INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – Governor Mike Pence announced a new signature event of the Indiana Bicentennial Commission today during Statehood Day remarks in the south atrium of the Indiana Statehouse. The Indiana Bicentennial Torch Relay will touch each of Indiana’s 92 counties during the 2,300 mile journey across the state. The torch relay will be an inspirational event during a monumental year for Indiana and will connect people, communities and regions during the six-week trek in the fall of 2016.

“The Indiana Bicentennial Torch Relay will give generations of Hoosiers the opportunity to honor our past while also looking with optimism towards Indiana’s future,” said Governor Pence. “With the continued ingenuity, entrepreneurial spirit and collective good will of Hoosiers, I know the light of Indiana will shine brightly for centuries to come.”

Developed by the Indiana Office of Tourism Development (IOTD), the relay is patterned after the Olympic Torch Relay and is designed to connect Hoosiers across the state and nation with their home state during the bicentennial year. The torch relay route, which can be found attached, was charted by a committee of representatives from multiple state agencies and the private sector; including the state departments of transportation, natural resources, state police, tourism, community and rural affairs and state archives. The route showcases locations of natural beauty, local interest and/or historic significance to the state.

The Indiana Bicentennial Torch Relay will start in September 2016 in Corydon, Indiana’s first state capitol, and culminate with a celebration in October on the grounds of the statehouse in Indianapolis. Accompanying the torch will be a mobile visitor center serving as an interactive museum that highlights important milestones during Indiana’s first 200 years. A map of the torch relay route (subject to modifications) is attached as a PDF to this release and is also available at the link below.

“A torch is the centerpiece of our state flag; representing liberty, enlightenment and Indiana’s far-reaching influence. The Indiana Bicentennial Torch Relay is a terrific opportunity to celebrate Indiana achievements, influence and heritage while also symbolically ‘passing the torch’ to future generations of Hoosiers,” said Mark Newman, IOTD executive director.

The torch itself is being designed by engineering faculty and students at Purdue University. The torch will be primarily transported by people, passing the flame from torch bearer to torch bearer. The relay will also employ other modes of conveyance that are symbolic of the history and heritage of Indiana, including watercraft, farm equipment, a racecar, horse and wagon, antique automobile and others. Torch bearers will be Hoosiers who have been nominated by their peers through the Indiana Bicentennial Torch Relay website: www.Indiana2016.org/torchrelay. Nominations will be accepted beginning in March 2015.

“We are thrilled to announce this interactive element within our state’s bicentennial celebration,” said First Lady Karen Pence, Ambassador for the Bicentennial Commission. “Hoosiers from every county in Indiana will have the opportunity to showcase their state pride by choosing how the torch will travel through their county. I look forward to seeing their creativity.”

Volunteer county coordinators will organize torch relay activities in their respective counties. With the assistance of the Indiana Office of Community and Rural Affairs (OCRA) and the Indiana Bicentennial Commission (IBC), county coordinators have been identified in nearly every county. Additional volunteers will be needed to assist with the preparation and execution of relay-related activities. Hoosiers interested in volunteering can sign up at the Indiana Bicentennial Torch Relay website.

Find the full article at: http://www.insideindianabusiness.com/newsitem.asp?ID=68470

Way back when, opening a new factory in Northwest Indiana was a massive undertaking.

Packs of mules had to level dunes on the Lake Michigan lakeshore to make way for the steel mills at the turn of the century. That was before the assembly line had even been invented and long before automation fractionalized the number of workers needed to build stuff.

Nowadays, as soon as a company lands a contract to make a new widget, it can move right into a spotless new building in a modern business park. Lately, companies that are relocating or launching new operations have flocked to industrial parks such as Lake Business Center in Munster, Northwinds Crossing in Hobart, AmeriPlex at the Port in Portage and AmeriPlex at the Crossroads in Merrillville.

