The Bentley Co. of Milwaukee is expanding into the Madison market with a new office and has launched another company to streamline its services.
The Bentley Co., which is based at 8600 W. Bradley Road, will have a grand opening Feb. 8 for its new office in Madison at 2924 Marketplace Drive.
The firm also has formed BMG Corp., a new company that offers integrated program management services and property investment, development and management services.
Todd Bentley, vice president for BMG, will lead its property development activities in Milwaukee.
The new Madison office for The Bentley Co. and BMG Corp. will be overseen by vice president Peter Szotkowski.
"Madison and the Dane County area are such a vibrant market, and we are very pleased with the project base we established in 2004," Szotkowski said.
Szotkowski already has landed his first project in the Dane County market, as The Bentley Co. will construct the new Deer Park Buddhist Center north of the Village of Oregon. The Bentley Co. will construct the new $2 million, 16,000-square-foot facility.
The Buddhist organization has outgrown is current temple in Oregon, Szotkowski told SBT.
Szotkowski brings a Madison insider connection for business to The Bentley Co., as he most recently was a principal at Affiliated Construction Services Inc. in Madison.
The Bentley Co., which was founded in 1848 by John R. Bentley, is the nation’s oldest family-owned and operated general contractor, with six generations of family leadership.
Thomas Bentley III, the firm’s chief executive officer today, noted that BMG Corp. will enable The Bentley Co. to provide "one-stop shopping" for its clients.
"The concept of one-stop shopping is hardly new, but for business owners, brokerage companies, developers and their investors, streamlining and systematizing the program development and the building process can accelerate return on investment," Thomas Bentley III said.
The company hopes to grow its staff and its presence in the Madison market, according to spokeswoman Christine Plewa.
"We just keep growing and growing. After 157 years, you wouldn’t think that would be possible, but it is," Plewa said.
February 4, 2005, Small Business Times, Milwaukee, WI

Michael DeBakker’s story is one of tragedy, perseverance, survival and rebirth. And that just covers the past 12 years.
DeBakker and his first wife, Peggy, founded Milwaukee Broach Co. Inc. in 1985. The company began as a manufacturer of components used in jet engines for military and commercial aircraft.
Like many startup companies, Milwaukee Broach, lost money in its early stages. By its third year, however, the company was turning profits, and its workforce grew to 150 employees in the early 1990s.
In those early stages, DeBakker might have seemed like the movie character Rocky before his first big fight, feeling he was unstoppable on his way to the top.
Then the first punch came. An economic downturn slowed the company’s growth, stalling profits.
The slowdown was followed by a second, more direct punch in 1993, when tragedy hit DeBakker’s family and the company. Three times. DeBakker’s wife died of breast cancer. His father, Donald DeBakker, and his plant manager, Gerald Goodchild, each died of strokes.
Suddenly, DeBakker was a single father of two boys, ages 8 and 11, and the president of a company that faced an uncertain, precarious future.
However, his tribulations continued. A third punch sent DeBakker and Milwaukee Broach staggering against the ropes.
The company was embroiled in a bitter lawsuit between 1995 and 1997 over the value of shares held by a minority shareholder. Although the case was settled in 1997, DeBakker said the time, energy and capital spent to fight the claim took a heavy toll.
To survive, his company needed an influx of cash, and it came from DeBakker’s personal savings.
"We had to pay off the lawsuit when it was settled, and when the company isn’t doing real well, it falls onto the owner," DeBakker said. "We were also in a time of recession, battling on both ends."
Somehow, he never lost faith.
"When you’re an owner, the money doesn’t matter as much as the success. With all the blood, sweat and tears, if I made it through that, I felt like we could make it through and persevere," DeBakker said.
However, fate was not done battering DeBakker and Milwaukee Broach.
A potential knockout punch came with the terrorist attack of Sept. 11, 2001, and the recession that followed. The Menomonee Falls-based company appeared to be dead in the water, DeBakker said.
Seven employees had to be laid off, and DeBakker asked his management staff, including himself, to take a voluntary 20-percent pay cut to keep the company afloat.
The company was hemorrhaging money, posting "huge red numbers," DeBakker recalled.
Things got bad enough that DeBakker even reached into his own personal finances – again – to keep the lights on.
"All I could do was be honest with the management team," he said. "They understood where we were and knew I was personally funding this company to go forward. It was hard to keep focused – but that’s where our people stepped up. They never lost their focus.
"Every owner gets there," DeBakker said. "You have to decide if you’re going to delve into your personal wealth. It’s lonely out there. Ultimately, that decision comes down to you pacing the floor at 3 a.m. It also comes down to your family and the people helping you from the outside. Those were tough days."
Determined to survive, DeBakker and his management team deployed a three-pronged corporate strategy. They invested $1.5 million in new equipment and invested in training their employees. Perhaps most importantly, they diversified the company’s product line. The management team was determined not to allow the company to be subjected to another economic slowdown in the cyclical aircraft industry.
By branching into automotive parts, hand tools and electric generating equipment, Milwaukee Broach began serving a more diverse lineup of industries to pick up the slack when the aircraft industry dipped.
By December 2003, orders started coming in from the company’s diversification plans, thanks to an aggressive sales staff, DeBakker said.
"And that month, we got a huge defense contract," he said. "We got a huge one for power generation, as well."
In January 2004, some of Milwaukee Broach’s aircraft manufacturing clients started placing new orders, as their businesses began to rebound.
Today, Milwaukee Broach is on the rise. The company posted $3.2 million in revenues for fiscal 2004, and DeBakker is forecasting about $4.2 million in revenues for fiscal 2005.
That is a remarkable turnaround, considering how DeBakker and the company have overcome death, recessions and a lawsuit.
DeBakker said he thinks of his employees as family, because many of them have been with the company since its early days. DeBakker said his feelings about the employees, paired with his commitments to faith and his own family, helped him through the darkest times.
Milwaukee Broach has grown from a small shop into a company that does global business from three locations in the United States. In addition to the Menomonee Falls plant at N52 W13821 North Park Drive, the company has facilities in Antigo and South Carolina.
Like Rocky, DeBakker took his punches and kept getting back up, somehow stronger each time.
All seven employees who were laid off have been hired back, and five new employees were hired last year. Two more employees were added recently, and the company will hire additional staff this year, DeBakker said.
DeBakker said some of the credit for Milwaukee Broach’s survival should go to his advisory board.
One of those advisory board members, Stuart Schroeder, an attorney with The Schroeder Group, a Waukesha-based law firm, said DeBakker’s positive relationships with his employees, vendors and customers kept the business alive.
"There were times when Mike was remaining upbeat when some of his advisors, including yours truly, were not so sure he was going to be able to do it," Schroeder said. "He has had a real wonderful attitude while going through all this. That was the key thing which allowed him to persevere. He has a wonderful relationship with his suppliers and his employees. People are willing to give him time and go that extra mile for him – they had faith in the guy that he would be able to do it."
Today, DeBakker faces much more manageable problems than he has in the past.
"We’re actually trying to slow down a tad," he said. "You have to be careful when you look at how heavily you get involved with a customer. Pre 9-11, we had three major customers. Now we have 10 major customers who make up 75 percent of our sales."
DeBakker has remarried and has two more children with his wife, Kristin.
"I need to give credit to my wife and her family for their support," DeBakker said. "They walked the floors with me at 3 a.m."
Michael DeBakker has gone the distance.
Location:
N52 W13821 North Park Drive, Menomonee Falls
Product: Components for jet engines, power-generating turbines, the automobile industry and hand tools
Number of employees: 40
Annual Revenues: $3.2 million in fiscal 2004
February 4, 2005, Small Business Times, Milwaukee, WI

