The business development organization WESST is collaborating with New Mexico Manufacturing Extension Partnership (New Mexico MEP) to offer two events specifically geared for female business owners and women entrepreneurs. Visit WESST on October 25 to hear from three extraordinary women about how they built their businesses, and join the Women in Manufacturing Panel Discussion online on October 30 to learn about resources for women entrepreneurs. Both events are part of Manufacturing Day activities in New Mexico.
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Mfg Day Supports Manufacturing Companies
October 4 is National Manufacturing Day 2024, and this year’s theme underscores the mission of this annual celebration. “See Yourself in Manufacturing” encourages students to envision well-paying careers that now include technology, design, AI, and boundless creativity. Mfg Day is celebrated the entire month of October in New Mexico, and while events are largely geared toward students, there is plenty for manufacturers and businesses with employees.
Continue readingAdaptation and Skills Sustain Farmington Machine Shop
Founded in 1980 by Ivan Clay and Ellis Groomer, Clay Groomer Machine Shop (CGMS) has fulfilled the San Juan Basin’s machining needs by producing quality work in a safe and timely manner. Their success has been a result of always going above and beyond customers’ expectations.
Clay Groomer historically provided on-site and mobile machining, mechanical and welding to oil, gas and industrial sites, including the Four Corners Generating Station and Navajo Mine. CGMS has since expanded the company vision to include things such as, but not limited to, selling pumps manufactured by Weir Minerals and industrial mixers made by Ekato. In addition, CGMS takes great pride in being the only authorized New Mexico distributor of air starters made by TDI. CGMS has ensured employees have been trained and certified by each manufacturer – with some workers traveling as far as Germany for training. Clay Groomer Machine Shop is able to offer manufacturers’ warranties on service work, including complete product rebuilds.
How they got here
In 2012, Clay’s son, also named Ivan, and Groomer’s grandson, Joe Warren, took over the business. It was a time when industry and the economy in the Four Corners area were rapidly changing.
Continue readingGrowth Unlimited for Production Sewing Company
Veronica Fuller has been sewing for more than 40 years. It’s what she loves to do.
The owner of Sandia Pet Products migrated from Juarez, Mexico, 32 years ago and began working in sewing production facilities around Albuquerque, lending her expertise to manufacturing companies like Southwest Creations Collaborative, Marpac, and Sierra Peaks Corporation. In her off hours, she did custom sewing jobs from her garage. She made pillows, clothing, and more.
In 2022, Fuller’s employer at Sandia Pet Products was ready to retire from the 30-year-old business and turned to Fuller and another worker with an offer to buy the company.
Fuller’s colleague was not interested but Fuller jumped at the chance to take over the wholesale business that specialized in dog collars and leashes.
“I started asking questions and looking for loans,” said Fuller. “I asked [my former employer] Susan from Southwest Creations, ‘do you know of people I can borrow some money from? I’m a woman and I’m a Mexican.’” Fuller was directed to WESST, a business development organization that offers capital and technical assistance. “I called WESST and WESST gave me the loan.”
Continue readingABC Canvas Finds Growth Through Expert Advice
When Cody Waldroup purchased ABC Canvas in 2016 from the company’s founders Jim and Renee Childress, the serial entrepreneur thought the business would fit nicely into his portfolio of revenue-producing investments. After all, the 35-year-old business was well known in Farmington for quality custom canvas, including marine products, commercial and industrial covers, and shade products. What Waldroup did not know is that the founders had other immediate plans and would only be available to ease the ownership transition for one month.
Waldroup, who had no background in manufacturing or textiles, had to quickly learn the company’s products, fabrics, vendors, employees, and operations. “I pretty much had a month of learning,” he said. “I’m still learning today.”
Thanks to his entrepreneurial background, Waldroup knew that he needed to become an unpaid working owner and obtain knowledge and assistance to fill in the gaps of his own experience. That revelation became more acute when some long-time employees retired soon after the ownership transition and employee retention became challenging.
