State nurtures emerging manufacturers

When you see a smokestack in Wyoming, chances are more likely that it marks a wild-game smokehouse than a manufacturing plant.

Commodity-based Wyoming has one of the smallest manufacturing bases in the country, and the nation’s least-populated state probably never will rival the industrial cities of the East or Midwest or the high-tech meccas of Silicon Valley or the northern Front Range.

But manufacturing is growing in the Cowboy State. New, small niche manufacturers are springing up across Wyoming, from established urban areas such as Cheyenne and Casper, to smaller cities such as Powell and Lander, to even smaller hamlets such as Hulett.

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Unlike the computer-oriented manufacturing companies – Hewlett Packard Co., Seagate Technology Inc. and Advanced Energy Industries Inc. among them – that have fueled the tremendous growth along the Colorado Front Range, Wyoming’s manufacturers are decidedly smaller and generally more rough-hewn.

But they are being touted as Wyoming’s economic future, just as Colorado’s high-tech manufacturers helped drive the state’s economic expansion and recovery after the mid-1980s slump.

“We are committed to strengthening the manufacturing industry in Wyoming and putting new policies and programs in place to help small manufacturers be more competitive,´ said Wyoming Gov. Jim Geringer. “New jobs in manufacturing are a key part of Wyoming’s economic growth.”

Geringer proclaimed August as the “Month of the Small Manufacturer” in Wyoming, but the state’s effort is not linked to a special month. The state’s focus has been to look not for huge General Motors-type manufacturing plants but smaller manufacturers that can fit in and anchor, but not overwhelm, communities such as Saratoga, Torrington or Powell.

Growth in manufacturing in Wyoming’s energy and agricultural-based economy has not been lost on John Reardon, CEO of the Wyoming Business Council, the state’s new economic-development arm.

“Before I got to the council, the image portrayed to me by folks in Wyoming was that they didn’t have a manufacturing base and that we’d have to almost create that,” Reardon said during an interview with The Business Report earlier this year.

“The surprise was as I started traveling around the state, it wasn’t true. It was out-of-sight, out-of-mind, but not only was the manufacturing base out there, it was growing. Throughout the state, you had manufacturing groups not only doing well but expanding.”

Reardon is quick to tick off examples as his finger darts around an imaginary map of Wyoming, but perhaps none illustrate the trend more than the four Wyoming companies honored as manufacturers of the year for 1999 during the governor’s recent manufacturing awards ceremony in Cheyenne.

The MAMTC (Mid-America Manufacturing Technology Center) Wyoming Leading Edge Award recipient was Allsop Inc., of Laramie, a leading manufacturer of injection-molded plastic computer and consumer-electronics accessories.

Allsop was founded in Washington state in 1964 but moved its primary production facility to a state-of-the-art production center in Laramie three years ago. The company produces more than 3 million product units a year and allows budding entrepreneurs to use its facilities for prototype development and business incubation.

The Woman Manufacturer of the Year recipient was Connie Lindmier, founder of CNL Clothier, which specializes in creating historic and period clothing. Lindmier got her start in 1976, when she was commissioned to create uniforms for the Fort Laramie National Historic Site.

Now she sells internationally and to movies from her headquarters in historic South Pass City and her factory in Hulett.

The Distinguished Manufacturer of the Year Award recipient was Walt Becker of Becker Fire Equipment Co. of Casper, a leading manufacturer of fire engines.

Becker sold half his company earlier this year to Freightliner Corp., which is the parent company of American La France, and as a result, Becker will build all of the extruded aluminum fire truck bodies for American La France in Casper and expects to double its work force (currently 54) in the coming three years.

The Emerging Manufacturer of the Year Award recipients were twin brothers Jim and Jeff Abel of Abel Axe Inc. in Evanston.

The brothers started manufacturing drum equipment and aluminum guitars for the music industry, but they since have found their niche in the children’s toy business, with their invention of a hand-eye coordination device called the KETCH-IT. The brothers currently are developing an interactive game toy for children and recently received approval from the U.S. Golf Association to manufacture a new golf putter.

Other new developments on Wyoming’s manufacturing front include these recent announcements from the Business Council:

” An electrical manufacturing company, Specialty Electrics Inc. (SEI) is being relocated to Powell from Haley, Idaho, after being purchased by three Powell men headed by Eric Schroeder. SEI is a 20-year-old company that manufactures custom control panels for utilities and industrial clients.

” Eagle Bronze, an art-casting foundry in Lander, is expanding its facilities to include a new 4,875-square-foot building adjacent to the existing foundry in the Lander Industrial Park. Its 48-employee work force is expected to grow by seven over the next two years.

” A Utah log-furniture manufacturer, White Mountain Pine, Inc., has moved to Evanston, where it leased a 12,000-square-foot facility to manufacture lodgepole pine furniture that is sold nationally and internationally. Owner Jeff Willis said Evanston offered tax advantages and a skilled work force and is closer to his source of logs. The company plans to employ up to 20 people and already is contemplating an expansion.

” An Australian firm, Skincare U.S.A., is relocating to Cody, where it will manufacture its hand-cleaning products for export back to Australia and eventually Japan and Europe. The company manufactures hand creams that keep skin from absorbing oil or chemicals. The firm plans to expand to about 30 employees over the next few years.

” A modular manufacturer, Commercial Group West LLC, is constructing a manufacturing facility in Buffalo’s commercial park to build modular classrooms, offices and motels.

” In Worland, Factory Homes Outlet opened a facility to manufacture prefabricated homes.

” Agri Sales Inc., plans to expand its bean-processing plant in Garland near Powell and close a facility in Mead, Colo.