New Business Opportunity All Boxed Up

Explosive Archives Storage Market Captured by Morrison Company
Can the adage “admiration by replication” be true? It seems as if any successful business strategy gets copied. The time it takes to copy a strategy or design is inversely proportional to the potential for sales. In the records or archive storage industry several related industries are seeking some of the opportunities currently being sought by traditional records storage providers.

Recent conversations with the self-storage association have uncovered a new strategy. Seminars being offered to members about growing their business are highlighting the benefits of gaining record storage clients. Finding clients who have records needs and offering self storage space has been a boon for self storage companies and is a good way to maintain a high utilization of available storage bays.

Another industry “moving” in the direction of records storage is the moving and storage industry. With many of the core storage systems in place, it is not too difficult for companies in this industry to go after records storage clients. Many times moving and storage companies are creating areas in their warehouses for archive storage clients. Others are erecting new buildings to house the offsite stored records while retaining the moving business in another location.

Regardless of who is entering this explosive market, Morrison Company has helped companies all across the US equip themselves with shelving, catwalk or warehouse storage racking. Most of the time companies want to start small by erecting shelving or a few bays of rack while they seek out records storage clients.

Making it simple to plan for growth is what Morrison Company offers clients. “Even if clients want to start small we’ll prepare a layout of how their facility can grow with their business”, indicates Barney Rowe of the Morrison Company. Mr. Rowe is a published author, speaker and expert in the records storage industry. This approach has enabled many clients prepare business plans, seek external funding and retain building permits.This month the records storage association, PRISM International (Professional Records & Information Services Management), is holding their annual conference from May 14 - 17. You can read more about this explosive industry at www.prismintl.org.

US Chamber of Commerce Lobbying Efforts

Skilled Worker Visas
In addition to essential workers, the U.S. economy continues to need access to skilled workers in many sectors. Access to technology, scientific, education, health, and engineering workers, which the United States is not producing in adequate numbers, continues to be a Chamber priority.

Background: H-1B Visas (High-skilled Temporary Workers)

Companies in need of highly skilled workers often recruit workers through the H-1B visa program. The H-1B visa is available to individuals whose services are sought by a U.S. employer in a "specialty occupation." The alien must have at least a bachelor's degree, or the equivalent, and the employer must attest to the Department of Labor that the alien will receive a salary commensurate with the prevailing wage for U.S. workers in the same job category. The H-1B visa is also an important tool for hiring foreign nationals with advanced degrees from U.S. universities. These individuals are generally ineligible for other types of visas.

Congress recently recognized the importance that employers place on recruiting the best graduates of U.S. higher education institutions and included provisions in the Omnibus Appropriations bill that provide relief to the previous H-1B visa cap of 65,000 as well as improve the integrity of the program. Important changes to the category include the creation of a permanent exemption for graduates of masters and Ph.D. programs at U.S. colleges and universities from the H-1B cap, up to 20,000 per year. Additionally, the legislation permanently reinstates both the dependent employer attestations (against laying off U.S. workers and requiring domestic recruitment) and fees to fund education and training programs at the Department of Labor and scholarships at the National Science Foundation (raising it to $1500 for employers with 25 or more employees and reducing it to $700 for employers with 25 or fewer employees).

Further changes include: a new "fraud prevention and detection fee" of $500; the reinstatement and broadening of Department of Labor authority to investigate without a complaint, based on "reasonable cause," but giving employers a safe harbor for technical or procedural failures based on good faith attempts to comply and a 10-day window to correct failures; required payment of 100% of the calculated prevailing wage (this eliminates the 95% rule but requires the Department of Labor to use surveys that include at least 4 levels of wages).

Background: L-1 Visas (Intracompany Transfers)

Congress also made changes to the L-1 visa category for international intra-company transfers. Legislation passed at the end of the 108th Congress dealt with issues regarding the placement of L-1 workers at unaffiliated employers (commonly called "job shops") as labor for hire. The legislation was a partial response to critics of outsourcing, who charged that foreign outsourcing companies were abusing the L-1 visa. More drastic changes to the category —including a cap, labor market tests, and/or prevailing wages— were not adopted.

