Documentos de Académico
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info@romuluschamber.com
February 2013
The mission of the Greater Romulus Chamber of Commerce is to promote and meet business needs. The Chamber is dedicated to creating an environment wherein the Romulus businesses, non-profit institutions, government, and citizens can work together for the purpose of enhancing the quality of life within the community.
March 21 - Chamber of Commerce After Hours Mingle. Sporting News Grill, 4:30 pm7:00 pm. Complimentary horsdoeurves, cash bar. Bring your business cards. This will be a great networking opportunity! May 8 A Chamber of Commerce Workshop. How to Advertise Your Business with Mike Donato and Julie Allison. Holiday Inn, Romulus, from 1:00 pm3:00 pm.
This event is free to Chamber Members and a guest. Registration starts at 12:30 pm.
Once a month, at the Business Luncheon registration table, your Romulus Chamber of Commerce collects non-perishable food items and paper goods for Helping Hands. Please Remember to bring your donation!
Presidents Ponderings
Its A Duo!
Youve heard the saying, Two heads are better than one! This years selection for Person of the Year is unique. For the first time in the Chambers history a couple has been selected for the honor. When the Chamber POTY Committee set out on a quest to find the 2013 recipient, they first advertised for applications. Names were submitted and all the resumes were impressive. Its not easy selecting only one. During this process, the POTY Committee sought a person who would be a snapshot of all that is right about the Romulus community. Volunteerism ranks as a sterling quality. Love of fellowman and striving for perfection in business is certainly something they looked for. The candidates met all the criteria. Its not easy selecting only one! Last year, Jim Poet was selected as the 27th Romulus Person of the Year. The outpouring of accolades assured the POTY Committee that they got it right. He was certainly a great inductee into the Greater Romulus Chamber of Commerce Person of the Year hall of fame! Fast forward to January 22: Members of the POTY Committee meet with Pat and Lynn Ostrowski. An informal luncheon was held at the Sporting News Grill in Romulus. If only a picture had been taken of the two shocked faces! Their reaction to the news that they were the 2013 Person of the Year assured the POTY Committee that, once again, they got it right. Sometime in April of this year (place to be determined) a grateful community will gather to honor a duo who has shown the ability to overcome business challenges, create new job opportunities and offer creative and/or imaginative products and services, and has been deeply involved in the community. They are all that is right about Romulus. Watch for the announcement and plan on attending this gala event!
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Congratulations Pat and Lynn two heads are better than one!
Bill Kren
President
Patty Braden has been the Director of the Romulus Public Library since September, 2011. In this short span, Patty has accomplished a lot! This past winter, she launched the Adult Authors Series, where local authors visit the library to discuss their work, mingle with patrons and autograph their books. Patty and her staff have worked hard to improve the esthetics of the library and to build library collections, including a subscription to TumbleBooks, e-books for kids. Under her leadership, the library recently received five new computers and upgraded software on their existing machines. Online bill pay has been set-up, receipt printers are in place and wireless printing capability has been established. There have been additional exciting changes and improvements that Patty will be sharing at the Luncheon. So dont miss an informative and entertaining time with the Librarian!
With the invention of that first coiling machine Hugh Archer started to become known as a Go-To Guy for plastics extrusion. People would approach him with a new idea or some problem they were not able to overcome and he and Harold would be off and running. They would tinker with it for months making an adjustment here and a tweak there until they developed a machine, a tool or a fixture that would produce the desired finished product. In those early days they did not have sales people working for them. They expanded their business and sold their products by reputation and word of mouth only. Things have changed a little over the years. Back in the 70s they needed to hire someone who could take the company to the next level. They offered the job to a young man that worked for Phillips Petroleum. That young man saw Spiratex as a company with potential. He decided to make a career change and joined the Spiratex Team. His name was Pat Dermody and in a few short years he became the President and General Manager of Spiratex. Thats when things really began to take off! By 1985 Spiratex had outgrown what by that time had become two plants in Dearborn and moved into a newly built 65,000 square foot facility in Romulus. Spiratex was now an employee owned and operated business and by 1995, once again, a second facility was needed to accommodate the continued growth. A 60,000 square foot facility was built in Monroe. What began as a one product operation had now become a company with a high level of manufacturing capabilities. Spiratex was now extruding many different materials such as Nylon, Polyethylene, Polypropylene, PVC and ABS and making every profile shape and tubing size imaginable. Along with the continued growth came more personnel and leadership changes. Robert L. Racey became the new General Manager and a short time later was named President of of the Company. Under Robert's leadership, The Principal Group, an organization that manages retirement funds, named Spiratex as one of the best companies for providing financial security for its employees. Something like that does not just happen by chance. It is the direct result of great leadership and great people. For the last 15 years Robert has lead The Spiratex Company through good times as well as some very challenging times. When the economy went into recession, and took a lot of businesses down with it, Spiratex found a way to maintain its workforce without a single job loss. In fact, at the end of 2011 while the country was still struggling with the economy, a 48,000 square foot addition to the Monroe facility was completed. It is now over 100,000 square feet with 114 plastic extrusion lines.
Today The Spiratex Company provides meaningful work for 135 employees and continues its steady growth by shipping products, not jobs, overseas. They ship extrusions to not only North America but Europe, China, Australia and Brazil. Spiratex extrusions are used in markets such as the conveyor industry, military, medical and belting industries. You can even find Spiratex tubing being used for oil exploration. They enjoy a very diverse customer base. 4
The Principal Group, an organization that manages retirement funds, named Spiratex as one of the best companies for providing financial security for its employees.
Spiratex is positioned for further success as it moves into the future with the next generation of leadership now in place and ready to go. Vice President Garry Markle has just been named the new General Manager. The Spiratex Company looks to be in a good position and in good hands for the foreseeable future.
Terry Bridges, Purchasing Department, holds the product that launched the company. A wire covering that is still produced and sold around the world.