Syracuse Chiefs to open a holiday kiosk at Destiny USA

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SYRACUSE — The Syracuse Chiefs today plan to open a holiday kiosk at Destiny USA that it will use to sell its merchandise and season-ticket

Crunch’s Dolgon to receive 2014 CNYSME Crystal Ball Award

Sports, Entertainment & Tourism, Subscriber Only

SYRACUSE — The Central New York Sales & Marketing Executives (CNYSME) has selected Howard Dolgon, owner, president, CEO and team governor of the Syracuse Crunch, as the winner of the 2014 Crystal Ball Award. The organization annually bestows the award to a local businessperson who has contributed to the sales and marketing profession and has

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The organization annually bestows the award to a local businessperson who has contributed to the sales and marketing profession and has worked in community development and support.

“It’s really an honor,” says Dolgon, adding he “had no idea” CNYSME was considering him for the award.

CNYSME will present Dolgon with the Crystal Ball Award on April 10 at the 38th annual Crystal Ball and Sales & Marketing Excellence Awards (SMEA) ceremony at the Holiday Inn Syracuse-Liverpool on Electronics Parkway in Salina.

Dolgon will join a list of past Crystal Ball winners that he calls “impressive,” a group that includes the 2013 recipient, Peter Belyea, president of CXtec and Teracai. Other winners include Debbie Sydow, former president of Onondaga Community College in 2012; John Stage, founder and CEO of Dinosaur Bar-B-Que in 2011; Peter Coleman, the publican of Coleman’s Authentic Irish Pub in 2010; and Edward (Ed) Levine, president and CEO of Galaxy Communications, LLC in Syracuse in 2009, according to the CNYSME website.

“A lot of people who’ve done a lot of good work in the community,” Dolgon says of the past honorees.

Prior to his ownership of the Syracuse Crunch of the American Hockey League (AHL), Dolgon was a founding member of Alan Taylor Communications, Inc., an independent sports public-relations agency, which has since rebranded to Taylor, according to its website.

Dolgon joined Onondaga County officials to introduce the Syracuse Crunch to the community in May 1994.

When asked if marketing efforts are that much more important for a minor-league hockey organization than one in the big leagues, Dolgon had a simple response.

“It is significantly more important,” he says.

Teams in professional sports leagues at the highest level, including the National Hockey League and the National Football League, get “great national support just from their branding alone” as major sports leagues.

Combine their branding with national media exposure and television contracts, and it’s an advantage a minor-league team just doesn’t have, Dolgon says.

Therefore, he adds, it becomes “much more critical” for a minor-league sports team to really become part of the fabric of the community.

“It’s probably much more important that you have a marketing plan in place, business plan in place that is heavy on the marketing and [public relations] and promotion if you have any chance of being successful in the community,” Dolgon says.

In addition to the local focus on hockey, the Syracuse AHL affiliate also includes an organization that works to benefit the community.

The Crunch Foundation, the charitable arm of the Syracuse Crunch, strives to strengthen and broaden the impact of the Syracuse Crunch in the Central New York by providing support and funds to non-profit groups, educational programs and community initiatives, according to the team’s website.

For example, the team and the Crunch Foundation will continue to support the Hillside Family of Agencies with programs that bring awareness and monetary support throughout the 2013-14 season, according to a news release on the website.

Before his ownership the Syracuse Crunch and in his work with the Taylor firm, Dolgon had created and implemented numerous award-winning programs for a variety of corporations including Purchase, N.Y. –based MasterCard International (NYSE: MA); Minneapolis–based General Mills, Inc. (NYSE: GIS); and London–based Diageo plc (NYSE: DEO), an alcoholic-beverage company, in their sports endeavors.

Dolgon acknowledges it’s a cliché, but he believes the CNYSME wouldn’t consider him for the award if he didn’t have “the kind of staff he has” in Syracuse.

Besides Dolgon, Vance Lederman, the team’s CFO and senior vice president of business operations and Jim Sorosy, the team’s COO, lead a staff of about 25 people, including Julien BrisBois, the team’s general manager and Crunch head coach Rob Zettler.

Lederman has worked for the Crunch for 20 years, while Sarosy has been with the organization for 19 years, Dolgon says.

“We’ve been fortunate in not only hiring the right people, but keeping the right people, and that’s something that really doesn’t happen a lot in minor-league sports” he says.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com

Taylor takes over as Bonadio’s Syracuse office managing partner

Insurance & Financial Services, Law, Accounting & Taxes, Small Business, Subscriber Only

SYRACUSE — The Bonadio Group, which says it’s upstate New York’s largest independent accounting firm, has appointed Donald R. Taylor as managing partner in the firm’s Syracuse office. In his new role, Taylor is responsible for overseeing office operations and partner and employee relations, fostering client services, and growing new business opportunities, the firm

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SYRACUSE — The Bonadio Group, which says it’s upstate New York’s largest independent accounting firm, has appointed Donald R. Taylor as managing partner in the firm’s Syracuse office.

In his new role, Taylor is responsible for overseeing office operations and partner and employee relations, fostering client services, and growing new business opportunities, the firm says.

