SYRACUSE — Visitor travel spending grew 3.5 percent in Onondaga County during 2012 compared to the previous year, according to a new report analyzing the
DeWITT — GZA GeoEnvironmental, Inc. announced that it has appointed David L. Palmerton, Jr., to its executive team as Appalachian regional operating officer. GZA,
The number of people applying for new unemployment-insurance benefits in New York state in the week ending June 8, increased by 1,341, or 6.6 percent, to 21,676. The jump was led by layoffs in the finance and insurance, health care and social assistance, and transportation industries, according to a U.S. Labor Department news release issued
The number of people applying for new unemployment-insurance benefits in New York state in the week ending June 8, increased by 1,341, or 6.6 percent, to 21,676. The jump was led by layoffs in the finance and insurance, health care and social assistance, and transportation industries, according to a U.S. Labor Department news release issued yesterday.
After posting a year-to-date low of 18,627 initial jobless claims filed in the week ending May 4, New York’s weekly claims have increased for five straight weeks, with the latest week’s rise the biggest.
The number of New Yorkers continuing to receive unemployment benefits also rose in the week ending June 8 — increasing by 1.4 percent to 210,699 from the previous week’s year-to-date low of 207,806. Until the latest week, continuing claims in New York had steadily dropped all year from a high of more than 300,000 set in the first week of 2013.
The state data is not seasonally adjusted.
The U.S. Labor Department yesterday also reported that nationwide the number of people applying for new unemployment benefits increased by 18,000 to 354,000 for the week ending June 15, compared to the revised figure of 336,000 for the week before. Analysts had been expecting about 340,000 claims.
The four-week moving average for national initial jobless claims increased by 2,500 to 348,250 in the latest week. The U.S. data is seasonally adjusted.
The Labor Department will release state data for new unemployment-benefit filings for the week ending June 15 next week.
NEW BERLIN — Golden Artist Colors, Inc. is committed to producing artistic paint materials that encourage exploration of form and concept. “We have the most creative customers in the world,” says Mark Golden, the chairman and CEO of Golden Artist Colors. The company, founded in 1980, is the largest domestic producer of acrylic artist paints.
NEW BERLIN — Golden Artist Colors, Inc. is committed to producing artistic paint materials that encourage exploration of form and concept. “We have the most creative customers in the world,” says Mark Golden, the chairman and CEO of Golden Artist Colors. The company, founded in 1980, is the largest domestic producer of acrylic artist paints.
“Our customers are artists, who are constantly experimenting with different media … My father Sam, who started making paint in 1936 (at the age of 21) with his uncle Leonard Bocour [on 15th Street in Manhattan], was eager to offer custom paint made to an artist’s specifications … ‘We’ll make whatever you want,’ was his usual response … Today, Golden Artist Colors produces 3,000 different products [excluding custom products], many derived from an artists’ requests,” notes Golden.
Golden, along with his wife Barbara, joined his father Sam who came out of retirement and his mother Adele in forming the company. The original four employees now number 148, of whom all but four reside in Central New York. Annual revenue has grown from $35,000 in 1980 to $22 million today. The original 900-square-foot barn that housed the operation is now a 100,000-square-foot manufacturing facility. By the third quarter of this year, Golden Artist Colors expects to open a 45,000 square-foot, refurbished building in Norwich designed to increase the company’s warehousing and distribution capacity and to free up more manufacturing space in New Berlin. The Norwich project is estimated to cost $2.5 million. “The Community Development Block Grant Program, [which supports the Norwich investment], require[s Golden Artist] to retain 157 employees and create 37 new jobs over … [five] years,” adds Jodi L. O’Dell, the company’s communications coordinator.
“Golden Artist Colors currently exports 25 percent of our products to 55 countries around the world,” notes Golden. “Distribution is different in each country, and we have to be sensitive [to the distinctions] … It’s important to find the right strategic partners as we grow in a global marketplace.”
