Cleveland's newest billion dollar  sales public company ... Shiloh grew its sales and executed a smart turned around from last year's loss. The loss was related to a hedging strategy that backfired, not to sales margins. They will probably be back in the acquisition mode this year.

 

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/shiloh-posts-4q-profit-212531463.html;_ylt=AwrBT9XDBX9Y8NwAe.1XNyoA;_ylu=X3oDMTEyY28zYmtyBGNvbG8DYmYxBHBvcwMyBHZ0aWQDQjMyMzdfMQRzZWMDc2M-

 

Among the little guys Mace made an acquisition. This company is not going to be in the Dow 30 anytime soon; I just find it interesting to watch.

 

http://pdf.reuters.com/htmlnews/htmlnews.asp?i=43059c3bf0e37541&u=urn:newsml:reuters.com:20170118:nBw5v7Z7qa

Cleveland Should Embrace Civic Tech

But without City Hall support, it could fizzle just as the movement is taking off.

 

Sheehan Hannan

January 30, 2017

 

These days, Brian Cummins is riding high. The jittery, paragraph-long-sentence-slinging wonk of a Cleveland City councilman shows up to interviews on a red BMW motorcycle. He finally got his first committee chairmanship last year. He even has a pet project: getting government to solve problems with technology. That’s a tall order in a city with a website that’s as mid-’90s as a pair of wide-leg JNCO Jeans. But Cummins has seen the shining light of modernity.

 

http://clevelandmagazine.com/in-the-cle/commentary/articles/cleveland-should-embrace-civic-tech

Nestle USA bringing 300 jobs to Solon as part of HQ relocation to Virginia (photos)  :clap: :clap:

 

SOLON, Ohio --  Nestle USA announced today that it is moving 300 technical, production and supply chain jobs to the Solon plant as part of the company's plan to relocate its headquarters to Arlington, Virginia, from Glendale, California.

 

"Employees will be offered the opportunity to relocate, and if they choose relocation they can," said Roz O'Hearn, a spokeswoman for Nestle. "But if they choose not to relocate, we will recruit locally."

 

The job relocations have already and will be complete by the end of 2018, O'Hearn said.

 

The company wants the jobs to be closer to its USA factories, considering 75 percent are located on the eastern half of the U.S. and the Midwest is more central.

 

 

http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2017/02/nestle_usa_bringing_300_jobs_t.html#incart_river_home

Certainly good news and about evens out the separate layoffs announce today by other companies. 

Hyland expanding their headquarters in Westlake:

 

http://news.onbase.com/hyland-to-expand-global-headquarters/

 

Hyland to Expand Global Headquarters

Announces plans for 70,000-square-foot addition to support continued business growth

Hyland, a leading provider of software for managing content, processes and cases, today announced plans to expand the campus at its global headquarters in Westlake, Ohio. The expansion, which breaks ground today, will add a third wing to its research and development center located at 28105 Clemens Road.

 

The 70,000-square-foot addition has a target completion date of May 2018 and will include office space for an additional 400 employees and a state-of-the-art training center. This is the second time in four years that Hyland has expanded its global headquarters.

 

“This is an exciting time for Hyland. This expansion reflects our continued growth and is one of many initiatives underway to support our growing global customer base,” said Bill Priemer, president and CEO at Hyland. “We feel fortunate to be in this position and look forward to welcoming employees, customers and partners to our new space."

 

Hyland estimates it will add 330 employees in 2017 to support its business needs across the globe. For more information about available positions, visit careers.hyland.com. For more details about its building expansion plans, contact Hyland’s Corporate Communications team.

^ excellent news!

Hyland is a company that has had more than one opportunity to sell out and has not.  I wish more young companies had the same patience.

^Pretty sure Hyland is already owned by a private equity firm.

Thoma Cressey Bravo bought 58% in 2007. My understanding is that TCB's ownership share has been diluted by subsequent acquisitions and no longer represents an absolute majority.  My info comes from one of their customers.

