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HELPING MANUFACTURERS GROW PROFITABLY
Awarding the Exceptional
Enterprise Minnesota Magazine - June 2010
The national Manufacturing Extension Partnership's fifth-annual awards
ceremony highlights outstanding MEP centers, manufacturing clients and
individuals.
For the past five years, the national Manufacturing Extension Partnership
(MEP) has recognized outstanding MEP centers and individuals for their
service to the U.S. manufacturing industry.
"We want to recognize those folks who have the true mission at heart," says
Roger Kilmer, national MEP director. "That is the driver behind [creating
the awards]. Those that will not only do their job but go over and above not
only in terms of working with their clients, but also in helping other folks
within their center and helping other folks within other centers."
In past years, MEP had six individual award categories and three MEP center
award categories. Now in its fifth year, the awards committee added two new
award categories for client manufacturers of the MEP centers.
MEP deputy director Aimee Dobrzeniecki says the addition of client awards
helps showcase some of the nation's most innovative manufacturers. "It's one
thing to look at internally what are some of the brightest stars that we
have, but we also wanted to try to highlight from our customer base who is
really adopting the practices that we're putting out there," she says.
Two of this year's client nominees are Minnesota manufacturers. Custom
packaging manufacturer Central Container is nominated for the MEP Excellence
in Sustainable Initiatives Award. The company has pursued many green
initiatives, including using agri-based inks for printing and 60 percent
postconsumer recycled materials for its cardboard packaging. Central
Container also works with each customer to minimize packaging waste and
byproducts by closely matching packaging dimensions to the size of each
product.
Harmony Enterprises, a waste and recycling products manufacturer, is an MEP
Excellence in Innovation Award nominee for its development of new products
for niche markets. For the bottling industry, the company recently developed
a machine to repurpose soda bottles and cans. The machine crushes surplus
product in a way that allows liquid to be salvaged, and the containers can
be recycled.
Steve Cremer, president of Harmony Enterprises, says the nomination is an
honor. "Innovation has been the key to the success of our business," he
says. "I truly believe that [the United States] will never compete with Asia
to make the cheapest things, but as long as we're the leaders in innovation
we can still be leaders in manufacturing."
Kilmer says handing out the awards each year is a gratifying experience. "To
look at the smiles and tears [of joy] as [award recipients] come up to
accept their awards signals that they really do appreciate this," he says.
"They appreciate the recognition and it makes me feel good to be able to do
that for them."
This year's awards were presented May 4 at the National MEP Conference in
Orlando, Fla.
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HELPING MANUFACTURERS GROW PROFITABLY
Eyes on the Future
Enterprise Minnesota Magazine - June 2009
Eyes on the Future In a recession economy, waste and recycling products manufacturer Harmony Enterprises Inc. stays hopeful by getting creative.
Perhaps surviving harsh winters gives Minnesotans a perennial optimism. While much of America worries about the current economic climate, some Minnesota manufacturers remain hopeful that spring will come again. For example, Harmony Enterprises Inc., a waste and recycling products manufacturer, is taking advantage of the economy.
“I spend my time looking at where we go next—where we [will] continue to grow,” says Harmony Enterprises president Steve Cremer. “The good thing about things being slow is we actually have [more] time to focus on what’s going to happen this summer, next fall or next year.”
Last year, Harmony underwent the Eureka! Winning Ways program through Enterprise Minnesota. The process generated a list of ideas for improvement that Harmony now has time to implement. “Some of [the ideas] are just product improvements,” Cremer says. Part of this process is looking at products and processes through customers’ eyes. Cremer and his staff ask questions like, “How can we make the job of using our balers easier for customers?” Once they get an answer, they are able to make improvements.
During a time when Harmony’s clients were hesitant to spend, Cremer and his team decided that instead of seeking out new clients, they’d revisit products and processes for existing customers and find ways to make them better.
“We took advantage of a couple of months when things were slow to plant seeds of new ideas—even though we knew we weren’t going to walk away with a purchase order when we talked to [existing clients],” Cremer says. “We’re trying to give them the idea so that whenever they’re ready, they have new projects on the line for us to look at.”
