Business Connection June 2012

june 2012

Analytical engineering Inc. is high-tech problem-solver

Innovation in action

A publIcAtIon of

2 The Business Connection June 2012

Comments should be sent to The Business Connection editor, 333 Second St., Columbus, IN 47201 or call 379-5625. Advertising information: 379-5652. ©2012. All Rights Reserved. Editor, Doug Showalter; copy editor, Katharine Smith; writer, Barney Quick; graphic designer, Phillip Spalding.

on the cover: Analytical Engineering Inc. employees and customers stand outside the confidential test cell console area. From left are Anne Davis, Eric Harner, Angie May, Jim Zigan, Travis Fox, Tim Erntz, John Henderson, Ray Gordon, Caleb Tennis, Mat-thew Shea, Pat Shea, Nick Blodgett and Brandon Simmons. Photo by Angela Jack-son. Story page 6.

contentsThe study of architecture . . . . . . . . . . . . 3Mark McNulty column . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8Just-in-time manufacturing . . . . . . . . . . . 9On the move . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10Morton Marcus column . . . . . . . . . . . . 11Summer interns . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13Business leads . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

— Center for Business and Economic Research, Ball State University

business Indicators for bartholomew county percent changes

Mar 12/ Mar 12/ Description Mar 12 feb 12 Mar 11 feb 12 Mar 11

Labor Force 41,286 41,313 37,591 -0.1 9.8

Household Employment 38,556 38,515 34,737 0.1 11.0

Unemployment Rate (pct) 6.6 6.8 7.6 — —

Housing Units Permitted — — 19 — —

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June 2012 The Business Connection 3

by barney Quick

College students aspiring to careers in architecture need to be flexible and to take a wide perspective on what the field is really about .

The plain fact is that positions in which one is primarily designing new buildings are scarce at present . Someone about to graduate with an architecture degree may want to look at how his skills are transferable and how else the way he has been trained to think can be applied .

The main reason for the scarcity is fairly obvious . “A lot of developers aren’t developing and a lot of investors aren’t investing,” according to Anthony “Tony” Costello, principal at Muncie-based Costello + Associates and Irving distinguished professor emeritus of architecture at Ball State University . “We’ve experienced downturns before, but I’ve never seen one stay at the bot-tom so long .”

The aspirant maximizes his chances for success by considering himself a designer in a general sense .

“Architects are basically problem-solvers,” says Columbus-based architect Nolan Bingham .

T . Kelly Wilson, a tenured professor in Indiana University’s Department of Apparel Merchandising and Interior Design and a faculty member at the IU Center for Art and Design — Columbus, asserts that “distinctions between design professions are arbi-trary and exist mainly for the creation of business models .”

He cites the period between 1790 and 1840 in European history and says that “there was very little opportunity for architects . What they wound up doing was everything else,” such as painting .

Bingham says specialization can help one hedge against a lack of general opportunity .

“In school, you learn how to design space . They don’t say, ‘You’re going to be a school architect or a hospital architect .’ Once you begin to focus on a niche, you become valued for being able to specifically address the particu-lars of a given type of space . The disad-

building on their educationvantage, of course, is the prospect of a downturn in your sector .”

broaden your scopeThere are myriad ways to bring

architectural education into the world of work . They range from the techni-cal, such as research and development in the area of new building materials, to the aesthetic, such as interior design, to efforts to expand people’s understand-ing of history .

“An architect could get hired on a construction project to be the liai-son between the architect of record and the contractor,” says Bingham . “Corporations such as Lilly and Cummins use such people .”

Universities employ campus planners and facilities architects, says Costello . “They get involved in upgrading office buildings and renovations and addi-tions,” he notes .

He also mentions the growing inter-est among corporations in their histo-ries . “Ball State has a graduate program in historic preservation, and those grad-uates are doing quite well at finding opportunities .”

He speaks of product-development partnerships between architecture schools and the building-materials industry as well .

Wilson is a strong believer in the advantages of studying architecture . “I teach in Italy every year, and almost everyone has an architecture degree, not necessarily because they intend to practice it, but because it’s the most comprehensive of the design disciplines .

“It’s the great platform . It brings together a number of issues that are handled synthetically as a design is developed .”

Architecture students have designs on fulfilling careers

THE REPUBLiC PHoTos

Cummins Columbus Engine Plant

see architecture on page 4


He sees that as the purpose of the IU Center in Columbus, stressing that it “cultivates the habit of mind a designer grows into .”

Costello says that design activity is more decentralized today . Locales that were once hotbeds of development are more diffuse now .

“Our worldly graduates used to go to Atlanta,” he says . “Then it was Houston . Now, there is no one area that stands out as pulling itself out of this slump .”

He says that Columbus currently qualifies as a noteworthy center of development . “The housing being built downtown is a rarity . We usually reserve the term ‘building boom’ for large cities .”

Bingham adds that markets differ from one another . “Logistics are differ-ent when a building’s footprint is the entire site . Here, you can set materials down in a big yard and leave them for a few days .”

Columbus architect Louis Joyner says that in the last year, he has seen more activity than he had in the previous three . “Because my practice is mostly in Bartholomew County, it reflects the fortunes of the area .”

Like most Columbus-area architec-ture firms, Joyner’s is small . For five years, the staff has consisted of him-self and designer Brooke Hawkins . “It

doesn’t take that many people to design a building,” he notes .

