This issue sponsored by Consumers Energy
GOOD THINGS HAPPENING IN CLINTON COUNTY
CCEA Host Entrepreneurial Workshop
On October 15 the Clinton County Economic Alliance (CCEA) hosted an Entrepreneurial Workshop at Clinton County RESA in St. Johns. CCEA was honored to have an outstanding panel of local entrepreneurs including Mary Ellen Sheets, founder Two Men & A Truck, Bob Fish, founder Biggby Coffee, Linda Hundt, founder Sweetie-licious Bakery Cafe, and Chad Paalman, founder NuWave Technology Partners. Also on the panel and lending their expertise were Gordon Ferguson of the Small Business Technology Center in Lansing and Rob Fowler, president and CEO of the Small Business Association of Michigan. Chris Holman, Publisher of the Greater Lansing Business Monthly served as moderator.
For over two hours the panel members answered questions as: what was your biggest challenge in starting your business, how did you deal with the issue of financing, what was the one decision you made that you are most thankful you made?
The audience was provided with first hand knowledge of what it takes to start and run a new business. We will be contacting the participants to see if they would like to meet every four months to discuss issues. If you would like to be on that mailing list, please call 517-669-1345 or send us an email at
czarneckij@cceami.org.
LOCAL BUSINESS AWARD
Clinton Memorial President Honored by Peers (Published in The DeWitt Independent INformer October 26, 2009)
The Michigan Health & Hospital Association (MHA) recently honored Clinton Memorial Hospital President and CEO Ed Bruun with the 2009 MHA Health Care Leadership Award, presented during the MHA Health Foundation Governance Leadership Forum in Boyne Falls on Oct. 11. He was nominated for the award by Dave Hunt, CMH Board of Directors Chairman.
“Ed is extremely adept at bringing people together with a common purpose and vision, because he has a true passion for making the health care experience the very best possible for patients,” said Hunt. “He has improved services and reduced costs at the hospital. He also has helped Clinton Memorial integrate and use the resources of the health system.”
Bruun came to St. Johns in 2002, joining the Clinton Memorial Hospital Board as a representative of Sparrow Health System, the hospital’s parent organization. In 2004, he was named president and chief executive officer of Clinton Memorial. Under his leadership, Clinton Memorial has experienced significant growth, rising from a financially struggling hospital to a financially successful hospital with outstanding patient, physician and associate satisfaction scores.
The 2009 MHA Health Care Leadership Award recognizes Bruun’s success as a leader. With his guidance, the hospital has built an exceptional leadership team. Clinton Memorial has added new clinical services, recruited new physicians, improved reimbursement, increased use of existing services and earned key quality measures that exceed national benchmarks.
“No individual generates this kind of success alone,” Bruun said. “This honor reflects the strong commitment to excellence embraced by every board member, director, manager, associate and volunteer at Clinton Memorial Hospital as well as the ongoing support of Sparrow Health System. I am deeply honored to be nominated and recognized by such a prestigious group of dedicated healthcare providers.”
BUY LOCAL
At the October meeting of the Clinton County Economic Alliance (CCEA) Leadership Team, a resolution was passed asking all government agencies, private businesses and school districts in Clinton County to utilize local vendors. The CCEA adopted this resolution for a number of reasons. We realize that locally owned businesses: 1) keep more money circulating in Clinton County, and; 2) help preserve Clinton County’s uniqueness. In adopting the resolution, the CCEA was careful in selecting its words and stated to buy local whenever possible, practical and cost-effective. The resolution reads as follows:
RESOLUTION TO SUPPORT A LOCAL PURCHASING PREFERENCE
WHEREAS, the Clinton County Economic Alliance understands that local businesses provide job opportunities for local residents; and,
WHEREAS, local businesses pay a significant amount of property taxes that support the operation of local units of government and local school districts; and,
WHEREAS, local businesses are critical to the overall economic health of a community.
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that a local business shall be any business that operates within the legally defined boundaries of Clinton County; and,
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Clinton County Economic Alliance encourages all local units of government, school districts, and private businesses within Clinton County to utilize local vendors wherever possible, practical, and cost effective.
