Behind great brands are often stories of astute decision-making at pivotal times. Osprey, a growing Colorado company and respected global lifestyle brand based in Cortez, was at a crossroads early in life, choosing to stay in business by moving its manufacturing operations offshore. Now a “mature” brand (read Osprey’s profile), the company hopes to build […]
Government’s never been more involved in business. For Jay Timmons, President and CEO of the National Association of Manufacturing (NAM), this development has few upsides. Timmons spoke in Denver last week at a business luncheon sponsored by CACI, the Colorado Association for Commerce and Industry, and took on much of the political establishment in recounting […]
I’ve written previously about the regional push to invest in manufacturing. Colorado and its neighbors, many with similar sized manufacturing sectors, are host to business interests seeking funding, an improved workforce, tools and expertise to drive new manufacturing activity. Support varies but in Colorado several communities are poised to benefit from active partnerships between industry, […]
It’s a fulltime job reading investor sentiment these days, and apparently a confusing one for the business press. On consecutive days last week, local reports had stocks rising one day and falling the next on news the Fed would continue ‘quantitative easing’. There’s little confusion though about the difficulty Colorado small business is having raising […]
Late last month the Obama administration and U.S. Department of Commerce were busy awarding economic development grants throughout the nation including Colorado. The Office of Economic Development and International Trade was the recipient of a $200,000 grant to “…develop an implementation plan needed to establish an Advanced Industries Manufacturing Institute that will support business development […]
On paper, they couldn’t be more disparate companies. Springs Fabrication, in Colorado Springs, is a global manufacturer of steel containers and fabricated metal products. Sushi Den is Denver’s iconic Japanese restaurant, making food-art from the most pristine of raw materials – fish. Both are profiled in this issue of CompanyWeek, surprising to some maybe, but […]
Among the reasons I launched CompanyWeek was to showcase Colorado companies making and manufacturing products aligned with sports, recreation, and the lifestyle ethos unique to this region. All three companies profiled this week qualify; each are at a different place along the growth continuum. The Fat Bike Company has received a lot of press lately […]
You’ve seen the numbers: Colorado’s unemployment remains high by recent standards, roughly 7%, with about 40,000 fewer people employed today than in March 2008, when employment peaked at 2,611,357. Certainly the job picture’s improved from the dreadful period culminating October 2010 when the unemployment rate hit 9.1%, but today’s number remains stubbornly high, inching up […]
Meet CompanyWeek, The Voice of Rocky Mountain Manufacturing & Commerce. It’s the culmination of a lot of things, really: ideas and experience, of a perceived opportunity, of a desire to build something, of talented colleagues who can help make it happen. CompanyWeek’s also about two recurring themes for me in my last few years at […]
Is a job a job? Statistics like the unemployment rate suggest it is, but of course they’re not. Pay is the most obvious differentiator. I’m no economist but it’s also easy to make the case MFG jobs, jobs that produce goods and services, are fundamentally different and critical to a sustained, boom-and-bust-proof economy we seek […]