That said, he likens the architect to “the policeman with the whistle at the center of the intersection,” the party in a project who keeps all others — developer, owner, builder and materials vendors — focused on a common set of objectives .

“Architects are pretty comfortable starting with a perspective of 10,000 feet and going down to the level of the screw on the switch plate . They can maneuver anywhere on that con-tinuum .”

Rest of the storyThe unemployment statistics for the

field — 13 .9 percent for recent gradu-ates and 9 .2 percent for those over the age of 30, according to a study by the Georgetown Center on Education and the Workforce — may not tell the whole story . Wilson says that only about one-fourth of those with whom he graduated were still practicing 10 years later .

Joyner notes the high attrition rate among architecture majors . “There is a high expectation to produce a large amount of work in a short time,” he says . Wilson adds the observation that “within two weeks of grad school class-es at Harvard, all the students’ projects look the same . A professional school doesn’t address a student’s imagina-tion .”

architecture continued from page 3

Columbus Regional Hospital

First Baptist Church Century 21 Breeden Realtors


However, because it trains someone to size up the parameters of a unique problem and embrace all the levels of consideration in solving it, the field is a beneficial starting point for many kinds of working lives .

“People go out of it into all kinds of fields,” says Joyner .

Passion so intense it’s immediately recognizable is arguably the trait that will best ensure that the architecture graduate finds a place to land . “It’s very easy to do a mediocre job at it, as is the case with most things,” says Wilson . “On the other hand, I recently saw a young applicant become the subject of a bidding war because she was so good .”

Bingham says that “in today’s world, you should really start preparing even before high school . Read the life stories of some great architects . Read some trade journals . Get high SAT scores,

acquire a background in community service . Travel .”

There is no doubt, however, that stubborn economic conditions affect the field’s vitality . Costello recounts a telling exchange to which he was a party .

“A young man came out to Ball State from New York over spring break . His father, a church facilities director, has knowledge of the conditions today, and he was concerned .

“I said to the son, ‘At the least, you’ll go to school for six years . Then you’ll need three years of experience . Only then can you take the portion of the professional exam dealing with that . That’s nine years . If this country hasn’t come out of its current economic state by then, we’ll have more serious prob-lems than employing architects .”

Columbus Fire Station 4

Clifty Creek Elementary School


by barney Quick

Businesses of every size and type pride themselves on being customer-driven . Some actually merit the charac-terization more than others .

In the case of Analytical Engineering Inc ., it describes exactly what the com-pany is about . In fact, AEI takes on projects based on being able to help a customer in ways that would otherwise consume costly amounts of resources, such as time, space and money .

The company’s motto is “Innovation in Action .” Its customers are immersed in day-to-day considerations, such as production and distribution . Projects related to growth, such as testing of new products or compliance with ever-changing industry standards or gov-ernment regulations, are often more cost-effective to outsource to an orga-nization that deals in new technological terrain .

“When we started, our premise was thinking outside the box and asking people in all departments to come up with better ways to do things,” says CEO Angie May .

One area of particular focus for AEI is engine testing . The company can test for characteristics from particulate matter emissions to how an engine per-forms at different altitudes, tempera-tures and speeds to how it integrates with particular vehicles .

The AEI team has applied its engi-neering prowess to many other areas as well . Its customer list includes the California Air Resources Board, Dow Chemical, Applied Laboratories and Eaton Corp ., among others .

One of its first projects was a con-tract with the United States Navy to develop “an underwater system for hearing through your teeth,” as May puts it . “That contract taught us how to do many things: machining, electronics, designing of circuit boards and control systems .”

Eventually, “we decided to get back to an industry we knew more about .” Engines, vehicles and components for them comprise the core of AEI’s work today .

An engine for innovation

Word of mouthThere are presently 40-plus employ-

ees on staff . “We’ve chosen to grow more slowly than we might have, because we only take on certain types of projects,” says May .

Companies find out about AEI, its capabilities and how to approach it,

mainly by word of mouth . “We get inquiries from companies we’ve never talked to,” she says .

May earned a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from Tri-State University (now known as Trine University) in Angola and an MSME from Purdue University . She worked at

Analytical Engineering solves variety of problems for its customers

PHoTos By AngELA JACkson

Nic Kirts, Data Cave facility manager, is shown near the two Cummins 2500 kVA generators that provide backup electrical power for the data center. Opposite page: Will Ward, Nick Blodgett, Don Davis and Brandon Wilson, from left, manufacture a particulate matter sample handling system for EPA compliance testing.

THE REPUBLiC FiLE PHoTo

Angie May is CEO of Analytical Engineering Inc. The company develops technological solu-tions for clients around the world.


Cummins Inc . for 10 years and founded AEI in 1994 with her husband, David, the firm’s chief technology officer . The company moved to its present facility on the city’s south side in 1999 .

A spinoff company, Data Cave, began operations in 2009 . Its focus is storing servers (currently over 70,000) for any kind of customer for which uninterrupted computer function is a necessity . Angie May is the CEO, and Caleb Tennis, a former AEI engineer, is president .

“Caleb had grown beyond the scope of his AEI work,” says May .

The types of functions and equip-ment needed for Data Cave’s opera-tions are similar, and the two firms share some personnel .

In 2011, AEI was awarded a fed-eral grant of nearly $250,000, distrib-uted by the Indiana Office of Energy Development for energy efficiency efforts . It was used to replace lights in the facility, plus two dynamometers, which serve the role of an actual vehicle in engine testing .

