Published on Monday, May 12, 2008
MANUFACTURING
TMM Precision picks up new punch machine
TMM Precision, the metal fabrication division of The Metal Man Inc., has acquired a CNC (computer numerical control) punch machine that can produce hole-intensive parts quickly, easily and more economically than methods used in the past, according to Alan R. Speert, president of The Metal Man.
The punch machine can also be programmed to automatically form threads, bend flanges and produce extrusions.
The machine allows TMM Precision, 1552 S. Euclid Ave., to help reduce customers costs by producing metal pieces more quickly while not limiting production quantities.
SMALL BUSINESS
EffortlessHR is online for small businesses
EffortlessHR.com, a website offering comprehensive tools and solutions for human resources management for small businesses who want to make sure they’re abiding by laws and want to manage and retain employees.
Lola Kakes is CEO of Tucson-based EffortlessHR. She has over 25 years experience in human resources and is also the founder of Professional Administrative Services.
She said EffortlessHR can be used by small business owners who cannot afford to hire a human resources person.
"EffortlessHR is so simple, so effortless, that employers with even one employee will save a considerable amount of money," Kakes said in her announcement.
The website - www.effortlesshr.com/ - is now live and available to Arizona businesses. The company has six employees and is hoping to grow that to 15 by the end of 2009.
Kakes sees demand for the service. She’s projecting revenues this year of $125,000 but next year, she expects those to jump to $1.3 million.
ECONOMY
Tucson to take state’s biggest job growth hits
The Tucson region will take hits on job growth three times worse than the rest of the state, according to an economic forecast issued May 1 by the Arizona Department of Commerce.
Coming off 2007’s job growth rate of 0.9 percent, the Tucson region is forecast to have a negative job growth rate of -1.5 percent in 2008 and then a negative rate of -0.3 percent in 2009.
The state as a whole is forecast to see job growth rate this year at a negative -0.5 percent - considered essentially flat - and then improve slightly to be at -0.1 percent in 2009.
The biggest declines statewide will come in construction and financial services. Growth areas will be in mining, tourism and medical care.
Small business remains pessimistic over economy
A first-ever gauge of how Arizona small businesses feel about the economy has found general pessimism.
The Arizona Economic Indicators Monitor is a new survey developed by the research firm O’Niel Associates and the Arizona Small Business Administration for Silver State Bank, a Las Vegas-based bank that also has five offices in the Phoenix area.
The survey went out in late March to ASBA’s entire membership of 3,000 small businesses.
Among its findings:
• 61 percent said the state’s economy is fair or poor; 39 percent said it was excellent or good.
• 42 percent see economic conditions getting worse; 12 percent see improvement.
• 70 percent described the national economy as being in recession; 54 percent said they believed Arizona’s economy is in recession.
"These figures clearly indicate a pessimistic assessment of the national economy," said the poll’s director, Michael O’Neil. "While economic conditions in Arizona also come out decidedly on the negative side of the ledger, perceptions of the Arizona economy are still far better than of the country as a whole."
GOVERNMENT
Napolitano signs revised employer sanctions law
A bill addressing some inconsistencies in Arizona’s employer sanctions law was signed May 1 by Gov. Janet Napolitano.
As adjust the law expands the state’s ability to go after businesses who hire illegals but pays them by cash and after rings that provide workers with fake documents.
The employer sanctions law, which went into effect Jan. 1, revokes a company’s business if it is found to have twice knowingly hired illegal workers.
KUDOS
BBB gives ethics awards to 4 firms
Four Tucson area businesses were recognized for their commitments to trust in the marketplace in the sixth annual Better Business Bureau Ethics Awards.
The awards, handed out May 1 at the University of Arizona’s Eller College of Management went to:
• Buffalo Exchange, the Tucson-based chain of resale clothing stores that now numbers 33 stores and three franchises in 13 states, including two Tucson stores, at 2001 E. Speedway and 6170 E. Speedway in Monterey Village, and one store in Nogales. The company said it had over $49.4 million in sales in 2007.
• Delivery Doctors Movers, movers and storage company, 3500 E. Kleindale Road.
• Oro Dental Medicine, an independent dental medicine practice run Dr. Bob Oro and Dr. Deb Oro, 10425 N. Oracle Road, Oro Valley.
• Repp Design + Construction, a design and construction service provider, 422 W. Speedway.
The were 15 companies nominated this year, 10 of which submitted entries.
"These companies don’t just submit a glitzy entry and hope for an award," said Tom Collier, CEO of the Better Business Bureau. "Each of them must demonstrate - through an exhaustive submission - how they use ethics in everyday interfaces, whether it’s with customers, employees, vendors or the community as a whole."
In their entries, the companies must address seven specific criteria in detail. Those criteria deal with their ethical standards toward customers, their practices surrounding buyer-seller relationships, their history of ethical practices, marketing and advertising practices, acknowledgement of ethical practices by industry peers, policies promoting ethics and training to help employees carry out ethical policies.
This year’s winners were selected by a panel of three judges representing the academic community. BBB Ethics Awards have gone to 30 companies since they were started in 2002.
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