Chicago-based commercial real estate firm NAI Hiffman often notes Northwest Indiana is a bifurcated market. There are the older factories in the northern cities such as Hammond, East Chicago and Gary, including some that have been shuttered for years and probably will stay dark. Then there are the new business parks in growing suburbs in South Lake County and Porter County that are filled with new, adaptable spaces that are ready to move into.

Most companies that have lately chosen to invest in Northwest Indiana, including AM Manufacturing, ITR America, Carl Buddig, and Land O’Frost, have chosen to settle in such business parks. They’ve even attracted innovative, high-tech companies such as Fronius USA, which planted its national headquarters at AmeriPlex in Portage. An offshoot of an Austrian company, Fronius makes solar panel inverters, experiments with different ways of capturing solar energy, and supplies all welding equipment to the trendy electric car maker Telsa, which has been the toast of Wall Street in recent years with a stock price that’s risen as high as $286 a share this year.

Other new business park tenants in Northwest Indiana filed across the border from Illinois, in search of lower taxes and operating expenses. MAC Medical Supply Co. for instance moved from Tinley Park to the Lake Business Center when it needed more room to grow.Willow Springs-based Tec Air Inc. moved its heading and air conditioning manufacturing to the same building on Calumet Avenue in Munster.

Typically, companies expand when they need to fulfill a new order or are reacting to a market demand for more of their product. That’s why they have to act fast, says Don Koliboski, vice president of economic development for the Lake County IN Economic Alliance. They can’t wait the eight months to a year that it takes to get approvals for, design and construct a new building.

Businesses want to be able to move right in, and the biggest impediment to economic development in Northwest Indiana is a shortage of available buildings, says Don Babcock, director of economic development at NIPSCO.

“The main issue is there could be a greater selection of shovel-ready sites, shell buildings and reclaimed brownfields,” he says. “A new investment is going to go where the risk is lower.”

Developers, such as Holladay Properties in South Bend, which has built the AmeriPlex parks in Merrillville and Portage, assume most of the risk when putting up new speculative buildings, or ones constructed without a tenant signed up in advance. Moving into a business park also is cheaper, especially since companies don’t have to pony up six-figure remediation costs that typically exceed the value of the redeveloped land in the northern cities.

Such facilities will only grow in popularity as demand picks up and space dwindles at existing business parks, such as the former Simmons Mattress Factory in Munster, which has been highlighted in the national publication Politico for how many Illinois companies have relocated there. Interest is most keen near the state line, where there is not a lot of inventory left, Babcock says.

“Folks that want to come over the Illinois border still want to be right by Illinois, but we don’t have enough places for them to go,” he says.

Find the full article at: http://www.nwitimes.com/business/local/manufacturers-flocking-to-business-parks/article_56ab1283-3cbc-512d-a909-543b7a4b4792.html

CROWN POINT |The city’s downtown bustled with activity Saturday as shop owners opened their doors to holiday visitors on Small Business Saturday.

The sunny, warm weather and the arrival of Santa Claus at the old Lake County Courthouse bolstered the day, on which shoppers are encouraged to support their local retailers.

“I’ve had people come in this morning for that reason — to support local businesses,” said Kari Bunde, owner of the Copper Butterfly at 120 S. Main St.

She said Small Business Saturday has always been a good day for her store, which carries a variety of artisan jewelry, home décor items and related gift merchandise. Coupled with a “fabulous Black Friday – the best I’ve had for a long time” Bunde said she has hope for a good holiday season.

The Copper Butterfly, in business since 1979, will cap the weekend with its Christmas open house from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. today.

Across the street, the old courthouse wasn’t just the destination for Santa on Saturday morning, but also hosted the city’s Winter Market for vendors to sell their wares. Customers browsed tables on the second and third floors of the courthouse, while the permanent shops downstairs took advantage of the market traffic and the day’s small-business focus.

“It’s a good day; it has a great feel,” said Cyndi Horn, owner of Mescolare, a gourmet food and gift shop whose name is Italian for “to mix.”

“It creates a great environment, to focus on this beautiful building,” she said of the day’s activities.

Horn said this is her fourth Christmas season as a business owner, and she appreciates the boost from Small Business Saturday, which was initiated by American Express in 2010.