Southeastern Wisconsin real estate professionals are generally optimistic that retail and residential development in the metropolitan area will remain strong in 2005, and that the industrial real estate market will improve this year.
However, the outlook for the area’s office market is mixed, with some viewing the glass as half-full and others contending it is half-empty.
Indeed, several questions are hanging over the commercial real estate market in the Milwaukee area as 2005 begins.
What will happen to PabstCity, the proposed redevelopment of the former Pabst Brewing Co. complex into a downtown Milwaukee regional entertainment center? Unveiled more than two years ago, the $395 project is on hold as the developers, Milwaukee-based Wispark LLC, Cleveland-based Ferchill Group and Atlanta-based TerreMark Partners LLC are trying to secure financing for the project. The developers originally said they wanted $75 million in tax incremental financing, but several city officials, including Mayor Tom Barrett, balked at that request. The developers also are facing a lawsuit by one of the project’s original partners, Jim Haertel, who alleges the other partners have not kept their promise to give him ownership of a portion of the complex.
For now, Wispark officials are remaining tight-lipped about the status of the PabstCity project.
"We don’t have anything to share with you right now," said Wispark spokesperson Margaret Stanfield.
Some real estate professionals believe the PabstCity proposal will eventually move forward.
"I think (PabstCity) is going to happen in some way, shape or form," said Daniel Cohen, director of tenant representation for Mid-America Real Estate.
Will development occur in the Park East freeway corridor, or will the land remain vacant?
City officials decided to tear the freeway down to free up a large tract of land on the north side of downtown for development. About 16 acres of the 64-acre corridor is owned by Milwaukee County, and the County Board recently passed rules that would require developers of the property to pay union-level wages to construction workers and would favor developers that agree to provide affordable housing, green space, worker training and other community benefits. County Executive Scott Walker vetoed the rules for the land sale, but his veto could still be overturned.
Some real estate professionals say the county rules will discourage developers from building on the land.
"If those restraints are in place, you’re going to see that land sit for a long time," said John Czarnecki, vice president of Brookfield-based Apex Commercial, Inc.
"I hope it doesn’t impede (development), but I know it will, because of basic economic principles," said James Barry III, president of James T. Barry Co. in Milwaukee. "The message the whole fiasco sends to developers and people in the free market is that Milwaukee County is not an entity with whom you want to do business."
Other real estate professionals say the county’s rules for developing the Park East land will slow down, but not stop development.
"I don’t think it’s going to doom it," said Scott Welsh, president of Milwaukee-based Inland Companies. "I just think it will be done at a pace Milwaukee is familiar with, which is slow. I don’t think it’s going to go at the pace it should."
"At some point, it will be a great area," said Ned Purtell, principal of RFP Commercial Inc. of Milwaukee. "The county is not going to be able to kill the market trend. (But) I think you’ll have a better development at the end of the day if you let the private sector take care of it."
When and where will the next office tower be built in downtown Milwaukee?
The downtown office market has a 16 percent vacancy rate, according to the 2005 Real Estate Market Review and Forecast by The Polacheck Co., a CB Richard Ellis Company. However, some real estate brokers and developers say the downtown market for Class A office space is strong, and they speculate another new office tower could be built there soon.
The success of the two newest downtown office buildings is fueling some of the speculation. The 227,000-square-foot 875 East building at 875 E. Wisconsin Ave. and the 205,000-square-foot Cathedral Place building at 555 E. Wells St., were completed in 2003, and both reached capacity or near capacity in 2004, faster than many expected. The success of the new buildings indicates that another new office building in downtown Milwaukee also would be filled up, some real estate professionals say.
However, real estate professionals also say that no downtown office project will break ground without first securing an anchor tenant.
At the same time, Quarles & Brady L.L.P. is considering a move from the 411 East Wisconsin Center into a new building. The law firm currently occupies about 160,000 square feet.
"Any time you get a tenant like Quarles & Brady (looking for space), it’s a unique opportunity for the downtown market," said Bruce Westling, president of NAI MLG Commercial of Brookfield. "You may see a building built around that tenant."
Irgens Development Partners LLC has proposed a high-rise office building for the northwest corner of Water and State streets, called Ovation Plaza, which could lure Quarles & Brady.
"As with any project, we need a find a couple of big tenants to get it to a point we are willing to break ground," said Kristine O’Meara, principal for Irgens Development Partners.
At least four other viable downtown office projects have been proposed, said Steven Palec, senior vice president of the office property group for Polacheck.
"There are a number of developers with sites that might be as good or even better (than Ovation Plaza)," Purtell said. "I think there’s a number of developers chasing (the Quarles & Brady) deal."
Other office users in the marketplace also are considering their options, Palec said.
"There are inquiries out there," he said. "Not a lot, but we’re not a ghost town either. There are toes in the water, but definitely not two feet."
The long-time trend of offices moving out of downtown to the suburbs has slowed, if not stopped, Purtell said.
"I think there are now (businesses) in the suburbs considering the downtown," he said. "I don’t think the floodgates have opened with people stampeding downtown, but people are considering the downtown."
What will happen to the suburban office market?
Even though the newest downtown office buildings filled up quickly in 2004, several real estate professionals say they are concerned about lingering office space vacancies in the suburbs.
As the economy continues to improve, O’Meara said she expects the metro area’s 16 percent office vacancy rate to fall to about eight or nine percent this year. If that occurs, more developers will announce office building projects, she said.
"This year, they will be planning (office projects), and next year, they will start building," O’Meara said.
According to the Polacheck report, office vacancy rates for suburban submarkets are 12 percent for Brookfield/Wauwatosa, 20 percent for West Allis, 17 percent for Brookfield, 15 percent for Waukesha, 16 percent for Menomonee Falls and the far northwest side and 12 percent for Ozaukee County and the north shore. The total suburban office vacancy rate is 15 percent, according to the report.
"The suburbs have been very quiet on office development for the last 12 months," Purtell said. "There is a fair amount of space to lease in the existing buildings. I think there will be some new buildings announced this year. The suburbs have always been the biggest and best growth area, and they will continue to be."
Some bright spots have emerged in the suburban office market.
Northwestern Mutual Life Insurance Co. built a $125 million, 500,000-square-foot office building on South 27th Street in Franklin, GE Healthcare is building an $89 million, 506,000-square-foot building in the Milwaukee County Research Park in Wauwatosa and Whitnall Summit Co. is spending about $45 million to convert the former Allis Chalmers facility in West Allis into an office complex with up to 650,000-square-feet.
"(Summit Place is) single handedly changing that submarket out there," Purtell said. "It’s a very interesting project and it has been very well received by the marketplace."
Will the region finally be able to attract more upscale retail chains?
Crate and Barrel will open a 33,000-square-foot store in 2005 at Mayfair Mall. It will be the first location in the state for the Chicago-based upscale home furnishings retailer. Many Milwaukee-area shoppers want to see even more new upscale stores opening in the area.
A $300 million project will transform Glendale’s Bayshore Mall into a town center concept and is expected to attract new, upscale retailers to the area.
"There’s no shortage of (retailers) that want to be there," Cohen said. "It’s going to be like nothing else we have seen (in the Milwaukee area). It’s going to be terrific."
Construction at Bayshore will continue in 2005 and be completed in 2006.
This year, the first retail component at the 1,500-acre Pabst Farms development at Interstate 94 and Highway 67 in Oconomowoc and the Town of Summit, is expected to be completed. A Pick ‘n Save and other stores are expected to open there this year.
Pabst Farms eventually will have 600,000 to 900,000 square feet of retail space and more than 4 million square feet of office and industrial space.
The Milwaukee area finally appears to be on the verge of attracting some national retailers that have not yet opened stores here, Barry said.
"There is a general consensus that Milwaukee is an under-retailed metro market," he said. "There is room for a lot of retail growth across the board."
Is the market for industrial real estate really on the rebound?
Several real estate professionals say sales and leases of industrial space have picked up in recent months, and they expect that to continue in 2005 as the economy continues to strengthen.
"We’re seeing an increase in activity and have been seeing it for the last six to eight months," Westling said.
For the entire metro Milwaukee area, the industrial vacancy rate is a little over 7 percent, Barry said. He expects the area’s industrial vacancy rate to dip down to about 6 percent this year.
"We’re going to see a pretty good pick-up of activity that we already started to see in the last quarter of last year," Barry said. "The largest amount of activity is still in the sale of small- to medium-sized buildings."
Sales and leases for larger industrial buildings are improving, Barry said. Leases for Class A industrial space have been lagging, but should also improve this year, he said.
The recession hit industrial firms hard in the United States during the last four years. Only the strongest industrial firms were able to withstand the recession, and those that did survive are growing significantly as the economy recovers, said Chad Vande Zande, principal of Grubb & Ellis/Boerke Co.
"A lot of the businesses that survived, before (the recession) they were competing against three guys. Now, it’s two guys," he said. "A lot of my clients have employee shortages, and they’re growing quickly. What we’re seeing from the end of 2004 and into 2005 is a demand for larger 50,000- to 100,000-square-foot users looking to lease buildings. That is something we haven’t seen in our market with any velocity for four years."
Vande Zande also expects leasing activity to pick up for industrial space, which he says should lower vacancies in the marketplace and drive up the value of industrial land, encouraging more development of spec industrial space.
Due to a shortage of sites in the metro area’s industrial parks, more developers will bring forward plans this year to build new industrial parks, Vande Zande said.
The shortage of industrial sites could lead to more infill development in the City of Milwaukee and other older suburbs such as West Milwaukee, Barry said. Outlying areas farther away from the population base are less desirable for industrial sites, he said.
Vande Zande said the hottest suburban areas for industrial development will be Oak Creek, Franklin, New Berlin, Oconomowoc, Menomonee Falls and Germantown.
What other areas will be hot sports for commercial real estate development in 2005?
The I-43 and Highway 60 interchange in Grafton may become a major new retail hub for the metro area. The interchange has already attracted Target, Home Depot, Colder’s and other stores. A Sam’s Club store and a Costco have been proposed for the interchange.
Marcus Corp. has announced plans to build new theater complexes in Sturtevant, East Troy and the Town of Brookfield. The company’s West Point and West Town theaters in Waukesha and the City of Brookfield will eventually be closed.
Wal-Mart has plans to build new Supercenter stores in Germantown, Hartford, Mukwonago and Sheboygan.
Other prime retail locations in 2005 will include Delafield, Pewaukee, the 27th Street corridor between Oak Creek and Franklin and County Line Road in Germantown.
Infobox:
Key projects
Pabst Farms – A $1 billion residential, retail, medical and office planned development at I-94 and Highway 67 in Oconomowoc and the Town of Summitt. Retail development is expected to begin this year, including a new Pick n’ Save store. Aurora Health Care plans to build an $85 million, 88-bed hospital there and a 1.1 million-square-foot, $65 million Roundy’s warehouse was recently completed.
PabstCity – A $395 million proposed redevelopment of the 22-acre former Pabst brewery in downtown Milwaukee into a regional entertainment complex with stores, a 16-screen movie theater, a House of Blues, residences and office space.
Bayshore Mall – A $300 million project to transform the mall into a town center, expanding the retail space from 560,000 square feet to 1.2 million square feet, and adding 180,000 square feet of office space and 200 apartments and condominiums.
GE Healthcare – An $89 million, 506,000-square-foot office building under construction in the Milwaukee County Research Park in Wauwatosa. The building will open in 2006.
Harley-Davidson Museum – A $60 million complex to be built in the Menomonee River Valley at 6th and Canal streets. The project, which will include a museum, a retail store, meeting rooms, banquet space, offices and a restaurant, is not expected to open to the public in 2008. The City of Milwaukee will move its Tracer Yards public works center at the stie to the former Tower Automotive site on the north side of the city by 2006.
Summit Place – A $45 million conversion of former Allis Chalmers complex in West Allis into a 650,000-square-foot office complex.
Pier Wisconsin – A $30 million freshwater exhibition center along Milwaukee’s lakefront will feature the Great Lakes Aquatarium and will be the new home for the Discovery World Museum and the Denis Sullivan schooner. The complex is expected to open later this year.
Milwaukee Public Market – A $10 million project at Water Street and St. Paul Avenue. The market will sell fresh produce year-round and will link downtown Milwaukee with the Historic Third Ward. The market is expected to open later this year.