In winning the grant, “we had to show that we had some skin in the game,” according to May . “We invested

see aei on page 10


(812) 372-7829

Jeff [email protected]

Terry [email protected]

When we get our clients together for our quarterly planning sessions, one of the challenges is coming up with goals

for their businesses other than the obvi-ous ones – sales and profit .

In reality, there are a total of six (actually seven) foundational areas of your business that you should be establishing annual

goals for and then creating detailed quarterly plans for achieving the goals .

The six areas of the business are sales, marketing, finance, operations, products and team . The seventh area is you, the owner, and your development . Let’s look at the types of goals you might set in each of these areas .

Sales is the area where most people typically have an easy time setting goals, or at least being aware that they should .

The six foundations of a business

Mark Mcnulty

The goals in the sales area are sales dol-lars, sales volume (number of sales) and gross margins (can also be in finance) . Typical sales performance indicators like conversion rate and average dollar sale are also important to either estab-lish as specific goals or at the very least to measure and track .

Marketing goals are next to develop and are often confused and intermixed with sales goals, yet they are really very different . The most common marketing goals are the number of leads created, which is the primary purpose of mar-keting, and the cost of leads (remember that marketing is simply buying leads) .

Some other common marketing goals can be related to establishing new lead sources (for example, referral partners, strategic alliances) or establishing new target markets or niches .

Finance goals need to reflect the type of business you have . Typical finance goals are gross margin/profit, net profit,

free cash flow, A/R, A/P and inventory . You may also have debt reduction goals or new financing goals . Some industries have key financial ratios to monitor and achieve – your CPA or coach can help you determine the appropriate ones .

Operations is the area where the bulk of the work of delivering your products and services is performed . Operations goals are commonly related to efficiency and productivity . Some goals in operations are billable hours, parts per hour, service callbacks, error rates/rework, waste/spillage and labor hours . Infrastructure needs are also part of operations, in particular your IT department and its goals for uptime and backup systems and availability .

Products and services are what you sell to your clients . Goals could include the development of new products and services, the improvement of existing products and the quality of the prod-ucts and services .

coach’s corner

The last of the six foundational areas of your business is your team . Team goals can include changes in the size of your team, team morale and satisfaction, development of new skills, development of new leaders, your HR functions and processes, and changes in your organization of your team .

Once you have identified goals in each area, it is time to determine how you need to grow to be a better leader for your organization .

Do you need to learn to manage yourself better (often confused with time management)? Do you need new skills to be a better leader and manager? Your business can only grow as big as you and your leadership team, so make sure that you are continuing to better yourself so that your business’s growth can be sustainable and profitable .

Mark McNulty can be reached at 372-7377 or [email protected].

Monthly publication of the Columbus Area Chamber of Commerce • 500 Franklin Street • Columbus, IN 47201 • 812-379-4457June 2012 GrowinG BUSinESS. GrowinG pEoplE.

chamberconnection

Check the web site calendar for all upcoming events.

CalEndar: register to attend events at www.columbusareachamber.com/events

June 7 — ribbon Cutting, 4:30 p.m., Paragon Meeting & Events

June 8 — TEn Talks, 8 a.m., Visitors Center

June 13 — Hackers Holiday Golf Tournament, 11 a.m., Otter Creek Golf Course

June 18 — School House Session, 7:30 a.m., Visitors Center

June 26 — new Membership reception, 5 p.m., Chamber

June 28 — Maximizing Your Trade Show investment, 4 p.m., The Commons, Xenia Miller Meeting Room

dear Members:We had a great day on May 15 at the Women’s Professional

Development Conference. More than 170 women gathered for in-spiration, motivation and education.

The Chamber would like to thank all who attended and the com-panies that supported the event by sending their employees.

We couldn’t have provided such an awesome day without the support of our sponsors. We, of course, have our overall sponsors who are listed on our homepage (columbusareachamber.com) and then our event sponsors: Columbus Regional Health; Elwood Staffing; Pentzer Printing; PNC Bank; Faurecia; Sharpnack, Big-ley, Stroh and Washburn LLP; and The Custer Foundation.

Thanks to Larry E. Nunn & Associates, J. Bowman Hearing Ser-vice and Prestige Printing for providing the notebooks that each attendee received. Thanks to Centra Credit Union for the reusable shopping bags. There were also so many of you who donated items for the goody bags – and we thank you for your contribu-tions.

Thanks to our local speakers who did a fantastic job represent-ing some of the greatest things about Columbus – our generous spirits and community pride.

Thanks to our vendors who spent the day with us showcasing all the wonderful services that are available here in the community.

Last but not least, thanks to the volunteers who helped pull ev-erything together. I truly appreciate your hard work.

Sincerely,Kami

The Columbus Chamber and the Greater Seymour Chamber are pleased to announce that the Frank-lin Chamber of Commerce will be a new partner in the Tri-County Busi-ness Expo.

This year the event will be held once again at The Commons in Co-lumbus on Tuesday, Sept. 25. The event’s mission is to continually improve regional partnerships and economic opportunities. Doors to the event will open at 10 a.m. and will remain open until 5 p.m.

Close to 80 businesses represent-ing all three counties will have the opportunity to exhibit at this event offering unparalleled access to re-gional buyers and key business de-cision makers within the course of a single day.