This has been a pretty good last week jobs wise, at least for Cuyahoga County. If they aren't going to Cleveland, the central county is the next best option. Much better than sprawling out into the exurbs. We have ABB moving 400 jobs to Highland Hills, Nestle moving 321 to Solon, Charter Steel building a new mill with 25 new jobs in Cuyahoga Hts, and now Hyland adding 330-400 in Westlake. Top that off with Millenia moving 200 downtown from Valley View. Who's next?

Nestle USA bringing 300 jobs to Solon as part of HQ relocation to Virginia (photos)  :clap: :clap:

 

SOLON, Ohio --  Nestle USA announced today that it is moving 300 technical, production and supply chain jobs to the Solon plant as part of the company's plan to relocate its headquarters to Arlington, Virginia, from Glendale, California.

 

"Employees will be offered the opportunity to relocate, and if they choose relocation they can," said Roz O'Hearn, a spokeswoman for Nestle. "But if they choose not to relocate, we will recruit locally."

 

The job relocations have already and will be complete by the end of 2018, O'Hearn said.

 

The company wants the jobs to be closer to its USA factories, considering 75 percent are located on the eastern half of the U.S. and the Midwest is more central.

 

 

http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2017/02/nestle_usa_bringing_300_jobs_t.html#incart_river_home

 

They must have changed CEO's again.

They must have changed CEO's again.

 

I'm always amazed by how important the CEO's often trivial and personal prefs are; and often money is no object to satisfying them.  When I was a pup, you worked where the company was or you found another job - even at the highest levels.

They must have changed CEO's again.

 

I'm always amazed by how important the CEO's often trivial and personal prefs are; and often money is no object to satisfying them.  When I was a pup, you worked where the company was or you found another job - even at the highest levels.

 

They both came to and left Cleveland because the CEO wanted to stay put.

Yardi Matrix: Reinventing Cleveland

Feb 17, 2017

 

Cleveland has been one of the slowest-growing metros in recent years, but while its real estate fundamentals continue to lag the rest of the country, there are signs of emerging opportunities.

 

Employment growth has been steady for the past six years as a more diverse workforce has emerged and the region has gradually severed ties to its industrial past. Consistent job gains in health services and education have bolstered the employment market, while formerly traditional sectors, such as construction and manufacturing, lost positions. The metro continues to develop its biomedical and innovation centers, and in December, top cancer center University Hospitals broke ground on its Rainbow Center for Women & Children, located within Cleveland’s Health-Tech Corridor.

 

MORE

https://www.cpexecutive.com/post/yardi-matrix-reinventing-cleveland-2/

Cleveland start-up, BluBoard is a sign of things to come

Monday, January 23rd 2017, 12:06 pm EST

By Brian Duffy, Cleveland 19 This Morning

 

CLEVELAND, OH (WOIO) - Cleveland is on a roll lately. The city has been re-energized with the success of the sports teams to downtown living and the restaurant scene.

 

Not as well known, but just as important, there is now a thriving creative product development culture growing particularly on the Healthline from downtown to University Circle.

 

That includes LorkTech, a company on the verge of taking their product public. It’s called the BluBoard. It's a wire free, zero power, digital display

that can be remotely updated into the future.

 

If you haven't seen them around town yet, you will soon. The developers at LorkTech believe they have created the sign of the future.

 

MORE:

http://www.cleveland19.com/story/34321031/cleveland-start-up-bluboards-a-sign-of-things-to-come

http://www.crainscleveland.com/article/20170223/NEWS/170229906/chart-industries-is-moving-its-headquarters-out-of-northeast-ohio

 

Sorry to see Chart pull up stakes; despite a recent hiccup, they were growing nicely and were peripherally in the biotech business.  Companies their size tend to follow their factories and they closed the last one in Ohio some time ago.  :-(

Really disappointing news...need less of these stories...but similar to OM Group's recent departure to St. Louis it seems like it is coming on the heels of a relatively new CEO being named...

