Manufacturing growth in NY nearly grinds to a halt in June

Get our email updates

Stay up-to-date on the companies, people and issues that impact businesses in Syracuse, Central New York and beyond.

Manufacturing in New York State lost steam in June, according to a monthly survey from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. The New York

Fleet-management firm, Crosshair, looks to grow

Regional News, Small Business, Subscriber Only

VESTAL — In the year since it was formed, Crosshair Consultants, LLC has built up a steady business within the natural-gas industry in Pennsylvania. With drilling a possibility on the horizon in New York, the Vestal–based company is looking to grow its business locally. Crosshair is a management-consultant firm specializing in federal Department of Transportation

Already an Subcriber? Log in

Get Instant Access to This Article

Become a Central New York Business Journal subscriber and get immediate access to all of our subscriber-only content and much more.

Learn More and Become a Subscriber

Crosshair is a management-consultant firm specializing in federal Department of Transportation (DOT) safety and compliance issues. From overseeing records to inspecting trucks, the company works with its clients to make sure trucking fleets are safe.

“That’s kind of a niche for us,” company co-owner Garrett Guiles says. The natural-gas industry, which relies heavily on trucks, was a perfect market for the company to pursue, he notes.

Crosshair Consultants is currently working with a large natural-gas company, which it declined to name, to evaluate the trucking fleets with which the gas-company subcontracts.

“We evaluate every single commercial vehicle they have that goes on their sites,” Roderick Reid, a senior consultant at Crosshair, says of the gas company. The evaluations seek out both mechanical defects with the vehicle and driver deficiencies, he says.

As a result of those evaluations, over the past year Crosshair has helped that natural-gas firm reduce the number of violations per truck by 47 percent and has cut the out-of-service rate (time a truck is off the road due to mechanical or other defects) to about 10 percent. The national average, Reid notes, is 20 percent.

Those improvements boost the overall safety rating for the gas company, increase profitability by reducing fines and out-of-service times, and help provide communities the trucks travel through with some peace of mind, Reid adds.

In New York, Crosshair Consultants has been working with construction companies and contractors, providing the same fleet-management services, Guiles says. But the real growth for his business would come from natural-gas drilling in New York, he adds.

Currently, large-scale drilling is on hold as the state wrestles with the issue of hydrofracking — a process that uses sand, water, and chemicals to release natural-gas deposits from the surrounding shale. The state has a moratorium against hydrofracking in place as the Department of Environmental Conservation works to sort out issues surrounding the safety of the process. In the meantime, new legislation was introduced in May seeking to extend the hydrofracking moratorium until July 2013.

“If New York were to open the gates and be a little more welcoming, we’d see a lot of benefits,” Guiles says. Obviously, his company would benefit. He expects he’d double his revenue and need to double his current staff of 10.

Like it or not, the natural-gas industry is creating jobs and boosting otherwise stagnant economies, he says. “The natural-gas industry is the primary reason we were able to return to the Southern Tier and start a company,” he explains.

That said, Guiles also agrees with those that say the industry needs to be safe and regulated. In many cases, he says, gas companies are proactive about issues — ranging from dust control to road maintenance — in order to ward off complaints.

While it waits for the hydrofracking issue to sort out, Guiles says his company is staying busy in Pennsylvania and also working to land more customers in New York. Companies operating unsafe trucks face an array of penalties, he says. Fines can start at $150, but can range as high as $15,000 or $20,000 if a company must undergo an internal audit by the DOT. Add in the loss of income on top of that whenever trucks are deemed unsafe to be in service, and it really adds up, he says.

“Proactive is better than being reactive, and it’s less costly,” Guiles says.

Crosshair Consultants (www.crosshairconsultingny.com), founded by Guiles and a silent co-partner a year ago, offers fleet evaluations and analysis, data assessment, safety-management programs, management training, and comprehensive company analyses. The company is located at 120 Plaza Drive in Vestal.

