Three Words - 1/30/12
Three Words
by guest blogger Kelley Lefever
My dad use to tell me if you work hard enough and do the right thing, success will come your way. Sounds simple enough, right? Last month I had the pleasure of joining three national trade publication reporters on a media tour of Northeast Indiana during their stops to three Whitley County businesses. The experience was extremely informative, but most apparent to me was for these three businesses, success is just the beginning. They are all humming a tune; Excellence, Entrepreneurial & Employee-focused.
Excellence: In the 1970’s Dick Conrow & Rob Marr started C&A Tool in Dick’s garage. Today, C&A has grown to over 500 employees and just under 700,000 SF of space in 4 locations. And when tough times hit along with the rest of the country in 2009, instead of laying off 120 employees, C&A Tool found odd jobs like painting and cross training their employees as a better choice than letting them go. Three years later, they are reaping the benefits of a dedicated and highly trained workforce, onsite ready to tackle the next contract, giving them the leg up against the competition.
Entrepreneurial: Tino Pereira, president and CEO of (newly establish) electron-bean sterilization company Iotron Industries USA, said it best when chatting about the Whitley County business environment: “I just keep wondering if all the support and assistance is going to stop. Sometimes after you have made it official where to put your business, the phone stops ringing, but not here, not in Whitley County. It’s seems as everyday someone is knocking on my door asking how they can help make our business successful. That is not something you see everyday, and definitely not in other parts of the country.”
And in return, Iotron and Solstice Medical, a medical device company in Northeast Indiana just announced a joint collaboration at Iotron’s new facility. It’s a case study in partnerships as well as the wiliness to create a business community that supports one another, all focused on excellence.
Employee-focused: According to President and CEO of Micropulse Brian Emerick– the reason his and other tool & die shops in Northeast Indiana exist today can be directly tied back to an apprenticeship & training program offered by General Electric in the 1980’s. And he’s right. It’s a common theme you’ll hear in Northeast IN; start up entrepreneur turned successful business owner.
But what made Micropulse successful is more than that alone and can be tied back directly to Emerick and what he refers to as the Micropulse culture with roots from his days in the GE program: “I believe in supporting our future work force by offering training, paying for school, internships and treating my employees right.”
Many of Micropulse’s employees have worked there for 20+ years after starting as a high school intern. In return Emerick has created a culture within Micropulse that cannot easily be replicated elsewhere and is the backbone of their success. Micropulse operates in a 100,000 SF facility and tops the employment numbers at just over 200. It’s easy to see how Micropulse’s success can be attributed to their business philosophy.
These three businesses and others in Whitley County are all humming a similar tune and you feel it at every business, machine shop or facility you stop by. When times are tough, they aren’t tough enough to break the foundation of Whitley County’s business culture and the commitment they show to their employees and community. It’s about doing the right thing in business and employee relationships, and believing success will come your way and for these Whitley County businesses it has.
Make no little plans,
Kelley Lefever