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Toys for Tots

Monday, December 5th, 2011

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.”

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Zoomers to open soon!!!

Friday, December 2nd, 2011

The Smart Companies is proud to be providing Hurricane Protection to Zoomer of Fort Myers. Zoomers was an unfortunate victim of the construction crash and was never completed. Now, a Fort Myers Beach businessman has purchased the property and plans to have the park opened by early 2012. They have already hired a project manager, Alan Fluke, a Raleigh N.C. based amusement park consultant, to oversee the completion of the park. Fluke stated that $4 million has been budgeted to complete the park.

Brian Rist, President of The Smart Companies said “It was a shame to see someone’s dream fail due to the construction crash a few years back and we wish him the very best in the future. We are also excited to see this project come to completion after so many years. We are proud to be a part of this project and look forward to the opening next year. The completion of Zoomers is more than just another tourist attraction, the completion also means additional jobs for locals, a boost to the local economy and a place for families to spent time together.”

The Smart Companies will be providing Hurricane Protection for the entire complex. Manufacturing of the shutters will begin in December and the installation will begin in early January.

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The Smart Companies to host ECHS

Wednesday, November 30th, 2011

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.

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Breast Cancer Fund Raiser

Monday, October 24th, 2011

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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Midsized firms get squeezed

Monday, October 17th, 2011

Midsize companies are the “middle child” of the business world: They’re coping quite well, but might do even better with a little more attention.

That was the implied message of the National Middle Market Summit held Oct. 6 at Ohio State University.

The summit called attention to a recent study showing that midsize firms – those with annual revenues of $10 million to $2 billion – are recession-hardy job-creators.

However, because they are so diverse – many are privately held – they’re often less-known to government business advocates, financiers and the general public.

“If we paid more attention to midsize companies, all of us would be in better shape,” said Brian Rist. He’s president of The Smart Companies in Fort Myers, whose core business is hurricane shutters, but which recently branched out into energy-saving products. The business employs 107 people and has $12 million in annual sales.

Rist says companies such as his are too big to qualify for many small-business-oriented programs – and too small to capture politicians’ attention.

On the plus side, that tends to make midsize companies “a little extra resourceful,” Rist said.

There’s strength in numbers: In 2010, Rist’s company and seven others with ties to the Southwest Regional Manufacturers Association – banded together to score a $383,000 state training grant.

“It really comes from the associations, that I learn about these training opportunities,” Rist said. “And, training is everything.”

On a national level, here are some highlights from that study of midsize companies:

- Eighty-two percent survived the recession; barely 50 percent of smaller businesses did not.

- From 2007-10, midsize companies added 2.2 million jobs. Big businesses cut 3.7 million jobs.

- Eighty percent of the midsize firms expect to grow in 2012.

- One in four big businesses was a midsize company five years ago.

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