtual meetings is really the easy part. “We continually learn what we have to clean up on the back end, in terms of coordinating the technologies, to make the remote job easier.” He says that the way this is done is that “we let the market build some things we can try.” The pace of change in this area is such that there’s no point in obsessing over when to jump in. According to Cotton, “the technology moves so quickly that it doesn’t pay to get device envy or application envy.”

©thinkstock

8 The Business Connection August 2012

Former GM plants attracting notice By Melanie D. Hayes The Herald Bulletin

ANDERSON — Amid the vast open spaces that are the former General Motors plants, two city of Anderson buses rumble through the overgrown weeds and cracked concrete. In these areas that have rarely experienced movement for several years, two dozen people poured out of the buses to get a good look at the properties and to learn about their potential. Local officials said they are excited that companies have been showing interest in some of those brownfields — former industrial or commercial properties that have been left vacant and need or are undergoing environmental cleanups. The visitors included local government officials, as well as representatives from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the Manufacturing Alliance of Communities, a national coalition of local government leaders working to revitalize former factory and manufacturing sites. Those officials, and others, were gathering for a full-day discussion

associated Press

Greg Winkler, interim economic development director for Anderson, describes property to visitors on the Anderson brownfields bus tour.

on the challenges that auto communities face and how to move forward. Mayor Kevin Smith, interim economic development director Greg Winkler, and Gary McKinney, the city’s brownfield redevelopment specialist, led the tour. “My impression is that while they look like wastelands, the truth is the

community has organized very carefully for a number of years to figure out environmental conditions and the potential uses,” said Matt Ward, a representative with Manufacturing Alliance of Communities. David Lloyd, the director of the Office of Brownfields and Land Revitalization, which is part of the EPA,

said the biggest challenges that former auto communities face is having to prioritize the vacant sites and determine which to work on first. Another challenge is to put together partnerships among federal, state and local agencies and private industries to secure funding for cleanups and redevelopment. He said the EPA’s brownfield and land revitalization office’s main goal is to provide funding and technical assistance to communities to help clean up sites like the former GM properties. The reason they take on that job is to improve the environment and make properties safe. Those properties then draw companies and jobs to the area. “Our philosophy is that environmental protection equals economic health and growth,” Lloyd said. A lot of communities have been afraid to acknowledge their brownfield sites, but they should see them as opportunities, he said. “Right now they don’t bring much tax revenue, but once they get back to good use they will,” he said. “Communities are starting to embrace them.”

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chamberconnection August 2012 Growing BUSINESS. Growing people. Monthly publication of the Columbus Area Chamber of Commerce • 500 Franklin Street • Columbus, IN 47201 • 812-379-4457

37 teams, 131 individuals competing in Kenko Challenge We make fitness at work so much fun, you’ll forget you’re doing either. On June 16, the Chamber and Reach Healthy Communities launched the Kenko Challenge. Kenko, meaning “health” in Japanese, is a 12-week, small business wellness team-based challenge with the objective of implementing a fun and engaging approach to creating healthy changes in behaviors and the workplace. Co-workers compete in challenges and games and share their successes through social media. Want to see how much fun we are having while we are getting fit at work and competing to win great prizes? Log onto the Facebook page at www.facebook.com/KenkoChallenge. 37 teams from 32 companies

Glover Dental Solutions EYB Promotions Gerard Golden Personal Chef JCB Joust Klaes Image Productions Larry E. Nunn and Associates MainSource Bank Northwestern Pentzer Printing Plankers INC Prestige Printing REACH Healthy Communities Reliable Comfort Heating and Air Conditioning Sandcrest Dental Affiliate Finance

Columbus Indiana Philharmonic

Allstate Ins Company

Columbus Parks and Recreation

As You Like It Painting

Columbus Pediatrics

131 participants

Blue and Co., LLC

Columbus Regional Health

Companies participating:

Caseys Cookies

Community Education Coalition

Advantage One Imaging Center

Columbus Chamber

Coriden Coriden Andrews and

Sharpnack Bigley Stroh and Washburn Southern Indiana Surgery Inc TLS Zeller Insurance, LLC

Calendar: Register to attend events at www.columbusareachamber.com/events Check the Web site calendar for all upcoming events. Aug. 10 — TEN Networking Roundtables (register online), 8 a.m., Visitors Center. Education session for small business and anyone interested in entrepreneurial thinking.

Aug. 20 — School House Session, 7:30 a.m., City Hall. Free, open forums featuring updates from BCSC.

Aug. 20 — Open Board Meeting (register online), 11:30 a.m., location United Way. Open board meeting featuring education segment and the members’ chance to see how the Chamber board conducts business.

