High Growth, High Potential.
Author | Kronemyer, Bob |
Profiles of a dozen Indiana Growth 100 companies
A dozen companies are profiled below, chosen from this year's Indiana Growth 100 listings that follow. High-growth, high-potential companies are found across the state from Portage to Newburgh and in a variety of businesses from dot-com start-ups to a machine shop and bagel bakery.
SOLID STATE
Sally and Steve Byrn are an exception to the rule that marriage partners don't make good business partners.
In 1991 Steve Byrn, a professor and department head of Industrial and Physical Pharmacy at Purdue University, proposed teaching the pharmaceutical industry about solid-state chemistry. But at the time, "Purdue did not encourage entrepreneurship," says Sally. "In fact, you could not be both a professor and own a company. So we set up a company with me as the sole owner."
That company is SSCI Inc. in West Lafayette, which provides research and information services for the pharmaceutical industry in the niche area of solid-state chemistry. "We incorporated just to teach short courses," explains Sally, president and CEO. However, "we inadvertently created a market for the services." In 1993, the company opened a lab to provide direct services.
International clients include both innovator and generic pharmaceutical companies, as well as some legal firms. "We still teach the short courses, but now most of what we do is laboratory services," Sally says. "Organic compounds exist in different crystal forms. A pharmaceutical company needs to know how many crystal forms there are and which of those will be the most stable."
Steve acts as a consultant to the privately held company, which has 47 employees. Revenues for 2000 are expected to be more than $6 million. "Our ability to interact with Purdue has been critical," Sally acknowledges, noting that SSCI has been able to use the university's state-of-the-art equipment at significantly reduced costs.
The financial success of SSCI also has funded college for the Byrns children. "We have four children down," says Sally, "four to go.
BIG BENEFITS
Administrative responsibilities often hamper a company from concentrating on its core business. To whom can you turn for relief? HR America Inc. in Fort Wayne is a professional employer organization that delivers Fortune 500-level benefits and human-resource services to nearly 200 small-business owners and their employees in 10 states.
"One of the problems that small companies have is attracting and keeping people," says founder and CEO Doug Curtis, who started the company in 1991. "Health care is the principal benefit that these companies need to offer."
In addition, HR America handles workers' compensation, unemployment compensation retirement plans and payroll. "We also teach companies how to run their business without violating the labor laws," Curtis notes. "Everything related to pay and benefits we can handle, but the individual company is responsible for the safety of the environment and the supervision of the people."
Most firms that contract with HR America have fewer than 100 employees. In 1999, the company had about $35 million in revenues. "This year we expect to do about $61 million," Curtis says. Currently, HR America has 20 staff employees and about 2,000 employees under contract in a co-employee arrangement with clients.
"We have a wonderful product," says Curtis. "People are looking for these type of administrative functions to be taken off their hands, so that they can concentrate on what makes them money.
INFLECTION POINT
Once the "For Sale" sign goes up in a residential neighborhood, there is innovative computer software available over the Internet to streamline the transaction. iProperty.com Inc. offers two primary software applications: a database product enabling real-estate professionals to share residential listing information and a combination workflow/ customer service management program specifically designed for the industry.
Established in Bloomington in July 1999, iProperty.com moved to its headquarters to Indianapolis this summer but maintains its Bloomington office. It sells software to real-estate brokers, mortgage lenders and title, appraisal and inspection offices. The company has customers in more than 40 states, 200 employees and is projected to have about $8 million in revenue in 2000. The company is currently developing software applications that entirely manage the back office of a real-estate firm.
"We are in the middle of a transformation of how companies do business via the Internet," says CEO and cofounder Doug Dayhoff. "The key to success in operating at an inflection point is certainly being smart, but also includes a lot of hard work to function at Internet speed." Customer-service capabilities also are more important than the technology applications. "We are working with users who are not technologically sophisticated, so we have to be extremely competent in training and supporting these users," Dayhoff says. "The Midwest work ethic and orientation toward customer empathy has served us well."