January 21, 2005, Small Business Times, Milwaukee, WI

The finalists have been announced for the sixth annual Milwaukee Awards for Neighborhood Development Innovation (MANDI).
The awards honor nonprofit community groups and their partners involved in revitalizing Milwaukee neighborhoods. The awards include five categories.
The MANDI finalists for the “Navigator Award” are: Tom Capp, executive vice president, Gorman and Co.; Jean Leslie, executive director, Milwaukee Habitat for Humanity; and Johnny Moutry Jr., executive director, New Covenant Housing Corp.
The finalists for the “Vision Award” are: Marquette University; Nonprofit Management Fund; and Northern Trust Bank.
The finalists for the “Trailblazer Award” are: the Chronic Nuisance Property Code, a collaboration of the Milwaukee Department of Neighborhood Services and the Milwaukee Police Department; the Fueling Young Minds Collaborative, a collaboration of the Milwaukee Public Schools, The Social Development Commission, the Salvation Army, Hunger Task Force, Impact, and the Harley-Davidson Motor Co.; and the Wisconsin Women’s Business Initiative Corp. Individual Development Account Program.
The finalists for the Freddie Mac “Cornerstone Award” are: the Dominican Center for Women; the Northwest Side Community Development Corp.; and the North Avenue Community Development Corp.
The finalists for the State Farm Insurance and Financial Services “Building Blocks Award” (Large Project are): Fondy Food Market, developed by Hunger Task Force; Highland Gardens, developed by the Housing Authority of the City of Milwaukee and Independence First; and Milwaukee Center for Independence (new facility).
The finalists for the State Farm Insurance and Financial Services “Building Blocks Award” (Small Project) are: Gateway Plaza, developed by New Covenant Housing Corp.; Holton Street Lofts, developed by Wisconsin Preservation Fund; and Urban Ecology Center.
The awards are given by the Milwaukee Local Initiatives Support Corp. (LISC), which catalyzes the development of vibrant, diverse, high quality, sustainable neighborhoods in greater Milwaukee by working with neighborhood organizations and residents.
All of the finalists will be honored and the winner of each award category will be announced at a reception and awards ceremony on Thursday, March 10, at 5 p.m. at the Pfister Hotel in downtown Milwaukee. For more information, call Leo Ries at (414) 273-1815.
January 21, 2005, Small Business Times, Milwaukee, WI

