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Twenty years ago, the only thing coming out of Red Gold Inc.’s small Orestes plant was diced tomatoes, tomato sauce and tomato puree. The processor now makes products that sell in all 50 states and 16 countries under its brand or private labels.
An Ohio program launched in 2003 to urge development of extremely earlystage companies has already spurred investments worth $239 million in 68 Buckeye startups. Venture capitalists would like to duplicate the program here. But their proposal has been languishing at the Indiana Economic Development Corp. for a month. “We have the application. We haven’t done anything with it,” said IEDC Director of Small Business and Entrepreneurship Bruce Kidd. “This is a classic steeple chase. You’ve got lots of hurdles to…
Our family’s license plate renewal tags have always arrived by the deadline date each year, but this year the end of the month rolled around and our five cars still carried last year’s stickers. It dawned on us that we’d all be driving illegally. Our son drove to the Bureau of Motor Vehicles office nearest his home to see if he could get his two tags. My husband and I both had client appointments to which we had to drive….
PROFILE FIRST JURY INC. Practice makes perfect Local trial consultants aim to help lawyers prepare for litigation Blame the name. Attorneys could be forgiven if they thought hiring Indianapolis-based First Jury Inc. would get them advice on choosing a jury sympathetic to their clients’ cause. But its staff won’t tell them to avoid the woman with her arms crossed or the man who won’t make eye contact. Instead, they’ll assemble a jury of their own and stage a mock trial,…
Two doors opened for Pam Evans on Aug. 5-one to her own clothing store and the other to her independence. The Cherry Shop represents both to Evans, who lost most of her sight over the course of a weekend in 1998 to a genetic eye disease called angioid streaks. Left with only her peripheral vision, she also lost her career in real estate and corporate sales. After a period of depression, Evans decided she wouldn’t lose it all. “I felt…
The Indiana General Assembly’s decision in 2001 to hand Indianapolis Mayor Bart Peterson the keys to the city’s new charter schools initiative marked the first time in the nation that a municipal leader had been given the authority to grant charters. The unusual approach to improve educational opportunities here has earned the city several accolades, including last month’s prestigious Harvard University Innovations in American Government Award. Now the mayor wants to expand upon the program’s success and launch a not-for-profit…
There’s a real buzz about job growth in Indiana these days. Announcements of job creation, big and small, are echoing through the business media, and many economic development officials tell us their phones are ringing with calls from new prospects at a rate they haven’t seen in years. Yet the data used by most of us to track job growth tell a slightly more sobering story. The 2.94 million workers on Indiana payrolls in July, as reported by the Department…
I spoke at a meeting last week on the prospective impact of Honda in Greensburg on the Columbus economy. Several speakers had preceded me and I did not know what they had said, since I arrived an hour late. Naturally, I apologized for my tardiness. Punctuality is a virtue in societies, like ours, that value efficiency above comfort. Then I proceeded, unwittingly, to make a fool of myself. I proclaimed, in my best stentorian manner, that the key factor for…
Ah, it’s almost that time again. For the pomp. The pageantry. The Bloody Marys and brats in the parking lot. There are few things I look forward to more than college football season. And that would include Indiana University’s season. Especially IU’s season, in fact. File it under perverse pleasure. Somehow, I find ecstasy in the continuing agony of IU football. Time and again you get punched in the gut only to respond, “Sir, can I have another?” It’s easy…
The leanest aspect of lean manufacturing is moving from the shop floor to the accounting office, where a new recordkeeping system is gaining a following. Proponents of so-called lean accounting say it’s better than traditional accounting at measuring the cost savings and efficiencies of lean manufacturing, a business-improvement strategy that shortens the time between customer order and shipment. Instead of simply looking at inventory levels and sales numbers as traditional accounting does, lean accounting measures things such as worker productivity…
To put it mildly, the hype about China (and now, increasingly, about India) has been enough to choke a horse. I know. I got right to the front of the bandwagon three years ago when I started writing about India. But when it comes to your cash, it’s only worth talking about stuff that is going to make you money. We are not in a classroom. And with your money firmly in the front of our mind, let’s find out…
To the small cadre of economists who have worked their entire professional lives trying to understand the complexities of how and why the labor market rewards some skills, occupations and people more than others, the popularity of the idea of a government-mandated minimum wage must be depressing. But it shouldn’t be surprising. The notion that complex market outcomes can be explained by simplistic notions like greed or discrimination-solvable by the stroke of a lawmaker’s pen-will probably always have a superficial…
Langsenkamp, CEO of Sigma Micro Corp. in Indianapolis, began conducting research on the patented Reverse 911 Interactive Community Notification System in 1990. The technology, however, didn’t hit the market en masse until a decade later. Today, roughly 350 law enforcement agencies in the United States and Canada, including those in Carmel and Beech Grove, use it to blast warnings to residents. “It was the first system that ever allowed people to dial phone numbers and deliver messages based on the…
Bruce Hetrick is on vacation this week. In his absence, this column, which appeared on Aug.19, 2002, is being reprinted. Dear Reader: In our nation’s capital, at the corner of Massachusetts Avenue and North Capitol Street, the Smithsonian Institution has converted a former post office into the National Postal Museum. Carved into the white granite wall is an inscription called “The Letter.” Written by former Harvard University President Charles W. Eliot and edited by former U.S. President Woodrow Wilson, it…
You might call Lazy Daze Coffee House the “Cheers” of Irvington. This is a place where everyone does know your name-and what kind of coffee you drink. Lazy Daze is the brainchild of Jeff Coppinger, a 34-year-old Howe High School graduate who returned home after serving in the U.S. Navy. He’s working on a major in political science and a minor in philosophy at IUPUI, a good foundation for creating a coffeehouse that “crafts the art of conversation,” as he…
“Is there really such a thing as the ‘Indiana economy’?” The question came from Ed Doric, a pillar of our community. We were at one of the many fests that provide camaraderie and calories during our humid Hoosier summers. The crowd moved us apart so I could not answer his inquiry. Let the following be accepted as my response. Yes, Ed, there is an Indiana economy. As certainly as there is a U.S. economy, as surely as you or I…
Boston-based Dunkin’ Donuts is salivating over the prospect of ringing up big sales in Indianapolis and wants to franchise at least 10 stores here within the next year as part of a national expansion.
Androids are creatures of science fiction to most people, but to Karl MacDorman, robots made to resemble humans are more like colleagues. MacDorman, 40, is an associate professor at the Indiana University School of Informatics in Indianapolis who uses the mechanical subjects in his studies of human-computer interaction. “The android is a very interesting device in studying human communication,” he said. “If you use a robot, people expect it to act like a robot. But if you use a robot…
I like to surf. I’ve been doing it for 25 years and, although I live in Indiana, I indulge my hobby with a few quality trips a year. One thing I love about surfing is the amount of fun I have without taking a lot of risk. Shark attacks are infrequent, and I don’t surf places with a history of them. And if the surf is so big as to be dangerous, I just stay out of the water. I…
An Indianapolis health care startup plans to begin diagnosing patients this fall without actually seeing any of them face to face. NearMed will venture into the fastgrowing market for “teleradiology” by offering a network of doctors around the clock and radiology subspecialists who work days and evenings to read X-rays and other images transmitted over a secure computer network. The Intech Park-based company will call on radiologists in Indiana, Texas and Idaho. In addition, it will provide clients with picture…