Thing I had missed: Cleveland MSA has the largest increase in unemployment rate from 2015 to 2016 (+1.2%) https://t.co/iwBcQBMO5m

^How did 7,000+ people become unemployed from Nov to Dec? During seasonal work months. Wouldn't we know about such drastic change?

ACE Report: Service sector keys Northeast Ohio job growth

 

Employment in the Cleveland-Akron metropolitan area was up by 8,017 jobs in January, recovering from a decline in December, according to an estimate from the Ahola Crain’s Employment (ACE) Report.

 

Seasonally adjusted, the region saw employment rise to 1,179,851 from 1,171,834 a month earlier, a 0.68% increase. Most of the growth, 6,900 jobs, was in the service sector, though the goods producing sector saw a rise of 1,196 jobs. In December, the region lost 1,879 jobs. The estimates also show a 0.35% increase over the number of people working a year earlier, an increase of 4,102 jobs.

 

Despite the occasional month-to-month wobble, employment in the region has been rising steadily, if slowly. Since January 2013, the region’s seasonally adjusted employment has grown by 30,654 jobs, a 2.67% increase. During the same time period, the unemployment rate has dropped from 7.8% to 5.1%, according to the Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services.

 

http://www.crainscleveland.com/article/20170224/NEWS/170229873/ace-report-service-sector-keys-northeast-ohio-job-growth

 

^How did 7,000+ people become unemployed from Nov to Dec? During seasonal work months. Wouldn't we know about such drastic change?

 

I used to work for the Census Bureau; in addition to actual counts, they arrive at published numbers by including estimates based on accumulated data and trends. I have suspected for a while that their model for the Cleveland MSA needs updating.

Constant Aviation, part of the privately-owned Ricci aviation group at Cuyahoga County Airport, has quietly acquired another maintenance, repair, and overhaul center - this time in Sanford, FL.  Ricci rarely seeks press attention (and rarely gets it); but it might just be Cleveland's biggest semi-secret corporate group.

 

http://www.constantaviation.com/media/news/constant-aviation-and-starport-announce-starport-acquisition/

Preliminary numbers are out for January 2017 from the Bureau of Labor Statistics listing 949,068 people employed; the least amount of people since the height of the recession in January of 2010, and the second least amount of people employed since 1990.  Now granted, January is the month when the region has the highest amount of people unemployed year after year, so there's no telling how many people are added to the employment numbers later this year.  Also, the numbers are preliminary and may change.  The unemployment rate of 6.6% is also the highest it's been since March of 2014.

 

https://www.bls.gov/eag/eag.oh_cleveland_msa.htm

I have nearly given up on looking at the BLS and their adjusted numbers. They end up revising them anyhow months later to reflect the quarterly county employment numbers which are far more accurate. The ACE report from Crains is a solid resource and they published promising January employment numbers after a poor job performance for the area in 2016.

http://www.crainscleveland.com/article/20170224/NEWS/170229873/ace-report-service-sector-keys-northeast-ohio-job-growth

Medical competition set to put Cleveland at forefront of big data revolution: https://t.co/e3gnJ4rs1R

I have nearly given up on looking at the BLS and their adjusted numbers. They end up revising them anyhow months later to reflect the quarterly county employment numbers which are far more accurate. The ACE report from Crains is a solid resource and they published promising January employment numbers after a poor job performance for the area in 2016.

http://www.crainscleveland.com/article/20170224/NEWS/170229873/ace-report-service-sector-keys-northeast-ohio-job-growth

 

http://www.crainscleveland.com/article/20170316/NEWS/170319863/pnc-report-economic-growth-in-neo-to-remain-slow-and-steady-through

 

I think the PNC report Crain's cited further belies the BLS numbers. The Census Bureau's Current Population Survey (which underlies BLS' employment/unemployment numbers) depends heavily on historic trends and is slow to recognize trend changes; the Census Bureau will also admit that their monthly metropolitan data is becoming less reliable because of reduced participation rates by the general population.