“We’re a small business that supports small business,” Horn said. Many of Mescolare’s food items are Indiana-made.

Horn added that the courthouse shops will be open from noon to 4 p.m. Sundays during the holiday season.

Friends Diane Cunningham, of Hebron, and Donna Dyer, of Lowell, came to town for the Winter Market.

“We kind of like the crafty-looking things,” Dyer said of their focus. But the pair took advantage of the good weather to explore further.

“I haven’t been in a lot of these stores so we’re walking around stopping inside,” Cunningham said as they made their way down Main Street.

At the corner of Main and Joliet streets, in the old People’s State Bank building, Jason Sullivan tended to business at one of the square’s newest shops, Chemshaw 13 Donutz & Comics.

The donut counter enjoyed a regular Saturday morning rush, but unlike most Saturdays, it didn’t stop.

“We haven’t had a downtime this morning,” Sullivan said late in the morning.

Sullivan, a comic book expert and collector, and his wife, Lynette, a trained pastry chef, opened the business about eight weeks ago.

Sullivan said he hadn’t known about Small Business Saturday until a customer mentioned it to him, but he supported the local-focus of the effort.

“We really embraced local everything” when establishing the business, he said.

Crown Point resident Carol Yancey, waiting for her sister Barbara Gutridge in the old courthouse, said she likes supporting small, local businesses, and also enjoys the atmosphere.

“It’s just a quaint little place that people should support more,” she said.

Gutridge agreed. “They’re all decorated really nicely,” she said of the businesses. “It gets you in the spirit.”

Find the full article at: http://www.nwitimes.com/news/local/lake/old-courthouse-shoppers-do-justice-to-small-businesses/article_748b7bfe-4dd1-5bcb-bef4-951300ee650a.html

HAMMOND| Expenses mount during the holidays, but many employers are also hiring for part-time jobs that could bring in as much as an extra $120 for a weekend’s work.

That kind of extra cash could go a long way to paying off presents, air fare and the credit card debt that accumulates.

Area employers need to hire more seasonal workers this year for part-time positions that are often taken by moonlighters who already have full-time jobs, Staff Source Partner and Business Solutions President Dan Kesic said.

With an improved economy, the amount of holiday work available through the Hammond-based staffing and recruitment firm Staff Source is up an estimated 15 percent to 20 percent over last year, based on available hours.

Hotels, convention centers, casinos, country clubs and private caterers are all hiring this time of year. They need to fill hospitality roles for company holiday parties and other large group events.

To make sure party-goers are merry, they need servers, bussers, licensed bartenders, bar helpers and cleanup help. Typically they want workers with some experience working large events, including at public venues.

Shifts are typically at least four hours, and some are longer, but are booked well enough in advance by corporate clients to ensure a set, predictable schedule.

Pay usually ranges between $10 and $12 an hour for jobs where the workers don’t get tipped, and $7.25 when tips come into play.

Many people work the seasonal hospitality jobs through Staff Source only on the weekends, but are able to pick up enough hours to bring in an extra $80 to $120.

“We see that people who just want to work on the weekends, to work additional hours,” Staff Source director of operations Gus Lopez said. “They’re coming to seek these opportunities specifically in the hospitality industry.”

Anyone who’s interested in a seasonal hospitality job can go to open houses between 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. Saturday and Dec. 6 at the Staff Source office, 2500 165th St. in Hammond. Open houses also take place from 8 a.m. to noon every Tuesday and Thursday, except for Thanksgiving, at the Tinley Park Convention Center at Harlem Avenue at Interstate 80.

For more information, call (219) 989-9675.

Find the full article at: http://www.nwitimes.com/business/local/staff-source-hiring-for-multiple-seasonal-part-time-jobs/article_75014ee5-002e-5cac-b03b-640cb5738bc5.html

HOBART | What’s your “wow” factor, and what can you do to multiply it? Is the conventional wisdom about the 2008 financial crisis all wrong? Why haven’t charities been able to fix poverty, homelessness or breast cancer?

