37. Lucky to be an Iowan Are you lucky? If luck is where opportunity and preparedness meet, you are here! Iowa’s resources, business climate, people and products have prepared you. Opportunity surrounds you! You are LUCKY!!! Now do something with it!
38. Thank you Leisa Fox Vice President of Membership Iowa Association of Business & Industry 904 Walnut, Ste. 100 Des Moines, IA 50309 515-235-0575 [email_address]
Editor's Notes
In 1872, Horace Greeley a great American Mfg. Champion said – “Iowa is destined to be a great manufacturing state. You have coal in unlimited quantities…your lead mines…iron mines…cattle, hogs, wool, clay, timber, lime and stone…only await investment of capital to bring into your midst hundreds of thousands of consumers who will swarm to your factories…and eat up the products of this great agricultural state.”
IOWANS enjoy something that is hard to find elsewhere: balance !
Iowa's corn, soybeans and windy plains are powering our vehicles and homes and positioning our state for energy independence.
Iowa colleges and universities rank high in several national rankings including the U.S. News & World Report 2006 College Rankings, Kiplinger Magazine's "Top 100 Public Universities for Value by Quality 2006." U of I continue to rank among the nation’s best in many areas, from the arts and humanities, to business, to the health sciences. U.S. News & World Report ranks Iowa State among the top 50 public national universities. UNI has ranked second in Midwest top public comprehensive universities by U.S. News and World Report for nine consecutive years
Iowa colleges and universities rank high in several national rankings including the U.S. News & World Report 2006 College Rankings, Kiplinger Magazine's "Top 100 Public Universities for Value by Quality 2006." U of I continue to rank among the nation’s best in many areas, from the arts and humanities, to business, to the health sciences. U.S. News & World Report ranks Iowa State among the top 50 public national universities. UNI has ranked second in Midwest top public comprehensive universities by U.S. News and World Report for nine consecutive years
When comparing financial health - foreclosures, unemployment rates and percentage of non-mortgage debt by income - Iowa is the second best state in the nation, behind only Nebraska.…
Iowa sets itself apart, being one of only two states in the contiguous United States that offers a refundable research activities credit For their research and development investments, Iowa companies earn refundable tax credits that may be paid directly in cash to the company once its tax liabilities are met. This is a critical difference and a huge benefit in Iowa because each research or development decision depends on a delicate balance between the inherent financial risk and the return of potential profitability. In Iowa the weight of that risk is mitigated with the refundable aspect of its Research Activities Credit.
Since 1986 Current 38,000 sqft. Facility 120+ Employees 3 shifts 24/7 Plans for growth!
Rolscreen was founded by P.H. 'Pete' Kuyper and his wife Lucille. They purchased a small company in 1925 that, one year earlier, had started manufacturing unique roll-up windows. In 1926 they moved the company to Pella, their home town, and set up shop. The original operation consisted of a three-person workforce headed by Kuyper. The company soon was forced to expand as a result of surging demand for its 'Rolscreen' window screens. Kuyper's manufacturing operations more than doubled by the end of the 1920s. Despite economic hardship during the Depression era, Rolscreen continued to grow. In 1934, in fact, Kuyper introduced his second product--high-quality venetian blinds. Three years later he started selling his patented deluxe casement window, a steel-framed casement with a wood interior, divided windowpanes, exterior wash feature, and removable insulating glass. As demand for all of Rolscreen's premium products swelled, the company expanded nationwide. By the mid-1930s Rolscreen had established sales offices in 24 U.S. cities and 15 foreign countries. During the late 1930s Kuyper's sales were particularly brisk, mostly because of orders for its unique casement windows. Rolscreen eventually sold more than one million of those units. Rolscreen shifted gears beginning in the early 1940s, switching from private-sector manufacturing to building windows for defense-related construction. Government purchases during World War II proved a significant boon to the company, and the postwar housing shortage kept its factories running at full tilt. Demand was so great, in fact, that a temporary mill was established in Pella during 1948 and 1949 to process raw lumber. As the postwar economy and population boomed during the 1950s and 1960s, company sales climbed rapidly as architects and builders increasingly turned to the manufacturer for high-quality building components.
It all began in 1878 when a fire destroyed the St. Joseph Michigan home of Edward Cook (E.C.) Palmer. Instead of rebuilding, the adventurous E.C. decided to pack up his family and move to the fast-growing frontier town of Sioux City, Iowa to purchase a wholesale grocery operation. In 1892, E.C.'s eldest son, William B. Palmer, decided to go into business and opened up a wholesale fruit company and realizing that it really is better to keep things in the family, William went into business with his father and brother Charles, forming Palmer and Company.
In 1995, Schafer System Inc. diversified and expanded its rotational molding division to begin manufacturing marine products. The first being the Bass Baby®, a two man fishing boat with wheels. Next came the Connect-A-Dock®, a modular floating dock system. This building block concept allows you to build your dock in many different sizes and configurations. Also in 1999, Schafer Systems Inc. and Connect-A-Dock established an Employee Stock Ownership Plan allowing employees to participate and share in the ownership of the company. Connect-A-Dock Inc. has reorganized its corporate structure effective November 1, 2003 to better reflect its business operations and to provide a platform for its continued growth. The former Schafer Systems Inc. (SSI) holding company structure will now be known as Owner Revolution Inc. The company’s current line of marine products includes the Connect-A-Dock 1000 Series floating docks, the 2000 Series floating docks and the easy-to-transport Bass Baby fishing boat. Connect-A-Dock Inc. will continually provide our customers with innovative new marine products.