The U.S. immigration system continues to provide inadequate avenues for employers to access talented workers from around the world. Artificial caps on visas have the effect of driving skilled workers to other countries and to America's competitors, as well as requiring U.S. employers to consider taking projects and work to where the workers are. As the United States continues to fall farther behind in graduating skilled workers in needed disciplines, we are in danger of losing our competitive edge. Restrictions on the L-1 category—a major conduit for foreign investment in the United States that creates millions of jobs (so-called insourcing)— could jeopardize this significant part of our economy.

U.S. Chamber Position

The Chamber will continue to play a leadership role in ensuring that employers in the United States can hire the necessary skilled personnel, managers, and executives to expand their businesses and create more jobs and wealth for the U.S. economy. The Chamber and its allies on the Compete America Coalition have worked hard over the last year to adjust the H-1B cap, including the additional 20,000 H-1B visas for graduates of U.S. schools, and to make sure the L-1 visa remains a viable tool for companies to train their employees. The H-1B program is important to U.S. economic competitiveness and technological leadership. Artificial caps on the category hurt U.S. competitiveness, allowing other countries to hire these talented individuals or forcing U.S. companies to locate projects where key personnel are based. The Chamber will continue to work hard to ensure that employers are able to attract and retain the skilled workforce that they need to compete in today's market.

You Do That?

Southworth Pallet Pal Level Loaders Reduce Back Injuries
Many jobs require lifting. This article highlights the job of moving cartons at the end of a paint line. Pallet loading requires workers to lift cartons of paint from a conveyor belt to pallets placed on the floor. Completed pallets are then taken to the Shipping Department.

The pallets are typically loaded with 45 cartons of paint, each containing four one-gallon cans for a total weight of a ton.

Acting on a recommendation of a colleague, the Production Manager installed a product known as a Pallet Pal Level Loader specifically designed to reduce back strain and the possibility of injury during pallet loading operations.

“We installed the equipment at the end of the filling line after cans are filled, labeled and packed and sealed into cartons, “the manager explained. “The cartons are then manually pulled off the conveyor belt and stacked onto a pallet. The pallet rested on the floor and, since the conveyor belt was two feet about the floor level handling the cartons involved awkward motion and was really hard on the back. With the Pallet Pal Level Loader, the pallet is always at the correct height for loading. No more stooping or stretching.”

In practice, as a worker transfers cartons of paint from conveyor to pallet, the load drops lower and lower to maintain the top level at waist height for worker convenience. Case handling is vastly simplified and back strain and fatigue are all but eliminated.

The Pallet Pal Level Loader is manufactured by Southworth Products, Portland, Maine. With the success of the Pallet Pal on the conveyor line, the paint company’s Product Manager said he would install more Pallet Pals throughout; including at the mixing vat, where bags of pigments and other ingredients are combined in the paint manufacturing process.

Studies show that the Pallet Pal can cut the work required for loading or unloading pallets by as much as 75% with time savings of up to 40%.

Operations Manager Issues

Working in Teams
A significant shift is taking place in organizations throughout the world-a shift that has important implications for the skills that will be critical to your success both as a member of organizations and as a manager and leader. This shift involves increasing the emphasis on the group or team.

Many factors are driving this shift. Technology is a primary force driving this as tasks have often grown too complex for individuals to tackle alone. In addition competitive forces have compelled many organizations to flatten the organization by dramatically reducing the numbers of levels of middle managers. Shifting authority and responsibility down to the bottom level allows teams to take over functions that used to be done by management. On a more macro scale, as organizations (especially multinational) involve multiple businesses, multiple industries and multiple countries, new and complex are evolving that rely on numerous interdependent groups with decisions made by teams consisting of members of these various groups. Even without these forces, others have found simply that harnessing the potential power of the group can have a dramatic effect on productivity and job satisfaction. The list of companies and units turned around by the work of a small team is fast growing and persuasive.

Today, most organizations embrace the notion of groups. Groups have become the core unit in many organizations. Parts of this based on the fact, supported by research, that groups are more effective in solving problems and learn more rapidly than individuals. Yet surveys will find that few organizations and few individuals in them are particularly satisfied with the way their groups are working. Teams may be a necessary component of organizational success but their presence certainly doesn't guarantee success. Few managers have training or knowledge of group dynamics; many are quite apprehensive about groups and pessimistic about their value. Most of us are more comfortable managing individuals than groups and many of us are more comfortable working on our own than in a group.