Such thought-provoking questions were explored at TEDx CountyLineRoad, the first TED event to take place in Northwest Indiana. The morning-long conference Thursday was a locally organized offshoot of the the popular TED Talks videos, which feature speakers sharing “ideas worth spreading” about technology, entertainment and design in short presentations of less than 18 minutes. The aspiration is to showcase ideas that could change the world, or in this case, the Calumet Region.

“What is Northwest Indiana’s ‘wow,’ and what can it do to reproduce it?” said Bob Bouwer, senior pastor of Faith Church in Dyer.

A sell-out crowd of 100 community leaders gathered at County Line Orchard in Hobart for Northwest Indiana’s inaugural TEDx event, which was organized by young professionals who met during the campaign for a South Shore Rail expansion and wanted to get more people talking about the region’s future.

“The young and talented people who had the vision for doing this take great interest in the community, and want you to go forth and multiply the ideas presented,” said emcee John Cain, executive director of the South Shore Arts Center and the Northwest Indiana Symphony Orchestra.

In video presentations, speakers discussed how great leaders like Martin Luther King Jr. and Apple’s Steve Jobs inspired action with belief, and how non-profits have been stuck at about 2 percent of the U.S. Gross Domestic Product for the last 40 years, because a bias against high overhead has made it difficult to advertise and hire talented leaders who could grow their scale.

Economist Brian Wesbury started the day with a talk about what caused the 2008 financial crisis that triggered the Great Recession, which he said is commonly misunderstood. The Federal Reserve kept the interest rate low at about 1 percent between 2001 and 2003, prompting people to buy larger homes in nicer neighborhoods that they might not have been able to afford if interest rates were higher. The potential losses from bad loans added up to more than $200 billion, which is a large sum but small compared to the $15 trillion size of the economy.

Mark-to-market accounting, which values assets and liabilities based on the estimated current market price instead of historical cost, exacerbated the danger that bad bank assets posed to the overall economy, and the economy improved after Congress did away with it, Wesbury said.

Excellence By Design owner Norma Williams shared her personal story about how she went from being a struggling single mother to a successful owner of a painting company that creates employment opportunities for disadvantaged women. She urged people to make an impact by finding their passion, which in her case is helping women “the world has thrown away.”

“The African proverb is it takes a village to raise a child, but what happens if the village leaders are broken?” she said. “We’ve traded in a community mentality for an island one.”

Her company hires women who are under-qualified but get on-the-job training, including some who are in county work-release programs. She encouraged others to step up to help women and children who have been left behind by society.

“I can offer a stepping-stone of hope for women in need, but I only have so many stones to offer,” Williams said. “The community needs to come together. Whether you’re a baker or a banker, everyone has something they can offer.”

Bouwer talked about the power of “wow,” such as how a restaurant’s house-made ketchup and monstrous portions of pancakes ensure it’s packed every weekend because of a positive word-of-mouth reputation. The senior pastor also stressed the aphorism “if it’s alive, it’s meant to multiply,” which inspired him as he took over a 250-member church in Dyer and attracted a following large enough to outgrow a new $9.2 million church building in 12 months, to the point where it had to establish satellite churches.

Faith Church now has 11 sites in Northwest Indiana and Chicago’s south suburbs and aspires to get to 20 by 2020, including locations under development in Brazil and the Dominican Republic. Bouwer’s church grew by wowing people, and he said everyone has something unique and special they can wow others with.

“What about you is a wow skill?” he asked. “Once you discover that knowledge, get better at it.”

Inspirational talk abounded at the event. LaPorte Mayor Blair Milo encouraged people to draw inspiration from Walt Disney and try to create the happiest place on earth in Northwest Indiana in a talk that emphasized happiness as an economic development strategy.

The online retailer Zappos.com created a corporate culture of happiness so it would provide better customer service, inspire more customer loyalty and ultimately increase profits. Milo said such an approach could made the overall economy more productive in an increasingly globally competitive world.

