Home » Manufacturing

Manufacturing

Articles

CHRIS KATTERJOHN Commentary: Setting an example for Sacramento

“To improve Sacramento, learn from Indianapolis” was the headline of a column in the Nov. 18 Sacramento Business Journal. It’s always nice to get a compliment and some good PR. Turns out a delegation of nearly a hundred Sacramentonians-or is it Sacramentites?-were here in October on a three-day study mission to learn how to become a great city. It was the seventh year in a row for them to make a learning visit to another community. Tom Stallard, head of…

Read More

ECONOMIC ANALYSIS: States shed differences, except those in Midwest

What can we say about the business climate in Indiana that other states aren’t already saying about themselves? We think we have a great quality of life, good access to transportation, and a hardworking labor force. So do they. We have a variety of tax incentives, training grants and infrastructure improvements that we tout aggressively to those who would build or expand here. So do they. In fact, one of the most remarkable trends over the last few decades has…

Read More

Fine-tuning a business strategy: Local violinmaker finds success by raising prices

F ine-tuning a business strategy Local violinmaker finds success by raising prices John Welch made a counterintuitive business decision two years ago. The violin business was in decline. Asian manufacturers were turning out high-quality stringed instruments for a fraction of the price of their American competitors. Welch decided to swim against the current. He raised prices. “We realized the only way to compete with the Chinese was to improve our quality,” said Welch, CEO of Indianapolis-based Sofia Violins. “We realized…

Read More

ECONOMIC ANALYSIS: State economy looks good, but clouds are on horizon

It’s the time of year to get out our crystal balls and ask this deceptively simple question: What kind of year will 2006 be for the Indiana economy? This year, like any other, finds us making lists of what’s going right, and what’s going wrong, in our economic environment. Let’s start with the good news. It may surprise some of you to know there is plenty to choose from. Topping the list has to be the surprisingly robust health of…

Read More

VIEWPOINT Valerie Eickmeier: Business needs to harness power of arts

VIEWPOINT Valerie Eickmeier Business needs to harness power of arts Indiana will more fully reach its potential in economic development for the 21st century when its common goal is to build a community where commerce and creativity can thrive. The world is entering an era some business leaders and economists are calling the “Conceptual Age.” They trace the economic growth of our country from agriculture to industrial manufacturing, technology and the Information Age. Today, our country’s primary economic growth and…

Read More

Incentive search shot down: University Loft eyes Tennessee after Hancock County spurns request to create a TIF district

Hancock County Commissioners’ unwillingness to consider creating a Tax Increment Financing district has sent a growing Indianapolis-based manufacturer looking for a new expansion site, possibly out of state. University Loft Co. CEO James N. Jannetides said he was continually rebuffed over a months-long process to get the tax incentives his company needed to bring 200-plus jobs to the county directly east of Marion County. Now Jannetides said he might look to consolidate manufacturing in Tennessee where he opened a plant…

Read More

ECONOMIC ANALYSIS: We need to push harder to foster a tech economy

You have to give the folks at Techpoint, the advocacy group for technology-oriented business in Indiana, plenty of credit for stamina. For eight years, these f o r wa r d – l o o k i n g folks have been carefully measuring the state’s progress in what was once called the high-tech economy. And for each of those eight years, the message has been depressingly consistent: We remain at the back of the pack. That’s not for lack…

Read More

Hammond Kennedy Whitney buys centrifuge maker: Investment allows Midwest Engineered Products to expand sales and marketing

Sometimes, a profitable product isn’t enough to sustain a company’s growth. That’s what financial partners are for. Consider Midwest Engineered Products Corp. Founded in 1982 with a $1,000 investment by Jim Beattey and his son Jeff, the locally based industrial centrifugemaker has grown since then on bank loans and its own profits. These days, it brings in annual revenue of $10 million, with sales as far away as Europe and New Zealand. “We were having trouble keeping up with the…

Read More

VOICES FROM THE INDUSTRY: Talent, education are keys in competitive field of design

“Individuals with little or no formal education in design, as well as those who lack creativity and perseverance, will find it very difficult to establish and maintain a career in the occupation,” warns the department through its currently posted Bureau of Labor Statistics Outlook. While I do suggest that designers of the future should take their career outlook seriously given the current and expected competition, I certainly would not want to discourage them. Creativity and perseverance are among those traits,…

Read More

There’s more to logistics than forklifts and sweat: Colleges offer degrees for white-collar jobs in the field

It’s not sexy, but it’s where the jobs are. Ivy Tech Community College will offer an associate’s degree in logistics management, the latest effort in Indiana aimed at cultivating a work force for the transportation-distribution-logistics sector, known as TDL. Meanwhile, the University of Indianapolis is preparing a concentration in supply chain management that will have key applications in logistics careers. Experts say the educational push is sorely needed, yet it’s still a challenge to get young people interested in the…

Read More

Startups offered a fast track: Motorsports-themed incubator gets green light in Brownsburg

Hendricks County officials hope a new business incubator there revs the engines of local entrepreneurs. The motorsports-themed facility, to be known as Fast-Start, got the green light after a year-long feasibility study concluded the project was a logical fit for a community that already houses Prudhomme Racing, John Force Racing and Bill Simpson’s Impact Racing. “It would help achieve some of our goals in Brownsburg,” said Jeanette Baker, town council president and treasurer of the Hendricks County Economic Development Partnership,…

Read More

ECONOMIC ANALYSIS: State’s economy humming, so why do we feel gloomy?

