Business Journal-Portland articles from June 1997

Business Journal-Portland archives from June 1997

Fast-growing multimedia firm stumbles. (Multimedia Resources Inc.)
June 6, 1997... The sky seemed to be the limit for Multimedia Resources Inc. until a few months ago. Sales doubled from $448,000 in 1994 to $992,000 in 1995 and again to $1.9 million last year. In fact, the company's growth landed it in the top five on The...

Claremont's focus: hiring, acquisitions. (Claremont Technology Group Inc.)
June 6, 1997... Paul Cosgrave says stepped-up recruiting and further acquisitions are key to the future success of Beaverton's Claremont Technology Group Inc. The publicly traded computer systems integrator has focused on that strategy to keep pace with its own...

Soaring coffee prices jolt roasters, retailers.
June 6, 1997... Dan Welch knows his beans - expensive beans. Welch, the vice president and roast master for World Cup Roasters in Northwest Portland, is now paying $462 for bags of green coffee beans. A year ago, the 132-pound bags wholesaled for about $270....

Peddle to the metal. (metals industry workforce training)(Interview)
June 6, 1997... Two women involved in metals industry workforce training discuss goals, frustrations Work force needs surveys show that thousands of new metals-related jobs will be created in the tri-county area over the next five years as existing employers...

Active approach to investors. (software firm Active Arts)(Small Business Savvy)
June 6, 1997... After struggle to raise money, Stephen Saltzman rethinks business plan On Halloween day, Stephen Saltzman's company received a nice big treat. It was on that day he secured the first outside round of investment for Active Arts, his software...

Pacific Corp to peddle financial unit's assets: aircraft leases, affordable housing to fund Energy Group merger.
June 20, 1997... Aircraft leases, affordable housing to fund Energy Group merger Weighing tax benefits vs. a cash infusion, Portland-based utility PacifiCorp is exploring the sale of a subsidiary's aircraft and housing projects to help finance its planned $9.7...

River wild: jetboats make waves on the Willamette.
June 20, 1997... Jetboats make waves on the Willamette Andy Moos and Robert Hamlyn think they can build a new Willamette River water tour business around people who want to speed across open water with 1,000 horsepower at their backs. So after two years of...

Can Arrow turn itself around? Some creditors skeptical bankrupt trucking company will rebound. (Arrow Transportation Co)
June 20, 1997... Some creditors skeptical bankrupt trucking company will rebound Arrow Transportation Co., a financially troubled Portland trucking firm, is blaming most of its problems on what it said is a too costly labor contract with its International...

More teacher than techie: former Hewlett-Packard marketer takes PrintPaks to $10 million in sales. (PrintPaks founder and Pres Judy MacDonald)
June 20, 1997... Former Hewlett-Packard marketer takes PrintPaks to $10 million in sales Judy MacDonald might be the president of one of Portland's hottest software startups, but she's quick to call for help f her computer crashes. And unlike her stock-option...

Charting new territory: Utah's youngest national monument beckons with its redrock wilderness and lack of civilization. (Utah's Escalante River Canyon)(Focus On Executive Getaways)
June 20, 1997... We stood at the edge of Utah's Escalante River Canyon and wordlessly let our jaws drop. For miles, we had driven down dusty dirt roads across high plains desert that was flat and pimpled with gray scrub. But before us lay something else...

Mexico can still be land of business opportunity.(Focus On Executive Getaways)
June 20, 1997... Most head south of the border for rest and relaxation; others hunt for long-term potential in coastal properties Piper methodically sifts through the Casablanca's remains. Once, this popular night club was one of the hottest spots in the small...

Refugees make good neighbors: Vietnamese and Eritrean families build solid auto businesses in Southeast.
June 20, 1997... One family hails from Vietnam, the other from Eritrea. Both left behind friends and relatives more than 15 years ago while escaping the horrors of war. The two families are refugees, business owners, survivors, entrepreneurs, and for the past two...

Merger to hike PacifiCorp's debt-to-equity ratio.
June 20, 1997... If utility giant PacifiCorp were Joe Consumer, its acquisition of The Energy Group PLC would pretty well max out the old Visa card. Not enough debt to blow the credit limit, but enough to make a minimum payment a bit of a squeak in a lean month....

Critics: Young report just doesn't do it. (former UN ambassador Andrew Young's report on Nike's Asian factories and labor practices)
June 27, 1997... Nike Inc. says the much-touted report by former U.N. ambassador Andrew Young took a hard look at its Asian factories and labor practices there and found generally favorable working conditions. But some human rights groups say the report is...