Our instincts in this area may be quite accurate. Real experience in groups has drawn us to the conclusion groups we have been involved in at work are inefficient, confused, and frustrating. None of this should be particularly surprising since it mirrors our own experience with groups since we were children.

When a group is functioning well (whether it be a work group, a sports team, a friendship group, a chorus or orchestra, a religious group, a voluntary group, etc.) the group dynamics and sense of belongingness and acceptance can bring out the "best" in us. Groups can enhance problem solving and creativity; generate understanding, acceptance, support, and commitment. In addition groups can enhance morale, provide an outlet for affiliation, enhance self esteem, and help create consensus and security. We have all had at least a few experiences where participation in an effective group has helped us to "achieve" at levels we never thought possible. Even people who claim a real antipathy towards groups cite some kind of group experience is a high point in their lives.

When to Use Groups

Given the strengths and weaknesses, we should use groups only in situations where the strengths are critical. In general, a group problem-solving process is called for when:

• the problem is relatively uncertain, complex, and has potential for conflict
• the problem requires interdepartmental or inter-group cooperation and coordination
• the problem and its solution have important personal and organizational consequences
• there are significant but not immediate deadline pressures
• widespread acceptance and commitment are critical to successful implementation

Business School Book Review

Arizona State University
Are you a reader? If so this article will feature book reviews by some the county’s best and brightest business school professors. While they’re recommendations may not always be about business, the books do have something to say about perseverance and integrity. This month’s featured professor is Larry Edward Penley Dean of the College of Business at Arizona State University.

His research has focused on individuals' organizational relationships and the skills required of effective managers, and it has been published in the leading academic journals. As such, Dean Penley’s favorite books are:

THE INNOVATOR'S DILEMMA by Clayton Christensen

"- because of its capability for reminding us to adopt new strategies and to organize to nurture them."

INFORMATION RULES by Carl Shapiro & Hal R. Varian

"- because of its dispassionate view of the information world from an economic perspective."

MANAGEMENT CHALLENGES FOR THE 21ST CENTURY by Peter F. Drucker

"- because anything by Drucker is still great advice on management."

THE SIGN OF JONAS by Thomas Merton

"- because all managers need spiritual support and anything by Father Merton remains a vivid reminder of our struggle for the spiritual side of humankind and the struggle's importance in managing people."

Biographical Info:

In 1991, Dean Penley was selected as Dean of the College of Business at Arizona State University. After leaving the University of Texas at San Antonio in 1985, he joined ASU as Professor of Management and Chair of the Department. He holds the University's Bob Herberger Arizona Heritage Chair.

Industry Trends

World Steel Prices Gain Steam
As recently reported in the Wall Street Journal [4-6-06], world steel prices are returning to last year’s high level, following an end-of-year lull, as steady economic growth fuels strong demand.

The upswing could mean higher raw-material costs from manufacturers of everything from appliances to automobiles. At the same time, industry observers still don’t expect steel prices to match heights reached in 2004, in part because of rising steel output and increasing flow of cheaper imports into the US and elsewhere.

Analysts say steel consumers around the world, from auto makers in North America to commercial builders in China, are restocking material and showing increased demand for steel, at least in the short-term.

The average price of hot rolled coils, a common steel product, is about $570 a ton in the US, up 15% from September. Steelmakers have already announced additional price increases that will take effect in coming months.

A few steelmakers are increasing production to meet demand and to benefit from higher prices. US Steel has been bringing its No. 14 blast furnace back on line in Gary, IN, and Netherlands-based Mittal Steel’s Co.’s US arm is restarting an idle blast furnace in Cleveland.

Trade groups are divided on the need for imports. Small manufacturing companies and steel importers believe imports should increase, especially on key products such as hot-rolled coils to offer more supply options. But domestic producers express concerns about the growth and source of imports.

Hot rolled steel is used in the manufacturing of many material handling products. Your upcoming storage and material handling projects should take into account that costs for components like pallet racking may rise. Delays implementing a warehouse storage project will most assuredly mean higher prices, a direct result of rising steel prices.