Since the 1930s, Everbrite LLC has thrived by manufacturing neon signs for retail clients, ranging from the golden arches of McDonald’s restaurants to Miller Brewing’s product signs in taverns throughout the nation.
In recent years, however, the privately held company committed research and development to create new technologies, new applications and new markets for its lighting products.
That R&D is beginning to pay off.
The engineers and technologists at Everbrite Lighting Technologies are on the cutting edge of product development for light-emitting diodes (LEDs), and the company is launching its new MedLux family of lighting products designed specifically for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) equipment used in the health care industry.
The MedLux brand is part of Everbrite’s growth strategy, which includes penetrating new markets, developing new technology and applications and increasing revenue by 30 percent in the next two years, said William Fritz, president of Everbrite.
"LED advancement is so rapid that it is going to be a viable alternative at some point in the future," Fritz said. "It has replaced neon in a lot of our products, like channel letters (for outside of a restaurant). The LED technology is moving so rapidly that whatever you have now could be obsolete in six months. This company has made a tremendous investment in technology for many years. That is why we have the technology center. We are always looking for new techniques, new technology that we can either apply to our customers or to new markets."
The company’s recent launch of the new brand included the introduction of the MedLux GPI graphic panel illuminator. Everbrite will launch its second MedLux product, the MedLux RLD recessed LED down-light, in the first quarter of this year.
Everbrite Lighting Technologies is a division of Everbrite LLC, located at 4949 S. 110th St., Greenfield. Recently, the firm, owned by Judith Wamser, was named the top diversity-owned Wisconsin business by DiversityBusiness.com.
Everbrite Lighting Technologies has been researching and developing applications using LED technology for seven years, said Michael Mondloch, vice president of technology for Everbrite.
The MedLux product launch marked Everbrite’s penetration into the health care market using top-of-the-line LED technology. All of the new products developed for the health care industry will fall under the MedLux brand name, said Jeff Gatzow, product manager for Everbrite Lighting Technologies.
Everbrite considers the MedLux GPI to be a breakthrough in patient comfort lighting for MRI environments because LEDs require little maintenance and do not interfere with an MRI scan, Mondloch said.
The average LED has a lifetime of 100,000 hours, equaling more than 10 years of continuous use. The LED requires no maintenance, contains no mercury, projects minimal ultraviolet and infrared emissions and is easy to install with a plug-in connection.
"While LEDs have a lot of advantages, it is still an expensive way to produce light," Mondloch said. "We have been looking to develop applications for both our traditional business and in new markets and applications that need low- temperature operation or a long life."
Patient comfort lighting is typically found in dentist offices and cancer centers. The graphic panels replace 2-foot by 2-foot ceiling tiles above a patient bed and depict soothing graphics, such as clouds, that are illuminated by a light box installed in the ceiling above the panel.
Everbrite created light boxes using LEDs instead of the typical fluorescent light, which interferes with an MRI by producing artifacts or ghosting on scanned images, Mondloch said.
Everbrite had developed the LED light boxes but was researching different applications of the technology when an artist spoke with Mondloch about light boxes for her artwork. Some of her artwork was going to be used as a graphic panel for patient comforting in an MRI environment, Mondloch said.
That’s when Mondloch realized Everbrite could market to the health care industry.
"She had mentioned that some of the traditional light box technology does not work well in the MRI environment because the light interferes with the MRI scanner," Mondloch said. "I immediately thought LEDs would be an excellent answer, because LEDs cannot interfere with the magnet, and magnets cannot interfere with LEDs."
Before LED graphic panels were introduced, many hospitals did not install patient comfort lighting in MRI suites, said Diane Kelly, director of radiology for Hennepin County Medical Center, Minneapolis. Hennepin was one of the first medical centers to purchase the technology and has had MedLux GPIs installed since February.
Dr. Chip Truwit, chief of radiology for Hennepin, spoke with Everbrite about LED technology, and after testing the light box, he installed the MedLux series for added patient comfort.
"Before, we only had can lighting that we would turn down for patient comfort," Kelly said. "Patients like the graphic panels because it is something soothing for them to look at when preparing to enter the scanner."
Most MRI suites use incandescent lighting, or regular light bulbs, to light the room, Mondloch said, which can fail prematurely from the magnetic current constantly passing through the filament.
"Part of the realization was through the artist, but subsequently we were working on a graphic panel for the University of San Francisco (Medical Center), and the university asked if we could use LED for both panels and for down-lights, because his light bulbs were burning out prematurely," Mondloch said. "We calculated the cost of light bulbs with the cost to close the MRI suite to change the light bulbs, and I realized that (medical providers) could benefit from LED."
The MedLux RLD product will allow for ceiling-based down-lights to replace incandescent lighting fixtures, Mondloch said.
Everbrite executives said MedLux RLD light fixtures are priced independently with each customer’s order.
Everbrite will reach its corporate growth goal by gaining a larger slice of the volume of the work its existing customers do, going after new customers in the same markets, taking new technologies to new markets and leveraging its strengths in areas such as Neon Central, a division that sells licensed retail products, LED lighting and the medical industry, Fritz said.
"We have been very aggressive in some of our large national accounts like the Yum! Brands and McDonald’s because we are their prime supplier," Fritz said. "Overall (with franchises), there are a lot of approved suppliers, and it is basically your service and capabilities that make the difference when they choose to buy from you."
Everbrite’s focus is serving its customers, meeting their requirements and introducing new and superior products to them, Fritz said.
"Customer demands have gone up, and the amount of information they get from the field has gone down, so they expect you to turn products around as fast as possible," Fritz said. "The people who can do that the best are going to get the lion’s share of the business."
Everbrite has jumped into the LED marketplace because the firm’s executives want to be the first in line with new products, Fritz said.
Everbrite provides LED products to other markets, including navigation lights for the marine industry, scoreboards for sports venues, gas pricers for the petroleum industry and LED and liquid crystal display (LCD) order confirmation screens, menu systems and channel lettering for the food industry, Fritz said.
The Everbrite Lighting Technologies technology center is equipped with a certified UL (Underwriters Laboratories, Inc.) test lab for product compliance and public safety standards. Everbrite can take products in the research and development stage through full testing and certification for any environment, including indoor, outdoor, freezer and MRI environments, Mondloch said.
"Another advantage of LED is that it performs well in cold environments, where fluorescent lights dim and have to be packaged in special insulation tubes," Mondloch said. "Everbrite has developed an LED lighting system for freezer displays called Luma-Light that we have already placed in ice cream cake displays at some Culver’s restaurants."
The Luma-Light is expected to be introduced to the market in the second or third quarter of this year, Gatzow said.
"In a few years, I think LED technology will be very cost-effective for all kinds of applications," Mondloch said.
Everbrite Lighting Technologies also is researching and working with OLED, an organic light emitting diode made from more common materials.
When LED is more affordable, Everbrite will be on the forefront of product development, Mondloch said.
"The synergy and the capability that (Everbrite has) allows us to bring a new product to a new market fairly rapidly," Mondloch said. "It is good for displays, good for lighting, and we are excited about things coming down the pipe in LED technology."
Everbrite LLC
Industry: Lighting technology
Founded: 1927
Corporate headquarters: 4949 S. 110th St., Greenfield
Domestic production plants: Elkhorn, Greenfield, Pardeeville and South Milwaukee, Wis.; Garden Grove, Calif; Mt. Vernon, Ill.; Atlanta, Ga.; Chanute, Kan.; Buena Vista, Va.
Overseas operations: London, England (displays and sales); Dublin, Ireland (indoor signs, neon signs and sales); Amsterdam, The Netherlands (design center, sales); and China (injection molding and small assembly work).
Leadership team: Judith Wamser, owner; and William Fritz, president
Employees: 875
Annual revenues: $107 million
Web site: www.everbrite.com
January 7, 2005, Small Business Times, Milwaukee, WI