SURVEY SAYS
U.S. Surveyor/AES Group International in Newburgh is a nationwide land-surveying firm whose jobs range from residential mortgage surveys to cellular tower sites to large shopping malls.
The company dates back to 1961 and currently has 34 employees. Its customers include lending institutions for its residential business, real-estate attorneys and franchisees, such as McDonald's and Hardee's, and commercial customers like Evansville-based communications company Sigecom.
CEO Michael Feldbusch uses a strategy of diversification to maintain growth. The company is the "leading provider of manufactured housing surveys to a wide range of diversified lenders in the country," he says. "That's been hugely responsible for our growth in the last few years." But thanks to the company's planned diversification into cell-phone and microwave towers, the 30 percent downturn in the manufactured-housing market has been offset by the new tower business.
Feldbusch says the company has outgrown its Newburgh offices and will be moving to its new $2.2 million, four-story headquarters at Riverwind Pointe in Evansville in April. The privately held company anticipates $6.5 million in revenues for year 2000, which is up from slightly under $5 million for 1999.
DIGITAL SOLUTIONS
Welcome to the 21st century! Advanced Imaging Solutions Inc. in South Bend offers a full array of digital solutions for offices, including copier printers, digital duplicators (up to 130 pages a minute), fax machines and printing presses. The company also provides full service and supplies for office equipment.
The main thrust of Advanced Imaging Solutions is "managing the electronic document, specifically the printing of the document," says president Steve Klatt. Often, equipment is installed on the customer's own network. "We no longer need all those workstations with individual printers," Klatt says. Instead, "we install one copier/printer at a centralized location on the network that may produce up to 85 pages per minute and offer finishing capabilities" such as collating and stapling.
Before a name and ownership change in 1995, the company was known for more than 100 years as A.B. Dick of South Bend, and originally distributed mimeographs and offset presses. Total revenues for 2000 are expected to reach about $9.5 million, with a workforce of 74. However, Klatt says rapid technology changes have made employee training a challenge.
"We're very fortunate to be able to attract and retain good employees," says Klatt, "That is really the secret to our success. In fact, our two most important assets are our employees and customers. The old golden rule of treating people like you'd like to be treated works both in business and life. We're really not interested in making a quick buck."
BUILDING PROFITS
Chris Graff, founder and CEO at Pinnacle Building Systems Corp. in Bristol, defies anyone driving through a subdivision to distinguish his off-site-built homes from traditional site-built homes.
Unlike manufactured homes, which are typically constructed to a national building code and usually have a steel frame underneath and a trailer as part of the structure, "we build to state and local building codes," Graff explains. In essence, "we stick-build a house in the factory to the same specifications and building codes used by a site builder."
Pinnacle Building Systems' first house was built in March 1998, and last year it completed more than 200 homes. In January, to keep up with increased demand, the company moved into a new $3.5 million, state-of-the-art production facility comprising 4.5 million cubic feet of space. "This year we expect to build about 250 houses, with just under $15 million in sales," Graff says.
The company sells through a network of builders in Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Illinois and Iowa. Houses range in size from 900 square feet to more than 5,000 square feet. A large, two-story, all-brick home may sell for $600,000. On-site installation takes between one and four days, plus an additional two to six weeks for such add-ons as garages and porches.
Graff gives high marks to his 85 employees. "We practice good, old-fashioned, common-sense ethics."
BIGGER, BETTER BAGELS
Adjusting to the bagel's ongoing evolution is a constant challenge for Harlan Bakeries Inc. in Avon. "We started in the frozen food section;' says the company's president, Hugh Harlan, "then progressed to the in-store bakery." Next came baking for private labels and supplying major retail chains.
Harlan Bakeries was founded in 1991 by brothers Hugh and Doug Harlan. Just over 300 employees are responsible for producing 1.7 million bagels a day. Company revenues for 2000 are expected to be about $42 million, an increase from about $33 million in 1999.
Einstein Noah Bagel Corp., headquartered in Golden, Colorado, has approximately 450 outlets in 48 states. Harlan distributes to all its stores east of the...
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