Sterling finds office solution across street

March 19, 2017 UPDATED 14 HOURS AGO

By STAN BULLARD

 

Growing demand for employee background screening is fueling job growth at the new home for Sterling Talent Solutions' operation headquarters in Independence.

 

...The firm expects to hire at least 65 more workers — it calls them "team members" — in the coming year.

 

Clare Hart, CEO of Sterling, said in a phone interview that the company decided to make Cleveland its operations headquarters because of the quality of the workforce. Sterling expanded in the Cleveland market in 2015 by buying Warrensville Heights-based EmployeeScreen IQ, which later consolidated operations into the Independence office. Sterling entered the Cleveland market in 2012 by buying the former AISS unit of Little Rock, Ark.-based Axciom. Hart said Sterling shed operations staff in California and Virginia as it elevated the south suburban location as its worldwide operations center.

 

MORE

http://www.crainscleveland.com/article/20170319/NEWS/170319830/sterling-finds-office-solution-across-street

Sherwin-Williams postpones Valspar purchase until June

Deal was supposed to close by end of April.

 

http://www.startribune.com/sherwin-williams-postpones-valspar-purchase-until-june/416733083/

S-W can't catch a break. Regulators in Mexico blocked the merger with Comex (who was later bought by PPG). Now they are getting a lot of grief over Valspar

S-W can't catch a break. Regulators in Mexico blocked the merger with Comex (who was later bought by PPG). Now they are getting a lot of grief over Valspar

 

Now PPG is talking about buying Akzo.  :-(

I like stories like this. We need more of this. Slowly but surely the regional economy is evolving.

 

NEO sons come home to help fuel CLE's tech economy

 

A year ago, Chad Supers was running sales for a "baby startup" out of his San Francisco apartment. Today, the Elyria native is back home to help integrate the now fast-growing company into Cleveland's emerging tech economy. Growbots, a Silicon Valley sales software firm, recently opened its national sales operations office in the Tenk Machine and Tool building on the West Bank of the Flats. The company builds outbound sales platforms for nearly 500 emerging B2B companies  in the U.S., Europe and Canada, raising $4 million in annual recurring revenue. Growbots has four employees stationed at its West Bank office, among them former Phenom co-founder Mike Eppich. Supers says the Cleveland firm is prepared to bring on another two dozen sales and administrative roles by the end of 2017."In Cleveland we know we can get people who are hungry, hard-working and have the right attitude," Supers says. Company leaders housed in Growbots' two other locations — Warsaw, Poland, and San Francisco — chose Cleveland for a potent talent base that's far less expensive to train and hire than the employee pools on the coasts.

 

http://www.freshwatercleveland.com/innovationnews/GrowBots032017.aspx

 

I heard a rumor that GE Lighting will be jumping ship and moving out of the region if the East Cleveland merger happens. Can anyone confirm if this is true?

^ i would expect the opposite to be true. 

^ I know, which is why I'm surprised and saddened to hear it. I heard it from a pretty reliable source, but I'd love for this to be proven wrong.

It would have noting to do with whether there is a merger or not. 

It would have noting to do with whether there is a merger or not. 

 

Correct.

I heard a rumor that GE Lighting will be jumping ship and moving out of the region if the East Cleveland merger happens. Can anyone confirm if this is true?

 

I hope Buddish is in Boston on his knees, promising anything..

I heard a rumor that GE Lighting will be jumping ship and moving out of the region if the East Cleveland merger happens. Can anyone confirm if this is true?

 

I hope Buddish is in Boston on his knees, promising anything..

 

How much sense it makes depends on how much influence they currently have over East Cleveland’s so-called city government.  If it’s a lot, and they don’t think the City of Cleveland will continue to listen to them, it becomes feasible.

