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June 15, 2001
Welcome to the INDA Small Business e-Report, brought to you every month by INDA, Association of the Nonwoven Fabrics Industry. Out theme this month:
IN THIS ISSUE …
INDA CHAIRMAN REAFFIRMS COMITMENT TO SMALL BUSINESSES
Industry veteran Lee Sullivan, GM of Freudenberg Nonwovens, assumed the post of INDA chairman at the Annual Meeting in Florida in April and among his stated initiatives for the next year are a commitment to serving INDA's smaller members. Writing in the INDA News association newsletter being mailed to all INDA members this week, Lee acknowledges the "changing member demographics" of INDA and reaffirms his commitment to tailoring programs to help them.
"We now have a much larger representation of smaller companies, and these members are concerned about dominance of the larger companies and the inability of smaller companies to afford the time to participate as widely as they might desire," Lee writes. "We need to hear these concerns and devise easier methods for these companies to participate while recognizing their constraints of resources."
Among the efforts being considered: utilizing electronic communications and voice conferencing as ways to get members involved in committee meetings without having to travel to a specific location. "We are also looking at staff assignments to have an 'outreach' program to all members, to increase our communications and gain a better understanding of member needs," Lee adds. One of his goals is to increase participation in INDA's Annual Meeting each April.
Bottom line: Smaller companies can expect even more out of INDA in the not-too-distant future.
DID YOU KNOW?
Did you know that INDA's membership has doubled in the past three-and-a-half years? That for every dollar a member company spends, you receive $5 in services? And that INDA's very popular website - www.inda.org - receives between 9,000 and 12,000 hits every day? Just thought you might want to know that.
OPPORTUNITY IN A BAD ECONOMY
So, you think the soft economy means nothing but hard times for smaller nonwovens companies? Think again. There are chances out there for the opportunistic companies willing to look around themselves rather than just moan about the economy. BusinessWeek Small Biz, in its June 18 issue, provides two examples.
- With so many companies folding, it's a good time to upgrade your own technology, equipment or even furniture by shopping around. It may be as simple as logging on to eBay and going to the technology, office supplies or manufacturing sections. BizWeek tells of one start-up company that stumbled upon a Lucent telecom switch that sells new for $150,000 but was snatched up for $10,000 form a failed dot-commer. Look in local papers for going-out-of-business auctions, and as long as your company's address isn't listed as the site, you may get lucky.
- Forget about just buying leftover merchandise and consider buying your entire competitor, Business Week says. Besides being a matter of survival as the strong gobble up the weak, the slumping economy is driving down the valuations of small companies as much as 30%. As a result, entrepreneurs with cash on hand are finding bargains are hard to resist. One word of advice: Don't just buy a company because the price is right; make sure there is a strategic fit or else you may find yourself in the bargain bin.
SOME SMALL BUSINESS NUMBERS
Where do you fit into these numbers:
- 27% of U.S. entrepreneurs say their single biggest problem is high taxes.
- 66% of small businesses have fewer than five employees
- 25% of small business owners have household incomes of more than $150,000 a year.
- 64% of small companies offer flextime, versus 58% of all companies
- 41% of small companies let workers telecommute, compared with just 37% of all companies
- 11% of small companies give extra pay for weekend travel, versus 8% of all companies.
- Finally, 6% of small companies permit pets at work, compared with 4% of all companies. Woof.
THE NONWOVENS INDUSTRY IS GETTING A NEW IMAGE
As a small company in a somewhat specialized business, how many times have you found yourself having to not only explain what a "nonwoven" is, but also having to defend what it is not ("It's not a woven")? INDA, realizing the years of investment in the term "nonwoven," is not going to attempt to change the name. Instead, it has set out to upgrade the industry's image by utilizing some good, old-fashion marketing techniques.
The first steps have been taken this spring towards developing an image campaign by asking the industry itself to state its preference for a slogan to go with the industry name, sort of like "Burger King ... Have It Your Way." The board generated various possibilities for slogans and the INDA staff sent an e-mail out requesting votes on those slogans. Tabulations are underway and the resulting popular choice will be announced soon on INDA's website. Among those being considered:
* Nonwovens ... Engineered fabric solutions
* Nonwovens ... Engineered to perform
* Nonwovens ... Performance, by design
* Nonwovens ... Built to perform
* Nonwovens ... High-tech, High performance
* Nonwovens ... Always the best choice
TWO KEY INDA MEETINGS ON THE HORIZON: INTC AND FILTRATION
With more than 80 technical presentations in 13 conference sessions, the International Nonwovens Technical Conference, co-sponsored by INDA and TAPPI, is set to be the best gathering of the industry's technical community ever. Networking opportunities are plentiful throughout the conference with the New Technologies Showcase, Table Top event, evening reception and long lunch hours. INTC 2001 will be held September 5-7, 2001 at the Renaissance Harborplace in Baltimore, Maryland.
