Florida’s Outward Focus

SUNSHINE STATE SHIPPERS ENJOY A FANTASTIC BUSINESS CLIMATE AND INTERNATIONAL EMPHASIS [By Peter Buxbaum] 

The experience of Airon Corporation is emblematic of many smaller manufacturers in Florida. The company was incorporated in 1997 after acquiring the rights to technology developed at the University of Florida, technology which it then used in a line of…Read More…

Michigan’s Renaissance

THE ECONOMIC RESURGENCE OF THE GREAT LAKES STATE LEADS OVERSEAS [ By Keri Forsythe-Stephens ]

It wasn’t a clear-cut decision, admits Shilpa Patel, CFO of Testek Inc. Although Testek—a manufacturer of custom test equipment for the aerospace, automotive and nautical sectors—could benefit financially from attending the 2013 Dubai Airshow, the expense of…Read More…

Well Equipped In The Bear Republic

HOW CALIFORNIA IS HELPING A MAKER OF INDUSTRIAL SAFETY GEAR AND OTHER SHIPPERS [ By Peter Buxbaum ]

Innovation is built into the DNA of the state,” says Roy Paulson, president of Paulson Manufacturing Corp., a maker of police and industrial safety gear in Murrieta, Calif. “We have several patents associated with our business.” Owing to a network of top-notch universities and…Read More…

The Export Phoenix of Arizona

HOW THE COPPER STATE HELPED ONE COMPANY RECLAIM ITS INTERNATIONAL SALES [By Karen E. Thuermer] 

Rowpar Pharmaceuticals of Scottsdale, Arizona, is back in the export business thanks to Arizona’s State Trade and Export Promotion program (AZ STEP). The company—maker of CloSYS toothpaste and oral products—once exported…Read More…

Where Aerospace Companies Are Landing

THE NATION’S LARGEST EXPORT INDUSTRY IS FLYING TOWARD RESOURCES [By Karen E. Thuermer] 

Just like the automotive industry, aerospace has taken flight to the U.S. Southeast with major manufacturing sites for Airbus in Mobile, Ala.; Boeing in North Charleston, S.C.; Honda Jets in Greensboro, N.C.; Gulf Stream in Savannah, Ga., and…Read More…

How To Help A Nutcase

PORTLAND’S HELMET EXPORTER SHOWS THAT THE NEW OREGON TRAIL LEADS TO FOREIGN MARKETS [ By Karen E. Thuermer ] 

Michael Morrow, founder and chief executive of Portland, Oregon-based Nutcase Helmets, is convinced that to grow his company beyond its 30 worldwide markets, his bicycle helmet brand needs to be picked up by…Read More…

The New, Global South

SOUTHEASTERN STATES ARE EXERCISING THEIR ECONOMIC MIGHT WITH SURGING EXPORTS [ By Jerry DeMuth ] 

Exports by companies in the seven Southern and Southeastern states are not only expanding—reaching more than $200 billion in 2012, according to Brookings Institution figures—their character is changing from such…Read More…

Bell Helicopter’s Global Ascent

 HOW INCENTIVES AND STATEWIDE BUSINESS FRIENDLINESS DREW THIS EXPORTER AND MANY OTHERS TO TEXAS [ By Peter Buxbaum ]

For Bell Helicopter, incentives played a key role in its decision to locate a factory in Amarillo, Texas. The rotocraft manufacturer received more than 1,200 proposals as part of a nationwide… Read More…

Exports Are Flowing From The Mississippi Corridor

HOW STATES IN THE REGION ARE STIMULATING THEIR ECONOMIES AND ENCOURAGING SITE SELECTION BY FOCUSING ABROAD [By Karen E. Thuermer]

The Mississippi River is a mighty force for trade and commerce, and programs within the 10 states that share its banks are helping push exports, with a wide host of companies benefiting… Read More…

Utah’s Elevated Exports

THE BEEHIVE STATE HAS BEEN BUZZING WITH NEW GLOBALLY FOCUSED PROGRAMS [By Jerry DeMuth] 

Exporting had never been on the mind of Tom Dickson, founder of Orem, Utah-based Blendtec, Inc. until he was approached by a staff member of the Governor’s Office of Economic Development… Read More…

The State of Indiana

The Hoosiers’ Export Focus Is Paying Dividens [By Warren Strugatch]

Back in 2006, seeking to diversify its 95 percent-domestic customer base, Hoosier Gasket Corp. hired Oleg Gostomelsky and tasked him with cultivating a clientele in Eastern Europe. A personable engineer who speaks fluent Russian as well as… Read More…

Maximizing Resources

WHERE ENERGY COMPANIES ARE SETTING UP, AND WHY [By Chuck Green]

Being in the Midwest, we’re far from the venture capital communities of the West and East coasts,” says Jeffrey Basch, manager of Business and Operations for Ann Arbor, Michigan-based Accio Energy. “We’re not as easily… Read More…

COME SHALE, COME ALL

PLASTICS AND CHEMICAL COMPANIES GO WHERE THE GAS IS [By Keri Foresyth-Stephens]

