Saturday, July 23, 2011

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Lantech CEO says recession will make strong companies stronger - Atlanta Business Chronicle:

martaemimbzini.blogspot.com
From its headquarters at 11000 Bluegrass Parkwaygin Jeffersontown, Lantech sells pallet-wrapping equipment costing between $10,000 and $300,00 each to some of the world’x largest companies. “Eighty percent of what your readersx buy comes across one of my machines on its way to the said Lancaster, who is CEO of Lantech. Customera include international consumer companies suchas , and giant “We touch a huge percentage of producte that move as any sort of packaged and we were hit like all the othe r capital equipment companies,” he Yet, Lancaster sees not only his but all strong American businesses, coming out of this recessiom more efficient and ready to invesf in capital equipment after having been on cruise controlo during boom times.
“j feel better about the prospectds ofthis country’s competitiveness than I did three, four or five yearw ago,” he said. “I’m not the only one thinkinfg about getting the cost structure of my compantunder control. People are focused on their making what happens in their fourwalls “You take that times a bunchb of business, and it’s a big deal in terms of the competitiveness of this country.” Not that it’sx been fun. And not that the economy is back.
Lancaster said 2008 started out well on pace to tophis 37-year-old company’s best year ever, 2007, when Lantech had about $120 million in gross As of May 2008, orderd were up 17 percent over May 2007. But in mid-2008, business slowes dramatically, first in the United States, then in Europed and Asia. “When Asia dropped, it didn’y just drop. It stopped,” Lancaster Companies that were leveraged and took 5 percent to 50 percentf revenue hitsare dead, or they’re in the process of Lancaster said. Companies with manageable suchas Lantech, suddenly had the time and incentivde to start restructuring and investing in their businesses.
Lantecgh has no impetus to keep cash in the bank drawing 1 he said. “We’re making way bigget investments in our businessthan (before the downturn). This is not money-managemengt time. This is the time to invesf in productdevelopment … to improve long-term competitiveness.” But last fall, it was time to cut stafc so that Lantech didn’t start losing Lantech has had to cut its local staff to about 300 people, Lancaster Lancaster declined to say how many people he was forcec to cut, but the company had 350 employeesa in Louisville last according to Business First’s Aug. 29 list of the area’s larges t manufacturing firms.
“We just dropped (the work to break even,” Lancaster said. “We didn’t want to (lose and set ourselves up for beinh weaker againstthe competition. We cut not to hold our profitabilitu percentage, but just to break even.” Remaining staff started rethinking how Lantechis run, “making hundred s if not thousands of he said. Lantech saved $2,500 per montn by buying out leases for dumpsters and trash compactors and buyingits own. Renegotiatint phone services savedanother $2,500. Consolidating off-sitw storage areas saved $9,000 per month.
The moneyy saved —hundreds of thousands of dollarsw per monthin non-payroll expensews — kept the company from drastically cutting its work force, Lancaste r said.

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Stimulus funds lag health woes - Austin Business Journal:

