Exporting pays off - Global Manufacturing Inc - Company Profile

Business America, April 20, 1992

A small, high-tech Arkansas manufacturer, which until recently did only a minimal amount of international marketing, is going into exporting full steam. In five years, it hopes to be selling one-half of its equipment overseas. We select our export success stories, not because we endorse any particular firm or its business plan and activities, but because we believe their experience will instruct other companies to improve their export performance. We welcome your export success story. Write or call: Business America, Room 3414, U.S. Department of Commerce, Washington, D.C. 20230; tel. (202) 377-3251.

An aggressive international marketing campaign is giving a new lease on life to Global Manufacturing, Inc., of Little Rock, Ark., a small manufacturer of vibrators and air blasters for industrial applications.

Although the company was formed in 1973 as a joint venture between American investors and a West German firm and shipped its first order to Australia, exports did not comprise a significant part of its business until new management took over in 1989. Now, it is a wholly-owned American company with the goal of selling 50 percent of its products overseas by 1997.

Maura Lozano- Yancy, the firm's multilingual international sales director, says Global Manufacturing developed an international marketing plan for 1992 aimed at the major industries worldwide that use the type of equipment it makes to reduce friction and facilitate the flow of bulk solids. It is searching for new markets in many countries through trade/catalog shows. Last year, it participated in the Rep-Com '91 networking opportunity, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Commerce, in Mexico City. This year, it will take part in two Commerce Department catalog shows - New Products USA in the Pacific Rim and Mining and Construction USA - in eight Latin American countries.

Global watches for opportunities in government projects; it has found the United Nations Development Program, USAID, and the Japanese Procurement Program, to be particularly useful.

In the last three months, Global added five new international distributors - in Korea, Venezuela, Mexico, Colombia, and Costa Rica. It now is represented in 800 distributor locations around the world - in Europe, Asia, the Middle East, Australia, and Latin America.

Global now publishes promotional and advertising materials in Spanish, as well as English. By the end of 1992, it plans to publish them in French, Portuguese, and Russia.

In February, Catherine Janosky, who joined Global in 1989 and became its president in 1991, went on her annual business trip to Europe, spending four weeks in the Netherlands, Belgium, Sweden, Germany, Italy, France, and England. She visited distributors and made preliminary contacts for a future joint venture.

Lozano-Yancy summed up Global's export campaign: "We have in place managerial commitment, excellence in product, and worldwide marketing, and we have the persistence to succeed." The firm was recently nominated by the Arkansas Industrial Development Commission to be the Arkansas Small Business Exporter of the Year.

Global uses the export services of the U.S. Department of Commerce through the International Trade Administration's district office in Little Rock.

April 27-28 - Chicago, III. - Hazardous Transportation Seminar. Sponsor: Unz and Co., Jersey City, N. J. Call 1-800-795-5400, or in New Jersey call (201) 795-5400.

April 27-28 and April 29-May 1 - Dallas, Tex. - Introductory and intermediate level international taxation seminars. Sponsor: World Trade Center New York. Call Eugene Scheurer at (212) 435-3165.

April 28-29 - Phoenix, Ariz. - Introductory and intermediate level export licensing and controls workshops. Sponsor: U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Export Administration, Western Regional Office. Call Frank Woods at (602) 379-3285.

April 28-29 - Milwaukee, Wis. - First Annual Wisconsin International Trade Symposium, featuring topics such as exporting and joint-venture opportunities. Sponsor: Wisconsin Institute of Certified Public Accountants. Call (414) 785-0445.

April 28-30 - Louisville, Ky. - Seminars on Incoterms 1990, Export Documentation, and Export Letters of Credit. Sponsor: International Trade Institute, Inc., Dayton, Ohio, Call 1-800-543-2453 or fax (513) 276-5920.

April 29 - Wichita, Kan. - Seminar on "Loans for Exporters: Getting the Bank to Say Yes." Sponsor: Wichita State University, Small Business Development Center. Call Donna Perline at (316) 689-3193, fax (316) 689-3647.

April 29 - Seattle, Wash. - Introductory seminar on export licensing and controls. Sponsor: U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Export Administration, Western Regional Office. Call Karen Taylor at (206) 553-5615.

May 3-6 - New Orleans, La. - Information Technology Association of America's Management Conference, highlighting the theme, "Entrepreneurial Advantage." Business issues of significance to information technology companies will be presented. Call Bob Cohen at (703) 284-5333.

May 4-5 - Redondo Beach, Calif. - 3rd Annual Briefing for the U.S. Aviation Industry, featuring theme: Asia-Pacific: Managing Aviation Growth through Trade and Technology. Sponsor: Foreign Trade Association of Southern California. Call (213) 627-0634, fax (213) 627-0398.