Gerdau said Tuesday it will invest another $21.6 million in its Monroe steel mill as part of an expansion project that got under way more than a year ago.

The money will be used to increase the mill’s straightening and quality inspection capabilities and includes a new bar-straightening unit, surface inspection equipment, and automatic ultrasonic inspection equipment for testing internal cleanliness, all of which will be housed in a new building at its 3000 E. Front St. site.

“This project supports the reinforcement and expansion of our leading SBQ position and confirms our commitment to significant capital investment in North America,” said Andre B. Gerdau Johannpeter, Gerdau’s chief executive officer.

This additional spending is part of Gerdau’s continuing capital investment program that was announced in May, 2010, to expand the Monroe mill’s capability and bring production capacity to more than 800,000 short tons a year.

Upgrades are being made in the melt shop, where Gerdau is installing a continuous caster that will be start operating in June. A new vacuum de-gasser also is being installed and will begin operations in 2013. Major improvements to the plant’s existing rolling mill facilities are also under way, including the installation of six additional rolling mill stands and a new walking beam reheat furnace.

The overall capital project is expected to be completed by the second half of 2013 and will represent a total investment of about $156 million.

“We are expanding our capabilities to meet the growing demands of our customers so we can continue to be their supplier of choice,” says Jack Finlayson, president of Gerdau Special Steel North America. He added that the investment shows “both our commitment to Monroe and our strength in the industry.”

Gerdau Special Steel North America is an engineered steel bar producer headquartered in Jackson, Mich. In addition to its manufacturing plants in Jackson and Monroe, and Fort Smith, Ark., it has steel-processing plants in Michigan, Indiana, Wisconsin and Ohio. The company produces special bar quality (SBQ) carbon and alloy hot rolled and bright cold finished steel bar products for a variety of applications, including the auto industry.

Area officials were happy the steel company was investing in the area at a time when the economy is in a recovering, but still-fragile, phase.

“It is unbelievable,” said Tim Lake, president of the Monroe County Industrial Development Corp., a public-private partnership that helps firms settle or expand in Monroe County. “’What a godsend they’ve really been for the area, especially the City of Monroe,”

He said his agency has been in discussions with the steel firm about its expansion plans, and more phases might lie ahead. “There are always new opportunities that are presenting themselves to them,” he said.

He said the expansions will preserve jobs and might mean some additions to the work force, which now totals about 400. “It might mean a few more jobs ultimately. We’ve haven’t really pinned down numbers with them exactly,” he said. Part of future work might be a reconfiguration of the truck scales area at the plant.

The plant, which melts scrap steel to make new bar-quality steel, began operations in 1980 as North Star Steel Co

By Charles Slat
Monroenews.com

FastTrac classes forming in Waterford & Livonia

New Venture for new businesses

Growth Venture for existing businesses
New Venture is an intensive, 10-week program that helps you evaluate business opportunities and develop an action plan for owning your own business. Starting June 5 in Oakland County and written by entrepreneurs for aspiring entrepreneurs, FastTrac New Venture offers essential business information to help you develop your entrepreneurial skills and build your business on a strong foundation. Apply for New Venture online.

Growth Venture is an 10-week intensive program starting June 8 at Schoolcraft College in Livonia designed for owners, CEOs and top management team members of businesses with at least two years of operating experience. Focused on issues most important to business health and growth, attendees gain knowledge to make critical decisions about their business and strategy, investigate next-stage growth and opportunity, plan for strategic growth, build and maintain a competitive advantage and maximize cash flow for profitability. Apply for Growth Venture online. 
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New Venture: Starting June 5 at the Oakland County Business Center in Waterford
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How Much: With a scholarship of $560,  your out of pocket expense will be $140.
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Ten weekly 3-hour sessions
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MI-SBTDC consultant assigned for individual assistance outside of sessions
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Incubator Effort Warrants Support