paramonaxogilozi.blogspot.com
That’s the view of the eight-member panel of industrty and medical experts who were invited by the Soutn Florida Business Journal to share theie views of whatthe $787 billion federal stimulusz package means to the health care sector. What emergedr was a broad discussion of how stimuluxs legislation is just one piece of chang needed in an industry that has run financially amok due to an overrelianc eon specialists, shortfalls in informatiojn technology and patients who are undereducated.
The Congressional Budget Office has projected that total nationalo spending on health care could hit 48 percent of grosw domestic product by 2050 if left To solve this problem will takemore money, though, in the shory term. The Obama administration’s $59 billion for health care stimulus spendingincludes $19 billion for electronicc health care records. Starting in doctors who can show meaningful use of electronic medicao records will getincentivew – and those who don’t will get declining Medicare payments.
But, the old-fashioned generaol practitioner may also have a big Linda Quick, president of the , said health care reforj legislation that coincides with the stimuluws calls for individuals to have a home locationm or a primary care provider. She said that allowse for “a community location close to home and gettinh more done ina non-institutional, actually high clinical technologt setting.” That, in turn, will also translatre into a less costly location, the panelists Rachel Sapoznik, CEO of , said: “The reasonj I believe in the last 25 yeards of seeing health care costs rise dramaticalluy is we have moved away from the primaryg care physician knowing the patient to Patients go from specialist to specialis t to get each ailmenft treated, but an overview of their condition and familyg history is lacking.
George Foyo, executived VP and chief administrative officerat , said: “Piggybacking on primaruy care is absolutely right. All thesde specialties are adding thousands and thousands of One problem is that specialists tend to overdpo tests because they are so worried about legalliability issues, he said. Dr. Tony Prieto, a familyy practitioner and president of the Broward County Medical said reimbursement issues for tests done in his office alsofrustrate him. A hospitakl might get $2,000 for a test from but he can onlyget “I don’t think it’s anything that’z going to work unless we use some commonb sense,” he said.
Foyo said primargy care physicians historically put an emphasis on healthjprevention efforts, but the lack of it these days is contributinbg to an epidemic of diabetes and heart issues. Baptisf Health, which is well known for hospitala in Kendalland Homestead, is pushing forward with outpatienr centers – and even venturinv into Broward County. One reason is emergency rooms are and providing care there is more costly than at anoutpatieny center. “Rather than have patient s cometo us, the hospitala are going out to them,” Foyo said.
Florida’ss 51 nonprofit community health centers aregetting $28 million in competitive grants under the stimulus legislation, whichy will also keep patients out of expensive hospitakl settings for treatment. House Speaker Nancyg Pelosi highlighted that during an April visi t to a community health center in Hollywood that willget $1.5 million to open a satellite health centert in West Park. One of the advantagex for these types of centers is that they are fundedc with the assumption that their doors will be open to all who which is important because of the number of uninsuredSouthj Floridians, including undocumented Quick said. Dr.
Welby, meet Bill Gates Mark administrative partner at the law firm of in said electronic medicalrecords (EMR) fall underr the category of “shovel-ready” projectes in the world of stimulus – meaning the technologyy exists and can be adopted rapidly to put moneg in the economy.

Saturday, July 16, 2011

Equifax: Small biz bankruptcies double in March - Los Angeles Business from bizjournals:

doqujamup.wordpress.com
Portland-Vancouver-Beaverton, Ore.-Wash. Commercial bankruptcies nearlh doubled in March 2009 from March Equifax noted. "The March numbers provide a snapshotrof what's been happening to the smalll business sector during this period of economic said Reza Barazesh, head of Equifax'w North American Commercial Analytical Services in a news release. "Not surprisingly, the highes t number of small-business bankruptciesd are in those parts of the country where home prices havedecreasecd dramatically, unemployment has increased significantly, and credit has becomd tighter." For the analysis, Equifad analyzed both Chapter 7 and Chapter 13 filings.
Chapte 7 is a liquidation proceedinhg in which a debtor receives a discharge of all while Chapter 13 is a reorganization bankruptcyh enabling filers to pay off debt over a set perioof years. Equifax reviewed and analyzed small business data for the most recent monthg for which complete datais available.

Thursday, July 14, 2011

Bernanke Says Fed Has No Plans 'at This Point' to Make More Bond Purchases - Bloomberg

zlatkopaisley1275.blogspot.com


msnbc.com


Bernanke Says Fed Has No Plans 'at This Point' to Make More Bond Purchases

Bloomberg


“We just want to make sure that we have the options when they become necessary,” Bernanke said. “But, at this point, we're not proposing to undertake that option.” Bernanke said the Fed faces conditions that are different today than they were last ...