NBT completes Hampshire First merger

Banks & Credit Unions, Insurance & Financial Services, Regional News

NORWICH — NBT Bank, N.A. wrapped up its merger with New Hampshire–based Hampshire First Bank June 8, making Hampshire First a division of NBT Bank

Upstate Shredding to add $6M wire-chopping plant

Construction, Design & Real Estate, Energy, Environment & Sustainability, Regional News

OWEGO — Upstate Shredding-Ben Weitsman will build a new $6 million wire-chopping plant at its Owego facility, adding 10 new jobs, according to a company

Binghamton University installs solar-powered parking meters

Energy, Environment & Sustainability, Health Care, Regional News, Subscriber Only, Technology

VESTAL — Parking has recently gone green at Binghamton University. In April, the university installed five new solar-powered, pay-by-space parking meters around campus serving multiple parking spaces. The new units replace older, battery-powered models, says Daniel Chambers, deputy chief of police at Binghamton University. The problem with the old ones, he says, is that the

Already an Subcriber? Log in

Get Instant Access to This Article

Become a Central New York Business Journal subscriber and get immediate access to all of our subscriber-only content and much more.

Learn More and Become a Subscriber

VESTAL — Parking has recently gone green at Binghamton University.

In April, the university installed five new solar-powered, pay-by-space parking meters around campus serving multiple parking spaces.

The new units replace older, battery-powered models, says Daniel Chambers, deputy chief of police at Binghamton University. The problem with the old ones, he says, is that the nine-volt batteries had to be replaced several times a year and there was no easy way to link the machines together.

The new solar-powered units, manufactured by Mount Laurel, N.J.–based Metric Group, Inc. (dba Metric Parking), not only run on a solar-charged battery, but also are connected via wireless and cellular technology, Chambers says. That improves efficiency for those operating the system and service for those using the system, he contends.

In terms of operating efficiency, the units are set up to notify the operator if there are any issues — if the machine is out of receipt paper, if the cash vault was tampered with, or if other issues crop up, Chambers says. Those little nuisances can add up to big headaches if not discovered quickly, and the new system notifies him right away of any problems, he says.

For users, the benefits are much more noticeable. One of the first things users might notice, he says, is that they can pay with something besides a handful of quarters. “They also take credit cards and debit cards,” Chambers says of the machines, which also accept bills.

Unlike the old machines where the parking receipt needed to be displayed on the vehicle dashboard, the new system allows users to punch in their parking-space number when they pay, Chambers says. Then the system has a record of what parking spot the car is in and how long the space is paid for, meaning users don’t have to walk back to their car after paying to place the receipt on the dash.

In addition, because the machines are all linked to each other, users can add time to their parking space from any of the machines, according to Chambers. All they need is their transaction number from their receipt.

The machines also give receipts for those who need to turn them in on their expense accounts, he adds.

Currently, the machines serve four major parking areas with lots ranging in size from about 25 spaces to nearly 70, Chambers says. Each machine can serve up to 1,000 parking spaces.

The university is looking to add more of the solar-powered machines to its Innovative Technologies complex, he says, parts of which are currently under construction.

The machines just make good sense, he says. They provide a better customer experience, and “you’re not throwing away 80 to 160 nine-volt batteries a year,” he adds.

Metric Parking notes other benefits of its solar-powered machines including increased revenue, reduced enforcement costs, reduced system collection and maintenance costs, and the ability to utilize information related to space usage for future parking plans. Binghamton University did not disclose how much it spent to install the meters.

Solar company opens Conklin training facility

Construction, Design & Real Estate, Energy, Environment & Sustainability, Regional News, Small Business

CONKLIN — SunMaxx Solar, a Conklin–based manufacturer of solar-thermal systems, opened a new solar training facility in Conklin last month. The 2,000-square-foot indoor training lab

CenterState Chamber Alliance expects more members

Subscriber Only

SYRACUSE — CenterState CEO and the Mohawk Valley Chamber of Commerce are launching a partnership that could eventually include chambers of commerce throughout the region. The organizations announced the CenterState Chamber Alliance on June 7. The partnership makes each group’s member services and benefits available to the other. That includes networking programs, education and training

Already an Subcriber? Log in

Get Instant Access to This Article

Become a Central New York Business Journal subscriber and get immediate access to all of our subscriber-only content and much more.

Learn More and Become a Subscriber

SYRACUSE — CenterState CEO and the Mohawk Valley Chamber of Commerce are launching a partnership that could eventually include chambers of commerce throughout the region.