“Don Taylor is a seasoned professional who will be a great asset in leading our Syracuse office,” Thomas Bonadio, CEO and managing partner of The Bonadio Group, said in a news release. “As a Syracuse native, Don knows Central New York as well as anyone. Coupled with that, his extensive industry experience will be critical in his new role as a coach and mentor for the whole Syracuse office staff.”

Taylor has replaced Stanley Konopko as Syracuse office managing partner (OMP). Konopko, who had served in the role since 2011, has been assigned to work full time with Bonadio client St. James Mercy Hospital in Hornell.

“The management committee has decided with Stan and Don Taylor’s approval, that it would be better if Stan focuses on the important client assignment at St. James Mercy Hospital and Don become the Syracuse OMP,” Tom Bonadio wrote in a memo to the firm’s employees.

The change became effective Nov. 12.

The Bonadio Group employs 45 people at its 10,000-square-foot office at 115 Solar St. in Syracuse, according to Taylor.

Taylor joined Bonadio Group in 2011, after the Rochester–based firm acquired the Syracuse operations of his employer, Philadelphia–based ParenteBeard. Taylor had worked for ParenteBeard since 2007 and its predecessor firms Beard Miller and TFG CPAs since 1987.

At Bonadio, Taylor, who has a total of 31 years experience in public accounting, specializes in providing services to the community banking industry, including external and internal audit, establishment and review of internal systems and controls, assistance in regulatory and compliance matters, and implementation of new accounting pronouncements, the firm says.

Taylor is the leader of Bonadio’s financial services industry group.

“I’m looking forward to this new position and the opportunity to lead the Central New York region of the firm,” Taylor said in the release. “As I’ve lived and worked in the area for the tenure of my professional career, I have a connection to our people and businesses in the area that will aid my transition to leading the Syracuse office.”

In an interview, Taylor says one of his priorities as Syracuse OMP will be to evaluate the marketing plan of the office. “We’ve done reasonably well at that, but there are things we can improve on,” he says.

Taylor will also be involved in the Bonadio Group’s acquisition plans in the Syracuse market. Tom Bonadio has said he would like to expand his firm’s Syracuse operations, and each market the firm is in, to surpass 100 employees. And, acquisitions are expected to play a big role in that effort.

Taylor is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and the New York State Society of Certified Public Accountants, and is an associate member of the New York State Bankers Association and the Independent Bankers Association of New York State. He is a graduate of Le Moyne College, and resides in the Syracuse area.

Contact Rombel at arombel@cnybj.com

CTM: Not your father’s machine shop

Manufacturing & Engineering, Regional News, Small Business, Subscriber Only, Technology

FRANKFORT — Back in the days when an auto called Oldsmobile still roamed the earth, the above catch phrase was invented to rescue the brand. Despite featuring William Shatner as Captain Kirk, the advertising effort failed to save Oldsmobile. Nevertheless, the tag line became part of our pop culture. Fast forward to Frankfort, N.Y. and

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Fast forward to Frankfort, N.Y. and Custom Tool & Model, Inc. (CTM) — this is definitely not your father’s machine shop. Founded in 1969 by Erich O. Naegele as a precision engineering machine company, CTM produces prototypes and short runs of finished parts, combining old-world training and state-of-the-art design and production technology.

The production facility, comprised of two buildings at 151 Industrial Drive, sits on three acres and contains 10,000 square feet of space. The factory is jammed full of milling machines, lathes, grinders, saws, drills, and welders/fabricators, many of which are computer-controlled. CTM employs 25 people and generates between $4 million and $5 million in annual revenue.

“We’re not your average machine shop,” says John J. Piseck, Jr., a sales engineer with the company. “We’re a high-tech operation focused on quality and fast response to our customers.” He proudly points out the latest addition to the company’s technology — a 3-D printer designed to provide accurate, durable, and repeatable prototyping, tooling, and manufacturing. “It was a $200,000 capital investment, including the printer, materials, a washing station, and compressor. This pistol receiver (Piseck holds up a plastic model) only took us three hours to build on the new printer, once we received the e-file from the customer. It used to take us days.”

On a tour of the plant, Piseck points with pride at the number and variety of machines. “This company is all about quality and precision,” says Piseck. “We have invested millions of dollars in equipment to achieve tolerance levels of up to 50/1,000,000 of an inch. Sometimes, I even have to convince my customers that we can actually hold this tolerance.”

CTM is owned by three principals, who are all active in the business. Steven M. Naegele, 47, is the company president; his brother, Erich R., 55, is vice president; and his sister, Sharon Lanza, 51, is secretary/treasurer. The three stockholders and Piseck, 50, constitute the management team along with Bryan Nestle, the quality manager, and Jason Christman, the shop foreman. The team, in turn, is supported by key professional vendors: NBT for banking; Fitzgerald, DePietro & Wojnas CPAs, P.C. for accounting; and Kowalczyk, Deery & Broadbent, LLP for legal matters.

