Inside Business articles from May 2007

Inside Business archives from May 2007

Accepting the Miller Challenge.(ABSOLUTELY)
May 1, 2007... Some who heard it refer to it as Sam's talk, as in "What did you think of Sam's talk?" I prefer to call it the Miller Challenge. Detractors tell me beer drinkers will think it's a taste test. Still, I prefer Miller Challenge to Sam's talk,...

Time for change.(URBAN DEVELOPMENT)
May 1, 2007... Give me a C-L-E-V-E-L-A-N-D!" And so it went. The biggest cheerleaders of the city gathered in late March at the House of Blues to forecast the development of a whole new city, encompassing a vibrant, urban downtown that includes Whiskey...

Page turners.(BOOKS)
May 1, 2007... Here are Amazon.com's top five best-selling Business/Finance books for Northeast Ohio for the month of March. 1. "The Fred Factor: How I passion in your work and life can turn the ordinary into the extraordinary" By Mark Sanborn 2....

Blast off.(STARTUPS)
May 1, 2007... In what was described as "the American Idol of business ideas," more than 100 competitors, sponsors, venture capitalists and other guests gathered in late February for the inaugural competition and awards ceremony for the LaunchTown...

Got ink?(FRANCHISES)(Brief article)
May 1, 2007... After spending nearly 30 years in the steel and tubing industry, entrepreneur Robb Bechtel was ready for a change. "I got to the point where I got burned out," says Bechtel. "I wanted to do something different. I was self-employed most of...

Trend spotter.(ECONOMICS)(Interview)
May 1, 2007... The weather, sports scores and lottery numbers may be out of his realm, but National City Corp. Chief Economist Richard DeKaser can predict the U.S. economy. In late March, DeKaser was named the most accurate economic forecaster for 2006...

Our two cents.(POSTAGE)(Brief article)
May 1, 2007... On May 14, the rate for a first-class postage stamp will be 41 cents, a 2-cent increase since the last 2-cent postage hike only a year ago. Here we offer a look at the escalating cost of a first-class stamp over the last 100 years. By the way,...

Too little, too late.(DEALMAKERS)
May 1, 2007... A vacation resort might still be in the cards for Lorain County, but the chances of a European consortium heading the development is unlikely after three years of failed attempts to purchase South Amherst quarry property from American Stone...

$6,095.(BY THE NUMBERS)
May 1, 2007... Average amount Clevelanders spent on transportation in 2005, one of the lowest in the country. Anchorage, Alaska, residents spent an average of $12,596. SOURCE: U.S. CENSUS BUREAU

Catching copycats.(INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY)
May 1, 2007... More than 85 percent of small-business owners are unaware that their patents or trademarks issued in the United States do not protect them from piracy or counterfeiters overseas, says a top intellectual property (IP) enforcer for the U.S....

Great meetings: great places for meetings and events.
May 1, 2007... RED MAPLE INN 14707 South Cheshire Burton, Ohio 44021 P: (440) 834-8334 www.redmapleinn.com The Red Maple Inn, located in the heart of Amish Country in Burton, is a peaceful destination for any gathering. With only 18...

Team NEO Economic Development Impact Awards: Manny Awards.(The Web)
May 1, 2007... Inside Business announces the first Team NEO Economic Development Impact Awards. This annual event was created to recognize the organizations who are making an impact in attracting, retaining and expanding business in Northeast Ohio. The...

In theory: the sales volume of millions of small sellers could surpass the volume of your best sellers.(E-INDUSTRY)(Bibliography)
May 1, 2007... For years I've teased my cousin that she was born with a long tail, like a monkey. I even produced the (Photoshop) photo of the hairy appendage. Now that she's 13, she doesn't accept the tail story anymore though her younger brother is still...