“As Walt Disney said, all your dreams can come true if you have the courage to pursue them,” she said.

Anyone who wasn’t able to attend can go online to view the videos, which will soon be posted to www.tedxcountylineroad.com.

Find the full article at: http://www.nwitimes.com/business/local/nwi-s-first-tedx-wows-with-big-ideas/article_b72bea8c-9b93-52f1-95be-b366ed5aca3a.html

November 7, 2014

Statement from Conner Prairie President and Chief Executive Officer Ellen Rosenthal:

“I can’t think of a more deserving family to receive this recognition. The Reynolds family has truly made our community a better place to live. They have also made Conner Prairie a better place. Gary spoke on behalf of his family at the event and delivered a message that I will never forget. He thanked his father and mother, A.W. “Mac” and Arline Reynolds, for living their values and showing him and his siblings the importance of giving back to the community. His father once told him, “The giver is not as important as the gift.”

Source: Conner Prairie Interactive History Park

November 7, 2014

News Release

HAMILTON COUNTY, Ind. – The Legacy Fund Living Legacy Award was given to the children of A.W. “Mac” and Arline Reynolds, including Gary and Cindy Reynolds, as well as Reynolds Farm Equipment for their philanthropic contributions to Fishers and Hamilton County. The award was made during Legacy Fund’s Celebration of Philanthropy on Thursday, November 6th. An annual event, Celebration of Philanthropy was held at the Ritz Charles in Carmel, and in addition to the award ceremony, featured a showcase of 37 of the county’s not-for-profit organizations. Approximately 400 people attended the event.

Created by Legacy Fund, an affiliate of Central Indiana Community Foundation, the award recognizes Hamilton County residents for their philanthropic contributions to the community. The Reynolds, and the company founded by Mac Reynolds and wife, Arline, in 1955 were the sixth recipients of the Living Legacy Award. Mac and Arline were active in the Fishers United Methodist Church, the church’s food pantry (Come To Me), Central Indiana Youth for Christ, Good News Ministries and Third Phase, Hamilton County’s largest shelter, food and clothing pantry.

Both were involved in a number of service organizations: Arline Reynolds participated in the Carmel Music Study Club and President and District Officer of the United Methodist Women. Mac Reynolds was a charter member of the Fishers Lion Club and also the Community Volunteer Fire Department and in 1998 received the state’s highest service award, The Sagamore of the Wabash. Free to the public, the company’s annual Christmas light display raises money for Come To Me Food Pantry, and annually surpasses $30,000 in contributions to the pantry.

Mac Reynolds passed away in 2008; Arline died in 2013. In 2014, Reynolds Farm Equipment headquarters were relocated from Fishers to Atlanta, Indiana. Gary Reynolds, now the company’s president, is a respected member of the Conner Prairie Board among other groups and not-for-profit pursuits. Previous recipients of Legacy Fund’s Living Legacy Award include the Crosser family, Sonny Beck family, Judi Campbell Lowe, M.D. and family and the Jim and Juanita Harger family.

“The Reynolds family and their company represent the best of Hamilton County and our community, and are truly the embodiment of philanthropy,” said Terry Anker, President, Legacy Fund. “They have given their time, talent and treasure for people in need now, and also for our community’s future and wellbeing. We have all benefited from their dedication and gifts.”

ABOUT LEGACY FUND:

Legacy Fund, an affiliate of the Central Indiana Community Foundation (CICF), serves Hamilton County by administering charitable funds, foundations and organizational endowments for individuals, families and not-for-profit entities. Established in 1991, Legacy Fund’s goal is to inspire philanthropy as it helps people enhance their family and charitable legacies in tax-smart ways. Legacy Fund has three main priorities: consult with donors, family foundations and professional advisors on charitable giving; award grants; and provide leadership to address community needs. For more information, contact Mike Knight at 317.843.2479 or mikek@cicf.org.