2012 Chamber Board of Directors Tim Millwood Cummins Inc. John Burnett Community Education Coalition ike declue Tre Bicchieri Brad Davis, Past-Chair Centra Credit Union Linda DeClue Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. Paula Hartwell, Chair Administrative Resources charlie farber, Chair-Elect MainSource Bank UMAR FAROOQ SIHO John Hogan Ivy Tech Community College Amy Kaiser First Financial Bank Michael Oakes IUPUC Tom harmon Taylor Bros. Construction Mike Rossetti The Republic Ron Sewell CEDC Marlene Weatherwax Columbus Regional Hospital Evan Werling, Treasurer Werling Management Group

Hackers’ Holiday a great success Congratulations to Team Harmon from Taylor Brothers Construction for winning the 2012 Hackers’ Holiday Golf Tournament. Other winners were Mark Brooks and Sheena Seger for longest drives and Andrew Brelage and Beth Harry for closest to the pin. While we didn’t give away a car on the hole-in-one, a couple of golfers got pretty close. All of our golfers walked away with door prizes thanks to our generous donors: Qmix 107.3, Dorel Juvenile Group, Columbus Area Arts Council, The Eye Place, Edinburgh Premium Outlets, Renner Motors, Arni’s, Smith’s Row, FairOaks Mall, Columbus Massage Center, PNC Bank, Bistro 310, Auntie Aimee’s Tea Room, Papa’s Deli, Johnny Carino’s, Mark Pi’s, Exhale with Hope, Indiana Bank & Trust, Marco’s Pizza, Papa’s Grill, Papa’s Deli

kristen Brown Mayor of Columbus chip orben Duke Energy/Economic Development Board Dave Galle Community Education Coalition Carl Lienhoop County Commissioner Lynn Lucas Visitors Center donna robertson Hope Chamber of Commerce

Realty, Russell Development and Gethin Thomas Catering. Our hole sponsors enjoyed the day at the course interacting with the golfers: Centra Credit Union, Employment Plus, Duke Energy, Grant Communications, Dorel Juvenile Group, Tre Bicchieri, The Eye Place and Enkei America. Thanks to everyone who made the tournament a great success.

New members As You Like It Painting Rick Waller PO Box 472 Columbus, IN 47202 (812) 350-1516 rickewaller@gmail.com

Integrated Insurance Services LLC

Ex-Officio Members

and Circle K. We’d also like to thank our golf outing sponsors, Coriden, Coriden, Andrews & Glover LLC, The Eye Place and Qmix 107.3. Thanks to Blue & Co., Global Builders, Kelly Services, Larry E. Nunn & Associates, Century 21 Breeden Realtors, Coca-Cola: Columbus, Indiana, LHP, Milestone Contractors, Prudential Indiana

Kelly J. Wheeler 422 Fifth St. Columbus, IN 47201 (812) 375-2187 kelly.wheeler@ymail.com

Jones, Hoskins & Anderson, CPAs

Otolaryngology Specialty Care, LLC

White River Clinic of Chiropractic

Percifield Inc.

Roger Fromer 424 Fifth St. Columbus, IN 47201 (812) 657-7741 rfromer@franklinincpa.com

Dr. Ryan Nelson 5536 25th St. Columbus, IN 47203 (812) 376-6200 rcnelsondc@gmail.com

Christopher E. Stevens 2345 North Park Drive Columbus, IN 47203 (812) 669-1490 cstevens@osc-ent.com

K. Chris Oswald 828 Second St. Columbus, IN 47201 (812) 372-2505 percifielair@sbcglobal.net

You are invited to the open board meeting of the Chamber in August 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, Aug. 29 United Way of Bartholomew County

Join the Chamber Board as we hear from new United Way President Mark Stewart. Open board meetings are a chance to see how

your Chamber runs and also provide education about community organizations and networking with fellow Chamber members.

The ribbon-cuttings also appear in The Republic. For addresses and phone numbers of Chamber members, visit our online directory at www.columbusareachamber.com or call 379-4457.

Holiday Inn Express & Suites 12225 N. Executive Drive 526-4919 Bill Lentz, County Council member, performed the ribbon-cutting ceremony for Holiday Inn Express & Suites in Edinburgh. Owner Janeen Sprague was joined by colleagues, family and friends. Members of the Chamber Action Team were also present. The new Holiday Inn Express & Suites Columbus/Edinburgh is located adjacent to Edinburgh Premium Outlets and Exit 76 Antique Mall at Interstate 65 Exit 76B and is only a short drive from downtown Columbus. Contact us directly for your guest room needs or special events at 526-4717. General Manager Farrah Carr or any guest associate will be happy to assist you.

