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Dear Nikki,
Summer
is a great opportunity for all of us to witness
the great community spirit throughout Ashland
County.
The various festivals, sporting events, and
recreational assets are all examples of how
businesses, non-profits, political leaders, and
all of you committed citizens make this county an
unparalleled place to live and work. I am
excited about several upcoming economic
development related events that will similarly
showcase the area's commitment to a common
cause.
For example, AACED will hold its quarterly
investors' lunch on July 12th at Rain
Drop Products located on George Road. Rain Drop
is one of our newest investors, and I am sure our
investor group will enjoy their presentation on
their company and their perspective on doing
business in Ashland County. Then, the
public is invited to the Mohican Area Growth
Foundation (MAGF) meeting on July 13th
8:00 am at Rader's Restaurant in Loudonville. There are
many exciting initiatives throughout the Mohican
Area that will be discussed at the meeting. If you
would like to attend the meeting and/or learn more
about MAGF, please contact me.
In addition to these
gatherings, I believe the articles in this edition
highlight the benefits of strong partnerships
across all economic sectors. A
"well-networked" local economy is vitally
important, and Ashland County does very well at
utilizing and coordinating all of its
assets.
I hope
you are having an enjoyable and successful
summer.
You will hear some exciting news from us
throughout the summer, and we look forward to
hearing your comments and suggestions. During the
month of September, especially, you will have
various opportunities to provide input into our
future goals and objectives. During
September we will also be briefly surveying the
manufacturing, medical, and
governmental/educational sectors in order to
provide you with an "economic snapshot" of this
county's economic base.
This summer, enjoy all that
our county has to offer, and please work with us
to make our economy ever stronger!
Sincerely,
Evan
Scurti |
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Ashland University Partnering
with Local Businesses |
 Ashland University's
College of Business & Economics, Center for
Entrepreneurship, Manufacturing Competitiveness
Initiative,and this region's Small Business
Development Center (housed at AU) are a great
asset for our business community. Leaders in
all of the above agencies have attracted
businesses such as Z's Hair Designs, Amish Oak
Furniture, and Annette's Victorian Garden, to name
just a few, to the concept of student-led analyses
and recommendations for business
improvements. This method of
experiential learning has become a vital
component of the College's curriculum and, we
believe, a great example of impressive
business-university partnerships.
AACED
has benefitted greatly from AU interns, including
Jenna Casselberry, a recent graduate and Ashbrook
Scholar. A new hire is Tim Eustace, entering
his junior year. Below, Tim summarizes how
three manufacturers have benefitted from student
analyses and internships. Please contact us
to learn more about this unique
service.
In the past year, interns from Ashland
University have teamed with three area companies,
Kitchen and Bath Design Center, Inc., Ohio
Electric Control, and Tremco, Inc. For each
project, Ashland students used their skills
developed in the classroom to enhance areas of the
companies' business. During the
spring of 2006, Kitchen and Bath Design Center
started an online sales effort and began working
with two accounting students from Ashland
University to complete a breakeven analysis and
cost avoidance project. The
project was taken on in order to find the amount
of savings KBDC would receive from their new
online sales effort. Upon the
successful completion of the project, KBDC hired
an intern, a computer science major from Ashland
University.
After the redesign of the website and
changes were produced with the HTML, KBDC
increased its number of views of its web page from
1000 per month to 1.07 million per month in less
than one year. More
amazingly, KBDC is now on the first page of
MSN.com for web searches on kitchen faucets, an
industry comprised of 4,320,000 company web
pages.
Mr. Rodger Kauffman, President of KBDC,
stated for him, "[the partnership] is a great
tool to take advantage of." He also
had high praise for Mr. Robert Stimpert, the
Director of the Manufacturing Competitiveness
Initiative who has been key in developing a strong
relationship between the University and Local
Businesses.
The other two internships at
Ohio Electric Control and Tremco, Inc. are both
currently still in progress at present time. Ohio
Electric Control and Tremco Inc. have both started
working with students from Ashland University to
upgrade their Business System. The
students that elected to work with these
companies came from Dr. Robert Miller's Advanced
Systems Development Class. The
students will be working on Order Entry, Quoting,
Purchasing, and Inventory Tracking. We are
anxiously awaiting the success stories to come in
the following months. However,
success is evident already as this alliance
between Ashland University and area companies has
allowed students to gain valuable information and
allowed businesses flexibility and convenience
from local resources. We wish
the students and companies best of luck and are
proud of the advances the Manufacturing
Competitiveness Initiative has brought to the
community.