Biz links: Northeast Ohio's business resource guide.(Directory)
May 1, 2007... Biz Links Northeast Ohio's business resource guide ACCOUNTING & FINANCIAL PLANNING Grant Thornton LLP (216) 771-1400 www.gt.com Wachovia Securities (216) 574-7365 www.wachoviasec.com Zinner & Co. LLP ...

Proud politician.(ONE 2 WATCH)(Joshua Mandel)(Interview)
May 1, 2007... Joshua Mandel, 29 State Representative, 17th House District josh@joshmandel.com FIRSTS: Joshua Mandel began his political journey in 2003 serving as Lyndhurst's city councilman--where he was elected with more votes than any...

Chain reaction: Scott Cowan blended his love of cycling with his sales experience to start century cycles in 1992. Today, he operates three shops in Northeast Ohio.(Ohio Entrepreneur)
May 1, 2007... Like most kids, Scott Cowan learned to ride a bike when he was five or six years old. He rode throughout his childhood and college years. "I rode even after I got my driver's license," recalls Cowan. "But I wasn't a bike dude." After...

A game of telephone: Chris Courtney of C.W. Courtney Co. implemented a three-and-one phone call strategy that is driving business growth.(OHIO ENTREPRENEUR)(Garrett and Associates)
May 1, 2007... These days Chris Courtney is growth focused. "In today's economy, I'm of the opinion that you can't just sit back and wait for [work] to come," says Courtney, co-owner of C.W. Courtney Co. in Mayfield Heights. Late last year after...

Road map.(OHIO ENTREPRENEUR)(Website list)
May 1, 2007... Ohio Entrepreneur is a partnership of companies, universities and economic development organizations dedicated to providing access to the information and services entrepreneurs need to start, locate and expand their businesses in Northeast...

Man in motion: behind lifelong Clevelander Don Washkewicz and a new lean manufacturing philosophy, Parker Hannifin is poised to break the $10 billion barrier this year.(Cover story)
May 1, 2007... Don Washkewicz couldn't get the engine grease out from under his fingernails. For his first six months at Parker Hannifin Corp., the 23-year-old Washkewicz removed defective hoses from about 300 truck engine starter motors. For the later...

Sounding the bell: Forest City's Sam Miller is putting his money where his mouth is to foster sweeping governmental change in Cuyahoga County.(GOVERNMENT REFORM)(Interview)
May 1, 2007... Sam Miller, co-chairman of Forest City Enterprises Inc., delivered an unexpected message at Inside Business' annual NEO Success Awards this spring. At a luncheon at Executive Caterers at Landerhaven attended by some 550 business leaders, Miller...

Rules of the game: Northeast Ohio firms use golf as a tool to create new business and strengthen customer relationships.(Executive Golf)
May 1, 2007... Lochlainn O'Haimhirgin just may be the only Northeast Ohio business owner who drives a golf cart to work--at least in good weather. This five-minute commute is made possible because his Highland Heights home is just 500 yards from his...

Executive leaderboard.(Executive Golf)(Table)
May 1, 2007... Executive Leaderboard NAME ORGANIZATION Heisler Jr., Robert B. KeyBank NA Herrick, James Liberty Auto Group Thornton, Andre ASW Global Briggs, Robert GAR Foundation...

Manufacturing excellence.(2007 Manny Awards)(Brief article)
May 1, 2007... Manufacturing is becoming more global and more competitive every day, and yet the people in the business of making things in Northeast Ohio are finding new ways to grow and innovate despite this challenging environment. For them, quitting is...

Healthy impact: Thommen Medical USA is building its sales and marketing workforce in Cleveland.(2007 MANNY AWARDS: New Job Creation)(Brief article)
May 1, 2007... Native Clevelander David Gentile saw the move to Cleveland as the right decision. Thommen Medical USA, a subsidiary of Thommen Medical AG in Switzerland, relocated its implantology business headquarters operations from Oklahoma to downtown...

