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FAST LANE - December
2005
Honorees are selected in three categories: small businesses with 1-50 Kentucky-based employees, mid-size companies with 51-250 Kentucky-based employees, and large companies with 251 or more Kentucky-based employees. This year’s awards were presented to: Blue Moon Artworks, Louisville and Lectrodryer, LLC, Richmond (a tie for the small business award); Blendex Company, Louisville (medium-sized business); and Alltech, Inc. Nicholasville (large business). Established in 1996, Blue Moon Artworks is a corporate award and gift company that focuses on providing unique and creative products. The company specializes in metal products and has created items for a wide array of both local and national clients, including Churchill Downs, Yum Brands, Kentucky Colonels and General Mills. Blue Moon also has collegiate licensing and is currently designing and manufacturing product lines for UK, UofL, Ohio State, Michigan State, Duke and North Carolina universities. Lectrodryer, L.L.C. designs, engineers, and manufacturers a complete range of industrial drying and purifications systems used for the removal of moisture and other impurities from air, gases and liquids. The company’s 31 employees have created systems for clients that include NASA, the U.S. Mint, LG&E and Marathon. Blendex produces batters, breadings, seasonings and marinades that are developed in-house or to customers’ specifications. Its products include barbecue sauce, biscuit mixes, hot wing breading, pizza dough and chili seasoning. The company has 79 employees, who operate out of a new 120,000-square-foot complex in Louisville. Alltech is a global animal health company that provides natural solutions to the feed and food industries. The Nicholasville-based company, which has a staff of 1,500 employees, has a presence in 85 countries around the world. STATE Site Selection magazine, a leading international economic development publication, has ranked Kentucky 9th in the nation in its 2005 Annual Business Climate Rankings. “Kentucky is demonstrating solid improvement in its business climate, and corporate site selectors are rewarding that effort,” said Mark Arend, editor of Site Selection. For the two previous years, Kentucky has placed 12th in the overall ranking. The Site Selection ranking reflects a combination of performance factors related to recent business expansion activities, including Kentucky’s 2004 ranking, ranking over a three-year period, rank per million population; and rank per 1,000 square miles. In addition to expansion activity, equal weight is given to a state’s overall rank based on the results of a survey of corporate real estate executives, in which they were asked to rank their top 10 states according to ease of doing business, overall business costs and related factors. Kentucky placed 10th in the Executive Survey. Beaver Dam Daicel Safety Technologies of America (DSTA) has opened a new facility in Ohio County that is expected to create approximately 100 new jobs. The new 45,000-square-foot plant, which represents an investment of $15 million, will produce gas generant for automotive airbag inflators that are manufactured by Daicel Safety Systems America (DSSA), DSSA is also located in Ohio County. DSTA currently has 20 employees; with the opening of the new facility, employment is expected to reach 112 by the end of 2008. DSSA is also expanding its existing facility and expects to add a total of 350 new jobs by 2007. “Our automotive airbag inflator business continues to grow and from this growth, we will be adding more manufacturing equipment to our facility and new team members over the next few years,” said Yasunori Norris Iwai, president of DSSA and DSTA. EASTERN KENTUCKY Kentucky Highlands Investment Corporation and Appalachian Development Alliance, Inc. (ADA) are among 48 community-based organizations in the country selected by the U.S. Department of the Treasury to receive awards totaling more than $32.8 million from the Community Development Financial Institutions (CDFI) Fund. The CDFI Fund uses federal resources to invest in and build the capacity of private, for- and non-profit financial institutions with a primary mission of community development. These institutions – certified by the CDFI Fund as community development financial institutions – are able to respond to gaps in their local markets that traditional financial institutions are not adequately serving. The institutions provide needed capital, credit and other financial products in addition to technical assistance to community residents and businesses. Financial assistance awards through the CDFI program leverages private sector resources to help these institutions in reaching goals related to job creation, business development, commercial real estate development, affordable housing and financial services, such as providing basic banking services to underserved communities and financial education training. Kentucky Highlands Investment Corporation specializes in venture capital for aspiring entrepreneurs located in areas that are in need of economic development. The ADA is an intermediary business lender and private, non-profit regional development organization. The ADA’s mission is to increase the capacity of its member organizations to make loans to small businesses in 49 Kentucky Appalachian counties through training, networking and capital access. STATE