“Sixty percent of our business comes from three areas: aerospace, optics, and firearms,” notes Piseck. “People don’t realize that we do work for NASA and JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory) as well as large, national companies … CTM built parts for the moon vehicles and for the Phoenix Lander and Curiosity, which probed Mars. We also produce specialty optics for companies like General Dynamics and work with a number of firearms manufacturers including Remington, Smith & Wesson, and Sig Sauer.”

CTM is a custom manufacturer. “While we have a lot of repeat business from our customers, we rarely see the same job twice,” says Piseck. “Most of our runs are one to five parts. A huge production run is 175 parts. We certainly have recurring customers, but we’re usually not producing the same parts.”

Quality has taken on a very different meaning from the firm’s founding in 1969. “In order to do work for big companies today, we need to be ISO-AS compliant,” notes Piseck. “This international standard says that we have reduced our environmental impact by reducing waste and energy consumption. It includes even the company’s organizational structure, planning and resources for development, and implementing and maintaining policy for environmental protection.”

CTM is also AS-9100 compliant, a requirement of the aerospace industry. “AS-9100 is the aerospace version of ISO-9001,” says Piseck. “The aerospace industry is considerably more demanding in terms of safety and quality. In fact, AS-9100 contains ISO-9001, adding requirements specific to aerospace. This certification places us on the leading edge of quality initiatives.

“Because we work with the firearms industry,” continues Piseck, “CTM needs to qualify for federal firearms licenses. Aside from the annual cost, we are subjected to inspections by BATFE (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, an agency of the U.S. Dept. of Justice). The U.S. government also requires us to be ITAR (International Traffic in Arms Regulations) compliant. This means we are registered with the U.S. State Department’s DDTC (Directorate of Defense Trade Controls). It takes a lot of time, effort, and money to comply with all the regulations and certification requirements.”

CTM has experienced steady, organic growth, not only by servicing its customer base, but also by diversifying its revenue streams. “In addition to being a machine shop, we are also a distributor for manufacturers,” says Piseck.

“CTM now represents a company that manufactures a portable, metal detector. The walk-through device can be set up in 5 minutes and only requires one operator. We also just closed a deal to represent an Israeli manufacturer of automatic, ammunition-loading devices. In addition to acting as a distributor, CTM has set up a clean room on the shop floor for rental to area companies working on an array of manufacturing and R&D projects. The space is very flexible and can be configured to suit the customer’s need.”

Piseck then takes this reporter for a tour of the second building on the site. “Welcome to the Golf Box,” declares Piseck. “We have installed two upgraded simulators representing more than 50 major U.S. golf courses. You can golf here 365 days a year and have enough space to sponsor both private and corporate parties.”

CTM prides itself on its workforce, but also notes the difficulty of recruiting and training employees. “Our industry has the wrong image today. Young people think it’s a dirty business and their parents and school advisers often share that image. Everyone at CTM needs at least a high-school degree and many have college degrees. We work closely with area schools like Mohawk Valley Community College which offers certification in CNC (computer- numerical control) machinery. CTM doesn’t just offer jobs; we offer careers to mill and lathe operators, CNC operators, and precision tool- and die- makers.

“CTM is poised for continued growth,” Piseck declares. “Herkimer County is a hub for manufacturing, which should benefit from the recently announced Nano-Utica commitment. Suppliers coming into the area will need tools, fixtures, and gauging to meet the demand … The Village of Frankfort has its own municipal electric plant which provides power at 3.5 cents [per kilowatt] … The company has positioned itself as a leading-edge machine shop with a great workforce, … and we continue to diversify, looking at new markets.”

CTM is definitely not your father’s machine shop. It is looking to the moon, Mars, and beyond. And it doesn’t need Captain Kirk to burnish its brand.

Contact Poltenson at npoltenson@cnybj.com

Wells Fargo survey: small-business owners divided on increasing the minimum wage

Employee Benefits & Human Resources, New York News, Small Business, Subscriber Only

Small-business owners are divided on whether the national minimum wage should be increased. That’s according to the most-recent Wells Fargo/Gallup Small Business Index. In the survey, conducted Oct. 23-29, small-business owners were split between those who approve (47 percent) and those who disapprove (50 percent) of a law raising the national minimum wage to $9.50

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Small-business owners are divided on whether the national minimum wage should be increased. That’s according to the most-recent Wells Fargo/Gallup Small Business Index.

In the survey, conducted Oct. 23-29, small-business owners were split between those who approve (47 percent) and those who disapprove (50 percent) of a law raising the national minimum wage to $9.50 an hour. This contrasts with a separate recent Gallup poll of the American public, in which three-fourths of respondents said they supported hiking the minimum pay rate from the current $7.25 to $9 per hour.

In the Wells Fargo/Gallup Small Business Index, 60 percent of survey respondents said increasing the minimum wage would hurt small-business owners. About 30 percent reported that an increase in the minimum wage would have little effect on most small-business owners. Yet when asked how approval of minimum-wage legislation would affect their businesses, about 60 percent of small-company proprietors said they would not reduce their current workforce or employee benefits.

