Strong local businesses

Vermont Business Magazine, Aug 01, 2004 by Edelstein, Art

Examples of strong businesses in the Northeast Kingdom are Moose River Publishing and Lydall Thermal Acoustical Group, both in St Johnsbury.

Moose River is a publisher of trade magazines including Turf, (for mowing grass), Forest Products Equipment, Superintendent (for golf courses) Farming, Growing (about vegetables and fruit) and Landscape Construction. These publications are not found on newsstands and subscriptions are free to those in the industry. Revenues come from sales of advertising.

Lydall makes thermal and acoustic shielding for the auto industry.

"We continue to add more magazines and start more," said Moose River Vice, President Elizabeth Brown. The company is in the process of adding two additional magazines in 2005. Moose River currently employs 50. However, it has its magazines printed in Beaver Dam, WI.

The mood at Moose River is upbeat.

"We're having one of the best years we've ever had," said Brown. "9/11 didn't hit us as hard as it did everyone else with lost advertising revenues. Our people are advertising, and they are saying they are having great years. We're feeling the better economy and everybody we work with is optimistic, and our advertisers are having a great year."

Lydall is growing fast, having added 60 jobs in the past six months to 230 Vermont employees, said operations manager Aminta Conant.

Lydall is creating jobs here due to the closing of its facility in Columbus, OH, and moving some of its production here. It has also acquired new contracts, she said.

The company makes heat and sound shields for Ford, GM, Daimler Chrysler and Tier One, a Chrysler supplier of the LX Platform,

Lydall has made investments in capital in St Johnsbury to support the new business. Its current plant, 86,000 square feet, is filling up fast and the company rents an additional 20,000 square feet off site.

Moose River is doing so well that it has put a two-story addition on its Emerson Falls building and is hiring an additional 10 workers for editorial, production, sales and support.

"We have found St Johnsbury a good place to run a business from," said Brown. "We have a good source of people to employ."

The one negative in the area, said Brown, is the retail sector.

"It would be nice if there were more stores in town," she acknowledged.

Conant is also pleased with the local workforce. "We have great employees in St Johnsbury and try to produce a high quality product which the automotive industry demands," she said. "It's a hard industry to supply. You can't be late and must have perfect quality."

"We have community support, access to good highways I-91 and I-93, and a very good economic development network," said Conant of the area's pluses.

Conant cites the St. Johnsbury Development Fund and NVDA as both being "very supportive of Lydall."

Lydall is doing so well that it wants to add 40,000 square feet to its current facility.

An important factor in Lydall's growth here, said Conant, is the manufacturing support network.

"We have good suppliers in the area including tooling vendors. That's why we are in St Johnsbury," she offered.

If anything was a negative for her company, Conant said it was poor digital infrastructure.

"Certainly cell phone accessibility would be great, it's an issue," she said. "Everybody who comes to my plant complains about it,"