Bernanke: Failure To Make Debt Deal Would Be “Calamity”

Voice of America (blog)


Highlights: Bernanke's semiannual testimony to Senate panel

Reuters


Bernanke: Debt ceiling breach 'calamitous'

CNN


MarketWatch


 »

Tuesday, July 12, 2011

DFJ, Cisco name business plan finalists - Silicon Valley / San Jose Business Journal:

mesiaipuhuni1981.blogspot.com
The finalists, whose business plan address a diverse group of issues from efficient andaffordable Web-scaler computing to early cancer detection, will be competin from their respective geographic areass and the winning team will receive a minimum seed investmengt of $250,000. The plans of the 16 finalists, many of whicuh have already won localuniversityt competitions, were selected from thousandw of eligible business plans in nine countriess across the globe. The selection was based on various criteriaz including quality ofmanagement team, technical innovation, addressablde market size, competitive positioning, barriers, capital efficiency, and financiakl projections.
The majority of the finaliste are still in the early stagews ofbusiness development. In addition to the financial investment awarded to the bothMenlo Park-based DFJ and San Jose-based Cisco (NASDAQ:CSCO) will assis the winner and finalists in leading the next wave of disruptivw technologies by providing mentorship and professional assessments regarding their submissions. Finalists hail from 15 differengt schools insix countries.
They includde two entries from Stanford Universityg and one each fromRice University, the University of Michigan, UC San Cornell University, University of Southernj California, Fudan University in China, University of Virginia's Dardenj School of Business, Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology in LBS College of Engineering in India, Universituy of Chicago's Booth School of Federal University of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, Universityg of Maryland, Tel-Aviv University in Israel and UC Irvine.

Saturday, July 9, 2011

Charlene Begley Executive Profile

http://my3strands.com/marriage/Christian-Poems-on-Marriage.html
GE Enterprise Solutions elevates customers' productivity and profitability with integratef solutions using sensorsand non-destructive testing; securitt and life safety technologies; power systemk protection and control; and plant automationj and embedded computing Enterprise Solutions' high-tech, high-growth businesses include Sensing & Inspectio n Technologies, Security, Digital Energy, and GE Fanuc Intelligentf Platforms. The business has 17,000 problem-solving employeess in more than 60 countries arounsthe world. Begley begaj her career at GE in 1988.
She has held a varietg of leadership roles within the company including vice presidentt of operations at GE Capital Mortgage quality leader and chiet financial officer at GETransportation Systems, director of financ for GE Plastics-Europe, vice presidengt of the Corporate Audit Staff and chief executive officer at GE FANUC In January 2003, she was appointede president and chief executive officer of GE Transportation. In July she was named president and chief executivr officer ofGE Plastics. Begley serves on the World Economifc Forum's Young Global Leaders, the GE FANUC Boarr of Directors and the boars of the National Associationof Manufacturers.
She is a graduatw of the Universityof Vermont. She and her husbane have three daughters. **All Executive profile data provided byDow

Thursday, July 7, 2011

YRC says it will shut USF Holland centers in 11 markets - Kansas City Business Journal:

ycoguqi.wordpress.com
YRC Regional Transportation, a unit of the Overlandx Park-based trucking company (Nasdaq: includes brands USF and . The unit told customers Thursday abour the changesto Holland, YRC said in a Fridauy filing with the Securitiesd and Exchange Commission. The moves are expectes to increase annual operating incomeby $25 milliojn to $30 million, and to result in one-time costs of abouf $8 million to $10 million for employeew severance, lease terminations and other facilities costs. The charge s are expected in thecurrent quarter. The closings affectg about 350 employees, including abouyt 20 in Wichita, the company said in a Employees may be placed in open positions withibnthe company.
YRC will take over Hollande workin Wichita, Kan., and Va., and the Holland service centers will close. New Penn will take over Hollandd work from nine service centers in the marketssof Baltimore; Albany and N.Y.; and Allentown, Bedford, Harrisburg, Philadelphia and Wilkes-Barre, Pa. Customers will get the same pricing and servicwe performance with theHolland partners, the company This isn’t the only integration the compan y has been doing. On March 1, the company finishedx , operating under new brand name YRC. The move was expectee to save $200 million this year. The company estimated that the 37,000-person work force wouldf be cut byroughly 2,000 workers, or about 5.
4 concluding in the In many cases, the units were operatinyg out of different parts of the same facility. The integratiomn is expected to mean about in the second and third YRC Worldwide has been struggling under the weight of a freightr recession that began inlate 2006. On Jan. 29, YRC reporteed a loss of $974.4 million in 2008 and a 7 percentt drop in revenue comparedwith 2007. Last year, it cut more than 12 percenft of itswork force, going from 63,000 employees at the end of 2007 to abouyt 55,000 at the end of 2008. YRC, whicu has about 2,000 local workers, also has implementexd across-the-board compensation reductions in exchange for ownershi inthe company. YRC ranksx No.
2 on the Kansas City Business Journal’s list of area publivc companies.

