Now that the hard work has been done to get the tubing company transferred from the past owner to the new ones, along everything else that goes along with that task, it’s time to get busy on what we can do to assist the new owners restart their facility.
In the business of helping business, there is never a good time to rest or assume our work in over. In fact, our work has just begun.
As the final days of 2019 were winding down the leadership of Bison Metals Technologies, LLC, was already starting to think about and plan what was needed next to rebuild and upgrade their facility, and equally as important, what they needed to do to increase the skills level of their employees.
We always tell those who will listen that Oklahoma has around 4 million residents and in one way or another we know them all. Now is the time to help the new owners get connected to those who can help them the most.
Several weeks ago, we started reaching out to those who we have on speed dial alerting them to the pending business transfer and to be thinking about how they might help this company. The trick is to determine what the new owners need, what an agency or program could offer them, let them decide if it is beneficial to their end goal.
Helping can mean a lot of different things to a business but being in their way while they are juggling a hundred different tasks is not very helpful. To give you some insight into who we have alerted to their needs, here is a small sampling of who has been made aware of the new ownership of the tubing plant, and what they might be able to offer the new owners.
One of our first calls was to the Oklahoma Manufacturers Alliance, and our local Manufacturers Extension Agent, or what we call a MEA. This individual can help a business assess a wide variety or range of manufacturing challenges and has a strong support system behind them of engineers and manufacturing professionals who can offer their wisdom and expertise in solving those challenges.
Simultaneously we notified the local Career Tech about the need the business will have to cross train their employees, undertake more safety training and possibly help with their training needs associated with new equipment the company will be installing along with the new manufacturing processes they plan to develop.
Gordon Cooper Technology has highly competent Industrial Coordinators ready to be part of the training team that can be of service to the new business owners, plus this Career Tech has a wide range of other resources that can benefit the company.
The Oklahoma Department of Commerce’s Regional Development Specialist for our area has been contacted, and he has been reviewing what the company may qualify from the State of Oklahoma, in the form of incentives and our tax exemptions.
Finally, at the request of the Bison Metals Technologies leadership, we have shared the press release information about the transfer of ownership of the business to 40 plus sources who can help broadcast the news about this facility.
At the end of the day it is up to the new owners to do the heavy lifting that is required to turn this facility into the state of art production center. No doubt this community wants them to be successful, and it just makes sense to share what we can, about resources that can assist them.
It is what we are supposed to do…