Greater
Louisville Inc. Honored with National Chamber Award
Greater Louisville Inc. the Metro Chamber of Commerce (GLI) has won the top award
from the American Chamber of Commerce Executives, a national group of 1,300 chambers,
for its efforts to promote the Louisville community. The Award for Excellence
recognizes business membership growth, member involvement, programs and management.
GLI won in the largest category, which includes chambers with more than $1 million
in annual dues.
GLI
qualified for the award when it scored above the national average
in the net gain in members, member dollars, and 2003 retention.
It became a finalist when its programs and operations were
selected as being among the best in the nation by an expert
panel of membership development professionals.
Among
the programs reviewed by judges were: the Greater Louisville
Inc. Development Expedition, which takes local business and
community leaders to competitor cities to study their best
practices; GreaterLouisvilleWorks.com, the job portal created
by GLI; Inc.tank, GLI’s small business arm; the restructuring
of GLI’s corporate marketing efforts; and GLI’s new internal
hiring process.
Papa
John’s Continues International Expansion
Papa John’s International is continuing its international expansion with the
addition of its first restaurants in Trinidad, Peru, Bahrain and Oman. The company
opened its first international restaurant in Mexico City in 1998 and now operates
more than 2,800 restaurants in the U.S. and 18 international markets.
According
to Bill Van Epps, chief operations officer, in the past year
the company has nearly doubled the number of countries with
a Papa John’s presence, with over 600 international restaurants
slated to open over the next seven years.
Papa
John’s International Becomes Official Pizza of Dallas Cowboys
The owner of the Dallas Cowboys football team has acquired a 49% interest in
71 Papa John’s stores in the Dallas, Austin and Waco, Texas markets.
“We
are officially in the pizza business with a star partner, Papa
John’s,” said Jerry Jones, Sr., Owner and General Manager of
the Dallas Cowboys Football Club. “The partnership brings two
top performers together in Dallas. We deliver great football
and now we’re delivering great pizza with Papa John’s.”
Papa
John’s maintains 51% ownership of the 71 Papa John’s restaurants
including responsibility for staffing, operational execution
and facilities management. The two organizations will jointly
be responsible for all marketing-related aspects of the restaurants.
The venture includes Texas Stadium signage, and co-branded
restaurant staff uniforms and delivery vehicles. The partnership
entity will consider opportunities to acquire or develop additional
restaurants in these markets in the future.
Parts
Unlimited Purchases Lot for New Manufacturing Facility
Parts Unlimited, Inc. has purchased a 20-acre lot in the Oldham County Business
Park with plans to build a 100,000 square foot facility for its production of
automobile parts. The company manufactures and sells interior products for the
restoration of cars built primarily between 1960 and 1989. CEO Rollo Fox said
he anticipates moving one manufacturing group to the new location in 2006, with
the remainder relocating when the entire project is complete in 2007.
Peptides
International Wins Research Grant
The National Institute of Health (NIH) has awarded Peptides International Inc.
a $800,000 research grant to continue research on the use of polymers to reduce
the cost and complexity of producing peptide-based pharmaceuticals. The company,
which manufactures and distributes high purity biologically active peptides and
related products, was awarded $100,000 from the NIH in 2001 to launch the research
project.
Sister
Cities of Louisville Brings Home Three International Awards
Sister Cities of Louisville brought home three awards from the Lou Wozar Annual
Awards Program organized by Sister Cities International - the most awards received
by any U.S. community with a Sister Cities program. These included 2 Innovation
Awards for both economic development and the environment, and 1 for the Sister
Cities International Volunteer of the Year, Dr. Susan Herlin.
For
its innovation award for economic development, Louisville partnered
with Cincinnati and Indianapolis to promote U.S. - German economic
development in Kentucky, Ohio and Indiana with their sister
cities in Germany - Cologne, Munich and Mainz. For its innovation
award for environment, Louisville worked with its sister city
Tamale, Ghana as part of a World Bank pilot project. The two
communities developed a five-year action plan and conducted
public information campaigns.
Thomas
Industries Signs Intent to Purchase Company in Taiwan
Thomas Industries, Inc. has signed a letter of intent to purchase Ruey Chaang
Electric Co. Ltd., headquartered in Taipei, Taiwan, a manufacturer of side channel
blowers primarily used in vacuums. The business will be merged into Thomas Industries’
Rietschle Thomas Taiwan unit, which currently distributes the company’s pumps
and compressors manufactured in Germany and the United States.
Thomas
Industries President and CEO Timothy Brown said the acquisition
of Ruey Chaang gives his company a low-cost product to offer
in addition to the higher-end versions that are produced at
the company’s facility in Schopfheim, Germany. Ruey Chaang
employs 34 workers and saw sales of more than $7 million in
2003.
TubeMaster
Awarded First Projects in France and China
TubeMaster, Inc., the leading technology service provider for the global catalyst
reactor industry, announced that it has been awarded a project to use its patented
technology at ATOFINA in France and at BASF in China with its licensee BUCHEN-ICS
of Rotterdam, the Netherlands.
Its
Founder and President, Cliff Johns, was a Finalist for the
Regional Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year® 2004
Award for his contributions to business and technology. In
addition, TubeMaster, Inc. received the 2003 Vogt Innovation
and Invention Award.
Cliff
commented “This will be our third year of working in Europe
(our fourth year in business) and it is our very first effort
in Asia. A successful relationship with our licensee permits
us to more easily extend our technology into foreign markets.
Our technology remains the fastest testing of its type in the
world. Though we never know just how fast we can test a given
reactor, in advance, we are typically 2-6 times faster than
was ever done on the same reactor.”
UPS
Buys Out Chinese Joint Venture Partner
UPS signed an agreement with its Chinese joint venture partner, formerly state-owned
Sinotrans, to take control over much of its international express operations
in the country by the end of 2005. This move will allow UPS to build its own
transportation and logisitics facilities in China, and also get its brown delivery
vans and uniformed delivery personnel on the ground in China.
Starting
from January 2005, UPS will assume control of operations in
five locations - Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Tianjin and
Qingdao - with a further 18 locations transfering to its control
by December 2005. Together, the 23 operational regions contain
200 cities and account for over 80% of its China delivery service.
UPS
announced that it will be adding 100 pilots in 2005 to accommodate
international flights between the U.S. and China. Most of the
new pilots will be based in Louisville.
Spokesman
John Wheeler said that UPS is now looking seriously at entering
into the Chinese domestic express market, although there are
substantial infrastructure and regulatory challenges.