If you have a business that sells its products or services to other businesses and would like to expand your customer base regionally, this is an incredible one-day opportunity for you.

For questions about this event, contact Kami at Tri-County Busi-ness-To-Business Expo Partnership at (812) 379-4457 ([email protected]) or con-tact your local participating Cham-ber. Registration is open at www.columbusareachamber.com. Just click on the Tri-County Expo link from the home page.

Vendors for the Expo must be a member of one of the participating Chambers.

about the partners The Greater Seymour Cham-

ber of Commerce is a nonprofit corporation solely supported by its members. Its mission is “to serve as the catalyst for the advancement of commerce, culture and the com-munity.” The Franklin Chamber of Com-

merce links business with commu-nity by providing opportunities for growth and development. The vi-

women’s development conference a success

Franklin Chamber becomes part of Tri-County Expo

see EXPO inside

2012 Chamber Board of directors

TiM Millwood Cummins Inc.

JoHn BUrnETT Community Education Coalition

ikE dEClUE Tre Bicchieri

Brad daviS, past-Chair Centra Credit Union

linda dEClUE Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp.

paUla HarTwEll, Chair Administrative Resources

CHarliE FarBEr, Chair-Elect MainSource Bank

UMar FarooQ SIHO

JoHn HoGan Ivy Tech Community College

aMY kaiSEr First Financial Bank

MiCHaEl oakES IUPUC

ToM HarMon Taylor Bros. Construction

MikE roSSETTi The Republic

ron SEwEll CEDC

MarlEnE wEaTHErwax Columbus Regional Hospital

Evan wErlinG, Treasurer Werling Management Group

lUannE wHEwEll Indiana Bank and Trust

Ex-officio Members

kriSTEn Brown Mayor of Columbus

CHip orBEn Duke Energy/Economic Development

Board

davE GallE Community Education Coalition

Carl liEnHoop County Commissioner

lYnn lUCaS Visitors Center

donna roBErTSon Hope Chamber of Commerce

There is still time to join us for Hackers’ Holiday 2012 June 13 at Otter Creek Golf Course. Register online at www.colum-busareachamber.com/events. We have room for teams as well as individuals. It’s a great way to spend the day on the greens – networking and playing golf.

Lunch begins at 11:30 a.m. and shotgun start at 12:30 p.m. Price is $115 per player and in-cludes lunch and a player’s card.

Contact Kami at [email protected] or 379-4457 with any questions.

data Cave inc.Caleb Tennis (812) 228-1001 [email protected] 2425 Technology Blvd. Columbus IN 47201

recycled Treasures Flea MarketMichael Alexander (812) 372-6044 [email protected] 2211 State St. Columbus IN 47201

Success Business developmentLaura DeDomenic (812) 350-7283 [email protected] 411 Seventh St. Columbus IN 47201

The inn at irwin GardensJessica Stevens (812) 376-3663 [email protected] 608 Fifth St. Columbus IN 47201

The Chamber of Commerce, in cooperation with Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp., will host town hall meetings so the public has the opportunity to participate in a moderated dis-cussion with Superintendent John Quick and other school of-ficials.

Please join us for a public dia-logue from 7:30 to 8:30 a.m. at Columbus Area Visitors Center. Dates for the sessions are June 18, Aug. 20, Sept. 17 and Nov. 19 (held at Columbus Learning Center). Sessions will not take place in July or October.

The sessions are free, and no reservations are needed.

Hackers’ Holiday 2012

new members

School will be in session

sion of the Franklin Chamber of Commerce is to engage the community. The values of the Franklin Chamber of Commerce are integrity, commitment, fo-cus, balance and collaboration.

The Columbus Area Cham-ber of Commerce engages its members in the pursuit of excel-lence and economic growth by fostering an innovative business environment and a world-class community.

EXPO continued from front

Exhale with Hope931 25th St.376-4148

Mayor Kristen Brown performed the ribbon-cutting ceremony for Exhale with Hope. Owner Hope Coatsworth was joined by colleagues, family, friends and clients. Members of the Chamber Action Team were also present. Exhale with Hope is a new wellness center whose mis-sion is to inspire individuals to lead a healthy life through education about whole, balanced nutrition for the body, mind and soul.

Edward Jones/lisa duke1505 25th St.378-2012

Jim Clouse, program manager for the city, performed the ribbon-cutting ceremony for Columbus’ newest Ed-ward Jones office. Financial adviser Lisa Duke, along with her branch office assistant, Jeanne Webster, and several friends and family members celebrated the opening of their new office location at 1505 25th St. Members of the Chamber Action Team were also present. We specialize in serving the investment needs of individual investors of all ages and financial means. Here at Edward Jones we have built our business on the golden rule, treating our clients as we would want to be treated, a simple idea that still makes sense in today’s complex marketplace.

Malone Staffing2520 California St., Suite 1A669-1069

Jim Clouse, program manager for the city, performed the ribbon-cutting ceremony for Malone Staffing. Branch Manager Sherri Fowler was joined by clients, and mem-bers of the Chamber Action Team were also present. Malone has over 40 years of staffing experience. Head-quartered in Louisville, Malone is a full service staffing firm operating in 10 states with affiliates in all 50 states and Canada.

The ribbon-cuttings also appear in The Republic. For addresses and phone numbers of Chamber mem-bers, visit our online directory at www.columbusareachamber.com or call 379-4457.

