Brian Rist , president of the Smart Companies is attending the ASTM (American Society of Testing & Materials) meetings, this week in Phoenix Arizona. Mr. Rist hopes to learn more about the future of the Building Codes & to try to help shape these future codes.
In Arizona, discussion will take place about the future of wind & structural codes not only in Florida but throughout the United States. There will also be meetings regarding the future Energy codes.
Most people are unaware that although Florida has it’s own building codes it is mostly based on the engineering standard written by ASTM & ASCE, (American Society of Civil Engineers) committees & then adopted by the Florida Code people.
A meeting has already been scheduled for when Mr. Rist comes back to bring the rest of the staff up to speed, just another example of why the Smart Companies stay a step ahead of our industry.
Smart Companies was named one of 16 finalist for the 2011 Manufacturer of the Year, announced company president, Brian Rist.
At the annual Manufacturers’ Summit and Global Marketplace on November 30-December 1, 2011 in Orlando, Florida, the Manufacturers Association of Florida announced the winners of this year’s competition.
A panel of twenty-four judges narrowed the competition to sixteen finalists; winners were chosen in four categories. Each company was judged on: leadership; strategic planning; customer and market focus; measurement, analysis and knowledge management; workforce focus; and process management. In addition to evaluation of applications, tours of finalists’ facilities were made by the judges.
Winners of the award were Pharmaworks, Inc., Goodrich Corporation, Engineered Polymer Products, FARO Technologies and Nipro Diagnostics. Other finalists included Anheuser-Busch, InBev, Inc., BAE Systems Southeast Shipyards, Inc., Georgia-Pacific Corporation, Publix Supermarkets – Deli Kitchen, Correct Craft, Inc., Shaw Development, LLC, TimBar Packaging &Display, Entegra Roof Tile, Plasma-Therm, LLC, The Smart Companies, Inc., Florida Machine Works and Worldwide Superabrasives, LLC.
“As you can see by the list of winners and finalists, we were honored to be included amongst such great companies. To be recognized by fellow manufacturers is great,” said Rist.
“All of the finalists demonstrate a commitment to excellence in the manufacturing business, but our winners are the “best of the best” manufacturers in Florida this year. We are proud of their commitment to their business, their customers and their employees,” said Nancy Stephens, Executive Director, Manufacturers Association of Florida.
The Manufacturers Association of Florida, founded in 2005, is comprised of manufacturers and those supporting industries interested in improving the business climate for manufacturers in Florida.
Smart Companies’ goal is to put clients in charge of their home and business appliances, electronics and other devices saving energy and saving money. The company offers assistance with energy saving home-automation systems, earth-friendly solar solutions, energy efficient doors and windows, and storm-protection along with excellence in customer service. For more information, visit getsmartcompanies.com or call (239) 938-1000.
The Smart Companies will proudly be participation in this years Marine Toys for Tots program. The Smart Companies has been involved in the program for the past 5 years and has been an official drop of location for the last 2 and has always been near to our hearts.This year The Smart Companies will have two drop off locations, one being our main showroom located at 11040 Plantation Rd in Fort Myers and the other is at our showroom located in the Miromar Outlets at 10801 Corkscrew Rd Suite #351 (it’s by the water ski lake).
The Marine Toys for Tots foundation was started back in 1947 by Major Bill Hendricks and has grown ever since. In 1995 the Secretary of Defence approved the Toys for Tots as an official activity of the U. S. Marine Corps and an official mission of the Marine Corps Reserve. Since the inception of the Toys for Tots program, they have distributed more than 400 million toys to more that 188 million needy children. Click here for more history about the of this program.
Brian Rist stated ” We are excited to be a part of such an honorable and noble program and look forward to supporting the Marines efforts for years to come.”
The Smart Companies will be hosting 50 or so students from Edison Collegiate High School, Lee Campus on Thursday December 1st. During their visit, the students will tour our manufacturing facilities to see first hand how science, technology, engineering and manufacturing all come together. While here, Brian Rist will be presenting the vision of The Smart Companies and fielding questions from the students. Brian is quoted as saying “This will be a wonderful opportunity for these students to see how all their education comes together. We look forward to having them tour our facilities and hopefully having a positive impact on their career choices.”
Along with their facility tour, the students will be meeting with Parker Bradtmiller, the Technology Director of The Smart Companies. During Parker’s presentation, he will be discussing some of the technologies used to help facilitate The Smart Companies work flow process. The discussion will also cover topics such as programming languages, open source technology and virtual servers.
The Smart Companies turned the breast cancer fund raiser into a game between buildings.
Here’s how it worked; each building had a collection jar and each employee was encouraged to donate the changed in their pockets. This is when we decided to have a little competition between buildings, at first it was just a “lets see who raises the most” game, however the plan quickly changed. The next “rule” was; for every penny that is in your jug, one cent would be taken away from your total (all monies still going the cause), so everyone started putting pennies in the other buildings jar. Now this went on for about a month and the buildings were always within a few dollars of each other.
Now, this past Friday is when game strategy came into play, Here is how the last 5 minutes played out: building 2 thought they would be tricky and get a box of pennies from the bank and place it in building 1′s collection jar, it was a full $25 worth of pennies. Then, not wanting to lose, President Brian Rist donated $80 worth of pocket change. Plant 2 thought they were goners after this, however with a last minute rally, Plant 2 collected an additional $45.
Now it was time to wait as all monies were counted and a winner announced. Minutes seemed like hours and hours seem like days, waiting for the announcement. And the winner is: Plant 2
Plant 2 – Raised a total of 112.05 – 15.43 (pennies) = 96.62
Plant 1 – Raised a total of 127.95 – 43.74 (pennies) = 84.21
Plant 3 – Raised a total of 52.25 – 0.65 (pennies) = 41.6
Brian Rist is quoted as saying “I am very happy with the efforts and proud of everyone for raising almost $300 for breast cancer research.”
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