Success Story
Computer technology helps St. Louis logistics resource firm maintain inventory control demanded by its varied clientele
Logistics embraces the art and science of delivering the goods. In the case of Logistical Resource Solutions Inc., delivery is a big priority. But goods disposal and destruction can be just as big a need for some of LRS's clients.
Keith Savage, president of St. Louis-based LRS, founded the company in 2003 as a provider of office supplies, printing services, warehousing and inventory management for a variety of businesses, schools and government agencies.
With the addition of its Rx Division, Savage's firm also handles disposal of used medical supplies and expired pharmaceuticals from healthcare facilities and drug companies. Among the new division's clients are Washington University, Siteman Cancer Center and Cardinal Health.
"Supply chain management is the key to inventory control," says Savage. "Here at LRS, we use the latest computer technology to maintain and track inventory for our clients."
Keith Savage, along with his assistant Mary Schelich (background), operates the inventory management and pharmaceutical destruction company Logistical Resource Solutions Inc. in south St. Louis.
Through his firm's services, Savage offers a reliable and secure alternative to in-house inventory storage and product returns. Whether a client's inventory encompasses supplies it needs to run its business or outdated material bound for formal elimination, Savage knows his firm can handle the job.
"My background in logistics started by moving mail and supplies throughout Europe when I served in the Army," says Savage. "I gained knowledge and experience in using inventory systems by shipping materials around the world."
After leaving the Army more than 20 years ago, Savage pursued sales and marketing with a variety of companies in metro St. Louis. He worked in such areas as electronic security, health insurance, printing and graphics.
His broad business experience has helped him avoid many of the mistakes encountered by other business startups, and has brought added value to the services he provides his customers at LRS.
However, Savage readily admits he also has learned some valuable lessons in entrepreneurship from a very helpful source: Kevin Wilson, counselor with the St. Louis region Small Business and Technology Development Center (SBTDC), which is part of University of Missouri Extension.
"While working with the Minority Business Council, I was introduced to Kevin as well as to the services that the St. Louis SBTDC can offer," says Savage. "I began using the SBTDC for my technical assistance and I ended up working with Kevin on some key areas."
One of those areas was the recent obtaining of a multi-million dollar contract for LRS with Colliers Turley Martin Tucker, a commercial real estate services firm. The contract calls for LRS to store and supply inventory to all of CTMT's 124 sites throughout Missouri.
"Keith and I looked at factors such as cash flow, storage and supply costs, and other related business factors that he needed to clearly understand before committing to such a significant agreement," says Wilson.
Visit www.missouribusiness.net/success/lrs.asp for the complete story with additional photos.
Your local Small Business Development Center can help with your business success. Appointments may be made for free consultations on small business issues by contacting the SBDC office near you.
Course on Marketing Technology Products, Services Set for November in Columbia
An intensive three-day executive course on marketing technology and life science products and services is coming to Columbia in late November. Sponsored by MU's University Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, Strategic Marketing of Technology & Life Science Products & Services is set for Nov. 28-30, at MU's Reynolds Alumni Center on the University of Missouri campus in Columbia.
The course, modeled after a similar program presented by the California Institute of Technology, will run from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. each day. Topics will include creating a comprehensive product strategy, identifying opportunities for growth by listening to customers and prioritizing market targets, and beating the competition by achieving a competitive advantage.
Course leader, Chris Halliwell, is a California-based marketing expert and independent consultant of business-to-business strategic marketing services for tech-based companies. She has worked with numerous firms including Analog Devices, Cisco Systems, IBM, International Rectifier, Intuitive Surgical, Johnson Electric, Philips, Siemens, St. Jude Medical and Veeco Instruments.
"This program offers a tightly focused and rigorous executive course addressing management issues critical to executives concerned with marketing, technical support and engineering functions in technology and life science organizations," says Mary Paulsell, UCIE director and organizer of the workshop. "We recommend team participation from companies, including executives from general management, marketing, sales and engineering."
For more information and for a registration form contact Paulsell's office: University Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship, W1026 Lafferre Hall, College of Engineering, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO 65211; phone 573-882-7096; fax 573-882-9931; or e-mail paulsellm@missouri.edu. A registration form is available online at www.missouribusiness.net/ucie/tech_mktngnov07.pdf.
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The $2,000 course fee covers hotel accommodations, breakfast and lunch each day, dinner on the first evening, parking and all course materials. Second participants from the same organization receive a $500 discount. Deadline for registration and fee payment is Nov. 9.
Business Going Green
Recycling pays off for Springfield businesses
Recycling is good for the environment, but at least one Missouri community has found it's also good for the economy. Springfield has used the recovered materials to lure industrial development, which in turn has created new jobs and lowered recycling costs for the city and its private local trash haulers.
In 1991, Springfield voters approved managing their community's solid waste via an integrated solid waste management system which includes four drop-off recycling centers currently in operation. The curbside component of the system also requires all private trash haulers licensed to do business in the city to make the convenience of curbside recycling available to their customers. This resulted in a dependable, high-volume source of quality recycled materials.
Rather than outsourcing this material to brokers, the City's Economic Development staff and the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce began to target and encourage businesses that utilize recyclables in their production to relocate or expand their operations in Springfield.
Barbara Lucks, Springfield materials recovery coordinator, describes how the trend started with interest from a Canadian company: "Canbrands was a Canadian company that produced a hypoallergenic cat litter from recycled paper. The plant was running at capacity."
With more than half of its product sold in the United States, Canbrands was interested in locating a facility in the U.S. Fourteen communities across the country were considered.