Chamber offers group travel


There is nothing like the secure feeling of someone being there for you. When it comes to planning for the future, Hilliard Lyons is here for you—offering advice and an independent point of view that has helped our clients reach their goals for more than 150 years.

Investment Insight for Every Generation Since 1854sm

by Dee-Ann Durbin and tom KrisherAP Auto Writers

DETROIT — For the first time in more than 20 years, U .S . automakers are questioning a pillar of manufactur-ing: the practice of bringing parts to assembly lines right before they’re used .

So-called just-in-time deliveries have helped automakers save billions and run their factories more efficiently . But the approach also relies on an almost perfect supply chain . And twice in the last year, weak links have been exposed .

An earthquake in March 2011 knocked out many Japanese parts mak-ers, resulting in factory shutdowns and model shortages around the world . And this year an explosion at a German chemical plant cut off supplies of a resin essential in car fuel lines . Without those parts, assembly lines could slow or grind to a halt, causing shortages of cars on dealer lots later this year .

Carmakers are scrambling to find alternatives to the resin . The threat of a new shortage comes as U .S . auto sales are just becoming healthy again .

Supply problems in the auto indus-try are unavoidable sometimes, but car manufacturers are starting to rethink the just-in-time system, which relies on increasingly specialized parts from fewer suppliers .

The system, developed by Toyota in the 1970s and brought to the U .S . in the 1980s, discourages big stockpiles of parts in favor of deliveries shortly before they’re needed . It saves the cost of storing the parts or carrying them on the books . For those reasons, automak-ers and large suppliers typically store only a few weeks’ worth of parts .

“It’s pretty fragile,” says Steven Wybo, a managing director and auto-motive expert at Conway Mackenzie, a consulting firm that handles industry restructurings . “The only way to pro-tect supply is to build up inventory . Until that happens, we’re going to con-tinue to see problems like this .”

U .S . automakers say they are study-ing parts supplies to figure out what they need to stockpile .

Many of a car’s 3,000 parts have become so specialized that they’re made only by a few factories worldwide . That leaves the industry vulnerable to fires, natural disasters or other problems that may knock out a single parts factory .

The answer may be to stock up on parts that come from one factory, says

David Cole, chairman emeritus of the Center for Automotive Research, an industry think tank and research group .

“You can never take away risk com-pletely,” he says . “You want to mini-mize it .”

One factory now putting automak-ers at risk is the German chemical plant damaged by the explosion . The plant made at least one-fourth of the world’s PA-12, a nylon component in plastic fuel lines . It also supplied 70 percent of the world’s CDT, a chemical used by other companies that make PA-12, according to UBS analysts .

PA-12, also known as nylon 12, is crucial because it helps the tubes resist deterioration from carrying fuel . It’s also used in seats, and in pipelines and consumer products . No automaker has reported any factories running short of tubes, but industry analysts say that could come within weeks if alternatives aren’t found and tested quickly .

The results could be even more serious than last year’s Japanese earth-quake, which damaged parts factories and cut off everything from electronics to rubber components to a shiny pig-ment for paint . The shortages mainly affected factories run by Honda Motor Co . and Toyota Motor Corp ., costing production of 400,000 cars and trucks in North America . The companies have since made up that volume, but it took nearly a year for the supply of cars to return to normal .

The industry used to be on firmer

footing . Twenty years ago, companies relied less on suppliers and made more of their own parts . But General Motors Co . and Ford Motor Co . spun off their parts businesses in 1999 and 2000, a

move that saved money but gave them less control over inventory .

“Just in time is really risky, but it’s better for cost-effectiveness,” Wybo says .

And it works well for parts such as bolts and fasteners because many companies make them and there are backups at the ready if the main source is knocked out .

Other trends are magnifying the risk of the just-in-time approach . Parts sup-ply companies downsized significantly during the recession, and the remaining firms don’t have the money or staff to stock up on raw materials in case of a disruption . The industry also shrank because carmakers needed increasingly specialized parts to meet government safety and fuel economy standards . Suppliers without those products went out of business .

In the U .S . alone, at least 57 parts makers have closed, were bought out or went into bankruptcy since 2008, according to the Original Equipment Suppliers Association .

Automakers rethink parts supplies

AssoCiATEd PREss

A worker installs an inner dash silencer in a Camry on the assembly line at the Toyota Motor Manufacturing plant in Georgetown, Ky.


and Kentucky and has expertise in residential and commercial real estate transactions .

brittany Zoufal has joined O’Child Children’s Boutique as store manager . She is a recent graduate from IU School of Apparel Merchandising . Originally from Chicago, she has worked the past three years part time at O’Child Boutique’s Bloomington store while studying at IU . She will be managing the Columbus store alongside Columbus native chris Donica .

Rick Gardner has joined Salin Bank as a mortgage consultant . He is a former real estate sales agent with Century 21 Realtors and is a graduate of Ivy Tech, with an associate degree in business management .

— Staff Reports

elizabeth Doran has joined TLS .NET as project coordina-tor . She will apply her many years of experi-ence as an IT support supervisor, report/accounts specialist and project manager to vendor manage-

ment, order control and resource allo-cations, as well as working to achieve higher product and service efficiency levels within the project management group .

Sherri forgey, a registered nurse at Schneck Medical Center in Seymour, has been named a certified bariatric nurse by the American Society for Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery . A nurse must have a least two years of bariatric nursing experience and suc-cessfully complete a written exam designed to assess professional compe-

tencies in all techni-cal areas of bariatric nursing .