The Monroe County Board of Commissioners recently agreed to commit up to $20,000 to deter­mine the feasibility of creating a small-business incubator in the county.
At first glance, this might seem like an enor­mous waste of county resources. Past experience has shown that incubators can produce a substantial positive impact on a local economy, so what would be the point of a feasibility study?
Indeed, area residents might remember that the Monroe County Indus­trial Development Corp. operated an incubator for many years in the 1980s and 1990s, housed in donated industrial space.
A study is not necessary to determine whether it was a success. The IDC effort helped launch and grow many tiny start-ups. Among them were Hilgraeve Inc. and Pump Engineering, both of which evolved into multi-million-dollar firms that employed many and substantially diversified the local economy.
In fact, the IDC incu­bator was so successful, Pump Engineering ended up buying the incubator building for its permanent quarters.
Other incubators across the state and across the country already have proven that they can be valuable economic devel­opment assets, providing initially low start-up costs for developing firms — a base upon which to grow.
So why would the county want to commit cash to study the feasibil­ity of an already proven concept?
For two key reasons.
One is that times change and business needs change. A study will help further distill the precise role an incuba­tor facility should play in the area. The money also could help Monroe County Community Col­lege snare a USDA rural development grant that could define further the concept.
The intent is to establish an incubator at MCCC for firms involved in advanced manufacturing, agribusiness and renew­able energy. Second, the commit­ment of local cash could free up future grants to get the incubator off the ground. These days, grants generally are hard to come by unless the purposes and needs are well-documented.
Conceivably, a feasibil­ity study would do that and, perhaps, shake loose additional development money.
Of course, the IDC and the Monroe County Economic Development Corp. both endorse the idea, and the creation of an incubator also is a goal in the county’s Overall Economic Development Plan.
Beyond that, the recent passage of the federal Jump-start Our Business­es Start-ups ( JOBS) Act should spur the creation of new small businesses that could use the ad­vantages of an incubator environment.
Although the county clearly could use the $20,000 for its present and pressing short-term cash needs, investing it in an incubator study could pay huge dividends in the future in the form of more jobs and a greater tax base for the area.
In the long run, com­mitting the money for the study should prove to be a forward-thinking move.
ort

La-Z-Boy Incorporated is mark­ing its 85th year with a company­wide anniversary celebration at its Monroe headquarters and at other locations across the country.
Besides its recently better earn­ings and rising stock price, the ic­ing on the cake was, well, the icing on a cake that resembles one of the company’s Demi sofas.
The tasty cake, nearly sofa size, was a combination of white and chocolate and came complete with a couple of cake throw pillows. It was cut and served to employees.
Sweet Nothings Fine Cakes and Desserts in Wyandotte, made the sofa cake.
La-Z-Boy dates to 1927 when young cousins Edward M. Kna­busch and Edwin J. Shoemakers shook hands and formed a part­nership to make furniture in their Monroe hometown, starting with a chair that reclined.
Since then, La-Z-Boy has become a household name. In addition to its Monroe headquarters, it also operates five U.S. manufacturing plants and four distribution cen­ters, employing more than 5,000 people nationwide.
“La-Z-Boy has a proud history of comfort, quality and innova­tion,” said Kurt Darrow, La-Z-Boy president and chief executive officer. “From the development of the Reclina-Rocker recliner in 1961 to today’s PowerReclineXR chair, La-Z-Boy has been at the forefront of reclining technology.”
“ The two Eds would be proud to see how far La-Z-Boy has come since their handshake in 1927,” Mr. Darrow said.