Cingular plans to invest more than $67 million in its Kentucky network before year’s end, integrating the Cingular and AT&T Wireless networks, increasing coverage and capacity, building 40 new cell sites, adding portable generators and back-up batteries, and offering enhanced new features. BEREA Berea Hospital will become part of Saint Joseph HealthCare in Lexington as part of an effort to increase the availability of patient services in Berea, recruit more physicians to the area and create a “seamless connection” to Saint Joseph through information technology. Berea Hospital will be renamed Saint Joseph Berea. Both Berea Hospital and Saint Joseph Health Care are part of Catholic Health Initiatives (CHI), a national non-profit health care system headquartered in Denver. CHI will invest nearly $7 million to upgrade Berea Hospital facilities and equipment. Plans include the expansion of the hospital’s operating room capabilities, the recruitment of new primary care physicians and the addition of new physician office space, and the establishment of a long-term acute-care facility branch in Berea. STATE
Amazon.com, Team Taylor County and the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce joined forces to fund and implement an initiative to increase the number of GED graduates in Amazon.com’s 20-county recruiting area. The company provides up to $40 for GED test fee reimbursement and an Amazon.com gift card to GED graduates who are residents of the 20-county area, regardless of whether they are interested in Amazon.com employment. The Owensboro Medical Health System has collaborated with Owensboro Community and Technical College to initiate a program that has assisted more than 800 employees to complete their training goals and provided incentives such as paid hourly participation and $250 stipends for designated skill gains. Graviss McDonald’s Restaurants have initiated a McDonald’s-based GED promotion in Franklin and Woodford County stores. More than 180,000 McDonald’s customers in three restaurants will see motivational tray liners and/or bag stuffers that profile successful Kentucky GED graduates with the theme. Murray-Calloway County Hospital provides a monetary incentive for employees to earn their GED. Employees without a high school credential are initially paid at 90 percent of the position’s routine starting pay and are required to earn their GED within 18 months of employment. The hospital pays the GED test fee up to two times for each employee. When employees earn the credential, they receive a raise to 100 percent of the position’s compensation and back pay for the other 10 percent of salary from the date of hire. STATE
America’s Promise – The Alliance for Youth is an organization founded by retired General Colin Powell that works to ensure the well-being of children and youth. The Kentucky communities of Lexington, Louisville, Mt. Sterling, Murray/Calloway County and Ohio County were among the communities recognized in the organization’s first competition to identify the 100 Best Communities for Young People. The winners were selected by a panel of civic, business and nonprofit leaders that included United Way of America President Brian Gallagher; U.S. Chamber of Commerce President Tom Donohue; NBC Washington Bureau Chief and moderator of “Meet the Press” Tim Russert; former U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Donna Shalala; baseball great Cal Ripken Jr.; and former Denver mayor, Wellington Webb. The selection panel’s decisions were based upon detailed information provided in their applications about each community’s efforts in five areas: caring adults who are actively involved in their lives, safe places in which to learn and grow, a healthy start toward adulthood, an effective education that builds marketable skills, and opportunities to help others. SPRINGFIELD Concept Packaging Group is moving forward with plans to open a logistics-packaging facility in Springfield. The company will move into a 20,000-square-foot building that formerly housed Deaton Plastics. Concept Packaging manufactures corrugated paperboard, corrugated plastic, wood packaging, and other packaging materials, including foam fabrication items, injection molded packaging, metal racks, and thermoformed trays. Services include contract packaging, inventory management and monitoring, kit packing, and transportation and distribution management. The South Carolina-based company was launched 20 years ago as Southland Container Corporation. During that time, it has grown from 12 employees to more than 350 employees in 11 states. Derrick Cantrell, general manager of Concept Packaging, said the Springfield operating will initially serve as a logistics-packaging partner to Toyotomi and “will grow as we have in all of our regional facilities.” STATE
MURRAY Murray State University has been selected as the newest branch office of the Kentucky World Trade Center, a nonprofit organization that promotes economic development initiatives and assists companies in establishing overseas operations. The KWTC at MSU will be connected to the university’s new International Center for Economic Development and Cultural Studies. With the establishment of a KWTC office, Murray State will be the only university in the country to house a World Trade Center on its campus. Like the KWTC branches in Lexington and Louisville, the Murray State center will offer market research services, translation assistance, trade education seminars, events and programs, cross-cultural training, trade missions and referrals to international service providers. Murray State expects to have its Kentucky World Trade Center fully functioning by next month. The first programs scheduled are seminars on the basics of doing business abroad and helping local and regional companies grow through an international focus. Other areas that will be covered in the future will be cross-cultural training programs to provide information on country-specific business etiquette, doing business in specific countries and hosting international visitors, among other topics. As part of the program, Murray will work with the