Melanie burgess, a registered nurse and hospitalist coor-dinator at Schneck Medical Center, has been named the 2012 IUPUC Outstanding

Student in Nursing . The honor recog-nizes high academic standards and pro-

fessionalism in her pursuit of a bach-elor’s degree in nursing, which she plans to complete this summer, then continue her education in a master’s degree program in nursing leadership and clinical nurse specialist .

Keith Mensendiek of Seymour, a financial associate with Thrivent Financial for Lutherans, has qualified for Sierra level sales and service for 2011 . Only 700 of 2,300 Thrivent representatives nationwide qualified for the distinction .

Mensendiek has been serving Lutheran families in the Seymour area and surrounding communities for four years .

luellen Wilson has joined Eagle Group Sportswear as admin-istrative assistant . She brings computer and sewing skills to com-plement the growth of this 30-year-old firm .

F .C . Tucker Co . has opened a new affiliate office, F .C . Tucker/Scott Lynch Group, at 430 Washington St . A veteran real estate professional for more than 20 years, Scott lynch has owned and operated a real estate firm in southeastern Indiana . He is a licensed real estate broker in Indiana

Dr. Sorin pusca has joined the medical staff at Columbus Regional Hospital as lead cardiothoracic sur-geon with CRH and Indiana University Health cardiovascular clinical affilia-tion .

He is a graduate of Carol Davila State University in Bucharest, com-pleted a cardiothoracic surgery resi-dency at University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey and was a chief resident in surgery at Lincoln Hospital Medical Center/Cornell Medical Center, Bronx, N .Y .

Scott Mayes has joined TLS .NET as a field engineer . His more than 15 years of IT experi-ence includes serv-ing as information services director for Bartholomew County and information secu-

rity officer for Indiana Bank & Trust, managing the corporate infrastructure and protecting privacy of customer information .

Melanie burgess

brittany Zoufal

chris Donica

Rick GardnerScott Mayes

elizabeth Doran

luellen Wilson

considerable money in the project our-selves .” Conversely, “the government had to show that significant energy savings would be achieved . The results have been good . We’ve experienced a decrease in electricity use .”

Growth spurtThe company recently acquired the

former RockTenn plant at 983 S . Marr Road . Both AEI and Data Cave will use the 223,000-square-foot space . May mentions that there are “some inter-esting projects in the works” for the building .

AEI expresses its civic-mindedness in several ways . Since 2004, it has awarded three scholarships each year to area high school students who intend to pursue careers in technical fields . Graduating seniors from Bartholomew County’s high schools, or county stu-dents who have been home-schooled and meet the other criteria, are eligible .

May serves on the boards of the

Community Education Coalition and the Heritage Fund, among other orga-nizations .

She says that even though her com-pany has a somewhat unique niche in the industrial landscape, it is still subject to economic ups and downs . “There’s no guarantee you’ll be in busi-ness tomorrow,” she asserts .

Regarding strategic considerations, she says that the company’s direc-tion “is a little more driven here than some places by what our employees enjoy doing . They tend to be proactive, which makes them an interesting bunch to be around .”

AEI gets involved in its customers’ activities at the front end of their pro-grams . The engines it tests, for instance, tend to be prototypes . It has established itself as the cost-effective way to deter-mine what is needed to prepare a new product for production .

As May says, “The reason customers come to us is that we can accomplish things they want to do faster .”

aei continued from page 7

Greg Newhart, left, and Jeremy Keller machine complicated prototypes in the new 5-axis machining center.


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America is still fascinated with “The Price is Right .” We watch HGTV to discover the right price of real estate .

For many genera-tions economists have searched for the right price, the just price .

How much rent should the land-lord be paid by the farmer of his land? How much is a loaf of bread worth? The

proper compensation for a farm worker is the subject of a biblical parable . These, in their many forms, are peren-nial questions .

Therefore it is no wonder that today we ask how much is an outstand-ing athlete worth? Kobe Bryant, Alex Rodriguez, Andrew Luck — are they worth what their clubs are willing to pay them? How about teachers, admin-istrators, basketball coaches — are they paid appropriately?

What is the right compensation for

Pay levels did not cause recession

Morton Marcus

a wholesaler or a retailer who oper-ates between the manufacturer and the consumer?

We have a suspicion of middlemen, particularly when the commodity in question is money . Hence, we easily question the rewards paid to bankers, brokers and bond sellers . Our society still operates with the ignorance and prejudice of the Middle Ages against money and services .

This biased thinking refuses to rec-ognize the contributions to our lives generated by activities beyond agricul-ture, mining and manufacturing . Even construction has to battle for recogni-tion and respect .

In economic development, if our efforts do not result in tangible prod-ucts that can be shipped, they are not called “goods .” The idea is not accept-ed that a community could benefit from another restaurant, barbershop, electri-cian, accountant or attorney . Just look at what types of firms get property tax abatements .

Contemporary thinking has people who trade money (modern money changers) painted as parasites . Wall Street types who invent new means to lower transaction costs are evil doers . The public does not understand swap-ping risk, although that same public is easily enticed into betting on fantasy sports teams, choosing Powerball num-bers and playing blackjack .