The survey results follow recent state and federal-government legislation and proposals on the minimum wage, including the recent passage of a new law in New Jersey that indexes future increases in the minimum wage to inflation, according to Wells Fargo. In September, the California state legislature voted to raise the state minimum wage to $10 an hour by 2016. A proposal to raise the minimum wage also is being considered in the U.S. Senate.

Small-business optimism

The Wells Fargo/Gallup Small Business Index remained mostly unchanged over the past several months, and is currently at a positive 24 (+24), compared with the third-quarter index score of positive 25 (+25). While it’s the second highest score in the last five years, the index score remains below pre-recession levels, according to Wells Fargo.

When business owners were asked to identify the most important challenge facing their businesses, several concerns rose to the top of the list. In the fourth-quarter survey, business owners once again said their top concern was finding new business, yet this concern fell from 28 percent to 13 percent of responses, according to the survey results. Other top concerns include the economy (12 percent), health care (11 percent), and government (11 percent). The number of business owners identifying government as the most important challenge was much higher this quarter than in the third quarter, the survey found.

“Small business owners are still in wait-and-see mode,” Doug Case, Wells Fargo small-business segment manager, said in a news release. “As they plan for next year, they are looking for more economic stability.”

The survey also found that nearly one in four small-business owners expect to have a better operating environment and are more optimistic about their business’s future in 2014. Half of business owners surveyed said they expect the operating environment next year to be about the same as this year, according to the survey.

Since August 2003, the Wells Fargo/Gallup Small Business Index has queried small-business owners on current and future perceptions of their firm’s financial situation. The index consists of two components: 1) Owners’ ratings of the current situation of their business, and, 2) Owners’ ratings of how they expect their business to perform over the next 12 months. Results are based on telephone interviews with 605 small-business owners in all 50 states, conducted October 23-29, according to Wells Fargo.

For more survey results, visit https://wellsfargobusinessinsights.com/research/small-business-index

Gaetano Construction: Poised to grow with “Nano Utica”

Construction, Design & Real Estate, Regional News, Subscriber Only

UTICA — “Nano Utica is a game-changer,” says Brian A. Gaetano, president of Charles A. Gaetano Construction Corporation, LLC. “This is like winning the Super Bowl,” he exclaims. Nano Utica, a moniker applied to the nanotechnology development under way in the Mohawk Valley, got a huge boost on Oct. 10 when Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced

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UTICA — “Nano Utica is a game-changer,” says Brian A. Gaetano, president of Charles A. Gaetano Construction Corporation, LLC. “This is like winning the Super Bowl,” he exclaims.

Nano Utica, a moniker applied to the nanotechnology development under way in the Mohawk Valley, got a huge boost on Oct. 10 when Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced that six global technology companies formed a consortium to invest $1.5 billion to launch the state’s second hub of nanotechnology.

The consortium will be headquartered at the Computer Chip Commercialization Center located on the SUNYIT campus in Marcy. The Empire State agreed to invest $200 million over 10 years for the purchase of new equipment for the Nano Utica facility. The R&D facility is expected to cost $125 million and encompass 253,000 square feet, including cleanrooms, laboratories, hands-on education and workforce-training facilities, and integrated offices.

The focus of the research is on computer-chip innovation for new technologies and products in the consumer and business marketplace. The growing reliance on computer chips affects nearly every industry.

“This project will create 1,000 high-tech jobs just in research,” says Gaetano. “We’re expecting thousands … [more] from the manufacturing companies and suppliers which will be drawn to the area. The town of Marcy [plant site] has a 420 acre park near the college with the infrastructure in place: roads, power, sewers, and the necessary zoning.” The Marcy Town Supervisor, Brian N. Scala, estimates that the public-private investment could reach more than $46 billion and generate up to 6,500 jobs over the next decade.

That’s music to Gaetano’s ears. “I see tremendous potential for real-estate investment and for construction,” he opines. “The area will need plants, offices, apartments, condos, additional road construction, and … [perhaps] school buildings. Just look at what happened to Malta [a town in Saratoga County] when Global Foundries built a giant chip factory to manufacture integrated circuits for semi-conductor companies.” The factory now employs more than 2,000 people on top of the 1,000 employed at the R&D center in Albany.

The Gaetanos — brothers Brian, 62, William, 66, and Greg, 48 — are sitting in the catbird’s seat, ready to benefit from the projected boom in real-estate development and construction. William is the executive vice president of the construction company and Greg is the corporate secretary-treasurer.

Gaetano Construction is located in 14,000 square feet of office space on the mezzanine at 258 Genesee St. in downtown Utica, a building owned by the family. The construction company is celebrating 58 years in business.

“My father started the company in 1955,” says the oldest brother, William. “He was a mason contractor with a small crew, who decided in 1960 to become a GC [general contractor]. He didn’t incorporate the business until the early 1970s. Gaetano [Construction] has grown into a full-service, general-contracting, and design-build company that did $52 million in sales last year and employs 50 full time. We’re projecting about the same sales volume for 2013.”

The brothers Gaetano are the principals and equal stockholders of the construction company. Rounding out the executive management team are David L. Kleps, vice president for design/build; John Kinney, controller; Anthony Obernesser, senior project manager; Michael Bushardt, chief estimator; and Steve Perez, general superintendent.