Source: The Central Indiana Community Foundation

 

The full article can be found at: http://www.insideindianabusiness.com/newsitem.asp?ID=67979

HAMMOND | Working hard remains the “price of admission” into the top echelons of business, said a panel of five prominent women at Wednesday’s 10th Annual Business Expo luncheon at Dynasty Banquet Center.

Other characteristics of successful women in business include education, being lifelong learners, taking chances, accepting challenges, persevering and carving out time for self and family, they said.

Hosted by the Lakeshore Chamber of Commerce, the luncheon panel featured Denise Dillard, chief consultant, government and external affairs at Methodist Hospitals; Barbara Greene, president of Franciscan Health Care in Munster; Mary Tilak, M.D., internal medicine specialist; Carla Morgan, attorney for the City of East Chicago; and Kathleen O’Leary, president of NIPSCO.

Jim Dedelow, of WJOB, moderated the panel discussion, which gave the five women opportunities to tell the stories of their success and give advice to young women starting out in their careers.

Common themes emerged in the hour-long talk.

A supportive family is one of the key factors in their success said O’Leary, Tilak and Dillard.

“My mother ran her own health clinic in India, which was basically a third-world country. She was an obstetrician and family practitioner. That was five, six decades ago. She delivered babies in the front room of a small apartment,” Tilak said. “She taught me that you work hard, you’re intelligent and follow your passion.”

Getting a good education also is vital, the women said.

“I chose to go to Notre Dame to compete with people who run this country,” said Morgan, who grew up in East Chicago’s Indiana Harbor section. Greene agreed.

“Education is number one. Get your foundation in place, be consistent and persevere,” she said. “I think the glass ceiling is softening.”

Perseverance means knowing up front it’s not going to be easy, said Dillard, who graduated from Horace Mann High School in 1971, in the era of court-ordered busing to integrate the Gary schools.

“You can’t just say, ‘I want it.’ You have to show up and show out. As African-American women, we had a triple challenge — being of color, educated and women,” she said.

Morgan advised young women wanting careers in business to “work smart. Create your own atmosphere around you. Learn to change your environment. Make moves.”

Other advice the women offered included seeking out mentors, volunteering and signing up for unpaid internships to boost a resume, knowing where you want to be in five to 10 years and supporting one another.

“Somebody took a chance on me,” O’Leary said. “Women are definitely supporting one another. Corporately (at NIPSCO), we’re doing more.”

Find the full article at: http://www.nwitimes.com/business/local/leading-women-in-business-share-triumphs-tips/article_0ed276e8-e534-58a3-9042-9f749e058da5.html

MERRILLVILLE | Business owners who are even contemplating an investment should put aside any lingering reservations and act now, according to a leading economist.

Jeff Korzenik, chief of investment strategies for Fifth Third Bank, said it’s a good time to expand a business or make a large capital investment as the economy continues to recover.

“For the business owners and decision makers, labor is tight and capital is old,” he said. “If you’re even thinking about refreshing your fleet of vehicles or updating and expanding your machinery, you should consider making that investment today. In the economy, delivery times are stretching out and the cost of financing a capital investment is going up. It’s not a bad time for equity investment. Interest rates are low, and sitting on cash yields nothing.”

Korzenik delivered the remarks while addressing a crowd of bankers and business people at the Radisson at Star Plaza in Merrillville, at an event sponsored by the Northwest Indiana Forum last week. The economist is an executive who oversees investments for the Cincinnati-based regional bank, which has $144 billion in deposits and more than 2,200 employees in Chicago and Northwest Indiana.

Volatility is normal in any economic expansion, so business leaders should not overreact to any bad news, because things are trending up, Korzenik said. About 60 percent of purchasing managers just reported seeing improving conditions last month.

“It’s a positive reading that shows things are getting better,” he said.

Nationally, unemployment has fallen to 5.9 percent. The long-term unemployment rate is coming down very quickly, and it should soon drive wages up as hiring becomes more competitive, Korzenik said. The number of workers willing to quit their jobs because they’ve lined up a new one or are optimistic they can find another has normalized for the first time in years. Employers, however, are still having trouble finding qualified job candidates.