For the global filtration business, the largest meeting of the year is set for December 4-6 at Navy Pier in Chicago. Filtration 2001 conference sessions will focus on test methods, medical and automotive transportation and filter applications for appliances. Back again will be the popular Filtration 101 Short Course, which will feature a number of test machines to demonstrate the basic principles of filtration.
For information on both: www.inda.org.
SELF-HELP SECTION: DEALING WITH STRESS
Making and selling nonwovens all day can be a stressful existence, especially for executives in smaller companies who are responsible not only for making the product but for picking up the coffee for the office staff in the morning. Here, courtesy of Melissa C. Stoppler, M.D., writing on about.com, are nine steps you can take to make work - and life - a little less stressful.
1. Recognize that stress exists. Stress happens to even the most laid-back person, so be ready to deal with it.
2. Control your anger. The next time your fiber supplier says your shipment is not only going to be late, but will also be short, practice letting it go. Make a conscious decision not to get upset.
3. Relax. Take three deep breaths and release them slowly. If nothing else, it will give the person who caused you the stress a chance to run away.
4. Slow down. Speaking more slowly makes you appear less anxious and more in control. Yelling slowly doesn't count here.
5. Tackle an overdue task. Your plant manager has been taking a nap on company time every afternoon. Deal with it today ... and then maybe you can take a nap yourself.
6. Take a break. Right now, get up and walk outside for five minutes. Okay, wait until you're done reading this, but then get up and take some time for yourself.
7. Stretch. Walk down to a colleague's office to say hi, or walk outside to make sure your car is where you left it ... just for the heck of it.
8. Watch your diet. Drink water, not beer or wine at lunch. One cup of coffee should do it. (Okay, two, but that's all.)
9. Schedule some fun. Wouldn't a nice 30-minute exercise feel good right now? Schedule something you enjoy for either the middle of the day if you can swing it, or for right after work to give you something to look forward to. How about a walk with the dog, or a catch with your kids? We feel the stress leaving already.
SMALL COMPANY DOING IT BIG: NONWOVEN TECHNOLOGIES, INC.
NonWoven Technologies, Inc., Oyster, Bay, NY, was founded in 1997 by Tony Fabbricante and Greg Ward to produce specialized meltblowing equipment. Its reason for coming into existence was work done in the mid-1990s by Fabbricante on a novel meltblown die construction. This and later work with Ward resulted in two patents (US 5,679,379 & 6,114,017).
Challenge for Small Nonwovens Company: NTI soon found that the most distinctive challenge for a small company competing against large, established machinery producers was to create credibility with equipment that differs radically in construction and operation from established technology. This challenge was exacerbated by the fact that there are only a few, but very well-established meltblown system producers. Their greatest challenge, while not unique, was the generation of capital.
Key Competitive Advantage: Fabbricante believes that NTI's key competitive advantage is technology. NTI can produce a system that can make spinnerets with orifices down to 0.0005 inches (0.0127 mm), can operate at pressures over 3000 psi without unzipping, and can be made in virtually any material of construction. On the other hand their greatest disadvantage is being small and not having a enough staff to bring the new equipment and ideas to market at a faster rate.
One of the greatest challenges for a new company is improving the time it takes from an initial contact with a potential customer to the delivery of the equipment. NTI has found that the process can take from 14 to 24 months. On the other hand, Fabbricante believes that one of the greatest advantages of a small company is that decisions are made quickly to implement and test new ideas and no time is wasted.
Advice to Other Small Companies: Fabbricante's advice to other small companies is to "hang tough, especially in the beginning when money is short and situations can be bleak." Find a business partner who has the tooling and equipment you don't have and work out business and production arrangements with them. Pay attention to purchasing and work closely with suppliers and vendors.
THAT'S ALL, FOLKS
After you take some time for yourself to relieve your stress - maybe take your dog to work if you are one of those fortunate small companies - we'll see you next on July 16. In the meantime, we would love to hear from you, whether you have a thought you want to share with the hundreds of INDA members reading this newsletter, or if you want to tell others how you are a small company existing in a big world. Just email us at mjacobsen@inda.org and we'll pass it along.
See you next time. Enjoy.
Michael Jacobsen
Editor
INDA Small Business e-Report
If you would like to have your name removed from this e-mail list please respond to Ann Pleasants at apleasants@inda.org. Thanks.
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