Leaps and bounds: Perry Fiberglass Products Inc. doubled its workforce thanks to aggressive sales.(2007 MANNY AWARDS: New Job Creation)
May 1, 2007... Avon Lake's Perry Fiberglass Products Inc. has benefited from America's housing boom. As more residential builders set their sights on undeveloped areas of the country, the water, sewer, power and other infrastructure systems need to be in...

In motion: Exal Corp. keeps the lines going, adding hundreds of jobs in the process.(2007 MANNY AWARDS: New Job Creation)(Brief article)
May 1, 2007... "Since our [founding], we have invested more than $165 million in Youngstown with our two plants, says Delfin Gibert, president and CEO of Exal Corp., which has added 340 jobs since 1994, with plans of adding 25 more this year. When the...

Wise investments: TREK diagnostics devotes its resources to maximizing its customers' value.(2007 MANNY AWARDS: Top Growth)
May 1, 2007... Some say you reap what you sow and in the worlds of R&D, manufacturing and distribution, this is especially true. Just ask Mike Burke, CEO of Cleveland-based TREK Diagnostics, a global manufacturer and distributor of automated systems and...

Sticking with the best: Nordson Corp. has created a culture of committed employees who strive for success.(2007 MANNY AWARDS: Top Growth)
May 1, 2007... The heart of its growth is all about culture. That s how Ed Campbell, CEO of Westlake-based Nordson Corp., sees it. "Nordson's culture positions people performance and people management as keys to strong corporate performance and continued...

The answer is yes: PartsSource's growth is the result of dedication to customer service.(2007 MANNY AWARDS: Top Growth)
May 1, 2007... How's this for a five-year growth rate? 3,651 percent. That's evidence of a vision-come-true for Twinsburg-based PartsSource, the "world's largest multi-manufacturer, alternative medical parts supplier." Apparently the $3.8 billion market...

Loyal workforce: many of automated packaging systems' employees have spent their entire careers with the company.(2007 MANNY AWARDS: Best Places to Work)
May 1, 2007... More than 25 percent, of Automated Packaging Systems 750 employees have been with the company for more than 20 years. In fact, the company's voluntary turnover rate of 4.6 percent in 2006 is well below the norms of 15 to 18 percent for...

Best of the west: Weaver Leather credits the company's success to its employees.(2007 MANNY AWARDS: Best Places to Work)
May 1, 2007... Weaver Leather is a leader in the strap goods industry for the equine and arborist markets. So when it comes to having an award-winning workplace, one might say that Weaver's "mane" belief that its success as a company is intrinsically tied to...

Mission--driven employees: Ben Venue Laboratories sets itself apart through its mission statement.(2007 MANNY AWARDS: Best Places to Work)
May 1, 2007... Its mission is simple: "To provide our customers with pharmaceutical products that improve people's health and quality of life." But its the execution of it and management's willingness to reward, train, support and recognize employees for...

Innovating instant interaction: turning technologies' breakthrough response system is creating hype in the marketplace.(2007 MANNY AWARDS: New Product Development/Innovation)(Brief article)
May 1, 2007... "The TurningPoint audience response system is an amazing way to facilitate learning, decision making and group dynamics," says Mike Broderick, CEO of Youngstown-based Turning Technologies. Such hype is well grounded, in fact, when it comes...

Lighting the way: Fiberstars new breakthrough lighting technology is environmentally friendly.(2007 MANNY AWARDS: New Product Development/Innovation)(EFO lighting)(H-Series)(Brief article)
May 1, 2007... Move over fluorescents. There's a new bulb in town that can reduce energy usage by as much as 80 percent. With more than 40 patents to its credit, The EFO lighting technology by Solon-based Fiberstars employs large-core fiberoptic cable to...

Main street draws younger audience: Step2 Co. designed the main street village product line to reach new markets.(2007 MANNY AWARDS: New Product Development/Innovation)(Brief article)
May 1, 2007... While age 6 may seem young enough to instill brand loyalty, Streetsboro-based toy-maker Step2 Co. is introducing products targeted toward an even younger audience--preschoolers. As the world's largest rotational molder of plastic and one of...