Paragon Meetings & Events 445 Fifth St., Suite A 390-6912 Jim Clouse, of City Hall, performed the ribbon-cutting ceremony for Paragon Meetings and Events. Owner Joyce Lucke celebrated the opening of her new office location at 445 Fifth St., Suite A with family, friends and members of the Chamber Action Team. Paragon Meeting & Events is an event management company specializing in corporate, nonprofit and association events. A wide range of services are offered to help you plan, budget, manage and evaluate any event. One-time or ongoing or 10 to 1,000, Paragon can help you have the perfect event.

Air shuttle service continues to grow

TEN Networking Roundtables 8 a.m. Aug. 10 Columbus Area Visitors Center This month’s TEN meeting will be focused on helping you make new connections with fellow Chamber Members and other attendees. Join us for a fun, structured event where you will participate in an interactive roundtable discussion designed to help you make the best connections for your business and others, and to start building new strategic business relationships. Reservations are required to attend this event: www.columbusareachamber.com/events.

School House Session Monday, Aug. 20, 7:30 a.m. Columbus Area Visitors Center School House Sessions offer open forums between the public and Bartholomew Consolidated School Cor. The sessions are free to attend. Additional sessions will be held Sept. 17 and Nov. 19 (held at the Columbus Learning Center). Sessions will not take place in October.

In November 2011, Ultimate Air Shuttle launched direct flights from Columbus to Detroit. More than 100 individuals have been utilizing this new VIP air travel on a monthly basis. Companies as large as Cummins, Apple and Faurecia and as small as .dwg Design Services have been able to save time and money by flying direct to Detroit in 45 minutes. You can’t beat the convenience of checking in 15 minutes before the flight, avoiding TSA security screening, and having rental cars or taxis waiting for you when you arrive. If your company does business in Detroit or travels internationally, please encourage your employees and suppliers to leverage this convenient new service. Book your round trip ticket today for $495 online at www.ultimateairshuttle. com.

Tuesday, Sept. 25 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. The Commons www.columbusareachamber.com/tricountyexpo If you have been waiting until the last minute to register, now’s the time. There are still a few booths left for the business event of the year. Visit the website or call 379-4457 for more information.

August 2012 The Business Connection 9

Kim Stein has been promoted to internal audit officer at JCB. She began her career with JCB in 1981. In 1997 she accepted the position of assistant internal auditor and in 2010 transitioned Kim Stein to her most recent position as administrative assistant in the Investment Management and Trust Services Department. She has experience in audit processes, procedures and regulatory compliance requirements. She will also serve as the bank’s Bank Secrecy Act officer. Seymour native Stephanie Strothmann has been appointed resource development director for Columbus Area Arts Council. She is a graduate of Indiana State University, with Stephanie Strothmann a degree in English, and has been serving as the community representative for the Columbus Chapter of the American Cancer Society. She has been a resident of Columbus for 16 years. Lora Lanier has been named vice president-corporate secretary for Kocolene Development Corp. and its subsidiaries. A 42-year Kocolene vet-

eran, she will provide administrative support to corporate executives. Lance Gentry now serves as director of fuels and information technology at Kocolene. He is a graduate of Indiana University, with a degree in finance, and has been with the company for three years, serving as automation manager and directing the PDI Enterprise software migration project. Matthew R. Carothers, a wealth management adviser with Northwestern Mutual, recently qualified for membership in Northwestern’s Million Dollar Round Table “Court of the Matt Carothers Table,” an international, independent association of life insurance producers. He has been associated with Northwestern since 1990. Columbus dentist Dr. Richard T. Newton has been reappointed to the Indiana State Board of Dentistry. The board licenses and regulates dentistry and related professions, reviewing applications of anyone who wants to begin practicing in the state, scheduling exams for applicants and issuing permits to administer general anesthesia or sedation. Brown County businessman Rob Taylor recently attended the ninth International Symposium of Display Holography at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He presented a paper titled “A Curious Conundrum: The State of Holographic Portraiture in the 21st Century.” Caleb Townsend has joined Qualtronics as sales and marketing

manager for the U.S. and Canada. He is a graduate of Purdue University and has more than 10 years of experience in sales and marketing. Qualtronics is a designer and supplier of heavy duty automotive, industrial and marine electrical harness assemblies. Matt Chandler and Suki Wright of Schneck Medical Center in Seymour have been appointed to the 2012 board of examiners for the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award. Chandler is in his third year as a national examiner, and Wright is a senior examiner in her fifth year. The Baldrige Award is the highest level of national recognition for performance excellence that a U.S. organization can receive. Chandler and Wright are among approximately 500 experts from industry, professional and trade organizations, education and health care organizations who are responsible for reviewing and evaluating applications submitted for the Baldrige Award. Katherine Smith has been promoted to assistant vice president, marketing

at JCB. She began her career with JCB in 2002 as marketing coordinator. In 2006, she was promoted to marketing and advertising officer. She is a graduate of Brownstown Central Katherine Smith High School and is finishing her bachelor of science in marketing from Indiana Wesleyan University. Dr. Jason B. Woods recently joined the staff at Comprehensive Foot and Ankle Center in Seymour. He is a graduate of Indiana University and an honors graduJason Woods ate of Scholl College of Podiatric Medicine at Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science in North Chicago. His served his residency at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. — Staff Reports