Tech center groundbreaking May 4

Though site work already has started, a formal groundbreaking ceremony is planned May 4 on a $17 million Career Technology Center at Monroe County Community College that was touted Friday as a key to Michigan’s economic revitalization.
The State of Michigan has a huge talent gap right now, especially in manufacturing, said Amy Cell, senior vice president of talent enhancement for the Michigan Economic Development Corp. To have a facility like this that is flexible and adaptable reflects some very forward thinking and is going to be exactly what we need to train our work force and retrain our work force.
Ms. Cell was a keynote speaker at an MCCC lunch that was the informal launch of a capital campaign by the Foundation at MCCC to raise at least $8.5 million in local contributions to help pay for the building. The other half of the cost will be covered by a state grant.
The 60,000-square-foot building will take 14 to 18 months to build and will sit just south of the Welch Health Education Building at the S. Raisinville Rd. campus. It will house facilities for welding, automotive, alternative and renewable energy, computer, manufacturing, mechanical design, metrology, and electronics curricula, among others.
H. Douglas Chaffin, president and chief executive officer of Monroe Bank & Trust, is chairman of the fundraising campaign. He said the new building is a vital need for the county, the community and the state. In discussions with local manufacturers, he said, economic development officials are increasingly hearing comments about the lack of skilled labor.
Considering that a Foundation campaign exceeded its target goal and raised $13.5 million in 2003 to help make possible the La-Z-Boy Center and Meyer Theater, the fundraising goal for the Career Technology Center is reasonable, he said. This is very do-able, Mr. Chaffin said.
MCCC President Dr. David Nixon said the building would provide more modern facilities to house programs that are expected to see growth. Part of it is meant to provide quarters for programs now housed in existing buildings on campus that either would have to be renovated or razed because of their age, officials said.
It’s an investment in our students, an investment in our future, and the local economy, Dr. Nixon said.
Salenbien Trucking & Excavating of Dundee is doing the site work, including underground utility connections. Walbridge will be the general contractor and Hobbs + Black is the architect for the structure.

Article published at MonroeNews.com on Mar 24, 2012

More Americans are stretching out on new sofas as they settle into recently purchased homes, amid an improving outlook for employment.

Furniture sales grew 8.3 percent last month from a year earlier, following the largest increase since July 2000 in January, according to Census Bureau data. Meanwhile, existing single-family homes sold at an annual rate of 4.1 million in January, the most in almost two years, based on data from the National Association of Realtors.

Demand “appears to be rebounding” as Americans regain confidence in the economy, said Ken Smith, managing partner of accounting firm SmithLeonard PLLC. “If consumers are more comfortable with their job security, it makes them a little more willing to spend.”

As Americans shop for new living-room furniture, shares of La-Z-Boy Inc. (LZB) have risen 117 percent since Oct. 3, 2011, compared with a 36 percent gain for the Russell 2000 Index. Shares of Stanley Furniture Co., which designs, manufactures and imports wood furniture, are up 53 percent.

New orders for upholstered seating and case goods — products made of wood and other materials, such as bedroom and dining-room furniture — rose 15 percent in December from a year earlier, according to a survey conducted by SmithLeonard. This marked four consecutive months of double-digit increases, the High Point, North Carolina, company said last month.

 As the market revives, these stocks have become more attractive to investors, even if companies may see a lagged spike in revenue, he said.

That’s starting to show up in La-Z-Boy’s upholstery business, as sales rose about 11 percent in the three months ended Jan. 28 from a year earlier, the Monroe, Michigan-based company said Feb. 21. The U.S. expansion is benefiting the maker of reclining chairs and sofas because this furniture usually is in the most-public areas of homes, Bugatch said.

“Consumers tend to redecorate those rooms first as we come out of an economic malaise,” said Bugatch, who maintains a“strong buy” recommendation on La-Z-Boy

Stronger sales also are driven by pent-up demand from consumers fixing up homes they’ve been unable to move out of for the past five to six years, Englund said. While spending on furniture fell 1.2 percent to $7.9 billion in February from $8 billion the prior month, the January total was the highest since August 2008, Census data show.

La-Z-Boy closed at a two-year high of $14.99 in New York yesterday. Ethan Allen, the home-furnishings retailer based in Danbury, Connecticut, closed at a nearly four-year high of $27.80. These stocks represent “a bit of a hope trade” that a housing rebound will boost sales, said Bugatch, who has a“market perform” recommendation on Ethan Allen. Signs of stabilization in the economy will “be a boon, but we don’t know for how long.”

Competition from lower-priced goods made in China also threatens the industry, though consolidation has made it “much leaner and more efficient,” Creatura said. Upholstered furniture — which represents almost 80 percent of La-Z-Boy’s revenue — makes some companies “more insulated” because these products require customization that lends itself to domestic assembly, and wear-and-tear results in more frequent replacement demand than for case goods, Thomas said.

(Excerpt from Bloomberg Businessweek, March 14, 2012)