KWTC to coordinate trade missions, academic missions, student internships, graduate assistantships and other related activities. The KWTC is affiliated with World Trade Centers in New York, which administers over 300 world trade centers in more than 100 countries around the world. LOUISVILLE The successful merger of the Louisville and Jefferson County governments – the nation’s largest local-government consolidation in nearly three decades – was the focus of a national Alliance for Regional Stewardship conference held last month. Leaders from more than 20 states attended the conference, which included a merger workshop that enabled community representatives to learn more about what city-county mergers involve. More than 50 communities have contracted the Louisville Metro government for information about city-county mergers since the Louisville-Jefferson County merger became official in 2003. The Louisville-Jefferson County merger has resulted in:
Louisville Mayor Jerry Abramson said the conference provided “a great way for civic, business, and government leaders to network and explore the many ways that local governments are saving money, improving services, and promoting economic development through collaboration.” LOUISVILLE The word “podcast” is a combination of the word “broadcast” and the name of Apple Computer’s popular MP3 player called the “iPod.” However, an iPod is not required to listen to podcasts as they may be used with several different digital audio and video formats, can play on most MP3 players or portable digital audio devices, or on most desktop or laptop computers. Churchill officials say they believe the historic track is the first in North America to offer podcasting of information on the track and its races Membership in Churchill Downs’ Twin Spires Club, the track’s customer rewards program, is required for access to the track’s podcasts and is free of charge. “There is an enormous opportunity in podcasting to distribute information about our track and our sport to current fans, educate a limitless number of potential new fans, and to reach an overall audience that we may not be effectively reaching through traditional media,” said Steve Sexton, president of Churchill Downs. The growth in regular use of podcasts is forecast to explode over the next few years as technology continues to improve and more people become comfortable with it. A recent study of 10 U.S. markets conducted by Bridge Ratings, an audio measurement service for radio, estimated that 4.8 million persons had downloaded a podcast from either a radio station or other source sometime during 2005. The study projected that by 2010, the podcast audience will grow to between 45 million and 75 million persons. LOUISVILLE The University of Louisville’s entrepreneurship program, part of the school’s College of Business, has been ranked 19th in the nation by U.S. News & World Report. The U.S. News ranking, which is part of the magazine’s annual “America’s Best Colleges” list, is the latest accolade in a string of honors earned by the university’s entrepreneurship program. It was named a Top Tier Entrepreneurial College in 2003 by Entrepreneur Magazine and the National Model MBA Entrepreneurship Program in 2001 by the U.S. Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship. It also placed 13th in Success magazine’s “Top 50 Business Schools” for Entrepreneurs in 2001. The entrepreneurship curriculum and services include the IMBA – MBA for Entrepreneurial Thinking, Ph.D. in entrepreneurship, Small Business Institute, Cardinal Venture Fund and Family Business Center. The university also offers MBA programs in Panama and Greece and conducts a European/German MBA program with classes in Europe and at UofL. The MBA program in Panama has been named the fourth best program in South America by Latin Trade, a leading business magazine in North America. In addition, the university’s undergraduate business program improved its standing in the U.S. News ranking this year, moving up from No. 104 last year to No. 87 this year. The ranking places the program in the top seven percent of some 1,200 undergraduate business programs nationwide. LOUISVILLE The U.S. House of Representatives Transportation and Infrastructure Committee has given the final go ahead for a new Federal Bureau of Investigation headquarters facility in Jefferson County. According to a statement issued by U.S. Rep. Anne Northup, the FBI’s presence in Louisville has increased considerably in recent years. With increased security requirements in the wake of terrorist attacks, the Louisville office is in need of more space to accommodate personnel and program demands. The agency has been working out of various buildings in Louisville; the goal is to have one central location that will allow for more efficient operations. The new facility is expected to be approximately 100,000 square feet. “Now that Congress has given the green light,” Northup said, “ I hope we can quickly move to the site selection and construction phase.” LOUISVILLE
LEXINGTON
The World Equestrian Games include world championships for seven equestrian sports: show jumping, dressage, eventing, driving, endurance, vaulting and reining. (The Olympics features only show jumping, dressage and eventing.) The two-week event is expected to have more than 300,000 people in attendance, making it the largest sporting event ever held in Kentucky. Economists predict the games will result in an economic impact of some $100 million, the equivalent of hosting two NCAA men’s basketball championship Final Four events. The 2010 event is also significant for the fact that it marks the first time since the games’ inception in 1990 that the games will be held outside of Europe. (Kentucky was in competition with Normandy, France for the 2010 games.) It will also be the first time that the World Equestrian Games will be held at single location able to accommodate all of the events, said John Nicholson, director of the Kentucky Horse Park. The 2006 games are scheduled for Aug. 22-Sept. 3 in Aachen, Germany, with more than 800 athletes and 875 horses expected to compete. The sites for the games are chosen by the Federation Equestre Internationale, the international governing body of equestrian sports that establishes rules and regulations for international equestrian events. LEXINGTON