10 The Business Connection August 2012

Autism clinic opens Unlocking The Spectrum has opened a new clinic in Columbus to expand its ABA/autism therapy services. The office is at 1015 Third St., Suite C. Social groups and a full range of ABA therapy services are available to meet the needs of children diagnosed with autism and other developmental disabilities.

Computer business expands

Around the watercooler

Midwest Computer Solutions, headquartered in Columbus, has opened a new store facility in Greensburg. Midwest Computer Solutions is a family-owned and operated information technology business specializing in the support of small business, nonprofit and residential customers with their computing needs.

Haynes International to expand

facturing plant in 1989 and operated under the name Holset Engineering until 2006.

KOKOMO — Haynes International plans a $24 million project to increase production at a factory where it makes specialty metal plates and sheets for the aerospace and other industries. The Kokomo-based company makes nickel- and cobalt-based alloys for use in many industrial applications. The company says it has seen increased demand from the aerospace, chemical and natural gas industries. It anticipates adding 40 jobs to its 700-worker Kokomo plant.

Auto parts plant to close

Steel Dynamics plans expansion

KENDALLVILLE — Johnson Controls Interior Manufacturing says it will close its auto parts plant Aug. 31, costing about 170 workers their jobs. The plant makes plastic injectionmolded interior parts for the automotive industry. Arden Cos., which makes outdoor furniture cushions, announced last month it planned to close its Kendallville plant, idling about 50 workers. Arden’s plant is across the street from Johnson Controls.

BUTLER — Steel Dynamics Inc. plans to spend $18.5 million on expanding a northeastern Indiana plant and buying new equipment for the company’s largest facility. The Fort Wayne-based company has told DeKalb County officials that it plans to start construction this summer at the factory near Butler and finish the work within a year. The company said in a property-tax abatement application that it would spend $6.7 million on a factory expansion and $11.8 million on new equipment, including cranes and coil-handling machinery. About 630 people work at the mill that Steel Dynamics opened in the 1990s. The company said it could add about 15 jobs with the expansion.

New owners for Pentzer Printing Rosie and John Settle have purchased a majority of Pentzer Printing from an ownership group, including Samuel Pentzer, great-grandson of the founder. Rosie Settle is chief executive officer, and her husband, John, is chief operating officer. He was a longtime supplier to Pentzer Printing as a salesman for Shaughnessy Paper. Pentzer Printing is a sheet-fed and digital printing company in Columbus. It produces communications products such as one- and full-color brochures, annual reports, business cards, Web designs and promotional products. The company’s history dates to 1902 when O.W. Pentzer, a college professor, bought a single press to print his poetry. Samuel Pentzer has been the president for 50 years and will advise the new management.

Alcoa building new plant LAFAYETTE — Construction is starting on a new $90 million facility at Alcoa’s factory in Lafayette. The new aluminum lithium operation is expected to begin production in 2014. Alcoa says it expects to add about 75 jobs to the 730 now at the plant. The new facility’s aluminum lithium alloys will be used for lighter, more fuel-efficient aircraft and will compete with carbon fiber.

Factory retools for wheelchair car MISHAWAKA — The northern Indiana factory that once made Hummer SUVs is going to be retooled to start producing a luxury version of a

mer central Indiana auto parts factory that closed six years ago. Renovation work is wrapping up at the former Oxford Automotive plant in Greencastle. Crews plan to move a railroad spur so that Phoenix Closures can off-load plastic pellets from rail cars. The Naperville, Ill.-based company announced last year it would make food packaging at the factory and possibly hire 90 workers. About 330 people worked at the factory when Oxford closed it.

wheelchair-accessible car. The AM General factory started building the car called the MV-1 last year for the Vehicle Production Group. The cars feature a 3-foot high door that allows a person in a wheelchair to use a built-in ramp to get in alone and sit next to the driver.

Richmond plans tech park RICHMOND — Officials are working on plans to convert property formerly owned by an auto-parts supplier into a technology park. They will be seeking approval from the city’s Redevelopment Commission to use money from a $5 million state technology park grant to buy 14 acres and two buildings that once belonged to Dana Corp. An obsolete testing facility on the property might be torn down, with efforts concentrating on the office building at the site near Interstate 70.