In today’s global marketplace, strategic decisions about outsourcing, marketing and new product innovation can make or break a small Wisconsin manufacturer. Just ask Don Frantz. Frantz founded DuraSafe Lock Inc. in 2000, when he decided he wanted to sell a product line made by his first successful business venture, Frantz Machine Products Inc. of New Berlin.

Let’s face it. In most areas of our lives, we behave our way into success or failure. Whether it is physical fitness, financial fitness, business and personal relationships, business and personal success, our actions determine whether or not we succeed.
If you accept that notion, then keep on reading.
Mark Peters, president of Impact Engineering Solutions says, “Passion without commitment and dedication is a wasted emotion.” Mark lives by these words in his personal and business life. What Mark is saying, very simply, is that to achieve success in any aspect of your life, you must be fully committed, dedicated and disciplined to putting forth the effort required to achieve your personal definition of success.
It’s important to understand that often times we create our own problems. There are times when business leaders within organizations simply are not achieving the level of success they are capable of achieving. It is painful to see them struggle, because the struggle is an internal one.
The passion and commitment for their work is there, but the dedication and discipline to follow through and execute on a consistent basis are not. The inconsistencies in their behaviors produce inconsistencies in the achievement of their desired results.
Behaviors and attitudes are contagious, especially when it comes from the leader. Being a business leader should suggest to us that people will follow our lead. In realizing this, it is important to demonstrate behaviors and attitudes that drive organizational success.
Remember, your team is watching. We must realize that as the leader, it is important to both demonstrate and reward behaviors that are consistent with the performance expectations you have of your team. If you lack the discipline to follow through on your commitments, your team will follow suit. If you allow members of your team to do the same, you send a strong message to the rest of the troops that suggests following through on commitments is desirable but not mandatory.
Expect passion, commitment and dedication from the team.
Last school year, my then 15-year-old son had a goal to make the junior varsity basketball team. We all knew this would be a challenge for him because he was only 5 foot, 3 inches tall at the time of tryouts. He clearly had passion, commitment and dedication as demonstrated by his behaviors that led to him making the team.
With input from a school coach, he created a personalized practice plan for himself. The key to his success, however, was that he was committed and dedicated to working his plan. He followed through and executed on everything he had outlined in his practice plan.
He proved to himself that success in life starts with true passion, a plan that supports the achievement of a specific goal, then the relentless pursuit in following through and working the plan.
Disciplined follow-through leads to success.
This is a simple concept to understand, yet many of us struggle with the discipline portion of this equation. It is not enough to just have passion. It is not enough to just have a plan.
To achieve consistent success, we must have the commitment, dedication and discipline to follow through, execute and work the plan. Business leaders and team members who demonstrate discipline in following through usually come out on top.
Philip Mydlach is the owner of Mydlach Management Advisors, a corporate planning and performance improvement consulting practice in New Berlin. He can be reached at (262-) 785-5552 or pmydlach@aol.com.
August 20, 2004, Small Business Times, Milwaukee, WI

Advertising & Public Relations

Elizabeth Hockerman joined Bader Rutter & Associates, Milwaukee, as an assistant account executive in the agency’s Public Relations Group. Prior to joining Bader Rutter, Hockerman was a reporter for Small Business Times.

Ryan Janecek joined Layer One Media, Milwaukee, as an account executive. Janecek previously worked as an account manager at Cisco Systems, San Jose, Calif.

Lauren Cook joined Zeppos & Associates, Milwaukee, as an account executive. Prior to joining the firm, Cook was a TV anchor and reporter at stations in Minnesota, Vermont, Illinois and Wisconsin. Cook holds a bachelor of arts degree in mass communications and military history from Indiana University. 

Caffeine Communications, Milwaukee, hired Stacey Weiss-Stark as general manager/director of client services and head of the agency’s executive team. Dan Austin, Patrick Kopischkie, and Laura Tanin were hired as account supervisors and members of the executive team and Kristian Butzin, Christina Nelson and Zak Mazur were hired as assistant account executives. 

Kristen Davis joined Primum Marketing Communications, Milwaukee as a senior account executive. Davis is a graduate of DePaul University.   

Tim Evans joined the Saturn Lounge studio, New Berlin, as a photographer. Evans images have been seen in advertising campaigns for Wells Fargo Bank, M&I Bank, Stanford University and Anchor Bank, and in national publications including Ladies Home Journal, Forbes Magazine, Family Circle and Smart Money Magazine.

Architecture

Eppstein Uhen Architects, Milwaukee, hired Kristen Buck as a marketing coordinator, Michael Mazmanian as a project assistant, and Terri Durgin and Alison Lehmbeck as studio administrators in the firm’s Milwaukee office. Buck holds a bachelor’s degree in advertising from Marquette University. Mazmanian earned a bachelor’s degree in architecture from Oklahoma State University. Durgin holds a bachelor’s degree in journalism from Humboldt State University. Lehmbeck previously worked at VJS Construction Services, Pewaukee.

Arts & Entertainment

Jan Wade, president and general manager of WISN-TV, joined the 2007-2008 Board of Trustees of the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design (MIAD). Wade served at television stations in six different markets before joining WISN-TV, most recently as president and general manager of WATE-TV, the ABC affiliate in Knoxville, Tenn. Wade was joined by Mary Gordon, MIAD Alumni Association President, who serves as the board’s alumni representative. 