The extensive discontent with com-pensation for executives, particularly those in the financial services industry, is largely because we do not take the time to understand the function of money and the role of insurance . That is how we come to see other people’s rewards as “obscene” and “unneces-sary .”

Economics has taught us that com-pensation is that sum necessary to bring forth the services of a worker of a given skill level . If you want an hour of work from an expert plumber, you will pay more than you would for an hour from a novice plumber . How much should

you pay for someone’s advice on how to manage your money? Should you pay on the basis of past performance for advice to someone else or defer payment for two years until you see how successful his advice proved to be for you?

Outrage is natural when so many of us have seen the values of our homes decrease, our jobs disappear and our pensions erode . We want to blame someone . We don’t know what a hedge fund is, so a hedge fund manager is a good target .

The truth is that we all contributed to the housing bubble . It was not solely the builders, the bankers, the mortgage brokers or the federal housing agen-cies . It was generations of believing the American dream could be realized best by universal home ownership and that wars could be pursued without costs to our society .

Morton Marcus is an independent economist, writer and speaker formerly with the IU Kelley School of Business.


Italian company picks Indiana

WEST LAFAYETTE — An interna-tional developer of electric generators and batteries has chosen West Lafayette as the site for its North American head-quarters .

Italian developer Genport SRL hopes to bring up to 20 jobs to the area by 2015 . The company expects to start hiring engineers in the next few months and be operational by the fall .

Genport provides products for the military and emergency and medical industries . The company plans to invest $2 million to lease its offices and buy equipment for labs . Genport will partner with the U .S . Department of Defense and the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Crane .

parts plant expansion

TERRE HAUTE — ThyssenKrupp Presta, an auto parts maker, is planning a $22 million expansion at its Terre Haute factory .

The company expects to add three new assembly lines and potentially add 120 workers in the coming year . Construction is scheduled to be com-pleted by October . The factory now has about 200 full-time workers .

The company attributes the expan-sion to increased demand for the steer-ing systems it makes, including new contracts with major auto companies .

Greensburg plant adds Acura

GREENSBURG — Honda is increas-ing production of a new Acura model . The Acura ILX’s gas-powered and gas-electric hybrid versions will be exclu-sively built at the Greensburg factory .

Until it started building the new Acura, the factory had built only Civic models . Honda is aiming the ILX as an entry-level car for its luxury Acura division, with pricing expected to start below $30,000 .

The Greensburg factory roughly doubled its workforce last year by hir-ing nearly 1,000 new employees when it added a second production shift .

Goshen plant expansion

GOSHEN — An economic develop-ment official says a truck body manu-facturer is going ahead with plans for a northern Indiana expansion despite the resignation of the company’s CEO .

Mark Brinson, Goshen community development director, says Supreme Corp . has started some early work on its planned $7 million project to expand its plant in the Elkhart County

city and buy new equipment .The Goshen-based company

announced in March that it expected to add perhaps 350 jobs over the next three years . The Goshen City Council has approved a nearly $700,000 tax abatement for the expansion .

talkin’ turkey

VINCENNES — A turkey process-ing company is trying to cut nearly $20 million in construction costs in order to build a new plant in southwestern Indiana that it expects to open with about 350 workers .

Gary Gentry, Knox County Development Corp . director, says Farbest Foods hopes to learn soon whether it has scaled back the project enough to reach its target of $70 mil-lion to $75 million for the Vincennes plant .

Gentry said Huntingburg-based Farbest has reduced the plant’s size by about 10 percent and is putting off buying some equipment until it adds a second shift .

Farbest announced plans for the Vincennes plant in December, saying it expected to open it in 2014 and eventu-ally have up to 600 workers .

Kroger expands nAScAR role

INDIANAPOLIS — Kroger will be NASCAR’s title sponsor for the first “super weekend” in Indianapolis .

Four races will be held at the historic track from July 26 to 29, including the annual Brickyard 400 .

It will be the first time the Nationwide Series and Grand-Am race at the track on the same weekend, which organizers will call the Kroger Super Weekend . It’s the first time the track’s 2 .5-mile oval and the track’s road course will be used on the same weekend .

The deal also makes Kroger the speedway’s official florist and official box lunch provider .

cook Group acquisition

BLOOMINGTON — Medical-device maker Cook Group has bought an Indianapolis company that special-izes in cell and tissue processing and cryopreservation technologies .

Bloomington-based Cook didn’t dis-close what it paid to acquire General BioTechnology, which also runs an umbilical cord blood and tissue bank for individuals and a reproductive tis-sue bank .

Cook Group Vice President Neal Fearnot said the acquisition will allow the 20 employees of General BioTechnology to continue that work while utilizing Cook’s resources and support . Cryopreservation is low-tem-perature storage of a living organism so it can later be revived and restored .

Snack food hiring

BLUFFTON — A company that makes snack foods plans to add at least 50 workers at its northeastern Indiana facility . The company now has about 270 full-time workers .

Bluffton-based Pretzels Inc .

Around the watercooler

announced that improvements in the business and sales growth warrant the added production and support staff jobs .

Company CEO Steve Huggins says some workers who’ve been in tempo-rary jobs are being reclassified as regu-lar full-time employees .

Marsh looking for new ceo

FISHERS — Marsh Supermarkets is looking for a new chief executive for the third time in just over a year with the resignation of Joe Kelley . He replaced Frank Lazaran, who resigned in April 2011 after five years as CEO of the Fishers-based grocer . Chief Operating Officer Bill Holsworth will be interim CEO .

