CIRAS Shows ADA Enterprises How to Build for the Future

• Jeff Eckhoff

A Northwood, Iowa-based manufacturer of pig and calf flooring and commercial outdoor furniture should see a major boost to its production capacity because of a CIRAS-assisted expansion of its production plant.

Thomas Stensrud, president of ADA Enterprises, said his company’s recently remodeled and expanded footprint should provide 20 years of growth for the maker of park furniture and plastic-coated pork industry flooring. “We plan on at least doubling or even tripling our capacity,” he said.

CIRAS Networking: A New Focus in 2018

• Jeff Eckhoff

As the old saying goes, it’s not what you know but who you know.

Thanks to Google, online forums, and social networking sites, a lot of people will tell you that old saying is out of date. Our experience at CIRAS is that it is more true than ever. Searching the web for solutions to problems is great, but sometimes it is the personal connection that makes it real, and helps you implement real change within your business.

How to Create Your Own Elevator Speech

• Jeff Eckhoff

A quick, easy way to create your elevator speech is to review your capability statement, drawing ideas from your core capabilities and differentiators. Or you could perform the following steps:

New CIRAS Funding ‘Embeds’ Iowa Manufacturers in Major Industrial Research

• Jeff Eckhoff

AMES, IA – Iowa manufacturers now have improved access to future advancements in chemical and biochemical manufacturing because of a new grant awarded to Iowa State University’s Center for Industrial Research and Service (CIRAS) and the Iowa State Bioeconomy Institute.

The award, which comes as part of a nationwide pilot project to embed ground-level manufacturing experts in the middle of ongoing major research, is designed to build a bridge between small- to medium-sized American factories and the scientists who work at 15 major research institutes, known collectively as Manufacturing USA.

HUBZones – Everything you need to know

• Jeff Eckhoff

Did you know that at the end of 2016 and in early 2017 there were map changes to the qualified HUBZone areas throughout the U.S., including Iowa?

Iowa has a number of counties that have increased areas that are now HUBZone qualified!

American Coating and Welding Growing Rapidly—With CIRAS by Its Side

• Jeff Eckhoff

CIRAS government contracting specialist Andy Alexander was eating breakfast in downtown Onawa one morning in 2014 when he suddenly came face-to-face with the aspirations of a Monona County sheriff’s deputy.

“He walked in and wanted to know if that was my government car out there,” Alexander recalls. “I thought he was going to give me a ticket.”

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