CBJ's Largest Privately Held Companies 2018

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World Class Industries 7 After hitting a soft patch during the downturn in the farm economy, World Class Industries in Hiawatha is getting back to the kind of growth that has made it one of the Corridor’s largest privately held companies. The Hiawatha-based supply chain specialist provides contract management and supply chain consolidation services to leading equipment manufacturers including Deere & Co., Caterpillar, CNH and Bobcat. It’s been focused on providing more value and services to existing customers, a strategy that has allowed it to tap the trend toward manufacturers building deeper relationships with fewer suppliers. “Parts in – assemblies out,” is a simple shorthand for what World Class Industries (WCI) does, President Brent Cobb said. The company’s business peaked in 2013, then slowed as the decline in ag commodity prices cut deeply into farm incomes, resulting in fewer orders from customers like Deere and CNH. That spurred the company to pursue other sectors for growth, including BRENT COBB PRESIDENT the aviation and aerospace industries. Mr. Cobb said the decline hit a bottom in 2016, and finally showed a rebound effect this year. Employment is up about 50 full-time equivalent positions from the market bottom and revenue has risen to $172.2 million. World Class Industries is building its eighth facility next to a factory where Deere builds Family Compact Utility Tractors in Grovetown, Georgia, and is also moving to improved facilities in Kaiserslautern, Germany, and Des Moines. The new 50,000-square-foot facility in Grovetown, expected to open this year, will place WCI in an entirely new region, and allow the company to better service equipment manufacturers located in the southeast. “This year, we’re half market-driven and half new projects,” Mr. Cobb said. A major undercurrent in the manufacturing industry that drives WCI’s business is product complexity. Customer preferences are driving more complex assemblies and systems. As a result, manufacturers prefer to have certain components preassembled to avoid bogging down lines at their main assembly plants. The rebounding ag market has also helped drive demand. Mr. Cobb said agricultural THE TEAM EXECUTIVE TEAM Brent Cobb, President Sandy Kaloupek, Vice President Patrick Patterson, Director of Operations BOARD OF DIRECTORS Brent Cobb Michael Rosberg James Schrempf Kevin Code SUPPORT TEAM Bradley & Riley PC Cedar Rapids Bank & Trust CliftonLarsonAllen producers continued to expand the size of their operations even during the downturn, and appear to be buying new equipment because reliability is even more critical during key harvest and planting seasons due to the acreage at stake. Deere and Caterpillar have both issued upbeat sales forecasts for 2018, which bodes well for WCI. Adding customer value is always key for the roughly 140 WCI employees and about 25 temporary employees. The company’s investments in its Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) purchasing system in particular have helped drive down procurement prices for clients, as the company can look for advantageous price breaks and buy certain commodities in bulk. “So instead of having someone go part by part and deciding what we want to do, we’re having that be more algorithm-driven, and having those orders go out automatically and using some of those same resources,” Mr. Cobb previously told the CBJ. Although the company’s work is anything but simple, the work it does makes things easier for equipment manufacturers. “We like to say, ‘We simplify supply chain,’” Mr. Cobb said. - Dave DeWitte “This year, we’re half market-driven and half new projects.” - BRENT COBB 18 CBJ’S LARGEST PRIVATELY HELD COMPANIES 2018
How to future-proof your business: planning for IT adoption It’s an exciting and challenging time to be a business leader. Technology is leveling the playing field between businesses of all sizes, but it’s also creating a steep curve for leaders who don’t understand that tech adoption is now a key competency in an organization. Luckily, “adopting technology” doesn’t have to mean doing everything in-house or expensively. In fact, outsourcing some areas of your IT can allow you to reduce costs, increase quality, and re-invest in tech areas that closely impact your customer or core product. 3 ways to take control of IT adoption for your business Take your business’ future into your own hands by enlisting the help of ours. CCR specializes in strategic business alignment of technology solutions for small & medium businesses. Contact Us Today 319-362-2384 | sales@ccr.net www.ccr.net/it-as-a-service 845 Capital Dr. SW Cedar Rapids, IA 52404 1. Start by really looking at your budget. Many business leaders struggle to accurately account for their IT spend, which leads them to believe that additional investments are out of the realm of possibility. Review your budget again in 2018 and make sure you are accounting for staff, hardware, software and project expenses. 2. Make sure your IT priorities are aligned with your business’ key strategies. Create a roadmap to replace outdated or inefficient systems with ones that will be easy to replace in the future when newer technologies become available. (Always pretend that this is sooner than you’d think.) 3. Focus on the core, and enlist help for the rest. IT service desk and support, IT maintenance, security, and backup/recovery are all incredibly important to your business. But in today’s business climate, they should not be taking up the time and resources of people on your team who could be preparing for the future. For all these reasons, it’s no surprise that many businesses are beginning to seek outside help where technology implementation is concerned. The investment in this type of relationship can be key to scaling technology for the future of your business – by bringing focus and expertise to an area that supports your business behind the scenes. CBJ’S LARGEST PRIVATELY HELD COMPANIES 2018 19
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CBJ's Largest Privately Held Companies 2018

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