A Le Mars manufacturer of side-dumping truck trailers believes his business is on the road to steady growth after CIRAS helped improve the company’s management structure and confirm that its marketing is on the correct path. SmithCo Manufacturing Inc. was founded in 1994 to make side-dump trailers for the construction industry. Change loomed, however, as the company entered its third decade. SmithCo, long popular in construction, agriculture, and municipal waste hauling, had discovered a lucrative new market in the mining industry. But could the business handle it? Operations manager Scott Lovell saw the potential for enormous growth over the horizon, and he wanted to make sure his company was ready.
Author: Jeff Eckhoff
Communications Manager at CIRAS, Iowa State University
CIRAS Staff News: Meet Behrens & McGraw
We would like to announce that two new faces joined CIRAS at the end of 2019. (And watch this space for more staffing news in the days to come.) Here are your brief introductions to the new CIRAS additions:
Five Ways CIRAS Can Help You Grow in 2020
New years bring a time for new beginnings. To quote Charles Kettering, an inventor and the head of research for General Motors from 1920 to 1947, “Every time you tear a leaf off a calendar, you present a new place for new ideas.” If CIRAS is a new idea for you, then why not start the new year by considering a few new topics? Here are five ways that CIRAS can help your company grow in 2020:
CIRAS is Sponsoring Winter Conference of Master Builders of Iowa
Iowa’s leading organization of construction contractors will hold its annual meeting next month, and CIRAS plans to be there helping companies learn how to advance their businesses. CIRAS is a sponsor of this year’s Annual Winter Conference of the Master Builders of Iowa (MBI). Founded in 1912, MBI is one of 89 chapters of the Associated General Contractors of America, the most influential and widely respected construction association in the country. The Iowa chapter’s annual gathering is scheduled for February 24-26 at the Prairie Meadows Event and Conference Center in Altoona.
Did You Know?… The Rules for Gift Giving to Public Agencies
Gift giving is often a standard business practice during this holiday season. However, you should beware if you are giving a gift to a public agency. Most states, as well as the federal government, have rules governing this practice. Let’s explore the law that applies to our state, which is called the Iowa Gift Law.
CIRAS Scanner Captures History of Mini-campanile’s Bells
It is a bright summer day when Tin-Shi Tam climbs the steps inside Iowa State University’s iconic campanile to play her daily midday concert on the Stanton Memorial Carillon. Up above, after she’s worked the carillon’s bells through a mix of tunes that includes both Garth Brooks and the theme from a Hong Kong soap opera, Tam starts talking about the miniature version—a one-fifth scale model of the campanile that eventually would be unveiled to the public in October. “I think the whole idea about this project is that not only did we involve so many Iowa State students and faculty to build it, but this is a project that we can actually own,” Tam said. “It’s the whole process. We’ve documented every process. This is something that we can share and say, ‘This is how it works.’”
Our Annual Iowa-Made Holiday Gift Guide
One of our favorite times of the year is here! ‘Tis the season to remind everybody once again that there are awesome Iowa-made products to give as gifts!
Develop Talent through Internships
Internships can feed the talent pipeline for many small- to medium-sized manufacturers facing serious workforce gaps as their senior employees near retirement. But internship success (finding, engaging, and retaining talent) requires strategy and planning to locate and groom qualified job candidates. As the Program Manager of Apprenticeship and Workforce at the Maryland Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP), I … Continue reading Develop Talent through Internships
MarketWise Offers Insight, Advice in NE Iowa
Once every other month for five years, Donna Bruesewitz has taken a day away from her office and driven somewhere to learn from others who do what she does. Bruesewitz is one of five original members who still attend regular meetings of MarketWise NE. The northeast Iowa business networking group was founded five years ago by the Iowa Association of Business and Industry (ABI) in partnership with CIRAS. ABI launched the group—along with others such as LeanWise, the CFO Roundtable, and the Operations Excellence Roundtable—by partnering with CIRAS and numerous other experts across the state. The goal was to help functional managers develop through the sharing of experiences, lessons, and best practices with colleagues just down the road.
Learn the Secrets of “Writing Federal Proposals”
Government contracting is a complicated and detailed process with many precise steps that must be followed. For companies that are new to the government sector, it sometimes can be overwhelming. Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to practice before you submitted that first bid? We thought so, too.