"Springfield was the only city that offered to give them all the waste paper from our recycling program," explains Lucks. "The new manufacturing plant and new jobs were of far greater value to us than whatever revenues we might have recovered from selling the waste paper at market value."
The strategy worked and in April 1999, Canbrands constructed a $3 million, 30,000-square-foot manufacturing plant in the city's new industrial park. The company currently employs 30 people and recently added another production line.
In recent years, Purina purchased Canbrands and then Nestle purchased those divisions of Purina that included the Springfield plant. The still growing Nestle Purina PetCare Co. remains one of the city's strongest supporters and partner in recycling education.
Lucks then turned her attention to plastics. New American Recycling was an existing processor of materials, including mixed plastics, in Fordland, a community near Springfield. The plastics recycler purchased an existing recycling facility in Springfield as a second location. The in-town location, combined with New American's ability to take mixed plastics recycler located its new plant in Springfield when it was a big plus.
"At the time we started the drop-off recycling centers we could only accept #1 and #2 plastics, but now we can take mixed plastics and get volume," says Lucks. "He has markets for everything. That's what's cool!"
What's also cool: the local market saved the city $20,000 a year in recycling and transportation costs. In turn, the volume from the drop-off centers allowed the company to expand again to process curbside collected materials from haulers.
"You have to get creative when costs are high and markets are inconvenient," says Lucks about the next venture into glass recycling. "It was costing us about $30,000 per year to send the glass to distant markets, so now we are stockpiling it to crush for a couple possible uses."
She said it might be used to pave local streets, as "glassphalt," or in aggregate that will be used for local construction projects. On the other hand, perhaps she will find a glass-using business interested in locating in Springfield.
For more information on the Springfield's recycling program and partners, visit
www.ci.springfield.mo.us/community/recycling/.
Chillicothe-based SBDC Business Counselor Receives National Award at Denver Meeting
A Chillicothe-based Northwest Missouri State University business specialist was honored Sept. 19, as the top Missouri Small Business Development Center (MO SBDC) counselor in the state by the national Association of Small Business Development Centers (ASBDC), based near Washington, D.C.
Steve Holt, director of the NWMSU MO SBDC office in Chillicothe, received the State Star Award at the recent ASBDC annual conference in Denver, Colo., according to Max Summers, state director of the Missouri SBDC office based at the University of Missouri in Columbia.
"I am pleased that ASBDC has recognized Steve for his vital contributions to the Missouri SBDC program and to the small businesses of northwest Missouri," said Summers.
Holt, a three-year veteran of the MU Extension business development program, was honored with the State Star Award for his exemplary performance in his capacity as a small business counselor, for making a significant contribution to the Missouri SBDC program and for consistently demonstrating a strong commitment to promoting Missouri's economic development through his assistance to many of the state's small businesses. Holt has demonstrated strong attributes in counseling, teamwork, community involvement, youth entrepreneurship advocacy and other entrepreneurial initiatives such as a program he has developed on the principles of economic gardening.
NWMSU SBDC to Host Youth Entrepreneur Training Oct. 31 in Chillicothe
Northwest and north central Missouri-area youth will have a chance to learn about entrepreneurship during a training event Oct. 31, in Chillicothe.
The Youth Entrepreneurship Summit is expected to attract about 120 young would-be business and civic entrepreneurs, according to Steve Holt, director of Northwest Missouri State University's Small Business Development Center in Chillicothe. Holt's SBDC office will host the day-long event at the Grand River Inn.
"The summit is designed to promote youth entrepreneurship and to showcase the capabilities of our young people," says Holt. "It will be a call to consider entrepreneurship as a career path and to consider following that career in the region."
Among the summit's sessions will be a panel discussion by several young local business owners. It will highlight the potential for young people to start businesses and the roles they can play in revitalizing the local rural economy, says Holt.
The training is made possible by a $9,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture and by the sponsorship of several area businesses. For more information and to register for the event contact Holt at 660-646-6920 or e-mail him at sbdchill@greenhills.net.
MU Extension Business Specialist in Industry Recycling to Visit Region Oct. 29
Southeast Missouri businesses interested in turning their waste products into sources of revenue generation will be able to tap the knowledge of a St. Louis-based recycled-materials expert at 9 a.m. Oct. 29, in Fredericktown.
Lee Fox, head of the Missouri Market Development Program, will appear at the Black River Electric Cooperative (2600 Highway 67) to talk about his industrial recycling program and to answer questions about generating revenue from waste products, according to Richard Proffer, University of Missouri Extension regional business development specialist based in Jackson.
Fox's effort, part of MU Extension's Business Development Program, aims to help companies increase revenue from recycled materials.
"Many manufacturing businesses create waste material that can be converted to a revenue stream instead of being trashed in the local dump," says Proffer, who coordinated Fox's appearance.
Fox has previously worked with several Southeast Missouri companies and says: "There is a definite opportunity for companies in this region to benefit from the program. We just need to connect, match resources and then apply for the funds to help them improve their end-waste management process."
The Missouri Market Development Program was created to promote recycling by using economic development efforts for businesses and projects that use materials recovered from solid waste. The program's financial assistance, up to $50,000, is aimed at expanding the manufacturing capacity of Missouri's companies by using recovered materials, says Proffer.
To reserve a seat at the presentation or to schedule an individual counseling session with Fox, contact Proffer at the Cape Girardeau County Extension Center, 842 W. Jackson Trail, Jackson, MO 63755; phone 573-243-3581; or e-mail (profferrd@missouri.edu).
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