Golden’s strategy for sustainable growth is evident in his choice of two recent additions to the management team. “In 2009, the company hired Jim Henderson as the corporate controller, promoting him in 2012 to chief financial officer. He brought years of experience with Benjamin Moore (a paint manufacturer with $1 billion in sales) … Jim is invaluable in helping us with the strategic and global financial-planning process,” says Golden. “Last year, we hired Scott Weller as our director of marketing … He has 20 years of experience with Unilever and H.J. Heinz, where he was instrumental in growing sales and developing innovative ideas,” continues Golden.
Rounding out the management team is Barbara J. Schindler, president; William Berthel, human-resources manager; William Hartman, director of sales; Greg Sheldon, director of operations; Howard Thaller, director of paintwork; and Barbara Golden, a company co-founder and executive director of the Sam & Adele Golden Foundation for the Arts. Golden, his wife Barbara, Henderson, and Barbara Schindler comprise the board of the operating company.
Being passionate about its products separates the company from the competition. “We encourage the [entire] staff to be passionate by listening to our customers … Last year, we responded to 13,000 emails and voice-mails, talking directly to our customers … We focus on innovation, devoting 4,000 feet to our R&D lab, which houses 15 people working on new products, quality assurance, and technical support. The company uses the stage-gate process (a multi-stage process to determine the most important ideas) to manage new-product innovation. We always have 400 ideas we’re considering, looking for the big, new idea to bring to market,” says Golden.
“Education [both of our employees and customers] is another critical [tool] in letting us compete successfully,” avers Golden. “[For example,] … the company sponsors ‘paint day’ for the employees to provide the people who make the paint the experience of painting. The company also certifies working artists who have extensive acrylic-product training to conduct demonstrations and staff trainings for artists. These workshops are conducted in most metropolitan areas in the U.S. and Canada as well as locations in Europe and Asia. [In addition,] … we have a program for professional art educators. These four-day sessions are focused on acrylic techniques.
“Perhaps the most important reason for our success is that we create an environment where our people can thrive. If our people thrive, the company will too. We want to be a leader in employee growth,” says Golden. “The company established a profit-sharing plan back in 1987, the first year we [generated] profit … Three months after Enron imploded in 2002, we became an ESOP (employee stock-option plan). Today, the employees own 62 percent of the stock, and the Golden family owns the remainder. Golden Artist Colors set up a four-percent [corporate] matching 401(k) program to encourage saving, [with the proviso] these funds couldn’t be used to buy Golden Artist Colors stock. The lesson of Enron was the need for diversification of investments … We encourage continuing education by paying for courses and offer flex-time to accommodate the employees’ schedules.”
One measure of the company’s success in attracting and retaining employees is longevity. “Seven of the employees (plus Golden and his wife) have been with us for more than 25 years, and half for more than 10 years,” avers Golden.
“The company also has a commitment to the community,” adds Golden. “We give all the employees 40 hours of paid time annually for volunteer work in the community. If the employee is an EMT (emergency-medical technician) or a firefighter, we pay for two weeks of volunteer time … The Golden family set up the Sam & Adele Golden Foundation for the Arts (1997, the year of Sam Golden’s passing) here on the property (140 acres) to support the arts community. (The 2011 form-990 filing of the foundation shows $1,974,689 as the fair-market value of all assets.)
Last year, the Foundation opened a residency program for professional artists working in paint. We transformed a 19th-century barn into large studio spaces with private apartments … The artists have an opportunity to explore an innovative range of materials and technology … We hope this will open up new methods of expression and enhance the creative process. The Foundation offers financial support and supplies paint materials and technical support,” Golden says.
Golden Artist Colors has relied almost entirely on organic growth to sustain its upward sales trajectory. In May 2010, the company made its only acquisition, purchasing the assets of the Williamsburg Handmade Oil Colors company.