SEARCHING FOR CLINTON COUNTY
Our new Web site
www.clintoncountyeconomicalliance.org has given us a global presence on the Internet. About half of the visits we receive each week come from referring sites. To help us drive more traffic to the site, please add a CCEA link to your own Web site. The more the CCEA Web Site is linked to, the higher it will appear on search engines such as Google. This helps raise awareness about our county throughout the world.
CLINTON COUNTY BY THE NUMBERS
Clinton County Unemployment Rate Among Lowest in State
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September 09 Unemployment Rate
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Clinton County
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9.4%
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Eaton County
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10.3
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Ingham County
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11.6
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Gratiot County
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13.7
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Ionia County
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13.4
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Shiawassee County
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15.2
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State of Michigan
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14.8
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For September Clinton County dropped .01 points to have the sixth lowest county unemployment rate in the state. We continue to be below the state rate of 14.8% and below the national average of 9.8% for the month of September. In September of 2008 the state unemployment rate was 8.5% and the U.S. was 6.2%. These are significant increases and projections call for them to remain high through 2010 and the reductions starting in 2011.
BUSINESS SPOTLIGHT:
MAHLE Engine Components USA, Incorporated located at the west edge of St. Johns had its humble beginnings in September of 1945. This is when Sealed Power announced plans to locate in St. Johns due to its “fine community facilities and sound city government.”
Sealed Power, which later became a division of SPX Corp., owned the St. Johns plant until February 1997 when Dana Corporation purchased it. MAHLE GmbH, a global auto parts manufacturer based in Germany, bought the St. Johns plant from Dana in March 2007.
MAHLE St. Johns manufactures top and second piston rings for automotive-based customers including General Motors, Ford and Chrysler and the tier suppliers who service them along with several other smaller customers.
Ground was broken for the original building in November of 1945 with the plant opening in March 1946. The original 22,500 square foot building was constructed on almost 25 acres of land at a cost of about $250,000. It has grown to 217,000 square feet today as a result of six building expansions over its 64-year life.
In November of 2007, an expansion began that would enable Allied Ring Corporation to consolidate two of its satellite operations into one located in St. Johns. Allied Ring Corporation is a joint venture between MAHLE and Tokyo parts manufacturer Riken Corporation.
In 2008, MAHLE announced they would close the Manchester, MO heavy duty ring operation plant, and transfer a large percentage of their business to St Johns. This in turn resulted in a second building addition that was completed in January of 2009. With the completion of the most recent expansion, the plant has been added customers such as John Deere, Volvo, Detroit Diesel, and Mack. In addition, St. Johns also now supplies the aircraft industry, adding Lycoming and Superior Air to their customer base.
The St. Johns plant received great support The Michigan Economic Growth Authority, arranging for tax abatements from the city of St. Johns and job training funds secured from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation.
St. Johns was selected for these product and building expansions due to its highly skilled workforce and expertise in advanced manufacturing and high-tech research and development resources located on-site.
The top and second rings manufactured at the St. Johns plant are made of steel, cast iron or ductile material. The rings can be coated with chrome, molybdenum, plasma, zinc or manganese phosphate. All rings are produced to rigorous quality standards. The St. Johns plant maintains TS16949 certification, which is mandatory for doing business with most customers.
MAHLE St. Johns has a combined workforce of 310, and projects 2010 sales of approximately $45 million.
2009-2010 CCEA Calendars
- Jan. 12, 7:30-9:00 a.m. – CCEA General Membership Meeting
Greg Main, President & CEO, Michigan Economic Development Corporation will be the speaker. Held at the Saint Johns Mint Restaurant, 200 N. Clinton Avenue, St. Johns.
- Feb. 12, 9:00-11:00 a.m. – Contracting with the State of Michigan Workshop
If you are a Michigan Business, the State of Michigan wants to do business with you. Come and learn how to increase your business activity by providing your product or service to the state. Learn how to register with the state as a vendor and bid on more than 1,100 contract opportunities worth billions of dollars. Held at Clinton County RESA Office, 1013 S. U.S. 27, St. Johns. Call 517-559-1345 or email lehmank@cceami.org to register.
- April 13, 7:30-9:00 a.m. – CCEA General Membership Meeting
Held at Clinton County RESA, 1013 S. U.S. 27 St. Johns.