The $9 million paid for Ashado was the fourth highest price ever for a horse at public auction, the most ever for a female Thoroughbred, and helped push gross sales for the day’s session to $98,121,000, the third highest in the history of the November Sale. The gross was up 21.2 percent over last year’s $80,976,500. “This mare was a genetic standout,” said Duncan Taylor of Taylor Made Sales Agency, which sold the filly. “She has everything you could ever imagine. Ten years from now, I believe that they will think she was a bargain at $9 million. I think she will contribute to the breed like no other horse we’ve sold.” LEXINGTON Lexington-based Mountain Enterprises Inc., the state’s largest asphalt contractor, has been sold to CRH plc, an international building materials group headquartered in Dublin, Ireland. CRH has also acquired 50 percent of Bizzack, Inc., Mountain Companies’ heavy construction affiliate. Owned by Kentucky entrepreneur Leonard Lawson, Mountain Companies has operations in Kentucky, Ohio, West Virginia, Virginia and Tennessee and employs approximately 2,000 people during peak construction months. The company has annual revenues of more than $400 million. The acquisition of Mountain Companies is part of CRH’s larger plan to expand its U.S. materials operations. In addition to Mountain Companies, CRH has purchased Southern Minnesota Construction, an aggregates and asphalt supplier in south-central Minnesota. The combined purchase price for the U.S. companies totaled $413 million. CRH plans to integrate Mountain Companies into its West Virginia subsidiary, West Virginia Paving, to form a new regional business unit. LEXINGTON The University of Kentucky Patterson School of Diplomacy and International Commerce has been ranked 18th among universities in the United States with master’s degree programs in international relations by the magazine Foreign Policy. UK is the only program in the southern region to be on the list. “This is quite an honor for us in part because we are very small compared to the other schools,” said Karen Mingst, acting director of the Patterson School. UK President Lee T. Todd echoed Mingst, noting that “the achievement places UK in impressive company alongside some of this nation’s premier institutions, like Harvard, Stanford, Princeton and MIT.” The Patterson School has between 85 and 100 students, 4.5 full-time faculty and about 35 participating faculty from other UK departments. Students are trained for careers in federal and state governments, international organizations, non-governmental organizations, and private industry. The rankings appear in the November/December 2005 issue of Foreign Policy, which is published by the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace in Washington, D.C. Foreign Policy polled political scientists who teach or do research in international relations. The scholars were asked to list the five best institutions for doctoral and master’s degree programs in international relations. TENNESSEE Goody’s Family Clothing, a Knoxville-based department store chain, has accepted a buy-out offer from GMM Capital LLC and Prentice Capital Management, valued at approximately $327 million. Goody’s, which specializes in moderately priced family apparel, operates 371 stores in 20 states throughout the South and Midwest and has some 11,000 employees. The company’s 2004 sales were reported at $1.2 billion. Earlier this year, prior to accepting the buy-out offer from GMM and Prentice, Goody’s entered into an agreement and plan of merger with Sun Capital Partners IV at a cash price of $8 per share. The company then received an all-cash offer of $8.85 per share from GMM and Prentice, which the Goody’s board of directors deemed a superior proposal. At that time, Goody’s terminated its intent-to-merge agreement with Sun Capital. Goody’s board subsequently approved a revised proposal of $9.60 per share from Prentice and GMM after having received another bid from a third party. TENNESSEE
Citing reasons behind the decision, Nissan officials noted the lower cost of doing business in Tennessee and the state’s favorable business and taxation climate. The company also sees greater potential to improve operational efficiencies: The company has a $2.1 billion vehicle assembly plant in nearby Smyrna, Tenn., where it employs 6,700 employees. Another 1,300 employees work at the powertrain assembly plant in Decherd, Tenn. Nissan currently employs about 1,300 people on its headquarters campus near Los Angeles. Corporate functions managed from that site include, among others, sales, marketing, product planning, corporate planning, communications and training. Nissan operations at the California facility began in 1960. Nissan plans to invest some $70 million in the new facility, which will be designed to accommodate the current headquarters campus, future new hires and some employees now working in other Nissan facilities in North America. Construction of the new building is expected to begin in 2006, with completion slated for 2008. California-based employees will begin to move to Tennessee in mid-June 2006 and will work in temporary facilities in the Bell South building in downtown Nashville until the headquarters is completed.