Back in gear: a poor economy couldn't stop FDC Machine Repair Inc.(2007 MANNY AWARDS: Biggest Breakthrough)(Company overview)
May 1, 2007... When the economy took a downward turn at the end of 2001, FDC Machine Repair Inc. of Parma, feeling the brunt of its effects, had to tighten its belt. "We were being squeezed against the wall a little bit," FDC President Fred DiCenso...

From the ground up: Summitville Tiles Inc. bounced back from bankruptcy and is growing worldwide.(2007 MANNY AWARDS: Biggest Breakthrough)
May 1, 2007... With foreign imports of floor tile more than doubling since 1990, Summitville Tiles was forced to close two of its six facilities, shutdown its 16 distribution centers and lay off 450 of its 650 workers in 2001. The family-owned...

Seeing the light: recent fiscal problems couldn't bring Union Metal Corp. down.(2007 MANNY AWARDS: Biggest Breakthrough)(Company overview)
May 1, 2007... One hundred years after Union Metal Corp. designed the first pole for the world's first traffic light, the manufacturer is stronger than ever and they owe that growth to some troubled times. From 2001 to 2003, the steel and aluminum...

Top manufacturing companies.(2007 MANNY AWARDS)
May 1, 2007... Top Manufacturing Companies Company Name Top Executive City A. Schulman Terry L. Haines Akron Acorn Technology Robert Green Cleveland Advanced Lighting ...

In your corner: Bricker & Eckler LLP helps manufacturers navigate a complex global marketplace.(2007 MANNY AWARDS: Sponsor Spotlight)
May 1, 2007... In 1944, when John W Bricker, a three-term Ohio governor, two-term U.S. senator from Ohio and a former candidate for vice president of the United States, founded his law firm, American manufacturing stood at the height of its worldwide...

Experience that counts: Grant Thornton LLP thrills its clients by exceeding expectations.(2007 MANNY AWARDS: Sponsor Spotlight)
May 1, 2007... In Grant Thornton LLP's 14th annual Survey of U.S. Business Leaders, responders identified thrilling customers by exceeding their expectations and standing out from the competition as a key ingredient for success. Internally, the prestigious...

The obesity epidemic: it's time to get healthy.
May 1, 2007... Obesity, in both adults and children, has become a national epidemic. The National Alliance for Nutrition and Activity estimates that only 12 percent of Americans eat a healthful diet consistent with federal nutrition recommendations. The...

The skinny on diet drugs: there are several prescription diet pills on the market, but how well do they actually work?
May 1, 2007... There is no doubt that obesity is an epidemic in the United States. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, two-thirds of Americans are overweight, with one-third classified as obese. The health risks associated with...

Curbing emotional eating: if food is your drug of choice, doctors advise keeping tabs on what you're eating--and why.
May 1, 2007... Everyone has at one time or another found themselves reaching for that bag of chips or other snacks without even realizing what we are doing. Sometimes it's for no reason other than sheer boredom. Other times, it may be a way to calm down after...

Low-carb diets losing the battle of the bulge? Although successful for many Americans, the fad diet of the millennium may be losing popularity.
May 1, 2007... In the age of super-sized meals and out-of-control portions, Americans continuously search for easy, quick fad diets to shed those excess pounds. The problem is, when the diet is over, the weight usually comes back. One of the most popular...

The aging answer: genetic solutions could mean longer and better lives, at less cost to society.
May 1, 2007... It's the year 2017. More people are living to 90 or beyond and more are living in misery, strung out on the life support of health care systems that are crashing--along with world economies--under the demographic weight of aging baby boomers....

Matter of the heart: men and women differ on many things, including their symptoms for heart disease.
May 1, 2007... Women's bodies don't follow the rules when it comes to heart disease. Their symptoms are atypical and don't always point to coronary artery disease. They are more likely than men to die from their first heart attack, more likely to die...