MIAD hired Katie Pfeffer as coordinator of disability services and Abigail Hanna as director of registration services. Pfeffer holds bachelor’s degrees in psychology and human development family studies from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a master’s degree in counseling from Marquette University. Hanna served as a member of the Milwaukee School of Engineering’s admissions office since 2002, most recently as assistant director of admissions.

Banking & Finance

Waukesha State Bank, Waukesha, promoted Damir Hadzalic to investment officer. Hadzalic joined Waukesha State Bank as a teller in July 2003 and became a loan review assistant in December 2003. 

Reona Vang joined Komisar Brady & Co., Milwaukee, as a staff accountant. Vang is a graduate of the University of Pittsburgh.

Jefferson Wells, Milwaukee, named Victor H. Miesel as the firm’s first global director of transfer pricing services. Prior to joining Jefferson Wells, Miesel served as president and managing director in the Americas of Strategic Tax Economics Consulting and Transfer Pricing Associates. Miesel has more than 20 years of economics experience in public accounting and management consulting.

Betty Stowell joined Citizens Bank, Citizens Republic Bancorp, Michigan, as vice president/ senior commercial relationship manager for the greater Milwaukee area. Stowell will work in the Menomonee Falls office.   

Building & Construction

Mike Brill joined Triad Construction Inc., West Allis, as a project manager. Brill has worked on numerous new office and warehouse buildings in Wisconsin as well as a new strip mall in Waterford. 

Education

Reyes Gonzalez joined Mount Mary College, Milwaukee, as vice president for finance and administration and chief financial officer. Gonzalez was previously with Chicago Public Schools and City Colleges of Chicago. He holds undergraduate degrees in engineering from the University of Illinois at Chicago and the Illinois Institute of Technology, an MBA from DePaul University and Certified Management Accountant certification from Northwestern University.

Health Care

Pamela Smith Trapane was named clinical director of the Neurofibromatosis Clinic at Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin, Wauwatosa. Trapane is a lecturer in medical genetics at the Medical College of Wisconsin.

Dr. Jack Maloney joined the dermatology department at Madison Medical Affiliates of Milwaukee. Maloney will practice at Madison Medical’s Mequon office. Maloney earned his medical degree from the University of Minnesota School of Medicine.

Hospitality & Entertainment

Dayn Kummner joined Weissgerber’s Gasthaus, Waukesha, as the new executive chef. Prior to joining Weissgerber’s Gasthaus, Kummner worked as the lead cook in the buffet restaurant at Potawatomi Casino, Milwaukee, and as Jason Gorman’s sous chef in the Solstice Lounge.

Insurance

A.N. Ansay & Associates, Port Washington, hired Marni King as an employee benefit sales consultant and Victoria Arnold as marketing director to the insurance service team. Prior to joining Ansay & Associates, King was the manager of the employee benefits division for Burkart Heisdorf Insurance Agency, Sheboygan. Prior to joining Ansay & Associates, Arnold was with State Farm Insurance Companies, Lincoln, Neb. Arnold has a Master’s degree from Marquette University and a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Minnesota. 

Legal Services

Attorney J. Ryan Maloney joined the law firm of Peterson, Johnson & Murray, Milwaukee. Maloney earned his J.D. from Marquette University Law School in 2007 and his B.A. from Marquette University, Cum Laude, 2004.  

Whyte Hirschboeck Dudek, Milwaukee, hired attorneys Ted Barthel and Patrick Harvey and rehired attorney Rebecca Grassl Bradley to the firm’s technology practice. Bradley previously was vice president-legal operations and assistant corporate secretary for RedPrairie Corp., Town of Brookfield. Harvey earned his law degree from the University of Michigan Law School and a B.A. in political theory and constitutional democracy from Michigan State University in 2003. Barthel, who will be in the firm’s intellectual property practice, is a registered patent attorney focused on patent prosecution, licensing and intellectual property litigation. In addition to his law degree from DePaul University, Barthel holds a Bachelor of Art’s degree in chemistry, German, and political science from Carroll College in Waukesha and Universität Freiburg, Germany. 

Davis & Kuelthau, Milwaukee, promoted Tara Mathison to shareholder and hired Heather Van Vugt Ramirez as an associate in corporate law. Mathison, who has been an associate with the firm since 1999, practices commercial and civil litigation, with a focus on construction and insurance coverage matters. Van Vugt Ramirez is a 2007 graduate of the University of Minnesota Law School.

Real Estate

Joshua Hafron joined General Capital Group, Milwaukee. Hafron will be based in General Capital’s Chicago office. Hafron recently served as assistant vice president with Urban Innovations in Chicago, where he was involved in the acquisition of affordable housing projects nationally.  

NAI MLG Management, Brookfield, hired Ryan McIlwee as vice president of the property management team. McIlwee has more than 14 years of experience and currently serves on the board of directors of the Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA).

Staffing

Koni White joined Core Business Solutions, Waukesha, as an executive recruiter. White previously worked for 18 years in sales at a telecommunications firm.

Maurice Pendergast joined Spherion, as a client service supervisor. Prior to joining Spherion, Pendergast worked as an IT consultant at Computer Technologies. Pendergast has a bachelor’s degree from UW-Whitewater.

QPS Companies, Inc., Brookfield, hired Erica Woods as a placement coordinator at their West Bend office. Woods has an associate’s degree in supervisory management and a human resources certificate.

Technology

Katie Felten joined Boevo, Milwaukee, as a technology innovator. Felten previously was an identity theft specialist at Pre-Paid Legal Services, Inc.  

Transportation

Harley-Davidson, Inc., Milwaukee, promoted Karl Eberle to senior vice president, manufacturing; Bill Dannehl was promoted to executive vice president, chief organizational transformation officer; and Ron Hutchinson was promoted to senior vice president, product development. Eberle joined Harley-Davidson in 1990 as a director of manufacturing at Harley-Davidson’s York, Penn. Operation. Dannehl joined Harley-Davidson in 1993 and served as vice president, North American sales, and Hutchinson began his career with the company in the mid 1970s and recently served as vice president, new business.

Milwaukee-based public relations firm Zigman Joseph Stephenson has opened an office in midtown Manhattan. The office, located in Rockefeller Plaza, is intended to serve and expand the firm’s communications and public affairs practices. Christine Mangi, an account executive at the firm since 2000, has been promoted to account supervisor and has relocated to New York City to oversee the new business venture.
A former broadcast journalist, Mangi is responsible for working with law firms to serve national and international clients in the areas of litigation support, marketing communications and issues management while maintaining her responsibilities in the areas of media relations. The office in New York City will allow the firm to further develop its relationship with leading media outlets and law firms while expanding the firm’s presence and business interests on the east coast, its president said.
"Our goal is to be a more cutting edge, global PR firm," said Craig Peterson, president and chief executive officer of ZJS. "The office in New York is a step in that direction. It gives us the capability to directly reach a national and international market. We expect this will be an opportunity to diversify our client base and better serve existing clients with their communications and government affairs needs."