The Gaetanos also work with area professionals to help steer the company: M&T is the company’s primary bank; Firley, Moran, Freer & Eassa CPA, P.C. in DeWitt is Gaetano’s accounting firm; and Mentor Rudin & Trivelpiece, P.C. in Syracuse provides the construction firm legal representation.

Gaetano’s clients and approach

The Gaetano conference room displays dozens of buildings completed over the years, including projects in the fields of education, health care, commercial and industrial, institutional, housing, manufacturing, and warehousing/distribution. The client list reads like a “Who’s Who” of area companies and institutions: Hamilton College and Colgate University, Cayuga Medical Center and Faxton St. Luke’s Healthcare, Utica National Insurance, the Rescue Mission of Utica, Acacia Village, F.X. Matt Brewing Co., Feldmeier Equipment, Inc., and Fiber Instrument Sales, Inc., just to name a few.

Gaetano Construction also specializes in building custom vacation homes, renovations and repairs, pre-construction services, and has been a Butler Builder franchisee for 32 years. Gaetano Construction is currently working on its largest project — an 80,000-square-foot Theatre & Studio Arts complex at Hamilton College, scheduled for completion in 2014 and valued at $36 million.

William Gaetano says the company’s philosophy and people set it apart in attracting and keeping clients.

“We focus on our customers and work on projects typically in a 50-mile radius of Utica, because it’s easier to control the work. It’s common for us to do repeat business, often on a design-build basis. The bottom line is that we build relationships. After all, the customer can fire us anytime.”

Gaetano goes on to say that “… the company is also focused on our … [staff]. We spend a lot of time recruiting employees, turning to schools like [SUNY] Delhi, which has an outstanding program in construction management. We make sure that our new hires receive a lot of on-the-job-training, including estimating, before giving them positions of responsibility. This is a tough business to manage, and we encourage them to make decisions, but only after they have paid their dues. We have also learned from experience that we need to hire people who want to live in the Mohawk Valley, who enjoy the lifestyle.”

Change

Looking back over decades in the construction/commercial real-estate business, Brian Gaetano notes the changes in the industry — especially the impact of technology, the emphasis on safety, and going green. “Everybody has computers and smart phones, which is pushing our business to respond faster. It’s the ‘now society.’ Customers want everything cheaper and faster, and they are not always giving us time to think how we can do that. We may be able to communicate faster, but we still need time to consider how to build or renovate a facility. Each project is a custom effort; this is not a … [cookie-cutter] business,” he says.

Brother William Gaetano adds that “[s]afety is our primary concern on the job. We’re proud to have received the GCI Risk Control award for 2012-2013, which recognizes our safety program and workshops. The upside is not only a healthy work force but also a favorable claims experience, because our EMR (experience modification ratio) is low. We’ve worked hard to institute a company culture that emphasizes safety.”

Gaetano Construction has also gone green. “We currently have six LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) associates who are certified in green building,” says William Gaetano. “All New York State projects are now built to LEED standards, and some in the private sector have followed suit.” Gaetano cites his firm’s work on projects such as the Cayuga Medical Center in Ithaca, the Old Forge Arts Center, and Hutchings Psychiatric Center in Syracuse. “As for recycling our construction materials and debris, we created a waste stream long before it became mandatory,” declares Gaetano.

Giving back

The Gaetanos are very active in their community involvement and professional associations. “Over the years, we have contributed to a number of worthy causes that improve the quality of life in our community,” says Brian Gaetano. “We are a proud supporter of not-for-profit efforts such as America’s Greatest Heart Run & Walk, the Saranac Concert Series, The Mighty Run, and Habitat for Humanity. We provide labor and material for many of these events and encourage the staff to volunteer. Our company also hosts several live telethons from our corporate office to help promote ticket sales. It’s our way of giving back.”

“I have committed a great deal of time to AGC (Associated General Contractors of America) and GBC (General Building Contractors of New York State), where I served both as the association’s president and a director,” says William Gaetano. He currently serves as a board member of Mohawk Valley Edge and is the president of the Utica Industrial Development Corp. “These organizations have helped us to become more professional by sharing industry best practices. They benchmark a standard that helps us to serve our customers better and to compete. We also spend a lot of time lobbying in Albany trying to change antiquated laws like the Scaffold Law and to help write new legislation.”

In the corner of the conference room at Gaetano Construction rests a plaque recognizing a generous contribution by Charles A. Gaetano, who gifted a multi-purpose stadium to Utica College. The stadium is named after the donor. Under the picture of the stadium is a sentence in Italian: Non c’e male per il figlio di un giardinere! Translation: “Not bad for the son of a gardener.” Considering the growth of Gaetano Construction, the plaque needs an addition: “Not bad for the grandsons of a gardener.”

