Eight Hoosier Organizations Earn Prestigious Governor’s Safety Awards

Lieutenant Governor Sue Ellspermann and Indiana Department of Labor Commissioner Sean M. Keefer presented Governor's Workplace Safety Awards today to eight Hoosier companies for advancing occupational safety and health in their industries.

"Dedication to a safe work environment should be an absolute goal of every Indiana employer," said Lt. Gov. Ellspermann. "I commend our award winners for successfully implementing significant health and safety practices."

The companies were honored at the 2013 Indiana Safety and Health Conference and Expo luncheon ceremony in Indianapolis. The event was presented by the Central Indiana Chapter of the American Society of Safety Engineers and the Indiana Chamber of Commerce.

"The Indiana Department of Labor is proud to recognize these organizations where the safety and health of their workforce is a top priority," said Keefer. "These organizations represent the best of the best, and Indiana is proud to honor these leading companies and their employees."

Indiana organizations were recognized in the following categories: external education and outreach, innovations, internal education and outreach, and partnerships.

The 2013 Governor's Workplace Safety Award recipients are:

  • Aisin Drivetrain, Inc., in Crothersville — internal education and outreach for a medium-sized company
  • Marmon Retail Home Improvement Products, Inc., (formally known as Cerro Wire, LLC) in Crothersville — external education and outreach
  • Cummins Seymour Engine Plant — innovations for a large-sized company
  • DePuy Synthes Joint Reconstruction in Warsaw — internal education and outreach for a large-sized company
  • Gribbins Insulation Co., Inc., in Evansville — innovations in construction
  • Lebanon Community School Corporation — partnerships for construction safety
  • Lord Corporation in Indianapolis — internal education and outreach for a small-sized company
  • PAOLI Furniture — innovations for a medium-sized company

"Safety in the workplace cannot be overrated," said Indiana Chamber President Kevin Brinegar. "When a company ensures that safety is a top priority and implements an occupational safety plan, employees, customers and the community win.

"A major benefit of a safe workplace is an efficient, profitable organization with employees who feel they are valued," added Brinegar.

The 2013 Governor's Workplace Safety Awards are a result of a partnership among government, business and safety leaders: the Indiana Department of Labor, on behalf of the governor, the Indiana Chamber of Commerce and the Central Indiana Chapter of the American Society of Safety Engineers.

Governor Mike Pence plans to further honor award recipients at their worksites in the near future.

To learn more about the Governor's Safety Awards program, visit www.in.gov/dol/2381.htm. For more information about the 2013 Indiana Safety and Health Conference and Expo, visit www.insafetyconf.com.

State Rep Leading Charge for Natural Gas

Did you see gasoline prices at the pump hit almost $4 recently? Earlier in the year experts projected that we’d see it go as high as $5 this summer – and summer is definitely not over.

Depending on how often you fill your gas tank, driving back and forth to work, the grocery store, daycare – just the basics – can add up quickly. (We budget at least $300 a month for gasoline in our household, with only one car and a small child keeping us at home most evenings.)

Imagine having a fleet of vehicles that have massive tanks to fill (dump trucks, ambulances, school buses, tractor trailers, snowplows). That would add up quickly – and does – for the state of Indiana and public and private businesses of all types here. 

The point is: gas is expensive; diesel is expensive. And, neither are the cleanest fuel options available. But, is there another legitimate option? Possibly.

State Rep. Randy Frye (R-Greensburg) is leading the charge for compressed natural gas as an alternative. During the recent Clean Energy Summit held at the Indiana Chamber of Commerce, Frye invited Greater Indiana Clean Cities Coalition Executive Director Kellie Walsh to present information to a group that included representatives from a number of utility and energy organizations.

Walsh’s presentation highlighted the fact that 80-90% of natural gas is produced domestically. 

Some other interesting facts:

  • Natural gas is not a threat to soil, surface water or groundwater; its nontoxic, noncorrosive and non-carcinogenic
  • It has lower ozone-forming emissions than gasoline
  • Most natural gas is drawn from wells or in conjunction with crude oil production and can come from subsurface porous rock and shale
  • Natural gas powers about 112,000 vehicles in the country and roughly 14.8 million worldwide and has been used as a transportation fuel for over 30 years
  • Compressed natural gas and liquefied natural gas are considered alternative fuels under the Energy Policy Act of 1992

Frye told Inside INdiana Business with Gerry Dick that the state could save around $200 million in fuel costs over a 10-year period by switching vehicles to compressed natural gas. He intends to work on legislation to incentivize the switch, he says.

While the natural gas seems to be there for the taking, there is not much infrastructure in place to support it: filling stations would have to be built; fleets would need to be retrofitted with natural gas engines (which Cummins makes already, by the way).

This just scratches the surface of the positives and negatives of natural gas; most likely it will be a story that we follow in the near future.  