Turbocharger company expanding COLUMBIA, S.C. — A company that makes turbochargers for diesel engines is expanding its operations in Charleston County. Cummins Turbo Technologies said it is investing $19.5 million and expects to create 76 new jobs at its Ladson facility. It is building a 125,000-squarefoot warehouse and adding another 10,000 square feet of office space to an existing building. Cummins Turbo Technologies opened its first Charleston-area manu-

Household products maker grows ELKHART — A Canadian company that makes personal care and household products says it is increasing production at a northern Indiana factory and will be adding nearly 70 workers in the coming years. KIK Custom Products officials say the company is starting three new production lines at one of its Elkhart facilities and has already hired 20 new workers. The company now has about 690 workers in Elkhart, along with some 150 temporary seasonal workers.

Plastics company to open GREENCASTLE — Officials expect a plastic packaging manufacturer to start production this summer at a for-

Ice cream maker plans expansion FORT WAYNE — Edy’s Grand Ice Cream plans to expand its plant to handle the employees that it has added in recent years. The company says it expects to spend $1.5 million on the project that will include new entrances, a renovated 2,000-square-foot cafeteria, men’s and women’s locker rooms, meeting rooms and office space. The work will be in addition to see watercooler on page 11

August 2012 The Business Connection 11

Yes, Indiana doing well in personal income compared to other states

The Bureau of Economic Analysis in the U.S. Department of Commerce has released the latest state quarterly personal income data for the first quarter of this year. The timing could not have been better. Recently we have received much good news about the Indiana economy. So Morton Marcus much good news that skeptical Sam Schmaltz has been questioning each piece of good news and sniffing about to discover a “good news” conspiracy. This column is dedicated to Sam: My friend, your usual skepticism can be relaxed. Indiana’s personal income, a good measure of how the state is doing, rose faster than did that of the nation in the first quarter of this year. Plus, we have been out-performing the nation over the last year. Specifically, Indiana advanced at an annual rate of 4 percent in the first quarter compared to the U.S. increase

of 3.4 percent. Over the past year, our growth has been at a rate of 3.1 percent versus the nation’s 2.9 percent. Naturally, Sam, you want to know where we had our best growth. We don’t have data on a geographic basis, but we can see how we are doing by industry. First, we outpaced the nation in farm earnings. Yes, I know that farm earnings are very erratic, still the seasonally adjusted figures show Indiana up 38 percent and the nation down 13 percent over the past quarter. True, farm earnings account for only 1.1 percent of Hoosiers’ total personal income, so the impact is not too great of this major differential between the state and the nation. Second, our construction sector did better than the United States generally. Right, folks in the construction industry are continuing to complain how bad things are, but in Indiana earnings from construction were up 10.2 percent compared to 8.8 percent nationally in the first quarter. Year-over-year, that is first quarter 2011 to first quarter 2012,

watercooler continued from page 10

plant a week after it idled another of its ethanol plants in Albion, Neb., amid drought conditions in both states. Layoffs aren’t planned, and the Linden plant’s 60 employees will continue working on maintenance jobs and other duties. The company expects to resume production at the plant sometime before the fall harvest.

about $28 million in equipment and building upgrades the company expects to make over the next five years. Edy’s has about 460 production workers and 90 management employees at the plant.

Bankruptcy derails plans TIPTON — Local officials hope to find new potential tenants for a sprawling, unfinished factory since the solar panel maker that planned to take it over is halting operations. Abound Solar was to build solar panels and eventually employ 800 to 1,000 people as part of a $400 million federal loan guarantee announced by President Barack Obama in 2010 for company expansions in Indiana and Colorado.

Ethanol plant idled LINDEN — Valero Energy Corp. has stopped production at an ethanol plant, a step the company says is a temporary move due to rising corn prices. The company shut down the Linden

JC Penney to close warehouse PLAINFIELD — J.C. Penney Co. plans to close a Plainfield distribution warehouse this fall, eliminating the jobs of about 230 workers. The company informed the state it will lay off 121 employees on Sept. 8, followed by the layoff of 30 more workers a week later and the remainder by the end of September. The distribution center opened in 2002 near the Indianapolis International Airport. Penney officials say the company intends to offer severance benefits and transition programs. — Staff and Wire Reports

