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Summary
Today
Jon Cooper, President of Lighting Components and Design, Inc. (LC&D)
announced that his company had been nominated as South Florida Manufacturer
of the Year.
The award
is given annually by the South Florida Manufacturer’s Association
(SFMA), an affiliate of the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM).
Awards
recipients are selected based on several criteria, impartially evaluated
by the Board of directors of the SFMA: Commitment to Employees, Dedication
to Quality, Growth Over the Past Two Years, Investment in Training/Retraining,
Innovative Systems and Products and Company Culture.
Complete
Story
Today Jon
Cooper, President of Lighting Components and Design, Inc. (LC&D)
announced that his company had been nominated as South Florida Manufacturer
of the Year. The award is given annually by the South Florida Manufacturer’s
Association (SFMA), an affiliate of the National Association of Manufacturers
(NAM).
Cooper
was advised of the nomination and told that two awards are given annually,
one to firms over 250 employees, and one to firms with 250 or fewer
employees. He laughed and said "Well, maybe we can win this year
in the under 250 category, and, with luck, next year in the over 250
employee category."
"Our
sales were up 41% last year, and our staffing is now just over 200 people.
If that growth continues in 2000, as we fully expect it will, we’ll
be over 250 employees by year end."
Cooper
said, "It looks like we’ll be competing with the big boys
this year, Motorola, Siemens and the like."
Previous
recipients of this award include Motorola, Aero Thrust, Beckman-Coulter,
the Florida Manufacturing Technology Center and Hoerbiger Corporation
of America.
Jon Cooper
said, in part, "LC&D feels honored to be considered among such
outstanding world-class companies."
Awards
are decided based on six criteria, impartially evaluated by an independent
Judging Committee selected by the Sponsors. Criteria are:
- Commitment
to Employees.
- Dedication
to Quality.
- Growth
Over the Past Two Years.
- Investment
in Training/Retraining.
- Innovative
Systems and Products.
- Company
Culture.
Cooper’s
acceptance letter to the SFMA is reproduced here in full:
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February 7, 2000
Ms.
Linda Cooke, Chairperson
South Florida Manufacturers Association
1000 West McNab Road
Pompano Beach, Florida 33069
Subject: Submission For 1999 South Florida Manufacturer of the Year
Reference: Your letter of 1/7/00 to me
Dear
Ms. Cooke,
I
am pleased and honored to accept the Selection Committee's nomination
for South Florida Manufacturer of the Year on behalf of the employees
of Lighting Components and Design.
The
very act of preparing the enclosed submission materials fills our
senior management team with pride as we reflect on how far we have
come in just six short years. LC&D rose from the ashes of a
bankrupt predecessor company to:
- Achieve
40% growth last year, our sixth year in the business of manufacturing
miniature lighting devices.
- Earning
"Approved Certified Vendor Status" from some of our
nations largest OEM, who demand the strictest adherence to QS9000
and ISO9000 Standards.
- Creditworthiness
rated among the top 5% of firms of our size by Dun & Bradstreet
- Operating
Margins rated among the top Quartile by D&B.
- "Courted"
by our nations' largest banks, investment firms lenders and Electronics
Distributors.
What
a ride is has been, and our journey is just beginning!
It
seems like just yesterday that a half dozen people, many of who
were to become the nucleus of my senior management team, and I stood
dripping wet in the middle of an empty warehouse. Its roof leaked
rainwater on us as we began uncrating truckloads of materials, components,
tools and equipment. With those people, those tools, equipment and
materials, rode my hopes and dreams to build a business that my
infant son, my family, my employees and I would someday view with
pride as the foundation of long term economic well being for ourselves
and our loved ones.
We
were building for the future… our future… and knew if
we were to succeed every ounce of our physical and intellectual
energy would have to be committed to this enterprise. I had sunk
every dollar I owned or could borrow to the success of this venture.
Failure was NOT an option and there was no going back. We had no
"Plan B, " we had to make "Plan A" succeed with
the people and resources we had - the bank account was running on
near empty.
Stubbornness,
pride, courage, commitment, shared vision, hard work and a healthy
dissatisfaction with accepting the status quo… that's what
got us here, and that is what continues to drive LC&D's ongoing
progress in every area of our business.
Therefore,
on behalf of the employees of Lighting Components and Design, it
is with great pride that we submit the attached information in support
of LC&D’s nomination as South Florida Manufacturer of the
Year.
We
hope you will view our submission favorably. We stand before you
proud of what we have accomplished thus far and with a shared enthusiasm
for the future of our company. After you read our submission, I
believe you will clearly recognize that our pride shows in everything
we do.
If
you have any questions or desire any supplemental information, please
feel free to call me or my CFO, Dave Dickler, who prepared the attached
report, directly at 954-425-0123.
Sincerely,
Jon
Cooper,
President
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About
Lighting Components and Design, Inc.
For further information about LC&D: who we are, what we do, company history, ISO/TS 16949:2002, recent developments, etc.,
click here.
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