Six years later and still a working owner, Waldroup has expanded the company to serve customers as far away as Texas, streamlined operations, and moved the company into a larger space he recently purchased. ABC Canvas, which had 3 employees during the COVID-19 pandemic, now employs 6, and Waldroup now takes a paycheck.
Continue readingConference Highlights Automation Technology
Manufacturers and makers interested in exploring automation technology can attend the Advanced Manufacturing Summit on Thursday, March 30, 2023, at the Indian Pueblo Cultural Center in Albuquerque. The event aims to introduce New Mexico’s businesses to Manufacturing 5.0 — the concepts and technologies that are increasing the competitive edge of U.S. manufacturing.
Continue readingExpansion Has Pet Accessory Company Ready for Holiday Sales
For nearly 15 years, Amanda and Dan Jackson-Miller created custom-made designer dog collars, leashes, and other pet accessories from a 5,000-square-foot building in downtown Albuquerque. With demand outpacing their building’s storage capacity, the couple moved in early 2022 into a 9,000-square-foot building near the Albuquerque Sunport.
They did so with the help of experts from New Mexico Manufacturing Extension Partnership (New Mexico MEP), a nonprofit that helps manufacturers streamline workflow and improve competitiveness.
The Jackson-Millers met New Mexico MEP adviser Scott Bryant several years ago, when Bryant stopped by Mimi Green, which was named for a pug Amanda adopted in 2007 just as the business was launching. Bryant introduced himself and asked if the couple could use MEP’s assistance.
The entrepreneurs did some training with Bryant about five years ago, and that relationship continued through the move.
Continue readingNew Mexico Startup Gets Help with Pitch to Potential Clients
Working with New Mexico Manufacturing Extension Partnership (New Mexico MEP) shaved at least a year off the time RingIR president Dr. Charles Harb expected to spend getting his company’s portable gas-detecting product ready for market.
And given the disruption and delay caused by the state’s protracted coronavirus-related shutdown, the value of that time is hard to calculate.
“We were working with (New Mexico MEP) on a business plan just before COVID hit, and everything got shut down,” said Harb, who runs the company with his wife and co-founder, Anna.
The couple launched the business in California in 2013 to commercialize the wideband optical spectrometer Harb had developed at the University of New South Wales in Australia to detect airborne chemicals.
Continue readingTech Startup Gets Help From New Mexico MEP
Microscopic examination of metals can help airplane manufacturers know that the planes they build can withstand the forces involved in flight and could assure airlines that jet engine maintenance would detect problems before takeoff.
A small woman-owned business based in Albuquerque is commercializing a laser optical technology that has the potential to revolutionize this “failure analysis” procedure — not just for airplane parts but also for prosthetics, wind turbine blades and any product or component made of non-cubic metals such as titanium, magnesium, and zirconium. The technology is also effective on fiber composites and plastics.
Advanced Optical Technologies’ CrystalView crystallographic polarization-classification imaging (CPCI) technology can characterize the strength of metals in a fraction of the time that’s currently required—and can do it in a nondestructive way, without cutting small samples and inserting them in a stationary scanning electron microscope.
Continue readingMEP Helps Doctor Meet Demand for Healing Products
To deal with the pain of postpartum mastitis, Janine Mahon drew on her knowledge of Chinese medicine to create a soothing topical salve for herself from herbs and oils. In the 20 years since she successfully treated her own breast pain, Mahon, a licensed and certified Doctor of Oriental Medicine, refined the product and shared it with clients at her Albuquerque clinic.
When one satisfied patient asked for a dozen bottles of the healing oil to share with friends, Mahon wondered if there might be a larger market beyond her regular clients. Mahon launched Dr. Janine Mahon’s Rejuvenating Breast Oil exclusively through Violet Grey, a high-end retailer with extensive online reach and sales through its Melrose Place store in Los Angeles.
“I went from no product to a dream store launching it,” she said. “Being in Violet Grey led to other places wanting to carry it.”
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