Marsh says Kelley left to become president of the New England divi-sion of Stop & Shop, a 375-store gro-cery chain owned by Dutch food giant Ahold .

The company operates 78 Marsh Supermarkets, three O’Malia’s Food Markets and 16 MainStreet Markets in Indiana and Ohio .

Marsh has struggled to restore mar-ket share lost over the years to Kroger Co ., along with competition from Walmart, Meijer and Target .

Simon grows two ways

INDIANAPOLIS — The nation’s largest shopping mall operator is now also the world’s largest real estate company . Indianapolis-based Simon Property Group is listed at No . 1 on the FTSE EPRA/NAREIT Global Real Estate Index .

Yahoo Finance recently estimated Simon’s enterprise value at $65 bil-lion, the Indianapolis Business Journal reports . Simon says that’s a low esti-mate and it’s really worth about $85 billion, including unconverted owner-ship units and debt Simon has issued recently . Enterprise value includes addi-tional factors besides market capitaliza-tion .

The IBJ reports Simon is the only real estate company listed on the Standard & Poor’s 100 Index, a listing of the nation’s largest and most established companies, including Apple, Coca-Cola and McDonald’s .

Simon grew its revenue over the years by building and leasing new malls and acquiring rival mall owners, but the company has adjusted its strategy for growth now that it has more than 330 retail properties and 5,500 employees .

— Wire Reports


by joyce M. RosenbergAP Business Writer

NEW YORK — With the arrival of summer, many small businesses take on interns . These young people are looking for experience and, in some cases, school credits . Companies appre-ciate the extra help, particularly when they’re not able to hire .

But many owners find that hiring an intern isn’t like hiring a temporary employee . Interns often have little or no work history, and some need guid-ance on how to behave in the working world . An owner who’s busy running a company might be surprised to find she also needs to become a boss/parent/teacher to an intern . It can be time con-suming, but also rewarding .

Here are some of the issues owners need to consider:

care and trainingMany small business owners anxious

to get some extra help can make the mistake of assuming that an intern is like any other worker . It’s not quite that simple . Interns are supposed to be hav-ing a learning experience, not giving a company another warm body .

These days, some interns are people who have lost jobs or who graduated from college a few years ago . They’re likely looking to build a resume and get a chance at a future hire . But many others are college or even high school students who are using internships as a way to get course credit .

Because they are supposed to be learning, interns may need more super-vision than an owner expects .

“They need a lot of hand-hold-ing, and that hand-holding actually takes you away from the work that a small business requires you to do,”

said Agnes Huff, CEO of Agnes Huff Communications Group .

Some companies assign staffers to help mentor interns .

Leslie Saunders found out years ago how important it is to supervise interns . One intern hired at her Tampa, Fla ., employee benefits brokerage was asked to do filing . She started filing every-thing under clients’ first names .

“We have many Johns, many Thomases, many Christophers . She was doing it for several weeks before any-body really noticed,” recalled Saunders, president of Leslie Saunders Insurance Agency Inc . “She was an honors stu-dent, but it never occurred to her” that filing was done by last name .

The investment in an intern can pay off well for a company . Many owners have hired some of their interns as full-time staffers .

“You can feel the rewards fairly quickly if you’re doing it right,” said Anna Jerden, an account supervisor at Agnes Huff Communications .

But Jerden also counsels owners to be a patient teacher and give an intern time to adjust to working .

“When you’re bringing in someone who doesn’t know the business, the first thing that happens to them is they get totally overwhelmed,” she said .

being a boss/parentSome interns may never have worked

before, or they had retail jobs or waited tables . They may have no idea how to behave or dress for an office setting . So owners may find themselves giving interns a few life lessons .

Katherine Rothman, CEO of KMR Communications Inc ., recalled an intern who worked in the public rela-tions firm’s reception area . Rothman

said the young woman “was slouching down in her seat, looking like she was watching TV at home .”

Rothman took the intern aside and told her, “That’s not the alert look you want your boss to see . I don’t want clients or prospective clients to come in here and that’s the first impression they have of the company .”

Rothman has also dealt with similar issues, such as poor phone manners and female interns wearing clothes that are too revealing .

“You have to anticipate and assume they know nothing,” she said .

Like employees, interns have a range of work ethics . Some are go-getters, while some spend more time texting and on Facebook than they do working . In the latter case, it’s time for an owner-intern talk .

Some interns just don’t work out . They don’t seem to learn . Owners who have dealt with the problem usually let these interns go .

Jerden recalled an intern who couldn’t spell and had grammar issues . Worse, she didn’t seem to grasp the

fact that this was a problem . “It became quite a handicap,” said Jerden . The young woman didn’t last .

learn from your internOwners are finding that young peo-

ple who have social media savvy can help companies learn how to use ser-vices like Facebook and Twitter . These owners put their interns to work help-ing the business get a better presence online .

the government’s viewOwners need to be careful if they

have unpaid interns that they’re not vio-lating the federal Fair Labor Standards Act . The law spells out the criteria that an internship must meet in order for the intern to be unpaid .

The government considers an intern-ship to be a training program that is for the benefit of the intern, not the company . The intern should not do the work that a regular employee would do . Owners might want to consider giving interns a small salary . Your best move may be to check with a human resources consultant or labor lawyer .

business interns need special care


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Documents

Business Connection June 2012