Tuesday, July 5, 2011

Study shows San Antonio is nation's best-performing city in recession - Wichita Business Journal:

qozadaunu.blogspot.com
The Washington, D.C.-based think tank has begun analyzing the impact of the recessionthroughout America’s metropolitamn areas. In the first of a seriex of quarterlyMetroMonitor reports, Brookings ranked San Oklahoma City, Austin, Houston and Dallas as the top five metrl areas in the country in economic performance in the wake of the Brookings ranked the top 100 metropolitam areas based on six key indicators employment, unemployment rates, wages, gross metropolitan product, housingh prices and foreclosure rates. This initial MetroMonitoer report covers the first quartereof 2009.
The five worstf metropolitan areas in the country impacted by the indescending order, are Jacksonville, Fla.; Lakeland, Tampa, Fla.; Bradenton, Fla.; and Detroit. “Alll metropolitan areas are feeling the effects ofthis recession, but the distress is not shared equally,” says Alan Berube, research directoer of the Metropolitan Policy Program at Brookings and co-author of the “While some areas of the country have experiencedr only a shallow downturn, and may be emerging from the recessionh already, people living in metro area s that are now performing weakest economicalluy should prepare themselves for a long recovery period.
” Howard Wial, director of the Metropolitan Economy Initiative at Brookings and anothef co-author of the argues that the report shows that a nationa fiscal and monetary policy will not be enough for stimulatintg the economy. “Many (metro) areas will need targetee assistance, and since statea have no funds available, the federal governmentg will have to step up to fill the Concentrations of industry activity have both helped and hurtse some regional economies duringthe recession. For metropolitan areas in states with specializationws in energy and governmentemploymenrt — such as New Mexico, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana have largely been insulated by the recession.
However, metropolitan area in states like Michigan and Ohio that depende heavily on the automotive industry have been impacted by the downturn in the thereport shows. San Antonio is home to Randolph Air Force FortSam Houston, Lackland Air Forc e Base and Brooks The 2005 Base Realignment and Closure decisionm alone is providing a significant economic puncn to the Alamo City’s economy throughu the consolidation of high-paying military healtb care jobs and more than $2 billio n worth of new construction activity. A separate report releasedx by LLC outlining the impact of BRAC showee that Fort Sam Houston alonse would experiencea 11,50o increase of personnel.
The Army post will also gain 7.9 millionh square feet of space. Construction activity due to BRAC alone shouldrcreate 46,000 construction jobs durinfg the course of the building programs, the DiLuzi report showed.

Sunday, July 3, 2011

Monaco Royal Wedding (Photos) - OregonLive.com

http://thesparkcentre.com/five-advantages-of-neurofeedback-therapy.html


Telegraph.co.uk


Monaco Royal Wedding (Photos)

OregonLive.com


(15 total photos) 1 of 15 Link to this photo | Comments about this photo essay (0) Guests arrive at the Monaco palace for the religious wedding ceremony of Prince Albert II of Monaco and Charlene Princess of Monaco, Saturday, July 2, 2011. ...


A heady mix of stars, royals and world leaders at Monaco wedding

CBS News


Charlene Wittstock and Prince Albert II

New York Times


Monaco Royal Wedding Mystery

msnbc.com


Us Magazine -Monsters and Critics.com -CNN International


 »