Business Briefs BOONE COUNTY
CAMPBELLSVILLE
COLUMBIA
DANVILLE
FRANKFORT
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HEBRON
NEWPORT
NORTHERN KENTUCKY
PIKEVILLE
SILVER GROVE
TRIMBLE COUNTY
WESTERN KENTUCKY
STATE
LOUISVILLE
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INDIANA
OHIO
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Copyright 1996-2005, by Kentucky Business Online. All rights reserved. Editorial content
is copyright 2005, Lane Communications Group The Lane Report is a trademark of Lane Communications Group. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. |
Associated Industries of Kentucky recently announced the winners of its 2005 Kentucky Manufacturer of the Year awards, which give recognition to the entrepreneurial spirit, community leadership and policy contributions made by Kentucky manufacturers to the economic success of the Commonwealth.
The Site Selection ranking comes on the heels of Kentucky’s third-place ranking for its workforce training programs in Expansion Management magazine and a fourth place finish in Site Selection’s Annual Competitiveness Award in its May 2005 issue.
Cingular Wireless has expanded its coverage in Kentucky with the addition of eight new GSM (global system for mobile) cell sites. Specific areas benefiting from the new cell sites include:
Six Kentucky organizations have been recognized by the state’s Council on Postsecondary Education as charter “Learning for Life Champions” for their contributions in promoting educational achievement. 
Five Kentucky communities have been recognized by a national organization as being among the best in the country for their efforts to help young people succeed.
The alliance is a national nonprofit organization that fosters regional cooperation and action among civic, business, government and non-profit leaders.
Racing fans can now obtain information about Churchill Downs and its events via podcasts, which enable customers to download information from the Internet and listen to the audio files when they choose. 
The Kentucky Horse Park has been selected as the site of the 2010 World Equestrian Games, an event considered by some in the equestrian world to be even more significant than the Olympics. 
Keeneland’s November Breeding Stock Sale opened on its first day with a world record-breaking sale price. Ashado, a multi-millionaire filly whose victories include the 2004 Breeders’ Cut Distaff, was purchased for $9 million by John Ferguson, acting on behalf of Sheikh Mohammed al Maktoum of Dubai. Ferguson’s bid topped the previous world record for a broodmare or broodmare prospect of $7.1 million paid by John Magnier for Cash Run at Keeneland’s 2003 November Sale. 
Nissan North America, Inc. has announced that it will relocate its Los Angeles headquarters functions and employees to an all-new facility in Franklin, Tenn., 15 miles southwest of Nashville. 
Pomeroy IT Solutions, Inc. has received notification from the Nasdaq stock exchange that the company is subject to being delisted due to the fact that it did not file necessary Security and Exchange Committee forms within the designated time frame. Company officials say Pomeroy was unable to complete its financial statements for the third quarter of fiscal 2005 because of errors related to service billing and cost calculations. The errors pertain to problems with new IT systems and processes for service revenues implemented earlier in the fiscal year. As of press time, Pomeroy intended to request a hearing before Nasdaq to review the situation. As of Nov. 28, an “E” has been appended to Pomeroy’s trading symbol, “PMRY,” to reflect its noncompliance. Pomeroy’s delay in filing its Form 10-Q was the only listing deficiency cited in the notice.
Pedicabs are the newest feature at Newport on the Levee, one of Northern Kentucky’s top tourist attractions, featuring the Newport Aquarium, clubs, theaters, galleries and shops. Levee guests will have the option of taking the pedicabs – a vehicle pulled by a bicycling driver – to other tourist venues in the area such as Cincinnati Reds and Bengals games, concerts, plays or other sites in Covington, Newport and downtown Cincinnati. Pedicab service has proven to be quite popular in locations around the country, including downtown areas in Boston, Denver and Austin and tourist destinations such as Cape Cod.
Louisville-based john conti Coffee Co. has formed a new partnership with the Kentucky State Park system to promote a new blend of its gourmet coffee in all state park facilities. The new “Bluegrass Blend” will be served in the dining rooms and banquet facilities of all 17 state resort parks as well as in room usage in the lodging rooms for overnight guests. The john conti brand will replace the Starbucks brand that has been served and will be packaged specifically for the park system, featuring the “Kentucky Unbridled Spirit” and “Kentucky Proud” logos. 
As part of General Motors’ restructuring of its U.S. manufacturing facilities, the company is closing its Ion sedan assembly line at the Saturn plant in Spring Hill, Tenn. The line shutdown, which will take place by the end of next year, will affect 1,500 of the plant’s 5,700 employees. The Spring Hill facility also produces the Saturn Vue. The plant is one of six GM facilities that will be affected by the restructuring move.