Nemes Allen & Co. has announced a merger with Madison-based Virchow, Krause & Co., the 13th largest CPA and consulting firm in the country and the largest Wisconsin-based firm of its kind.
In making the announcement, Nemes Allen co-founder and principal Barry Allen said, "The merger will provide our clients with access to many additional services and areas of expertise. Combining our practices will strengthen our base of industry knowledge and expertise and offer our clients many specialized services to meet their growing needs."
As Virchow Krause, the partners and staff of the former Nemes Allen firm will continue to operate from its existing location.
"When we look for firms with which to merge, we look at the quality of the people and the reputation of the firm, said Tim Christen, CEO of Virchow Krause. "We also look for firms that serve clients similar to ours, and are located in areas in which we would like to expand our practice. Nemes Allen has an impressive reputation as a high-quality firm and we view the Greater Detroit market as a very viable and growth-oriented market."
Allen will serve as managing partner of the Detroit practice while Dan Nemes, co-founder and principal of Nemes Allen, will hold a seat on Virchow Krause’s executive committee.
Virchow Krause has 121 partners and a staff of more than 800. The firm has 12 locations in Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan and provides global services through its affiliation with Baker Tilly International.
Among its Wisconsin locations are offices in Milwaukee and in Elkhorn.

Novo Recruiting (www.novorecruiting.com) has opened at 789 N. Water St. in downtown Milwaukee. Working across industries, the firm finds executive, managerial, sales, technical and professional talent for its clients and helps clients improve their recruitment process.
"From this initial office in Milwaukee, our plans are to open offices across the United States in the next five years," said Mike Harris, co-founder, president and CEO of Novo. "We are off to nice start with over a dozen searches in progress already," said Harris.
Harris, 43, was formerly chairman and CEO of Jefferson Wells International, the professional services firm headquartered in Milwaukee. He founded Jefferson Wells (originally known as AuditForce) in late 1995 and led its growth to 25 offices, 1,600 employees and $131 million in sales in five years. Jefferson Wells was sold to Manpower Inc. of Glendale in 2001.
After selling Jefferson Wells, Harris also co-founded SilverTrain, a Milwaukee-based information technology services firm where he currently serves as Chairman.
Harris’ partner at Novo Recruiting is Cindy Lu, co-founder, vice president and managing director of the Milwaukee office of Novo.
"Effective recruiting can have a significant impact on the success of any business," said Lu. "At Novo, we help organizations maximize return from their recruitment spending and efforts by minimizing recruiting costs and maximizing the contribution from the talented people we find them," Lu stated.
Lu, 39, previously was the owner of J. Galt & Associates, a Milwaukee recruiting firm. She was also a senior executive for five years at the Parson Group, one of the fastest growing professional service companies in America.

Safety Connections Inc. is a new company in Sheboygan focusing on safety in the workplace with products and services. While the initial focus will be on Wisconsin clients, Safety Connections expects to serve a national and then global client base.
Jim Lehrke, with 33 years of experience in the safety field, started the company (www.safetyconnections.com). His experience includes seven years as president of Sheboygan County’s Safety Council. Lehrke led a Fortune 200 company’s safety program.

Muskus & Associates Ltd. of Milwaukee has changed its name to Muskus Management Corp. in a corporate identity makeover tied to significant business growth.
A new logo and corporate identity materials and forms were also created for the company by Phoenix Marketing Group.
Company president Cheryl Muskus, said she wanted a name and logo that better identified her company’s services and their impact on customers. Phoenix identified three distinct service offerings: customer relationship management, construction management, and accounting and business consulting.

RK Ltd is a new medical billing office at 1055 Prairie Dr., Suite D in Racine. The company is a full-service, HIPPA-compliant medical billing company
specializing in radiology and pathology medical billing. President Robert Kim, MD, MBA, fellow radiologist with more than 30 years of group practice and medical billing management said, "We are very familiar with the ever-changing billing requirements and intricacies that
medical practitioners face today."

Marianne Jaehnke has started Integrated Manufacturing Services LLC, a manufacturer’s rep agency in Hales Corners focusing on metal and metal-related products and services. She is presently representing companies that manufacture metal stampings, fabrications, aluminum extrusions, precision injected molded plastic, thermoset and thermoform plastics, and prototypes.
Further, she represents a safety consulting and training company and a sales and marketing consultant.
Jaehnke will cover Wisconsin, Illinois and parts of Iowa and Michigan. She was previously the vice president and sales manager for Ideal Manufacturing Solutions in Franklin.

Sattell, Johnson, Appel & Co., and Capital Resource Group have formed a new company to provide expanded financial services, Financial Resource Services LLC. The firm offers investment counseling and financial planning.
"As strategic partners with our clients in the area of accounting and business management services, we see many opportunities to help them with other financial advice, including asset management and retirement planning," said Michael Sattell, managing partner at Sattell, Johnson, Appel & Co.
Bill Haise, founder of Capital Resource Group, is president of the new firm. He has more than 35 years of experience in investment and financial planning. For the past 10 years his focus has been on managing personal portfolios with a fee-based approach.
Financial Resource Services has offices at Woodland Prime in Menomonee Falls.

Continental Savings Bank will expand into Mukwonago. The Greenfield-based savings bank is building a new facility at 1231 S. Rochester St. (Highway 83). Ground was broken in September for the 30,000-square-foot building.
"We’ve been watching growth in the Mukwonago area, and felt the time was right for a banking facility and adjacent office space," said Jim Podewils, president of Continental Savings Bank. "Other significant construction projects in the area, including a Waukesha Memorial Hospital Clinic and new Home Depot, along with Mukwonago’s strong residential growth, indicate the area is becoming a major hub."
The office will be Continental’s first new location in more than 20 years. It will be completed by next June.
The new branch will employ five people and occupy 2,700 square feet of the two-story building. Remaining office space will be leased. The $3.5 million structure is being built by Gerald Nell Inc. of Waukesha.
Continental Savings Bank currently has six offices, in Milwaukee, Brookfield, Brown Deer and Hales Corners.

Frank’s Adjustment Bureau Inc., Wisconsin’s oldest licensed collection agency, has been purchased by Jeanne Beal with financing assistance from the Wisconsin Women’s Business Initiative Corp. (WWBIC).
Located at 521 High St. in Racine, the 71-year-old Frank’s Adjustment Bureau draws its clients from various industries in southeastern Wisconsin, including We Energies, Racine Emergency Services and Curtis Universal Ambulance.
WWBIC also announced that it is financing the start-up of Steel Masters LLC, a company in Mayville specializing in turnkey flame cut, stress relief and Blanchard-ground plates. The company’s owner is Gerald Hoover.
Great Impressions LLC, a graphic design business and printing brokerage service, has moved into the new Burleigh Enterprise Center, 5312 W. Burleigh St., Milwaukee, in a move made possible with WWBIC financing. The company has been in business since 1999 and has outgrown its home-based office.

Mark Boccio and Christopher Zuzick have formed Spire LLC, an advisory firm assisting companies and company owners with acquisitions and divestitures. The two are co-owners.
"We feel strongly that out direct experience in small business manufacturing and professional services, combined with out network of buyers and sellers and other intermediaries, which extends throughout Wisconsin, the Midwest and the United States, enables us to provide value-added expertise to small business owners who are considering the sale or purchase of a company," Zuzick said.
Boccio said the new firm offers an alternative to "high-cost, high-minded M&A boutiques; low-cost, low-effort business brokers; and other advisors." He said Spire offers simplified engagement terms, low-risk fee structures and active pursuit of objectives.
Spire will focus on companies with revenues of less than $5 million. The company is on the Internet at www.spirellc.net.