Craig Sommerfeld was a machinist at a mfg. facility in Ames. The plant closed while he was building a log cabin for his family up by Boone. His wife didn’t like the look of screw heads Always innovating, Craig used his skills machining to create a jig that would help join pieces of would without visible screw heads by creating pockets to hold them. Unemployed, he thought maybe he could sell a few of them until he found a “real” job. After 5 years, then 10, now 23, he’s asked his son to come and run the business. Todd Sommerfeld, an accounting grad of UNI, is now shoulder to shoulder with his dad running the company. You will now see their commercials on HGTV and their products in wood working stores all over the world.
Despite his difficulties in Vermont, John was an inventive and skilled blacksmith. He realized that a plow with a highly polished surface could clean – or scour – itself as it moved through the field. One day, in 1837, John spotted a broken sawblade in the corner of a sawmill and asked the owner if he could take it back to his shop. There John Deere fashioned the world's first successful steel plow, and in doing so, opened up the West to agricultural development.
TPI Composites Inc. has officially opened its 316,000-square-foot wind turbine blade facility in Newton, Iowa. The newly-built plant will manufacture high-performance wind turbine blades for distribution to the U.S. wind energy market. At full capacity, TPI Iowa plans to employ 500 associates, making it a significant provider of "green" jobs. Today, Newton boasts two wind energy firms, and Iowa is one of the leading wind producing states in the country, according to TPI.
1937 BF Goodrich in Ohio. 1986 Sold off all rubber – acquired Delavan in Iowa. One of the largest worldwide aerospace and defense suppliers Broadest portfolio of systems and products in industry Proprietary flight critical systems and products Operating history of over 135 years 2007 Sales - $6.4 Billion Over 24,000 employees at more than 90 facilities
It all started on the wedding day of Meredith's founder, Edwin Thomas Meredith. His grandfather's nuptial gift was a fistful of $20 gold pieces that bought the controlling interest in his grandfather's newspaper, Farmer's Tribune . A note that said, "Sink or swim" was attached to the debt-laden balance sheet. It's clear today that E.T. chose to swim. He turned around the fortune of the paper and sold it for a profit. With the proceeds, he decided to publish a journal that met his vision of what a helpful farm publication should be: a service magazine. In October 1902, the first issue of Successful Farming magazine was sold to 500 subscribers. By 1914, circulation was over the half-million mark. In 1912, the 200-employee company moved into the core of the corporate headquarters building at 1716 Locust Street in Des Moines. Since then, seven additions have been made to the building, including a $40 million campus addition completed in 1998. E.T. Meredith carved a niche for himself in both the publishing and civic arenas. He helped establish the 4-H Club and served on Woodrow Wilson's cabinet as Secretary of Agriculture. Early in 1928, he was considered as a Democratic nominee for president. Sadly, the publisher's health began to fail, and he died that year at age 51. His legacy continued, for E.T. Meredith's company became the well-respected corporation it is today.
n 1988, Shivvers began production of mid-mount zero turn mowers for Snapper™, and in 1995 expanded to include supplying additional major OEM’s. In January of 1996, Shivvers created the Country Clipper Division and began production of the Country Clipper brand of zero turn mowers. In March of 1996, Country Clipper out-front mowers came rolling off the assembly line of the Country Clipper Division of Shivvers Manufacturing, Inc., in Corydon, Iowa. Production of the mid-mount Country Clipper and a full line of accessories soon followed. This was just the beginning of a new signature mower line and a new division of an older, established manufacturing company, Shivvers Manufacturing, Inc.
Alcoa was founded in 1888 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, under the name The Pittsburgh Reduction Company. Its founders were a coalition of entrepreneurs headed by Alfred Hunt, a metallurgist who had been working in the steel industry, and a young chemist named Charles Martin Hall. Pittsburgh Reduction's sole property was a patented process for extracting aluminum from bauxite ore by electrolysis, which Hall had invented in the woodshed of his family house in 1886, just one year after his graduation from Oberlin College. Hall's discovery had promised to make aluminum production economical for the first time in history. Later in 1886, Hall had taken his process to a smelting company in Cleveland, Ohio, but left in 1888 after it showed little interest. One of his associates there, who had also worked with Hunt at another company, introduced the two men, and Pittsburgh Reduction was started as a result of their meeting.
Blue Tooth antenna – probably one in your mobile device! Manufacturers of next-generation high tech products. - Most of what we produce is part of some kind electronic device. - 65%+ goods shipped outside U.S. -Logistics <1% of production costs - To Internationals the Dollar is attractive. - Industries: Medical Micro Electronics Automotive Electronics Micro Optics Military/Aerospace
Blue Tooth antenna – probably one in your mobile device! Manufacturers of next-generation high tech products. - Most of what we produce is part of some kind electronic device. - 65%+ goods shipped outside U.S. -Logistics <1% of production costs - To Internationals the Dollar is attractive. - Industries: Medical Micro Electronics Automotive Electronics Micro Optics Military/Aerospace
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