Contact Poltenson at npoltenton@cnybj.com

Buffalo–area fuel distributor eyes Syracuse region for growth

Energy, Environment & Sustainability, Regional News, Small Business, Subscriber Only

SYRACUSE — Tonawanda–based NOCO Inc., a lubricant and wholesale fuel distributor that has served the Syracuse market since the 1980s, is working to expand its presence and reach in the region. The firm hopes to launch residential electricity and natural-gas service and possibly even convenience stores. The 80-year-old company got its start delivering coal

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The 80-year-old company got its start delivering coal door-to-door and has expanded over the years to include home energy services such as electricity, natural gas, heating oil, and propane, the NOCO Express line of convenience stores; lubricant and chemical product distribution in five states; and wholesale commercial and industrial fuel distribution and delivery.

“We evolved with the times,” says James Newman, president and part of the third generation of the Newman family to run NOCO. His grandfather, Reginald Newman, founded the company in 1933.

Over the years, Newman says, larger players such as Mobil and Ashland, which both operated refineries at one time in New York, left the market. That created opportunity for NOCO to acquire facilities and increase its market share, Newman says.

That same opportunity came along in the 1980s for NOCO to enter the Syracuse area, he says. “Our first business in the Syracuse market was a lubricant distribution business we bought.”

Today, NOCO owns and operates two facilities in the Syracuse region — a 42,000-square-foot warehouse at 4480 Steelway Blvd. S. in Clay that houses the company’s lubricant distribution business and service department, and a warehouse facility on Wolf Street in Syracuse. The company uses some of that warehouse for storage, but leases the majority of the space to Solvents & Petroleum Service, Inc. Customers in the Syracuse area include Carrier Corp., Raymond Corp. and Crucible Industries.

NOCO also does a brisk wholesale fuel business in the area, James Lee, the company’s wholesale fuel-market manager for eastern New York, says. NOCO has seen success with a fleet-fueling program that provides truck-to-truck fueling service, he says. NOCO fuels customers’ fleets during the off-hours, so the trucks are ready and waiting for drivers to hop in them and begin their day, Lee says. The end result is faster departure times and labor cost savings for customers because they don’t have to wait and pay for drivers to head to a gas station to fuel up before beginning their routes, he notes.

So far, NOCO has grown its business in Syracuse through word-of-mouth and good old networking, Lee says. However, he’s hoping that the company’s growth plans for the market will help make NOCO a household name.

“We are looking to the central state as an area for growth,” Newman says. His hope is that NOCO can begin offering residential natural gas and electric service by the end of 2014.

“There’s a good solid population base,” he says, and there is also strong interest in independent energy suppliers. NOCO resonates well with customers, Newman contends, because his employees work hard to talk to customers and cultivate relationships with them. “I think people want to know someone is looking out for them,” he says. That type of service will set NOCO apart in the market, he believes.

Newman also hopes to bring the NOCO Express line of convenience stores to the Syracuse region, although the timeline for that project is a little further out at two to three years. The stores would not only bring another fuel option to the area, but also offer some fresh convenience options including Nickel City Market Café, Charlie the Butcher, Tim Hortons, and Just Pizza.

The ultimate goal, Newman says, is to recreate the same system NOCO has in the Buffalo area of having multiple “touch points” where the company can connect with customers.

Currently, NOCO employs 25 people in the Syracuse area, and Newman says he sees that number growing as the firm will need more people “on the street” to help build brand recognition. NOCO employs about 850 people companywide. Newman did not disclose revenue figures.

NOCO (www.noco.com), headquartered at 2440 Sheridan Drive in Tonawanda, has four main divisions — NOCO Express, NOCO Lubricants, NOCO Home Services, and NOCO Commercial and Industrial Fuels — and operates a 42-million-gallon fuel terminal in Tonawanda. Between all its divisions, NOCO provides energy products to customers in New York, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont, along with Ontario and Quebec provinces in Canada.

Contact The Business Journal at news@cnybj.com

Willow Run Foods uses natural-gas trucks to save money, reduce emissions

Energy, Environment & Sustainability, Small Business, Subscriber Only

KIRKWOOD — Willow Run Foods, Inc., a Kirkwood–based food-distribution company, has added a group of compressed natural-gas (CNG) trucks to its fleet that seek to reduce greenhouse-gas emissions and save the business money on diesel-fuel consumption. The firm announced, what it called, an “alternative-transportation project” in early September. The New York State Energy

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The firm announced, what it called, an “alternative-transportation project” in early September.

The New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) and the U.S. Department of Energy provided $1 million for the project that includes 15 CNG trucks, which Willow Run Foods leases from Ryder System, Inc. (NYSE: R).

The funding was provided through Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s Regional Economic Development Council (REDC) initiative, the company said.

The 15 CNG vehicles comprise 16 percent of Willow Run’s fleet, and went online in October, the company said.

The trucks have been performing “great,” says Leonard (Len) Basso, vice president of transportation at Willow Run Foods.

Basso spoke with The Central New York Business Journal on Dec. 9

“Like anything technology-related, it starts on the West Coast and goes to the Midwest and finally ends up on the East Coast,” Basso says.

Company officials had been monitoring the progress through magazine articles and transportation-trade newspapers. It then started working with Ryder, and then pursued the grant funding, Basso explains.

The project also included $145,000 in upgrades to Willow Run’s on-site, Ryder-operated, maintenance facility to meet the specifications required to service natural-gas vehicles.

