Industrial Park Welcomes Family Services of Northwestern PA.
As reported in the Economic Insider about a month ago, the Economic Progress Alliance’s construction crew has been extremely busy in recent months preparing space for a rather long list of new occupants at the Crawford County Industrial Park.
Our most recent project involves the construction of about 6,000 square feet of office and conference room facilities to accommodate Family Services of Northwestern PA. This space, located at the southern most section of the 1,000,000 + square foot facility on Mosiertown Road, will be completed during the first week of September, 2007. Family Services expects to begin moving about forty personnel into their new facilities on September 7th.
On behalf of the staff and Board of Directors of the Alliance, it is my pleasure to welcome Family Services to our facility, and to thank them for their continued commitment and service to the citizens of Crawford County.
Until next time..
Mark Turner
This past week was a very busy and productive time for area companies as three loans and one land purchase were closed for four different businesses.
Voodoo Brewing Company LLC, 215 Arch Street, Meadville has received a $25,000 loan from the Economic Progress Alliance Revolving Loan Fund for start up and working capital to be utilized for bottle inventory, grain, hops and labor. Voodoo Brewery owner and brewmaster Matthew Allyn plans to start production at 650 barrels per year with phased expansion over the next five years to 2500 barrels. Initially, seven products in a variety of ales and lagers will be produced and sold in kegs and bottles to state and out-of-state distributors for re-sale. A second line of products is planned once the market has accepted the initial ale offerings to be sold in-house at the brewpub as well as specialty "house" beers brewed and labeled for local taverns. This project will retain two employees and is expected to create 4-7 new positions.
Wood Technologies Inc. of Meadville also received a $25,000 loan from the Economic Progress Alliance Revolving Loan Fund for working capitol and payroll. The project for software consulting and implementation for manufacturing and health care facilities will retain one employee, has already resulted in the addition of four new employees with further increased employment anticipated. The business started in 1995 as S. Bradley & Associates. Sheila Wood bought the business in 1999 and changed the name to Wood Technologies Inc. They are adding a new software consulting service in the medical industry and have been working with Steris Corporation on developing a team of consultants to implement, train and support this new line of software to the medical industry. The products, E-out Sheet Management, Instrument Management and Tray Management, are designed to assist hospitals in maintaining their surgical instruments. Steris started selling these software and consulting packages in June, 2006 and sold 20 packages by the end of the year. Wood Technologies went live with the service in January, 2007 and hopes to increase sales by 20 more packages.
Conneaut Cellars Winery of Conneaut Lake has received a USDA Intermediary Re-lending Program loan in the amount of $75,000 for the purchase of six variable capacity tanks to improve efficiency. New tanks with jackets will control the fermentation process, allow bigger batches and perform cold stabilization in December and January. A mew sparkling tank with filler will allow increased production from nine gallon batches to 250 gallon batches and bottle four times faster. Plans are to enter into a new business venture of producing sparkling wines for other wineries.
Moon Tool and Die has purchased 3.55 acres in Crawford Woodlands at the Crawford County Industrial Park for construction of a 17,000 square foot building with potential expansion of an additional 8,000 sq. ft. building. Moon Tool hopes to break ground and start construction immediately as they want to relocate from Conneaut Lake to the new location in the first quarter of 2008. The project also includes the purchase of new equipment and will add six full-time positions.
A production crew from the Science Channel television show "How It's Made" spent the whole day on Thursday, August 30th, at Channellock Inc. documenting the making of a pair of pliers from the design process through all manufacturing operations to the shipping of finished products. The Channellock segment will air during the show's 2008 programming season, however an air date has not yet been determined.
The Science Channel is a subsidiary of The Discovery Channel. "How It's Made" is seen on Discovery Channels around the world in many languages including Discovery USA, UK and Canada; Discovery KIDS-UK; and the Science Channel USA.
"The Discovery Channel has built a reputation for the highest standards of documentary film making," said Randy Ferguson, Director of Communications for Channellock Inc. "We're honored that the producers of 'How It's Made' recognize Channellock as the authoritative source for documenting the manufacture of highest quality pliers."
"How It's Made" will be filming a number of other Pennsylvania manufacturers while in the area, including Kiwi in Douglasville, Weaver Trains in Northumberland, Cannondale bikes in Bedford, Fleetwood Trailers in Somerset and Joy Cone Factory in Hermitage.
The show's segment will add Channellock, a worldwide leader in the manufacture of high-quality pliers and hand tools, to a notable list of other internationally recognized companies featured to date that includes GE Aviation, Ford Motor Company, Rolls Royce, Wilson Footballs, Osram Sylvania, Zippo, Owens Corning, Segway and Top Flite.
Pennsylvania ranks 5th in the nation for peach production, growing more than 26,000 tons of peaches each year. That's enough fruit to make more than 26 million peach pies!
Pennsylvania's Center for Trade Development is sponsoring a trade mission to Bogota and Caracas from November 12 - 16, 2007. The mission will focus on identifying opportunities for sales and will seek to acquaint Pennsylvania companies with the local market environments for different industries, facilitating their ability to effectively introduce their products to these markets. Participants will receive pre-arranged one-on-one business appointments, details about each company in advance and hotel reservations within the Commonwealth booking block.
In 2006, Colombia and Venezuela were included in the U.S. five-largest export markets in the Western Hemisphere behind Canada, Mexico and Brazil. U.S. exports over the last three years have increased 80% to Colombia and over 300% to Venezuela. Pennsylvania exports to these two markets are up over 100% during the same time period. Columbia has become one of the most stable and optimistic economies in the region. In February, 2006, they signed a bilateral free trade agreement with the U.S. Venezuela's economy has been growing steadily at about 9% and is the third-largest export market in Latin America.
Estimated business costs for this trade mission are $2,985 which includes a participation fee of $900. The participation fee covers all business appointment settings, ground transportation and interpreters as well as two luncheons at the Nogal Club and dinner at Tramonti in Colombia.
Market Access Grants and assistance through the Export Finance program may be available to participants. To inquire about these assistance programs as well as further information on the trade mission, contact Claudia Garcia at the Northwest Commission, 814-677-4800. Registration deadline is October 12, 2007.
The U.S. Small Business Administration's SUB-Net is a great source for those looking for subcontracting opportunities. Prime contractors use SUB-Net to post opportunities where businesses can review them to identify opportunities in their areas of expertise. While the site is designed primarily as a place for large businesses to post notices and solicitations, it is also used by Federal agencies, state and local governments, non-profit organizations, colleges and universities and foreign governments for the same purpose. Visit the web site any time to check for possible opportunities for your business.
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Economic Progress Alliance of Crawford County
764 Bessemer Street, Suite 101
Meadville PA 16335
814-333-2299
12/21/2007