One of the most important tools in Harmony’s strategy is seeking out niche markets. “Instead of just going out to everyone, we’re [contacting] recyclers and distribution centers,” Cremer says. “We’ve actually developed new products for those niche markets.”
In one such market, the bottling industry, Harmony developed a machine to repurpose soda bottles and cans. The machine crushes surplus product in a way that allows liquid to be salvaged, and the containers can be recycled.
“We’re not trying to compete with everyone in our market out there trying to sell the same thing,” Cremer says. “We’ll let [the other] guys—especially when things are slow—cut prices and just try to get a sale. We’ll take our niche products into markets where no one else is and help solve problems.”
-ANDREA LAHOUZE
February 13, 2009
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT:
Steve Cremer President
Harmony Enterprises
(800) 658-2320
export@harmony1.com
Harmony Enterprises Wins Governor’s International Trade Award Harmony Enterprises was one of nine companies recognized during the Governor’s Global Trade Conference in October for excelling in International marketplace in the category of Manufacturing. Minnesota manufactured exports reached a record $4.4 billion in the second quarter of 2008, led by sales of computers and electronics, and followed by machinery, transportation equipment, miscellaneous products including medical devices, and food products.“
These companies, many of them small firms, show that you don’t have to be a major corporation to sell your products and services in foreign countries,” said Tony Lorusso, executing director of the Minnesota Trade Office. “Thanks to these and other firms, Minnesota is on track for a record year in manufactured export sales.”
Harmony Enterprises is a manufacturer of balers, baling equipment and other recycling and waste management equipment. They are headquartered in Harmony, MN and have been designing and manufacturing these products since 1970 and are sold in 61 countries.
Harmony's
T60XDRC and the Florida based company, FMS, featured on the front page of
Recycling Today
Recycling Today, Dec, 2006 by Brian Taylor
When Tony McCarthy, owner of FMS Inc., in Clearwater, FL contacted Harmony Enterprises Inc. to provide him a product that would aide him in his drum recycling business, we were thrilled! Upon listening to requirements of FMS, we realized that the T60XDRC baler, would best fulfill the needs for their desired operations. FMS purchased the T60XDRC baler for the Tampa Pepsi Facility to be utilized in their aluminum can line.
We are proud to say that the T60XDRC baler helps Pepsi produce 1,000 pound bales of aluminum thus aiding to not only improve their shipping profitability but also reduce waste. We look forward to continued partnering with FMS and Pepsi in the hopes of utilizing all of our equipment to the fullest potential in all applications.
Tony and FMS were recognized for their unique efforts in the December 2006 issue of Recycling Today. Click here to read more about the article.
Taking
care of China's trash
Janet Moore, Star Tribune
Others may see the broad boulevards of Beijing, or the expansive skylines of Shanghai and Hong Kong. Steven Cremer sees piles of plastic pop bottles and other random litter.
"There's a lot of cardboard here," he said.
That's good news for Cremer's Harmony Enterprises Inc. Based in the little town of Harmony, Minn., the family-owned company manufactures and distributes compactors and balers for the recycling industry. The idea behind his products is simple: Compressing trash saves precious space in landfills.
As president of Harmony Enterprises, Cremer traveled about China last week with the environmental delegation of Gov. Tim Pawlenty's trade mission...Read More »
Arctic Recycling
On November 1, 2005 the Government of the Northwest Territories (GNWT) began Canada’s most northerly recycling program. The goal is to recover, reuse and recycle the more than 25 million beverage containers sold in the NWT each year. Until now, most of these containers have ended up in the garbage or as litter.
The concept for the Beverage Container Recovery Program began in 2001 with a discussion paper which asked what waste recovery and recycling services residents expected the territorial government to offer. The concept of recycling met with overwhelming positive response, and input from the public and key stakeholders resulted in the Waste Reduction and Recovery Act being passed by the Legislative Assembly in October 2003... Read More »