Indiana advanced at a 14 percent rate against the background of a national 6 percent growth rate. Third, our dominant manufacturing industry, still 20 percent of all earning by Hoosier workers, outpaced the nation 6 percent to 4 percent in the most recent quarter for which we have data. Fourth, there were several dull spots where we came in behind the U.S. figures, including retail trade, finance and federal government services. Nonetheless, by-and-large, our state outperformed the nation in personal income growth. Put all that together, Sam, and Indiana ranked ninth in the nation for personal income growth rate during the first quarter of this year. That’s the bottom of the top quintile, if you want to find some way of giving a negative characterization to the results. In addition, we came in 24th in the

rate of growth for the past four quarters. It’s mediocre to be at the bottom of the top half, but it’s far better than Connecticut and Mississippi, which were at the bottom of the bottom half for the past year. The only place where your skepticism will work, Sam, is in the fact that the national annualized growth rate for the first quarter was 3.4 percent, unadjusted for inflation. When you factor in a 2.4 percent increase in consumer prices over that quarter, you are left with only 1 percent real growth. Most Americans do not find that satisfactory and blame our slow growth on the president and the Doolittle Congress. The decisions about our present and our future, however, are made in our homes and office, where skepticism now reigns. Morton Marcus is an economist formerly with the IU Kelley School of Business.

12 The Business Connection August 2012

U.S. manufacturing enters next phase By Richard M. Daley and Bruce Katz Los Angeles Times

Perhaps the only silver lining to the Great Recession is that it triggered a new focus on manufacturing in the United States. After 25 years of being sold a shiny vision of a service-dominated post-industrial economy, the U.S. is rediscovering how important it is to actually make things in order to spur innovation, raise wages, drive exports and lower the trade deficit. Corporate cost calculations undergird the newfound appreciation of U.S. manufacturing. The off-shoring of manufacturing was rooted in harsh economic realities: rock-bottom wages in nations such as China and the aggressive attraction and infrastructure strategies of foreign governments. Yet labor costs are rising in China, and concerns persist about the protection of American intellectual property there. Energy can be cheaper here, and more reliable. The tsunami in Japan, supplier of many high-tech components, revealed the fragility of far-flung supply chains for many U.S. companies.

As corporations re-evaluate their bottom lines, national leaders must reassess the critical role of manufacturing. Its jobs pay 20 percent more on average than non-manufacturing work and are more likely to provide benefits. It employs a disproportionately high number of less-educated workers and tends to spark job growth in servicebased industries. And, in the words of Andrew Liveris, chairman and CEO of Dow Chemical Co.: “Where manufacturing goes, innovation inevitably follows.” That reality has cost the U.S. dearly. In the electronics sector alone, 90 percent of R&D now occurs in Asia, in large part because of the steady offshoring of manufacturing by U.S. companies since the 1980s. That must not happen in other advanced industries.

Changing cities And it doesn’t have to. The key to reviving manufacturing and exports in the U.S. can already be found in metropolitan areas like Los Angeles and Chicago.

The phrase “urban manufacturing” evokes images of a sooty skyline, cramped sweatshops or the massive automotive assembly lines of mid-20th century Detroit. But urban manufacturing today involves small, specialized firms that rely on advanced technology and workers with different skill sets than in the past. In Torrance, Calif., for example, Pelican Products produces high-performance protective cases and portable lighting equipment used by law enforcement and the defense, aerospace and entertainment industries. In 2010, Pelican employed 600 people in Torrance. It sells products to more than 100 countries. In the last two years, its export sales have grown 25 percent, driven by demand in Europe and Asia. As other companies chased low-wage labor by off-shoring manufacturing capacity, Pelican chose to remain primarily in the United States. Pelican’s 12-year relationship with neighboring Victory Foam highlights the benefits of proximity to suppliers. Victory provides Pelican with next-day

order fulfillment, which greatly reduces the time required for production. Daily interactions between the two companies allow for rapid adjustments to meet market demands while providing opportunities for collaboration on new products.

Helping each other

These are the sorts of ripple effects and mutual benefits that only cities, with their density and diversity, can supply. As one industry feeds another, productivity improves, entrepreneurship is encouraged and employment and wages increase in the region. What do firms like Pelican need to thrive? It’s not rocket science. A functioning federal government matters. It can deliver the big stuff: enhancing access to foreign markets, enforcing trade agreements and protecting intellectual property. It can also provide expertise on emerging markets through U.S. consulates, help match firms with potential customers, provide export promotion support and commit see made in u.s.a. on page 13

October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. To encourage women and men to be diligent in examining themselves and encouraging loved ones to do so, The Republic, the Daily Journal (Franklin), The Tribune (Seymour) and the Brown County Democrat will publish a PINK newspaper with a special section devoted to educating their readers on this disease. Businesses are encouraged to make Fridays in October – PINK FRIDAYS. Go all out and send us a press release and photos, and we’ll let the community know about your participation. Advertise in Pink Purpose in your community. Percentage of ad sales will go to the Mammogram Assistance Fund.

