PAXINOS - Small and medium-sized manufacturers face large problems, but a nonprofit, government-funded organization exists in central Pennsylvania to help with anything from product development to energy savings.
IMC Business Strategies & Solutions serves a 12-county region, including Northumberland County, said Linda Weaver, a business advisor for the organization, who addressed members of the Brush Valley Regional Chamber of Commerce at their June luncheon Tuesday at Indian Hills Golf and Tennis Club. This month's lunch was sponsored by Central Susquehanna Opportunities Inc.
Weaver said IMC is an independent resource center whose employees all have manufacturing experience, including some at the executive level. Manufacturers and other businesses, such as distributors, pay IMC for assistance, with charges that can range from $600 or $700 to tens of thousands of dollars for large, long-term efforts, Weaver said.
In noting the firm's work with a machine shop in Mount Carmel that employs about 10 people, Weaver said IMC particularly likes to help those firms with 50 or less employees that can't afford the big money it takes to hire a professional consulting firm.
IMC personnel will visit a business to make an unbiased assessment, approaching the situation as if it was their own business, Weaver said. Always operating with confidentiality, they will introduce other agencies or providers that can help.
Services include energy assessments, environmental health and safety tips, product development and marketing and sales strategies.
A popular program is SaleSurge, what IMC describes as "web marketing made easy." It helps manufacturers make the most of their websites - Weaver noted that just about every business has one, but not all of them are effective. IMC provides services such as video production and digital collection of customer data.
The organization also offers training in well-known industry programs such as ISO, Lean Enterprise and Six Sigma.
Weaver said many Pennsylvania manufacturers are fighting the "made-in-China" battle, and related a story of how IMC helped a Montoursville firm transition from making cases for Black & Decker - a client it lost to China - to making a liner used by the Marcellus Shale industry to hold "fracking" water as it comes out of natural gas wells.
IMC also offers Green 101, an eight-hour class involving energy and waste management and other issues related to manufacturing and the environment.
According to its 2009-2010 summary, IMC has assisted more than 600 companies since 1998.
Stopping bad checks
Chamber members received an update on Northumberland County's Bad Check Restitution Program from District Attorney Tony Rosini.
Rosini said he was getting complaints from businesses, who were getting nowhere in trying to prosecute those who issued bad checks; from police, who said they were tied up with more serious crime and couldn't keep pace with bad check cases; from the courts, where many such cases are eventually thrown, and from his own staff, which was spending a lot of time prosecuting the cases.
"I was getting complaints from everybody," Rosini said.
He learned through the state district attorneys association of a private firm that contacts those who have issued bad checks to enroll them in the restitution program. Through this "pre-charging diversion," criminal charges are not filed. Instead, the victim fills out a form (available online or through the DA's office) and the firm goes to work to get the money.
Rosini said it's difficult to gauge in just a few months how the program is working, but believes it will be helpful in removing some of the cases from the judicial system while helping businesses obtain restitution quicker and helping bad check writers from repeating their actions.
For more information, call toll free, 1-855-274-9690, or visit www.checkprogram.com/northumberlandpa.