Office Furniture Resources of Milwaukee has opened a new used office furniture store in Detroit. The company, in business since 1991, also has stores in Chicago, Naperville, Ill., and St. Louis.

The Chinese are coming!

Commentary, By Joseph Geck, for SBT

When I read about the activities of SAM (Save American Manufacturing) and listen to all the "American industry is being hollowed out" rhetoric from many diverse sources, one word comes to mind; luddite.
The Luddites were a late 18th century early 19th century movement in England that had as their goal the destruction of all machinery for the making of cloth. Flying in the face of the industrial revolution, the Luddites failed in their task but at least gave the world a new word for those who try to stop technology or advancement in the face of an unstoppable world trend.
Now, the SAM people and their many complaining American allies are not destroying equipment and on the positive side are focusing attention on a real phenomena. However, they are flying in the face of some major trends, and their complaining distracts attention from actions that US industry must take if it is to survive in the global market.
The first and biggest world trend that they are up against is the opening up of the world to free trade. This is actually a trend that is as old as mankind and is the force that led to the "discovery" of the Americas in the 15th century.
But in recent history, the movement for free trade has been accelerated by the demise of Communism and the advance of communication and travel technologies.

The flood gates have been opened
The world, except for pockets of the Middle East, has begun to embrace the US message of open markets, open societies and freedom, especially free markets. Now there are billions of people in poor countries around the world who are literally hungry to work and supply goods to richer countries.
So should the response to that trend be to limit the imports from one region or another because we think the playing field in uneven (which it is in a lot of ways, but not necessarily in the ways most people think)?
To try to limit imports from those countries will just hurt US industry in the long run. Since Japan, Germany and other countries have companies which source from low-cost countries, protecting US manufacturers from those imports will hurt our larger companies in the competitive world market place.
That leads to another trend or fact of life of the US economy. US consumers are absolutely focused on getting the most for their dollar, no matter where in the world a product comes from. Not many people go to Wal-Mart and look at a product to determine where it is made. People buy the cheapest products.
The third trend is that the world economy is moving from an industrial one to one with a technology and information base.
Experts have labeled it the movement to an information economy. But technology plays such an important role in making an information economy possible that it is important to understand the technology component. That means that products that are not part of that movement will, by their very nature, slip down to lowest cost commodity possible. In that type of economy, the customer and marketing become even more important.
If you are just making a product and are not involved with your customer in a special relationship, or if that product is not cutting edge, you are in danger of becoming extinct.
There is as much sense in having government take extra measures for your survival as it is to fund an effort to bring back the dinosaurs.
I was in a bike store recently. On a rack of bike tools, an "all-in-one tool" for bikes caught my eye. It was brightly packaged with eye-catching and descriptive wording on the package. After browsing I saw another tool with exactly the same function. That tool was not packaged well, although from the looks it was exactly the same. It sold for $5 less than the effectively packaged tool. Most people looking at the rack would not have seen the low-priced tool.
The more expensive well-packaged tool was made in Taiwan – and probably some of the piece parts made in China – while the less expensive one was made in the US.
The US marketing manager for that tool should be fired.
What can US manufacturers do to survive the onslaught of foreign competition from low cost countries? First and most important is to do what it takes to stay competitive.
The US is hailed as a country with unbeatable management expertise. I don’t think that is true anymore in the manufacturing sector. It is about time to recognize that we are not as smart as we think and get to work.
I would bet that many of the companies that are going out of business today do not have an effective quality program and do not have any ongoing process-improvement program. Forget about lean manufacturing or Six-Sigma, many small and medium-size companies still do not have their basic information systems under control.
I’m sure you will find some very well managed companies going under due to imports from China or Mexico, but they will be in the minority.
On a recent trip to South Korea, I met up with a gentleman who worked for an American oil drilling supply company. We talked about the loss of jobs in the US. We analyzed the kind of US companies that we saw failing. Those failing companies fit a pattern:
1. Many companies are family-owned and the founder had left the company to his offspring. Although well educated, the inheritors were not very interested in operations but only in the perks of ownership.
2. The companies had not made investment in new technology or equipment in 20 years and were doing things the same way they had since they were founded.
3. As a result, worker moral was very low.
4. Then these companies met with competition and failed.

What does it take to get competitive?
As I said above, quality improvement and process improvement have to be continuous and effective to the point of making 10% improvement in productivity every year. Companies need to be their customers’ best suppliers. In addition, companies need to take the low-tech, high-labor content parts of their supply chain and either automate or source them in low-cost countries.
That sourcing process has to be done effectively. An example that comes up a lot is companies that are introducing lean, but only in a single department to get it started, most often manufacturing.
Likewise I’ve heard of companies sending whole products to China to be made, and the next thing they know they have a Chinese competitor with a knockoff of their product on US store shelves.
All strategic moves have a downside that must be planned for and, if possible, avoided. When I say move a part of your supply chain that is the low content to a low-cost country, there are a lot of reasons for that.
US political leaders, rather than waste time listening to the whining, should attack structural problems that affect the competitiveness of US manufacturers as they compete around the world.
One of the biggest right now is our health care system. We spend more than twice as much per capita on health care as any one else in the world, and the cost is almost entirely born by employers. Yet our health care statistics are mediocre, at best.
Also, how can we compete with Western European countries when our current tax system is so out of line with theirs? Our system encourages consumption and theirs doesn’t, and the result is seen in the fact that there is an underlying tax on our exported goods that companies based in Western Europe do not see. Somehow, that imbalance has to be addressed either with changing our tax structure or getting some allowances for our system in trade agreements.
So instead of holding the hands of those complaining about goods from China, politicians should get to work and be willing to take some political heat for addressing some of these issues.
There are numerous other societal problems that affect our manufacturing base from competing effectively, like the problem of frivolous lawsuits. However, we get poor service from Republicans or Democrats as they are more interested in fighting among themselves. Whenever issues are discussed, our two political parties usually take two extreme positions, neither of which is practical, and then they argue the issue to death.
Unfortunately, there are no easy answers to many of these problems, and they will need intelligent problem solving by intelligent neutral thinkers. Neither conservatives nor liberals get good grades from me for dealing effectively with the societal ills facing us now. Both seem to be mired in the debates and failed experiments of the ’60s, ’70s and ’80s.
Wake up, those of you who see the demise of US industry. I think you have correctly seen the symptoms of some cataclysmic forces at work, but you are like "Chicken Little" when you run around complaining or saying we should shut down trade with China.
US business leaders need to make sure their organizations are as competitive as they can be. Instead of trying to persuade politicians to close borders, we should hold our political leaders responsible for the societal inefficiencies that make us less competitive.
I recognize the value of all this discussion in creating awareness. However, the response suggested is like the turtle pulling its head in its shell.

Joseph Geck, principal of Accelerated Solutions in Waukesha, is a business and international trade consultant.

June 27, 2003 Small Business Times, Milwaukee