For those who are unaware of the
Manufacturing Competitiveness Initiative; the
initiative has been directed by Mr. Robert
Stimpert and is located in the Richard E. and
Sandra J. Dauch College of Business and
Economics.
Robert Stimpert has accepted a new position
with Ashland University and they are currently
looking for someone to fill his position. The
organization serves six counties: Ashland, Huron,
Medina, Richland, Stark, and Wayne by "providing
small manufacturers with confidential counseling
and assessments, training programs to further
develop profitability and efficiency, and
resources to assist with business
development." Specific
services performed by the initiative include
Business Plan and Development, Cost and Financial
Projections, Workforce Training Issues, Market
Analysis, Record Keeping Procedures, Educational
Programs, Internships and Student Projects, and
Inventory Flows. We believe
the Manufacturing Competitiveness Initiative is a
vital program in enhancing our already vibrant
county.
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Local Companies honored at
EDGE Awards |
 May 16th was an
exciting night for at least three local Ashland
County companies. Challenge
Fasteners, Ohio Tool Works, Inc., and Schoonover
Industries, Inc., were all honored as among the
101 recipients of the Leading EDGE Award. This
award was given out to companies within the
seventeen county Northeast Ohio region. There were
over 500 people in attendance at the awards
ceremony to honor the top middle market companies
by EDGE (Economic Development through Growth and
Entrepreneurship) hosted by the University of
Akron.
One thousand had been nominated for this
award, and while all three companies were
recognized for their accomplishments, Challenge
Fasteners and Ohio Tool Works, were acknowledged
as being among the top 25 winners. Companies
were evaluated in several economic value
categories, which measured commitment to
community and employees as well as
profits. The categories included: earnings,
employee compensation, philanthropic giving, work
with local vendors, and innovation. The
companies must sell a sizeable percentage of their
goods outside the region in order to be
considered.
According to a statement on their website,
the founder of Entrepreneur's EDGE, Kirk
Neiswander, said this is to recognize those
companies that bring money from outside the
region.
EDGE, in
its first year, is a non-profit organization that
is designed to help middle-market companies. In an
interview with the Akron Beacon Journal,
Neiswander was quoted saying "[g]enerally,
large companies get the press. But the
midmarket companies collectively have a bigger
impact on our economy."
Neiswander
had previously created the 'Weatherhead 100' at
Case Western Reserve University; a program to
recognize entrepreneurs. The award
in its 20th year has gained
considerable clout among companies.
EDGE
operates four programs: "The 100+
Entrepreneurs with the EDGE", Value Program
("Northeast Ohio Value Index" and "Leading EDGE
Awards"), "CEO's for NEO", and the "Entrepreneur
Index".
For more information please visit their
website www.edgef.org. The
nomination process for the 2007 Leading EDGE
awards begins this fall.
Congratulations to
Challenge Fasteners, Ohio Tool Works, and
Schoonover Industries on a great achievement.
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Ashland BalloonFest Weekend
Fun! |
The Annual Ashland Balloonfest, July
5th-8th
Through the hard work of volunteers,
community leaders, and generous local companies,
Ashland Balloonfest has become a wonderful
community event. Held each
year at Freer Field during the weekend following
the July 4th Holiday, this free
festival offers great food, beautiful displays of
in-flight hot air balloons, and many activities
for the entire family. Please
visit www.ashlandballoonfest.org for a
complete schedule and directions.
AACED
is proud to report that Ashland's Downtown
merchants have come together to offer some
downtown activities during the weekend to
complement the Freer Field festivities. This is a
new initiative that will make Balloonfest even
more of a community celebration. Stroll
Main Street and enjoy the Sidewalk Sales on Friday
July 6th from 10-5 and Saturday July
7th from 9-5. Enjoy some
great food. There will also be Kids Games
from 12-4 on Saturday, featuring face painting, a
dunk tank, and other fun games. Wrist
bands can be purchased for $3 with all proceeds
funding future downtown
events. | |
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