Seeing eye to eye: whether you're nearsighted, farsighted or both, today's options in laser correction surgery can give you a whole new view on life.
May 1, 2007... Ready to give up the love-hate relationship with your extra set of eyes? You're not alone. More than one million people open up wide for laser vision corrective surgery each year, thereby shedding the need for glasses or contacts. The...

Colon cancer: four Northeast Ohio doctors answer the most common questions about colon cancer and detection.(Q&A)
May 1, 2007... We read about it in magazines. We hear about it on TV. We even saw Katie Couric's up close. But what is the colon and what does it do? The colon is a long coiled organ that connects the small intestine to the rectum and anus. It...

A healthy balance sheet for your body: a healthy lifestyle should fit into every busy executive's business plan.
May 1, 2007... You didn't climb up the corporate ladder by sitting on your hands, shunning hard work or shying away from a challenge. You didn't hold your breath, cross your fingers and hope for the best along the way either. You were strategic, committed...

Seeing green: many business owners are realizing an investment that's good for Mother Earth is just as beneficial for their bottom line.(Commercial Development)
May 1, 2007... The exterior of Premier Toyota in Amherst looks like any other dealership--a glass box stationed on a sea of concrete, expansive enough to hold 552 vehicles. It contains all the elements necessary for business-as-usual in the world of auto...

Word-of-mouth marketing: vintage development group prides itself on its reputation wfor quality ork.(Marous Brothers Construction.)
May 1, 2007... Vintage Development Group was born out of the Marous brothers--Chip, Scott and Kenny--interest in developing some of the buildings and areas in their hometown of Willoughby. Already an established name in the construction business, the brothers...

Quick reaction: Atwell-Hicks' ability to move on a dime allows it to identify solutions and innovations so its clients are ahead of market trends.(Company overview)
May 1, 2007... It's not quite a Bermuda Triangle, but the modern retail universe is an exciting and challenging one, existing among the complex intersections of investment opportunity, consumer demand, tenant needs and community preference. Still, the...

Antique abode: clothier Christian Boehm and his wife, Kelli, accented every inch of their chagrin falls home with porcelain treasures from their extensive travels.(Off The Clock)
May 1, 2007... Cross the threshold of the Chagrin Falls home of Christian Boehm and you will take a step back in time where French-colonial style meets modern-day amenities. Set back on a private cul-de-sac, Christian, vice president and director of marketing...

On the run: an avid marathon and triathlon competitor, Greater Cleveland Sports Commission's David Gilbert makes athletics a part of his life inside and outside the office.(Off The Clock)(Interview)
May 1, 2007... A gym bag always sits in David Gilbert's car just in case. After his daily two-hour morning workout, Gilbert, president and CEO of the Greater Cleveland Sports Commission, never knows when he will get the opportunity to squeeze in a quick run...

10,000 Little (Micro) ideas to keep you believing in Cleveland.(WORKING THE ROOM)
May 1, 2007... The Cleveland Professional 20/30 Club hosted "10,000 Little (Micro) Ideas to Keep You Believing in Cleveland" in March at the Cleveland Athletic Club. Based on the concept that "every success story begins with a simple idea," the event gave...

Advance Northeast Ohio.(WORKING THE ROOM)(Brief article)
May 1, 2007... To mark the beginning era of regional cooperation, Advance Northeast Ohio, a declaration of the region's economic action plan, was hosted by the Fund for Our Economic Future on March 30 at the John S. Knight Center in Akron. Chairman Robert...

2007 NEO Success Awards.(WORKING THE ROOM)
May 1, 2007... More than 550 business professionals and community leaders gathered at this year's NEO Success Awards on March 22 at Executive Caterers at Landerhaven. Hosted by Inside Business, the event recognized those public, private and emerging companies...