“We had to have those complete before we could put any CNG vehicles in the shop to work on them,” Basso adds.

Willow Run Foods estimates the trucks will reduce greenhouse-gas emissions by about 500 tons annually, which it contends is the equivalent to removing 100 cars from the road.

Even after accounting for the increased cost of the CNG trucks, the project is still expected to save the company $100,000 annually through a reduction of 175,000 gallons of diesel-fuel consumption, Willow Run Foods said.

The company is mostly using the trucks in the New York City, Long Island, and northern New Jersey areas, helping to offset a high-traffic region with significant greenhouse-gas emissions.

The vehicles have up to a 500-mile range on a single fill-up, which is more than a typical CNG truck. That range allows drivers to complete a full delivery circuit from the company’s distribution center without having to refuel.

Each vehicle costs $234,000 which is about $80,000 more than a typical diesel heavy-duty truck. NYSERDA is funding about 75 percent of the difference between the cost of a diesel truck and the cost of a CNG truck.

The new CNG trucks are equipped with 150 diesel-gallon-equivalent (DGE) fuel tanks. The vehicles use 11.9 liter CNG Cummins engines, which are the “latest models of fuel-efficient engines,” the firm said.

CNG vehicles are cleaner than those that run on diesel; have lower emissions of greenhouse gases, particulates, and nitrogen oxides; and are quieter than diesel-powered tractor-trailer trucks, according to Willow Run Foods.

NYSERDA calls it a “major investment” in alternative-transportation fuels that will help the state in reducing its petroleum consumption while increasing its energy security, Janet Joseph, vice president for technology and strategic planning at NYSERDA, said in the Willow Run Foods’ news release.

The company couldn’t have accomplished this “environmentally responsible” project without the funding from NYSERDA, Terry Wood, president and CEO of Willow Run Foods, said in the release

“Willow Run Foods has been concentrating on clean-energy projects for the past few years with funding assistance from NYSERDA, and we will continue to seek out other clean-energy projects for the future,” Wood said.

Willow Run Foods cites information from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that indicates natural gas can reduce greenhouse-gas emissions by up to 25 percent compared to petroleum fuels when used as a transportation fuel.

Natural gas is the cleanest burning alternative-transportation fuel commercially available today, the company said.

New York has 111 CNG filling stations, including 36 that are open to the public, according to the U.S. Department of Energy.

Founded in 1949 as a small egg-delivery business, Willow Run Foods specializes in customized food distribution for regional and national chains throughout the Northeast.

The firm delivers products from Maine to Virginia to Ohio, Basso says.

Willow Run Foods employs 360 full-time employees at its 255,000-square-foot facility. The company declined to disclose its revenue information.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com

Cornell study: hotels’ green efforts don’t help or hurt revenue

Energy, Environment & Sustainability, Health Care, Sports, Entertainment & Tourism, Subscriber Only

ITHACA — As hotels around the world work to improve their sustainability and reduce their carbon footprint, those efforts don’t appear to have an effect, either way, on their sales and bookings. That’s according to a new study from two professors at Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration (SHA). Howard Chong, assistant professor of economics

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ITHACA — As hotels around the world work to improve their sustainability and reduce their carbon footprint, those efforts don’t appear to have an effect, either way, on their sales and bookings.

That’s according to a new study from two professors at Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration (SHA).

Howard Chong, assistant professor of economics and sustainability, and Rohit Verma, professor of service operations management, conducted the analysis for the study.

The Cornell Center for Hospitality Research published the study, entitled “Hotel Sustainability: Financial Analysis Shines a Cautious Green Light,” and presented the report on Oct. 18 at the 2013 Sustainability Roundtable at the SHA.

To conduct their analysis, Chong and Verma used a database that Sabre Holdings, including the website Travelocity.com, maintains.

Southlake, Texas–based Sabre Holdings is a global, travel-technology company serving the travel and tourism industry.

The report is part of a series of studies the school has been conducting over the last four years, says Verma, who worked with Chong on the analysis for much of 2013, he says.

To answer the question of whether implementing sustainable measures hurts or helps revenues, the study used data that Sabre provided to determine any effect widespread advertising of eco-certified hotels had on bookings, according to the report’s executive summary.

When Travelocity started including a “green leaf” insignia on its listings, Chong and Verma figured it represented a “great” opportunity to analyze the data as an experiment because the leaf meant “a new piece of information for the customers,” Verma says.

“They [customers] can get influenced by it either in a positive way or negative way,” he adds.

Sabre’s Travelocity site uses an eco-friendly hotel label to flag hotels that have earned any of a dozen environmental certifications, including Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) and Energy Star, a voluntary program of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Based on an analysis of millions of individual bookings in more than 3,000 eco-certified hotels and a comparison group of 6,000 properties, the study found that, on average, booking revenue neither increased nor decreased for the certified hotels, says Verma.

The analysis doesn’t address the situation of any individual hotel, but the authors can conclude that going green is compatible with existing quality standards of hotel service, according to the report’s executive summary.