 

No merger would happen until after the mayor’s race in any case.  It would have to be the election winner persuading them.  Budish isn’t the main player here.

I heard a rumor that GE Lighting will be jumping ship and moving out of the region if the East Cleveland merger happens. Can anyone confirm if this is true?

 

I hope Budish is in Boston on his knees, promising anything..

 

How much sense it makes depends on how much influence they currently have over East Cleveland’s so-called city government.  If it’s a lot, and they don’t think the City of Cleveland will continue to listen to them, it becomes feasible.

 

No merger would happen until after the mayor’s race in any case.  It would have to be the election winner persuading them.  Budish isn’t the main player here.

 

EC isn't a realistic player. They are barely functional. It would HAVE to be somebody higher up the food chain who can convince the company they will not be located in a disaster area forever. Enlisting the State's help is reasonable.  The REGION cannot afford to lose a GE R&D facility.

I heard a rumor that GE Lighting will be jumping ship and moving out of the region if the East Cleveland merger happens. Can anyone confirm if this is true?

 

I hope Budish is in Boston on his knees, promising anything..

 

How much sense it makes depends on how much influence they currently have over East Cleveland’s so-called city government.  If it’s a lot, and they don’t think the City of Cleveland will continue to listen to them, it becomes feasible.

 

No merger would happen until after the mayor’s race in any case.  It would have to be the election winner persuading them.  Budish isn’t the main player here.

 

EC isn't a realistic player. They are barely functional. It would HAVE to be somebody higher up the food chain who can convince the company they will not be located in a disaster area forever. Enlisting the State's help is reasonable.  The REGION cannot afford to lose a GE R&D facility.

 

Agreed, but in this case the city of Cleveland would be the key concern.  The county doesn't have the clout.

I wonder if this rumor is actually referring to a different type of "merger"? Hasn't there been speculation that GE was trying to sell its retail lighting business?

^yes, as has Phillips.

I thought GE already spun it out into a new organization called "Current by GE"

The next generation lighting unit/LED was spun off from Nela, and incorporated into a unit called "Current" which is based in Boston.   

The next generation lighting unit/LED was spun off from Nela, and incorporated into a unit called "Current" which is based in Boston. 

 

I thought Nela was part of Current, doing R&D for them.  The former head of Nela (I forget her name) now in Boston runs Current, no?

To bad we couldn't get them to relocate their HQ here so we could be both Current & Progressive....

The next generation lighting unit/LED was spun off from Nela, and incorporated into a unit called "Current" which is based in Boston. 

 

I thought Nela was part of Current, doing R&D for them.  The former head of Nela (I forget her name) now in Boston runs Current, no?

 

Yes...that is correct.

Would be great to keep this asset in the region, especially since LED and other forms of lighting are just starting to really take off.

To bad we couldn't get them to relocate their HQ here so we could be both Current & Progressive....

 

The next generation lighting unit/LED was spun off from Nela, and incorporated into a unit called "Current" which is based in Boston. 

 

I thought Nela was part of Current, doing R&D for them.  The former head of Nela (I forget her name) now in Boston runs Current, no?

 

Yes...that is correct.

Would be great to keep this asset in the region, especially since LED and other forms of lighting are just starting to really take off.

 

Except the forward thinking "Current" division was essentially spun off and moved to Boston where it was combined with some of the other forward thinking/energy divisions and where it is now headquartered (and hiring). 

 

That leaves a rather stagnant lighting division in E. Cleveland that speculation would have it G.E. is looking to sell off.  So GE essentially took what they saw as the growing profitable sector of the lighting division and spun it out of E. Cleve thus making Nela's future cloudy. 

 

   

^I tend to share the dark outlook, but to clarify, I think Current still has a significant research presence at NELA park, separate from the "stagnant" retail lighting division. I think it was mostly management that moved to the new Boston HQ.