“Bank customers have been consistently telling us, particularly in the transportation and manufacturing sectors, they would like to hire but are having a hard time finding anyone who can pass a drug test,” he said.

“It’s increasingly a big issue. The plural of anecdote is not data, but it’s what we’ve been hearing in Atlanta, Charlotte, Michigan, Illinois and Ohio. It seems to be a representative trend.”

But overall economic growth is evident, as business owners are exercising more pricing power, such as by raising prices for hotels and airfare, Korzenik said. Higher prices at restaurant chains and big-box stores that typically underperform in tough economic environments show the pace of economic growth has turned decidedly positive.

In recent decades, business managers have shifted focus from pricing power to controlling costs, but the unprecedented energy boom in the United States and the rise of living standards in developing nations has closed the cost gap to the point where the United States should be able to win back some of the manufacturing that had been exported overseas.

Other long-term trends bode well for the U.S. economy, including a rising birth rate that should buoy single-family home sales well into the next decade, Korzenik said.

In the short term, low crude oil prices of between $80 and $85 per barrel mean consumers spend less on gasoline and have more money in their pockets. Such low prices also insulate the overall economy from a disruptive spike in oil prices that could occur because of the unrest in the Middle East, he said.

The U.S. economy also continues to innovate, such as with driverless cars, the internet of things, and drones that have delivered six-packs of beer to people ice fishing in upper Wisconsin. Technological innovation has allowed more and more vehicles to shift to low cost natural gas, and the more widespread adoption of a lower cost fuel could boost the economy as much as the conversion from whale oil to kerosene did in the 19th century.

“The pessimist is considered smart, but history is on the side of the optimists,” he said. “There’s reason for optimism because good things are happening in the U.S. economy.”

The article can be found at: http://www.nwitimes.com/business/local/economist-says-conditions-ripe-for-business-investment/article_ecd97593-8688-5f6e-8533-bf21f2c710eb.html

http://www.nwitimes.com/business/local/economist-says-conditions-ripe-for-business-investment/article_ecd97593-8688-5f6e-8533-bf21f2c710eb.html

Industrial users find plenty of economic benefits when they base their operations in Northwest Indiana.

Chris Gary is rarely surprised when industrial users choose to open their manufacturing or distribution businesses in Northwest Indiana instead of the Chicago market.

Operating in this slice of Indiana — which includes such traditionally manufacturing-friendly cities as Hammond, East Chicago and Gary — comes with a host of benefits, the most important of which is the lower cost of doing business here.

“In general, your costs of operation will be down in Northwest Indiana,” said Gary, a vice president and industrial specialist with Oakbrook Terrace, Ill.-based NAI Hiffman. “The soft costs — the workers’ compensation costs and unemployment insurance rates — are terrific in Northwest Indiana. The utility rates can be less. The state government and municipalities have been very aggressive in attracting Illinois businesses, so there are often incentives. It’s a good place to run an industrial business.”

End users know this. For proof, just look at the major industrial projects going on here. ITR America at the end of 2013 completed a 100,000-square-foot build-to-suit facility in Hobart, Ind. Munster Steel is now building a 123,000-square-foot center in Hammond, Ind., for its operations.

Urschel Laboratories is building a 350,000-square-foot manufacturing plant in Chesterton, Ind., in the Coffee Creek Center. This project, which also includes a new headquarters building for the company, will cost $104 million.

Then there’s chemical company MonoSol, which recently bought a 23-acre site in the Portage, Ind., business park AmeriPlex at the Port. The company plans to build a 300,000-square-foot manufacturing plant.

“Those are four substantial projects. What’s interesting is that each is a manufacturing project, not a distribution project,” Gary said. “That’s a little counter to the market overall. To put a rough number on it, roughly 75 percent to 80 percent of new industrial deals tend to be distribution deals. But here, these four big projects are all manufacturing deals. I would chalk that up to the fact that historically, Northwest Indiana has a bit of a labor advantage to Illinois.”