“The founder of Williamsburg (Carl Plansky, who died in 2009) trained his paint makers to make paints like artists. He was a craftsman who developed a following. [Plansky] moved the company from Brooklyn to Oneonta, just 25 miles away … We [later] moved the company’s five employees and operations to [New Berlin],” says Golden. This now gives our sales representatives the opportunity to sell both oil and acrylic paints … at a time when the number of art stores is declining.”
Golden has no illusions about competing in the global marketplace. “We’re [certainly] not the biggest player in the marketplace. We face competition from giant companies like ColArt and the Becker Group… ColArt has established brand names like Winsor & Newton, Lefranc & Bourgeois, Liquitex, and Reeves … Where we sell in 55 countries, ColArt sells in 120.
ColArt has operations in 16 countries and had sales of $230 million in 2011. ColArt and Becker are both owned by the Linden Group of Sweden.
Golden Artist Colors works with NBT Bank, headquartered in Norwich, for its financing and Carol Ronovech, CPA P.C. of Oneonta for its accounting. Because the corporation’s legal requirements are so specialized, Golden Artist Colors retains different law firms for trademarks, the ESOP, and compliance.
Despite threats to the business such as competitors with lower prices and the consolidation of retailers, the future of Golden Artist Colors is bright as it continues its pattern of growth. Sam Golden’s legacy of passion for the customer, innovation, and producing quality products lives on not just in the second generation but in the company staff.
CAMILLUS — Pudgie’s Pizza — a family-owned business, offering pizza, wings, and sandwiches — has recently opened a location in the Fairmount area of Camillus. On May 12, brothers Patrick and Shawn Cleary opened the new 3,000-square-foot restaurant at 4401 West Genesee St., a site that was previously home to an HSBC bank branch. In
CAMILLUS — Pudgie’s Pizza — a family-owned business, offering pizza, wings, and sandwiches — has recently opened a location in the Fairmount area of Camillus.
On May 12, brothers Patrick and Shawn Cleary opened the new 3,000-square-foot restaurant at 4401 West Genesee St., a site that was previously home to an HSBC bank branch.
In opening their own pizza shop, the Cleary brothers are following in the footsteps of their parents —Bill and Joanne Cleary — who own a Pudgie’s Pizza in Cortland.
“We thought that Camillus was a really nice area where a lot of people live; there are a lot of houses there. We didn’t do a lot of advertising, so there’s a lot of word of mouth. Hopefully, if people like the food, it will keep growing,” Patrick Cleary says.
The Camillus Pudgie’s employs 25, a combination of full-time and part-time workers, Cleary says.
Cleardogg, Inc., a Cortland–based company owned by Bill and Joanne Cleary, bought the 4401 West Genesee St. building for $505,000 from First Niagara Bank in early January, according to Onondaga County property-tax records. The Cleary family invested more than $1 million to turn the structure into a pizza shop.
Business has been steadily increasing since the launch, especially in the evenings, according to Patrick and Bill Cleary. They declined to disclose sales totals so far.
The Cleary brothers did not do any initial advertising for the new Pudgie’s because it was more important for them to train their employees first to ensure a good product, but they will do more advertising for this business in the future, Patrick Cleary contends.
Cleary says the new Pudgie’s maintains the family tradition by using the original sauce recipe his great-grandmother in Italy created. He says he “grew up” working at Pudgie’s. “As soon as I was old enough to pour a soda, I was working with customers,” Cleary says.
“My brother and I will be here for a long time. We put a lot into this, financially and mentally. We want to make sure this turns out great,” he says.
The Pudgie’s menu includes stromboli, salads, sandwiches, and side orders to go along with its signature sheet pizza and wings. The restaurant has a drive-thru, a seating area, and offers home delivery.
Pudgie’s was founded in 1963 in Elmira by Charles (Pudgie) Cleary and Michael P. Cleary, Sr., Bill Cleary’s uncles.