Packing a Powerful Lineup

I received a visit in early 2008 from Terry McWilliams, founder of a Louisville area-based investor relations firm. After conducting a successful equity/investment conference in his home state, he was looking to bring the idea to Indiana. The initial event did take place that fall at the then recently opened Lucas Oil Stadium.

Terry and a team of supporters are back in 2010 with a strong list of Hoosier companies that are going to talk about their performance and their future plans. The primary audience: analysts, fund managers and institutional investors. And, as Terry explained in a recent e-mail, the people who can benefit the most are "those with companies that plan to go public, as they can witness the investor commuications process from a front row seat."

You can check out the details of the September 9 event (at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway this time around). It’s certainly a bit of a niche audience/event, but anytime you can get the likes of the following in one place to talk about their organizations, that’s a good thing — and an insight into our immediate and longer-term economic future from some executives who are at center stage of the battle.

Big names: Eli Lilly, Cummins, Steel Dynamics, NiSource, Zimmer, Hillenbrand, Interactive Intelligence, a variety of banks and more. Michael Oxley, co-author of the Sarbanes Oxley Act, will deliver a keynote presentation.

Hoosier, Reason Writer Touts Columbus Architecture

Radley Balko, a Greenfield native whose work at Reason I’ve been reading for some time, has scribed a rather interesting piece on how Columbus has become an architectural marvel. He explains how private philanthropy has helped cultivate the structures, which were designed to draw attention and businesses to the town. Read the full article here and see pictures of Columbus’ many creations here:

Columbus, improbably, is one of the most architecturally rich towns in America. The American Institute of Architects ranks it the sixth most architecturally innovative city in the country, after Chicago, New York, Washington, Boston, and San Francisco. GQ calls the burg "an essential destination for the study of contemporary design and planning." Smithsonian says it’s "a veritable museum of modern architecture." National Geographic Traveler recently placed Columbus 11th in its list of the top 109 worldwide historic destinations, and the town now has six buildings on the registry of National Historic Landmarks.

None of this is due to strict zoning laws or preservationism. Little Columbus became an architectural magnet because J. Irwin Miller, a wealthy industrialist and philanthropist, decided 50 years ago to use his fortune to make his hometown a visually interesting place to live. Miller began with the church he attended, then moved on to public buildings, private businesses, and residences.

Miller, who died in 2004, was the longtime chairman of the Cummins Engine Company, one of the world’s leading manufacturers of diesel engines. He first developed an interest in architecture after taking some classes on the subject as an undergraduate at Yale. In 1942 Miller and his family commissioned a new church for their congregation from the Finnish architect Eliel Saarinen. The result, the First Church of Christ, was one of the first modernist churches in the country. Its design included a simple rectangular tabernacle lined with a grid of reflective windows (in which Saarinen included a cross) and a matching freestanding bell tower. Some religious leaders criticized the nontraditional approach, but the church won praise from architecture critics around the world. It’s now the centerpiece of the town’s architectural tour.

In 1954 Miller decided to do something similar for local public schools, whose boring design he blamed for stifling kids’ creativity. So he made a bargain with the city: The Cummins Engine Foundation would foot the architect’s bill (though not the construction costs) for any new school building, as long as the city selected from a list of architects compiled by the foundation. The bargain soon expanded to other public buildings, and by the 1960s Columbus had become a world-renowned magnet for privately financed modernist design. Even the county jail is art: The Cleveland architect Don M. Hisaka designed a round jail with a recreation area capped by a mesh dome. Some of the locals objected to letting convicts live in such an interesting building, until they were assured the place would look pleasant only from the outside.

Indiana’s Big Fish in the Manufacturing Sea

Industry Week recently released its list of the world’s 1000 largest manufacturers. While the usual suspects retain top spots (No. 1 Exxon Mobil Corp., No. 2 Royal Dutch Shell PLC and No. 3 BP PLC), an Indiana company received notoriety for scaling the list.

Fort Wayne-based Steel Dynamics Inc. jumped 246 spots to No. 465 (the company was No. 711 in 2008). No other U.S. company achieved such a large gain and only two other company gained more spots on the list – India’s Tata Steel Ltd. moved up the ranks by 384 and China’s Jiangxi Copper Co. Ltd. gained 377 spots.

IW notes that Steel Dynamics achieved significant growth “after a strong first nine months in 2008. The company posted a loss in the fourth quarter when steel shipments fell 34% from the third quarter.” Steel Dynamics posted an 84.3% growth in revenue last year, according to the report.

The Industry Week 1000 ranks the largest publicly held manufacturing companies based on revenue. With 290 companies on the list, the United States dominates. Other Indiana-based companies held steady in the ranks, gaining a spot or losing a few:  Eli Lilly & Co. ranked No. 201; Cummins Inc. No. 284; and Zimmer Holdings Inc. No. 781. Numerous other companies with operations in the Hoosier state are included in the ranks.