A total of 100 area manufacturers have been recognized
since the MANNY Awards were launched by Cincy Magazine 10 years ago to
celebrate the importance of manufacturing to the region’s economy.
They represent a cross-section of the Greater
Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky’s diverse manufacturing economy, from
basic industries like steel and chemicals to technology and consumer
goods. They also span all types of enterprises, from one-person startups
to large, leading companies such as Ford Motor Co., AK Steel and
MillerCoors Brewery.
What does it mean to be MANNY winner?
“For us it’s a great honor and we’re not alone,”
says Amanda Pratt, director of corporate communications at Rumpke Waste
& Recycling in Colerain Township, a two-time MANNY winner, most
recently in 2014.
The MANNYs are a recognition of the company’s
investment in innovation and technology, she says. For example, Rumpke,
the nation’s third largest private waste and recycling firm with nearly
3,000 employees, has invested more than $50 million over the last decade
in innovations and technology such as one of the nation’s only glass
recycling centers in Dayton. The facility takes broken and discarded
glass collected in Cincinnati, Columbus and Louisville and processes it
into material used to make glass containers and building insulation.
It’s been eight years since Cold Jet LLC, inventor
and leading supplier of environmentally friendly dry-ice cleaning
technology, won a MANNY for new product development, but Christian
Rogiers, vice president of global marketing and strategy, says the award
built awareness of the company and its leading-edge technology.
This year, Cold Jet is marking its 30th anniversary.
The Loveland-based company, which opened in 1986 with 25 employees, now
employs 220 worldwide including a second manufacturing plant in
Milford, and has revenues of about $70 million.
In January, Cold Jet acquired its largest
competitor, Demark-based IceTech, to solidify its position in the
production of dry-ice pellets. Cold Jet’s technology uses recycled
carbon dioxide pellets to blast clean all types of machinery. The
pellets convert to a gas leaving no residue. The company’s equipment is
used in industries from aerospace and automotive to plastic
manufacturing and metal foundries.
Clippard Instrument Laboratory Inc., won a MANNY as Best Place to work in 2009.
“It certainly increased our visibility to a broader
community,” says Jennifer Caunin, vice president of human resources for
the maker of pneumatic components, valves and fittings.
With 208 employees and operations in Colerain
Township and Fairfield, Clippard, is a third-generation family-owned and
-operated business that treats employees as family, she says.
“Everybody here is an extension of our family. It’s a unique environment, I believe.”
Clippard offers a number of employee-friendly
features, such as an internal mentoring program, tuition reimbursement
and regular monthly events for employees to enjoy.
“We want people to be interested and passionate about what they’re doing and support them on that path,” she says.
West Chester-based Arnold Gauge Co., a small,
family-owned maker of custom measuring equipment, won its first MANNY in
2015 for an automated laser-measuring machine for Toyota Motor
Manufacturing in Georgetown, Ky. Michael Bruns, Arnold president, says
the award “was a phenomenal marketing opportunity” for the 98-year-old
business.
“We are a small business and we can compete with
large businesses. It gave us something very concrete to point to: That
we can deliver a solution for a big company,” he says.
“Toyota is very prestigious company and to show we
have a large successful project with a company like that gives us
credibility a lot of companies don’t have.”
It has also led to additional orders for custom measuring equipment and allowed Arnold to increase employment to 15.
A three-time MANNY recipient, Melink Corp., has gone
underground as it focuses on delivering clean and renewable energy.
Melink has launched a new business providing a pre-engineered geothermal
heat pump to make it easier for businesses to tap into the natural
heating and cooling available from the earth.
Steve Melink, who launched the Union Township-based
company in 1987 to provide energy-saving products for commercial
kitchens, thinks geothermal heating will be the next big thing in energy
efficiency.
“I think it will be just like solar PV (converting
sunlight to electric energy) was 10 years ago,” he says. “The nice thing
about it is all you’re doing is moving energy back and forth between
the building and the ground. You’re not combusting oil or gas and
there’s not waste product.”
Melink has a patent on Manifest, a pre-engineered
pump station for geothermal installations, and is launching national
marketing efforts.
Melink envisions retailers like Walmart and Target
with large parking lots installing geothermal systems under them and
solar-powered canopies over them to provide heating and cooling and
possibly charging stations for electric vehicles.
Melink, which has grown employment to about 100,
previously won a MANNY for its corporate headquarters, the first LEED
platinum certified building in Ohio, achieving Zero Net Energy status
renewable and energy efficient technology.
Energy also plays a big part in the business of
four-time MANNY winner Enerfab Inc., a more than 100-year-old company
that focuses on construction, fabrication and maintenance services. From
simple roots supplying brewing tanks, Enerfab has grown into a $750
million enterprise employing about 5,000 across the United States and
more than 300 at its headquarters in Spring Grove Village.
“By all standards today gas and energy markets are
pretty much driving everything we do,” says Scott Anderson, president
and COO of Enerfab’s process solutions business. Enerfab covers the
gamut from power generation from coal, gas and electric, solar and wind
power and a division in Tennessee does work in nuclear plants.
Another three-time MANNY winner, The Metalworking
Group, a family-owned contract manufacturer in Colerain Township, has
grown its employment to 165 and like a lot of manufacturers struggles to
find new workers.
“Our business now is especially strong,” says Doug
Watts, vice president of finance. To be attractive to new hires, he
says, “We try to offer a package of wages and benefits comparable with
any big employer in Cincinnati.”
“We want employees to feel good about working at The Metalworking Group,” he says.