For more information contact us at

pinkpurpose@therepublic.com or call 812-379-5655.

August 2012 The Business Connection 13

coach’s corner

What is your leadership attitude? The good news about growing your business is that there are many opportunities to capture new market share and new wallet share. These opportunities also lead to improved sales, profits, work load and job openings in your community. The bad news is that with this growth come new challengMark McNulty es, including leading your new and larger staff to complete the additional work for your new customers. To help your staff and yourself, the No. 1 thing you can do is manage your attitude and set the example for how others on your staff manage theirs. Let’s take a look at how attitude influences others, the six components of attitude and what a “can do attitude” looks like. The reason attitude management is so important for leaders is that it drives how employees and customers perceive us, and it influences how they react or respond to us. Our attitude is an internal feeling that comes out in a variety of ways, some obvious and some not so obvious. We know that communications is

55 percent body language, 38 percent tone of voice and only 7 percent what you actually say. In other words, it’s not what you say, it’s what you convey. Components of your attitude are beliefs, values, standards, judgments, motives and ethics. As you observe your team’s responses to your leadership, pay close attention to the times when they did not respond the way you wanted or expected. There is a good chance that there was something in your attitude — one of the six components listed above — that conveyed a different message than you intended. As a leader, you should be constantly striving to help your team achieve more than it ever felt possible. Here are five “can do” attitudes that you can learn for yourself, then teach your team members and help them to believe in for their own success and yours. • You CAN DO everything, but not all at once. When you are in a growth mode, it can seem like the work is never ending, so you simply have to tell yourself the truth — it’s OK if you can’t get it all done now, you will get it all done in time. Focus on setting priorities. There are typically two situations in business, having too much to do and having too little to do. I always prefer too much, and I

made in u.s.a. cont. from page 12

abroad. In Los Angeles, the USC and UCLA business schools have given Pelican access to MBA students, who are designing a distribution system for the company’s booming trade with China and other Asian nations. U.S. cities and metropolitan areas still possess significant manufacturing capability and, by extension, innovation capacity. A rich industrial heritage has endowed American cities and metros with the companies, skilled workers, educational and advanced research institutions, and production strength essential for moving toward a new economic vision. The Great Recession was a wake-up call to the nation. Let’s heed it.

resources to modernizing key hubs. Local governments and institutions also have a role to play in recharging American manufacturing and creating a more prosperous economy. Small and medium-sized manufacturing firms need a steady supply of skilled workers that can be supplied by local community colleges and even specialty high schools that reinvent vocational education for a new century. Firms also need a safe, stable place to do business. Chicago met this demand by creating industrial districts. Supported by financing based on the tax increases that redevelopment would bring, the city secured industrial land from rezoning and invested in infrastructure to improve freight transport. Finally, firms need business advice close to home and more connections

Richard M. Daley, the former mayor of Chicago, and Bruce Katz, a vice president of the Brookings Institution, head the Global Cities Initiative.

simply need to manage my thoughts to not convey stress to my team. • You CAN DO everything, if it’s important enough for you to do. Have you ever noticed that you are incredibly productive the week before you go on vacation? That is because suddenly you get very focused on your priorities, and you actively filter out all of the noise and distractions. You decide what is important, and you get the important things done, no matter how much work it seems like. What if you always worked in this mode — how much waste would you eliminate from your life and your employees’ workloads? • You CAN DO everything, but you may not be the best at everything. Learn how to utilize your team’s talents and skills and leverage your strengths with theirs. Just because you can do something doesn’t make it a good idea for you to do it.

• You CAN DO everything, but there will be limitations. Pay attention to the feedback you get from your team, your customers and the universe — they will all let you know what your limitations are. Then be realistic with what you expect from yourself and your team and learn how to manage expectations and engage with others as necessary to expand your limits. • You CAN DO everything, but you’ll need help. Don’t be afraid to admit that sometimes you will need help from others to achieve everything you want to achieve. You are not in this alone, so tap into your team, your networks, your coaches and mentors to get the help you need to get where you want to go. Mark McNulty is a business coach with ActionCoach Business Coaching. He can be reached at 372-7377 or mark@ coachmark.biz.