Pudgie’s also has locations in Horseheads, Ithaca, Corning, and Elmira (Northside), owned by various members of the Cleary family, in addition to the Camillus and Cortland restaurants. The website for these eateries is pudgiespizza.org.
Pudgie’s also has locations in Syracuse, Waverly, Binghamton, Rochester, Elmira (Southside), Canandaigua, Mansfield, Pa., and Clarksville, Md. that are owned by MP Cleary, Inc., a company run by other members of the Cleary family, according to its website (pudgiespizza.com).
Business conditions for New York manufacturers “improved modestly” in June, according to the latest Empire State Manufacturing Survey. The Federal Reserve Bank of New York released the latest survey. The general-business conditions index, the “most comprehensive” of the survey’s measures, rose nine points to 7.8, according to the New York Fed. It’s good that we’ve
Business conditions for New York manufacturers “improved modestly” in June, according to the latest Empire State Manufacturing Survey.
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York released the latest survey.
The general-business conditions index, the “most comprehensive” of the survey’s measures, rose nine points to 7.8, according to the New York Fed.
It’s good that we’ve seen a “modest” increase in the general business-conditions index, says Randall Wolken, president of the Manufacturers Association of Central New York (MACNY).
“I would’ve been concerned if we had seen multiple months of decline there,” Wolken says.
About 29 percent of manufacturers said conditions had improved over the month, while 22 percent felt conditions had worsened, the survey found.
But most other indicators in the survey fell.
The new-orders index slipped six points to -6.7, the shipments index fell 12 points to -11.8, and the unfilled-orders index declined eight points to -14.5.
The delivery-time index declined three points to -6.5. The inventories index fell three points to -11.3, extending the decline in inventories to a fourth consecutive month, the survey found.
The survey data indicates the recovery is still “slow,” according to Wolken.
“I’ll be watching the new-orders and the shipments index over the next few months, just to see what they’re going to do,” Wolken says.
He says he tends to focus on those indexes to watch over time “because that really indicates what’s going out the door.”
The prices-paid index held steady at 21, while the prices-received index rose seven points to 11.3, the survey found.
Labor-market conditions worsened, with the index for number of employees dropping to zero, indicating that employment levels were flat and the average-workweek index retreating 10 points to -11.3.
“We’ve known for some time now this is a modest, incremental recovery, and this [survey] would indicate that’s what we’re seeing,” Wolken says.
Looking ahead
Continuing the trend over the past few months, indexes for the six-month outlook declined, suggesting that optimism about future conditions was “weakening further” among New York’s manufacturers in June, according to the New York Fed.
The future general-business conditions index inched down to 25, the future new-orders index fell nine points to 19.8, and the future-shipments index fell five points to 20.2.
The future prices-paid index rose 16 points to 45.2, indicating that input price increases were expected to accelerate, while the future prices-received index rose three points to 17.7, according to the New York Fed.
The index for expected number of employees retreated to 1.6, and the future average-workweek index declined 11 points to -9.7. The capital-expenditures index fell “steeply,” dropping 20 points to 3.2, and the technology-spending index moved into negative territory for the first time since 2009, declining 15 points to -3.2.
Wolken also says he keeps an eye on the capital-expenditures index, but doesn’t get concerned over the data in any given month.
“When you see multiple months of a particular trend, that usually indicates where it’s going,” he says.
Some economists are projecting two to three percent growth in gross domestic product in 2013, Wolken says, and if manufacturers see the growth “then I suspect these indicators will again turn positive and stay positive.”
Some survey respondents may be responding to their own situations on new orders and shipments, Wolken adds.
What he believes gets lost in these monthly surveys is that New York manufacturers are having difficulty finding the skilled workers to necessary to fill advanced-skill positions.
Wolken describes it as “still a big gap and a big need” for those with two-year degrees and certifications that manufacturers want to add to their employee counts.
The Empire State Manufacturing Survey is distributed on the first day of each month to the same pool of about 200 manufacturing executives in New York. Typically, about 100 surveys are returned.
Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com
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