The authors also concluded that advertising green status doesn’t hurt a hotel’s revenues.

Earning a green certification does not automatically result in a large revenue bump nor a revenue decline. In short, green is not a “silver bullet” strategy, according to the executive summary.

Finally, although the average effect is revenue neutral, individual properties have widely varied experiences with eco-certification, depending on their individual situation, according to the report summary.

The work of Chong and Verma was subject to blind-peer review, meaning their supervisor submitted the report to several people in industry and academia who review the work without knowing the identity of the authors.

The hotel industry has “moved ahead with sustainability,” Chong said in a news release on the website of the Cornell Chronicle, which publishes daily news about research, outreach, events, and the Cornell community.

“…but there’s a nagging question about whether installing green programs interferes with the hotel’s quality standards and its ability to provide guest luxury. Some hotels have been reluctant to go green because they might lose business. This study shows that, on average, the hotel industry doesn’t lose sales … from sustainability,” Chong said.

Chong and Verma have also conducted a similar study using data from Westlake Village, Calif.–based J.D. Power and Associates, a global marketing-information services company that provides customer-satisfaction research.

In that study, they wanted to find out if sustainability measures had any impact on customer-satisfaction ratings, Verma says.

“And what we found again is that, on average, for some people maybe it goes up if they’re more sustainable, for some it goes down, but on average, the effect is neutral,” he adds.

Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com

Photovoltaic testing facility opens in Cortland

Construction, Design & Real Estate, Regional News, Small Business, Subscriber Only, Technology

CORTLAND — A new solar-panel testing laboratory in Cortland, the only such facility in the Northeast, should help promote the growth of the solar-power industry as well as solar research and development, the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) contends. NYERDA partnered with Intertek Group plc — a London–based, global testing company

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NYERDA partnered with Intertek Group plc — a London–based, global testing company that has operations in Cortland — to open the Center for Evaluation of Clean Energy Technology (CECET). The center formally opened on Dec. 4 with a grand-opening event.

CECET, a wholly owned subsidiary of Intertek, is a university-industry partnership for accelerating clean-energy technology market commercialization. NYSERDA is supporting the effort with grants.

The photovoltaic (PV) certification testing lab at CECET provides both indoor and outdoor testing of solar panels for indicators such as generating capacity, performance over time, impacts of weather, and more. The center is located at an Intertek facility at 3933 U.S. Route 11 in Cortland.

“We’re really excited,” says Richard Lewandowski, executive director of CECET. The majority of PV testing available in the United States is at facilities located in the southwest, where the weather is typically hot and sunny.

While that may seem ideal, upstate New York’s cooler climate is actually much better for solar-power generation, Lewandowski contends. That makes the area ideal for a testing facility, especially as interest in solar energy grows in New York and around the Northeast, he says.

“It’s really a great opportunity,” Lewandowski says.

The upstate New York location will allow scientists to test equipment performance during the extreme winter and summer conditions in the Northeast. The Cortland testing site is also seen as a “convenience” for solar-panel manufacturers based in the region, according to NYSERDA.

The use of certified photovoltaic equipment (such as solar panels) is a requirement of many state and federal incentive or similar programs.

CECET can offer an array of assistance to companies designing and producing PV components. Testing can include electroluminescence testing to find stress cracks and other minute damage to panel composite materials, environmental testing, and more.

“We’re doing durability, performance, and liability testing as well as certification testing,” Lewandowski says.

On top of that, CECET partners with several academic institutions including Binghamton University, Alfred State, Clarkson University, the Rochester Institute of Technology, and Syracuse University for research and development, he says.

What that ultimately means is that CECET can not only work with a company developing solar technology to find any flaws with its product, but can also work with the business to develop solutions for any flaws found. “We can guide them in the right direction,” Lewandowski says.

Such testing, research, and development are crucial, he says, as solar technology becomes a more and more popular “green” energy choice in New York and around the country. This past year, there were enough solar installations across the United States to equal the power generated by five to six nuclear power plants, Lewandowski says.

CECET will connect all the parties working on developing new technology, which ultimately will result in lower costs and more rapid returns on investment, says Jacques Roeth, a program manager at NYSERDA.

NYSERDA worked on establishing CECET for about three years, he says. NYSERDA awarded Intertek $400,000 to create CECET, a group of public, private, and educational institutions. NYSERDA also awarded $1.7 million to CECET for the Cortland site as well as $877,000 for a wind-turbine blade testing center at Clarkson University in Potsdam.

The effort is part of Governor Andrew Cuomo’s NY-Sun initiative to accelerate solar-power development in New York. NYSERDA contends that the initiative has enabled the state to generate a significant increase in the installation of solar power.

CECET currently employs four people and Lewandowski says he expects that number to grow as word gets out about the facility. He is now reaching out through the media to make the PV community aware of CECET. A current project with General Electric will also help spread the word, he adds. CECET is also working with a number of other smaller companies, but has confidentiality clauses in place to protect the new technology being developed, he says.

Intertek is a worldwide testing company with more than 30,000 employees and 1,000 offices and labs in 100 countries.

Contact The Business Journal at news@cnybj.com

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