(812) 372-7829

Jeff Bohman

jboham@jwinsurance.com

Terry Green

tgreen@jwinsurance.com

14 The Business Connection August 2012

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August 2012 The Business Connection 15

Small businesses buy big machines By Joyce M. Rosenberg AP Business Writer

NEW YORK — Small businesses that make machines and components for other manufacturers are experiencing an upswing that could be a sign of things to come for the economy. The industries fueling the demand vary. In some cases, business is coming from medical device makers, which are expected to see increasing growth as baby boomers age and need more medical care. An uptick in orders is coming from oil and gas producers supplying energy to growing economies in countries such as China and India. And then some are getting a pop in sales from aerospace manufacturers that are busy building fuel-efficient aircraft and engines and need special parts to get the job done. As different as these manufacturers may be, they have two things in common: Their industries are expected to see continued growth, and they’re investing in expensive machinery that can cost millions of dollars. This small manufacturer machinery boom may seem at odds with an economy that is suffering from slow job growth. But the increase in demand for gear that businesses use to make a variety of machines, parts, tools and devices is a sign that companies are more confident and are willing to spend. They’re also getting loans from banks to buy the equipment — evidence that lenders are feeling more secure. Last year, industrial and materials manufacturers had a 37 percent increase in big equipment purchases, according to PayNet, a company that tracks lending to small businesses. That compares to an average of 17 percent for all the industries PayNet follows. “We’re positioning ourselves now to have the capacity to respond quickly,” says Pat Pastoors, general manager of Dynamic Sealing Technologies, which last month spent $450,000 on new equipment after spending $800,000 last year. In 2011, Dynamic Sealing paid $3.2 million to expand its Andover, Minn., factory. The company makes manufacturing equipment for companies, including food packagers and oil and gas producers. Pastoors says the company sees good potential growth in the industries it serves. The company’s

associated Press

John Maurer, chief of operations for Esterline & Sons Manufacturing, displays one of the many parts produced at the manufacturing facility in Springfield, Ohio.

revenue rose 20 percent last year after doubling in 2010.

The first step

Skeptics should talk to the bankers who grant loans to companies that make gear and parts for other manufacturers, like Anthony Cracchiolo, president of U.S. Bank’s equipment finance unit. U.S Bank’s lending through its Manufacturing Vendor Services division, part of the equipment finance unit, is up 15 percent this year from the same period of 2011. And last year’s lending level was up 26 percent from 2010. Equipment sales had fallen 70 percent during the recession. More recently, the bank, which is based in Minneapolis and has branches in 25 states, has seen an increase in demand for big machines like lasers, molding equipment and plastic injection machines. By the end of this year, U.S. Bank expects this type of lending to be at 90 percent of pre-recession levels. It expects the recovery among these manufacturers to reach other parts of the economy. “This is the first step, the people that build the machines,” Cracchiolo says. Sales for privately held industrial machinery manufacturers, including companies of all sizes, are up nearly 23 percent in the last 12 months, accord-

ing to Sageworks, a financial research firm. Morris Technologies spent $1 million on an electronic beam melting machine in January. The company, based in Cincinnati, uses a sophisticated technology called additive metal fabrication to create complex parts for planes, turbines, medical equipment and other machinery. It’s a manufacturing method that uses computer models and molten metals to build components one layer at a time rather than carving them out of a block of metal. CEO Greg Morris says the interest he’s seeing from his customers justifies the purchase of an expensive machine even though the economy is looking a little more uncertain these days. “I think the handwriting on the wall is that this technology is going to be huge,” he says. Generous tax breaks that small businesses got during the recession were also an incentive for these manufacturers to buy big equipment. Morris said the laws that allowed him to speed up depreciation of new equipment were a factor in his decision to buy. However, those breaks have been scaled back dramatically this year. For example, what was a $500,000 deduction last year is now down to $125,000.

Less business for China

Many of these small manufacturers spend months on design and development to customize parts for their customers. The complexities involved have given U.S. manufacturers an edge. That’s helped some small companies in the U.S. take business away from manufacturers in China. “For specialty manufacturing products, the end users are concluding it’s

better to have production close by, here in the U.S.,” says William Phelan, the president of PayNet. “If there’s a problem, they can get the parts shipped overnight, and transportation costs are less.” Some of these companies are getting more business from the government. Peter Boucher, whose company, 3v Precision Machining, makes components for industries, including aerospace and medical devices, is also making parts for the new F-35 fighter plane. He began buying machines during the recession and will buy one this year. He has spent $1.6 million on four machines since 2007. Boucher says his business from aircraft makers has risen sharply because airlines that weren’t buying planes during the recession now want to replace them. When Boeing. Co. released its first-quarter earnings in April, it said it had orders for more than 4,000 commercial planes. The heavy toll that the recession took on the manufacturing business has also encouraged many companies to buy machinery. Manufacturers that went out of business left behind a glut of machines. John Maurer has bought four machines in the last year and has been getting bargains — some cost just 40 percent of the price of a new one and were only a year old. He expects to buy two this year for his family’s Springfield, Ohio-based company, Esterline & Sons Manufacturing, whose customers include aerospace and medical device companies and power plants. “We were able to jump on some good bargains,” says Maurer, the company’s chief operating officer.