The days are shorter, the temperatures are colder, and the leaves are falling off the trees. For most normal people, that means it’s time to start carving pumpkins, planning for holidays, or even watching the World Series. But for economists, it means something else entirely. It is the beginning of forecasting season. It’s a time when organizations of all kinds are thinking about what they can expect in the coming year. For most of us, the state of the economy…

Read More

Somerset enjoying freedom: Firm grew under First Indiana, but independence brings control, president says

Leaders of Somerset CPAs PC are soaking in the single life, one year after they split from First Indiana Corp. Twenty-one Somerset partners bought the assets of the accounting firm from the locally based public company on Oct. 25, 2004, ending a four-year relationship in which bad timing contributed more to the breakup than bad karma. The corporation is the holding company of First Indiana Bank. At a time when the Sarbanes-Oxley Act mandates auditor independence, Somerset President Patrick Early,…

Read More

Lathering up for a buyout?: Local hair care products biz Kenra could fetch $80 million

Kenra LLC, a locally based hair-care products manufacturer that has nearly tripled its revenue in six years, is looking for a buyer. New York-based Giulliani Capital Advisors LLC is helping the 76-year-old company find a suitor, according to sources familiar with the situation. Kenra reported its annual sales doubled last year to $80 million on the strength of a new line called Kenra Platinum, an upscale haircare collection. Company officials told Women’s Wear Daily in March sales could increase another…

Read More

ECONOMIC ANALYSIS: Bankruptcy of Delphi Corp. isn’t all bad news for state

The long-anticipated bankruptcy filing of Delphi Corp. has sparked yet another discussion of the viability of manufacturing as a pillar of the Indiana economy. Such discussions, unfortunately, have become commonplace in many communities across the state in the last 10 years, in the wake of other troubling developments. Most of us know the face of manufacturing has changed across the state, but to see the world’s largest auto-parts manufacturer-once part of mighty General Motors Corp. itself-succumb to this fate is…

Read More

In a race for robotics: Crash doesn’t quell Jones’ hope of building new industry

One day in the not-so-distant future, robot drones will drive the military’s supply vehicles through dangerous war zones. They’ll pilot tractors across farm fields and steer plows as they scrape snowy highways. Automatic cars will even whisk you to and from work. High-tech entrepreneur Scott Jones, 44, believes with a zealot’s fervor this all will happen. More than a gee-whiz observer, the man who helped invent voice mail hopes to establish a robotic vehicle business-and ultimately the robotic vehicle industry-in…

Read More

Pathway to growth: Production firm’s storytelling attracts national attention

Despite a wall lined with Emmy Awards and a client list including ESPN and VH1, Pathway Productions founder Michael Husain is as eager to talk about corporate work and Web site development as his firm’s latest Peyton Manning documentary or his work showcased in this year’s Heartland Film Festival. “The new media side of our business, and that includes Web site development, grew 100 percent in each of the last two years,” Husain said. “So you can see why we’re…

Read More

Backing home again: CID changes out-of-state course, invests $50M in Indiana

Indiana’s flagship venture capital firm has changed direction. Often criticized for not investing frequently enough within state lines, CID Equity Partners over the last five years has quietly put nearly $50 million to work in 10 Indiana companies. In the decade before, CID invested in just a half-dozen local deals. And after struggling to weather the 2001 recession, CID’s managers believe the wind is finally at their back. Three years ago, massive losses threatened to sink the firm. Since then,…

Read More

Child-safety concerns lead to new division: Company uses R&D to manufacture innovative car seat

Indiana Mills & Manufacturing Inc. is creating a new division, launching a new product, and cutting a new path straight to retail consumers. It’s a big departure from the 45-year-old company’s historical path to profitability. Westfield-based IMMI has long made its money supplying a lengthy list of manufacturers and distributors in the transportation and heavy-equipment sectors with its innovative seat belts, rollover systems for heavy trucks, and restraint systems for school buses and on- and off-road commercial vehicles. But company…

Read More

Bob Wilson & Associates Inc.: Consultant helps companies predict workers’ potential Personality test provides key information to guide businesses’ personnel decisions

Personality test provides key information to guide businesses’ personnel decisions It may not be fortunetelling, but the Predictive Index gives important clues about an individual’s success or failure in certain jobs. In Indiana, Michigan and Ohio, the trademarked personality test is licensed to Bob Wilson & Associates Inc., a Carmel consulting firm that works with more than 200 companies, helping with hiring, retaining, managing and motivating employees. The firm also works with corporations on strategy and other management services. Wilson,…

Read More