Mike Shannon, global leader of chemicals and performance technologies at big-four auditor KPMG, says chemical and plastics companies are eyeing North America for growth. Attracted by the abundance of …Read more…

HOME ON THE MOUNTAIN RANGE

WHY EXPORTS ARE CLIMBING AROUND THE ROCKIES

[By Warren Strugatch]

Kelly Adams answers the phone: “Wild Touch Taxidermy…” The caller, from the Idaho Department of Commerce, wants to know if Adams would meet a visiting delegation from Taiwan coming into town in a few days…Read more…

HOW OHIO IS MILKING EXPORTS

COMPANIES LIKE UDDERLY SMOOTH’S MANUFACTURER ARE SUCCEEDING INTERNATIONALLY WITH A LITTLE IN-STATE HELP [By Warren Strugatch]

Earlier this year, Redex Industries, Inc.’s operations director, Linda Kuzior, received a phone call from a customer who had packed a tube of the company’s Udderly Smooth skin moisturizer on a recent expedition to Antarctica. The news was a big deal…Read more…

WASHINGTON IS HEATING UP!

WOOD STONE CORPORATION EXEMPLIFIES THE EVERGREEN STATE’S EXPORT SURGE

[By Karen E. Thuermer] 

Keith Carpenter didn’t have intentions of starting a company that manufactured stone hearth wood- and gas-fired industrial ovens that would be exported worldwide. Prior to 1990, he only wanted to satisfy a customer’s request for a…Read more…

CONSIDER A LOUISIANA PURCHASE

THE BAYOU STATE’S GLOBAL REACH IS BIG, EASY

 [By Karen E. Thuermer]

The aroma of fresh coffee, a beignet and a little jazz may entice some to New Orleans, but when Folgers executives caught the scent of Louisiana’s aggressive package of incentives, the nation’s largest coffee company was assured it was making the right decision to… Read more…

THE BELTWAY NOTCHES EXPORT

AS THE FEDERAL BUDGET SHRINKS, BELTWAY GOV’T SUPPLIERS LOOK TO EXPAND INTO FOREIGN MARKETS

[By Jerry DeMuth]

The 2013 federal government shutdown and mandatory federal budget cuts (or “sequestration”) are prompting more Beltway companies to look to foreign markets, building on the export growth already occurring in Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C. … Read more…

EXPORT RALEIGH

NORTH CAROLINA IS MAKING SURE ITS GLOBAL BUSINESSES ARE WELL HEELED [By Jerry DeMuth]

Advanced Superabrasives, Inc., (ASI) had made several unsuccessful attempts to expand its export business into China before trying to break in through a joint venture with a Chinese company. That not only failed, the Chinese freight forwarder held a container of the company’s machinery used to make… Read more…

 NEBRASKA’S GLOBAL HARVEST

THE CORNHUSKERS ARE UPPING STATE INCENTIVES AND EXPORTS [ By Jerry DeMuth ]

Jack Schreiner, president and CEO of Bruckman Rubber Co. in Hastings, Nebraska, always wanted to expand the sales of his company’s industrial rubber products through exporting. “But when you’re a little rubber company out in the middle of Nebraska how do you do that?” he asks. Read more… 

ALABAMA’S ENGINES OF GROWTH

DAIMLER, HONDA AND OTHER TOP AUTOMAKERS HAVE FOUND A HOME IN THE HEART OF DIXIE [By Warren Strugatch]

Twenty years ago, Alabama’s vehicle production output was minimal. Extremely minimal—not one car or truck was built. This year, Alabama vehicle makers will produce close to a million cars and light-trucks, exporting more than $6 billion worth of them—enough to establish the state as this country’s fourth-ranked vehicle exporter. Read More… 

TOP 10 STATES FOR GLOBAL TRADE

Typically when a publication prints an issue designating the Top or Best anything, you can cup your ear and hear the faint sound of sharpening pitchforks and torches being dipped generously in kerosene. But relax, gang. In our eyes everyone’s a winner; these states just won the most. Read more…

TOP 25 CITIES FOR GLOBAL TRADE

If variety is truly the spice of life, a yearly ranking of the top U.S. metro areas byexport volume would be a pretty bland dish. In the International Trade Administration’s annual report of the top 50, the 10 or 15 cities registering the highest export volumes are pretty consistent year to year. Not too appetizing, right? Read more…

TOP 25 FTZs FOR GLOBAL TRADE

Shippers take note: America’s foreign trade zones are here to help you export. By deferring duties on imported components assembled into exported products—among other functions—these zones help make world access not only cheaper but more convenient. Read more… 

GO EAST, YOUNG MAN

Back in 2001, Lafarge Concrete opened its first plant, a joint venture cement-grinding facility in Ho Chi Minh City—formerly Saigon—barely a year after the U.S. and Vietnam signed their bilateral trade agreement. Like many companies, the building-materials giant saw Vietnam’s potential as an echo boom Read more…