High flier crash-lands with catalog. (downfall of Distribution Sciences Corp.)
June 27, 1997... Ron Wiener's decision to start JetStream Aviation Catalog in 1995 with only $150,000 in capital was a gamble, one that came back to haunt him, he admits today. According to Wiener and others familiar with his company, Distribution Sciences Corp....

Feisty Certifax takes on mail-order drug giants. (Certifax Pharmacy Services)
June 27, 1997... Merck, Baxter and Eli Lilly & Co. Names to be reckoned with in the drug industry, where they have dominated thanks to their superior buying power, research and development clout and distribution networks. Yet Certifax Pharmacy Services, a feisty...

Inner Eastside businesses push for parking permits.
June 27, 1997... After years of tolerating downtown commuters parking for free in their neighborhood, Inner Eastside business owners have had enough. The industrial and distribution companies in the area, led by the Central Eastside Industrial Council, have...

Engel engineers turnaround for WTD. (Bruce Engel, president of WTD Industries Inc.)
June 27, 1997... Buoyed by lower costs on the buy side and higher prices on the sell side, the long beleaguered WTD Industries Inc. appears to be slowly lifting itself from the financial morass that precipitated its descent into Chapter 11 reorganization....

Microbrew industry has stale taste in its mouth.(Industry Overview)
June 27, 1997... While the rest of the stock market surges to new highs, the microbrewing industry remains as stale as yesterday's beer. Microbrew stocks are trading at all-time lows, institutional investors have bailed out and competition is only getting...

Vision accomplished; no one needs to tell Roy Kim how to develop the family plot. (real estate developer)
June 27, 1997... On the move for much of his life, Roy Kim appears to have found what he's been searching for in Portland. After years of honing his development skills for other employers, Kim, 38, is focusing all his energy on a $100 million mixed-use project...

Bringing clients into design process: Anstey Healy Design succeeds by including clients in design process.(Small Business Savvy)(Company Profile)
June 27, 1997... Anstey Healy Design succeeds by including clients in design process Abigail Anstey and Catherine Healy, partners in Anstey Healy Design, can't imagine working with anyone else. The team of graphic designers has worked together since 1990 in a...

Engineering Design Corp. evolves.(Fastest-Growing Private 100 Companies)(Company Profile)
June 27, 1997... Consulting firm adds development practice Engineering Design Corp. doesn't bear much resemblance to the company that was formed 11 years ago. Not only is the company doing more business - $3.3 million in 1996 revenue compared with only $255,000...

Thurber Technology helps make connections.(Fastest-Growing Private 100 Companies)(Company Profile)
June 27, 1997... For a guy who never even bothered to take a computer science class, Alex Thurber has done pretty well in the computer business. His firm, Thurber Technology Group, specializes in providing businesses with computer networking solutions and lately...

Bagel Basket's success boils down to product.(Fastest-Growing Private 100 Companies)(Company Profile)
June 27, 1997... When Lowell Morse moved to Portland from California in 1990, his taste for fresh New York-style bagels was not quenched by local bagel offerings. With a little help from his family and a friend who ran a chain of bagel stores in California,...

Huntair cleans up in its semiconductor niche.(Fastest-Growing Private 100 Companies)(Company Profile)
June 27, 1997... A major player in the cleanroom industry, Huntair started growing its roots in the basement of president Dave Benson's Beaverton home in 1993. Huntair has since been profitable each year of operation, grossing $33 million in 1996, and currently...

Portland's Vital Signs grows with its clients.(Fastest-Growing Private 100 Companies)(Company Profile)
June 27, 1997... Jim Fletcher and Nick Olson, co-founders of Portland's Vital Signs, believe their company's impressive growth is due to its unconventional approach to screen printing. By offering its expanding base of customers top-notch service, fast turnaround...

To White Horse Studios, growth is a production.(Fastest-Growing Private 100 Companies)(Company Profile)
June 27, 1997... The husband-and-wife team of Jeanne McKirky-Spencer and Ron Spencer were business partners from the start. The couple met through a mutual friend in 1978 while Jeanne was a student at the University of Iowa and Ron was visiting. On impulse,...

Ornelas Enterprises niches wagon to a star.(Fastest-Growing Private 100 Companies)(Company Profile)
June 27, 1997... Ornelas Enterprises Inc., a Hillsboro-based high-tech electronic assembly and manufacturing plant, is a David and Goliath story with a twist. While the minority-owned company operates in the shadows of the giants, it is building a broad...

Oregon Spice blends taste with technology.(Fastest-Growing Private 100 Companies)(Company Profile)
June 27, 1997... They bear no resemblance to the popular British band by the same name, but Barbara Jacobs and Penny Wrobel are known as the spice girls for good reason. As co-owners of the Oregon Spice Co., a small firm that has seen steady growth since the pair...