Those lower labor costs, of course, is one reason why industrial users might choose to locate in Northwest Indiana instead of the Chicago-area market. Labor costs are lower on the Indiana side of the border. Indiana is also a right-to-work state, which is also attractive to industrial users.

Then there’s the way workers’ compensation and unemployment insurance are calculated in Northwest Indiana. Gary estimates that end users can save up to $1,500 a year for every worker in soft costs if they do business in Northwest Indiana instead of Illinois.

“If you have a lot of employees, if you have 100 or 200 employees, that can come out to $150,000 to $300,000 of soft-cost savings,” Gary said. “That is real money. That is one of the reasons why manufacturing projects have come to the forefront in Northwest Indiana at the moment.”
– See more at: http://www.rejournals.com/2014/05/13/industrial-users-find-plenty-of-economic-benefits-when-they-do-business-in-northwest-indiana/#sthash.OX1bSuAL.dpufDoing Business In Northwest Indiana…

Recruitment process outsourcing is still new for a lot of companies. Some may not realize that there are options in how to outsource or to improve their recruiting process, while others may stick with other solutions because that’s the way it’s always done and that’s the way the boss likes to do things. However, if you’re serious about RPO (recruiting process outsourcing) and really want to know what it could do for your organization, then here are the six awesome benefits of RPO.

1. Reduced Recruiting Costs

This is one of the top reasons why organizations choose an RPO solution, and it’s also one of the biggest benefits of RPO. Many companies spend a lot of money on headhunters and job boards, or waste a lot of money through high turnover rates. With other companies, time is simply wasted in lengthy hiring processes or outdated (or a lack of) technology. An RPO provider can reduce recruiting costs by streamlining your recruiting process and showing you how to find good candidates better and with less time and money.

2. Scalable Recruiting Capacity

Christmas season is here, and many employers during this time go through a hiring spree for seasonal employees. If that’s you, then an awesome benefit of RPO is having a recruiting process in place that can scale up for the Christmas season, and then scale back down at the beginning of the next year. RPO is also great for companies that are growing rapidly, that may need extra help in scaling their recruiting capacity to meet growth.

3. A Consistent and Predictable Recruit-to-Hire Process 

Candidates don’t like it if they don’t know where they stand in the recruiting process, or if they don’t know what’s happening or what’s supposed to happen next. This problem could also plague companies who have multiple entities or multiple departments, where each one could have their own hiring process. RPO can help get everything together and make the recruit-to-hire process consistent and predictable for both parties and across the entire organization. This makes it easier to know what’s going on and what everyone is doing to when recruiting or hiring someone.

4. Increased Candidate Quality

Hiring managers know that a great candidate is much more than a combination of experience and education, but also includes personality and previous accomplishments. Hiring managers who are pressed for time to fill a position, or have a ton of candidates to go through, may not necessarily take a look at the qualities that determine whether or not the new hire will stick with the position. An RPO solution can get into those qualities while still looking for candidates who have the needed experience and education.

5. Increased Hiring Manager Satisfaction 

The increased hiring manager satisfaction comes from many aspects of RPO. Hiring managers now have better away to assess the success of their efforts. Hiring managers now have more support from executives in the recruiting process. Hiring managers now aren’t stretched so thin and are better able to do their jobs. With the help and partnership of an RPO provider, hiring managers will be more satisfied with what’s accomplished and how candidates are recruited and brought into the company.

6. Enhanced Employment Brand

The employment brand is essentially the identity of the company as an employer, and when every other aspect of the recruiting process is in place and doing well, the employment brand improves. If your candidate quality improves, that only looks good to other potential candidates for your organization. If your hiring managers are satisfied and are working in a consistent recruit-to-hire process, then people who go through that process will only have good things to say about it and your company as an employer. Overall, RPO helps the company in many more ways that just cutting recruiting costs or filling positions faster. RPO can actually help a business become a better place to work.

Article Link: http://resources.rpoassociation.org/blog/bid/246841/6-Awesome-Benefits-of-Recruitment-Process-Outsourcing-RPO