The organizations announced the CenterState Chamber Alliance on June 7. The partnership makes each group’s member services and benefits available to the other.

That includes networking programs, education and training sessions, and member discounts.

The two groups will maintain their local identities, management teams, board control, member-relations efforts, and services. They will actively market each other’s programs and events and promote cross-member participation, according to CenterState CEO.

CenterState CEO President Robert Simpson expects the alliance to add more members. The group is in talks with other chambers now and the response has been positive.

“Inviting other chambers to be a part of this makes sense,” he says. “Finding ways to collaborate and support small businesses is a logical step for us to take.”

Any future additions to the alliance would retain their local identities and leadership as well, Simpson says.

The effort creates a stronger, more regional voice for advocacy, he adds. When policy and regulatory issues affecting businesses arise in Albany or Washington, D.C., the chambers plan to coordinate and make their case together to lawmakers.

Advocacy is a hallmark of chambers across the country, says Sam Berardino, chairman of the Mohawk Valley Chamber board of directors.

“We’ve done a good job partnering with our elected officials,” he says. “We’ve captured their attention and they listen and act. But we’re just one chamber.

“If we really want to promote meaningful, sustainable growth, we need to work together and we know that.”

It’s a critical time for businesses to push their agenda with legislators, he adds.

“There are numerous forces out there lobbying at all levels for anti-business policies,” Berardino says. “That’s why it’s more important than ever for large regional chambers to be a voice for members.

CenterState CEO, based in Syracuse, is the result of a merger between the Greater Syracuse Chamber of Commerce and the Metropolitan Development Association of Syracuse and Central New York. It has 2,000 member companies.

The Mohawk Valley Chamber, based in Utica, represents about 900 businesses. The chamber has been working with CenterState CEO affiliate Benefit Specialists of New York to provide health-benefit services for its members for the past three years.

The alliance should help members grow their businesses, says Jane Amico, vice president of chamber services at CenterState CEO. Firms in Central New York now have an easier way to make contacts in the Utica–Rome area.

In fact, CenterState has already received at least one call from a member looking for introductions in the Mohawk Valley.

“It puts people in connection with one another,” Amico says of the partnership.

The alliance will also help improve member discounts. CenterState CEO’s group purchasing programs in areas like office
supplies, human resources, and energy will get better as more members use them and vendors provide deeper price reductions for the larger group.

Scaling up those discount programs is another key reason for expanding the alliance, Simpson says.

Excellus: Generics slated to hit shelves could save $714M Upstate

Health Care, Regional News, Subscriber Only

New generic medications set to appear in pharmacies in 2012 and 2013 could save more than $714 million per year in prescription-drug spending in upstate New York, according to estimates released June 12 by Excellus BlueCross BlueShield. The savings would come from patients switching to generic versions of 35 brand-name prescription drugs with expiring patents. Generics

Already an Subcriber? Log in

Get Instant Access to This Article

Become a Central New York Business Journal subscriber and get immediate access to all of our subscriber-only content and much more.

Learn More and Become a Subscriber

The savings would come from patients switching to generic versions of 35 brand-name prescription drugs with expiring patents. Generics can start to appear shortly after patents expire, and costs to patients typically start to plummet in about six months, according to Rochester–based Excellus, which is Central New York’s largest health insurer.

“2012 is a big year,” says Joel Owerbach, the insurer’s vice president and chief pharmacy officer. “In terms of numbers, it is big. In terms of impact drugs, it is big.”

For 2012, Excellus tallied 26 brand-name medications with generic versions it expects to become available. A total of 449,000 users in 39 upstate counties spend nearly $731 million per year on the brand-name drugs, the insurer estimated.

Those users would cut prescription-drug spending by a total of $585 million if they switched to appearing generic versions, Excellus said.

One of the headline drugs coming off patent in 2012 is Avapro, Owerbach says. The blood-pressure prescription is used by 32,200 people in upstate New York. Annual savings of nearly $27 million would be realized if all users switched to Avapro’s generic version, irbesartan, according to Excellus estimates.

For 2013, the insurer listed nine brand-name drugs it expects to become available as generics. About 80,600 users spend almost $162 million annually on those brand-name medications. Generics could save $129.6 million per year.

Prescription-drug spending makes up between 15 percent and 17 percent of health-insurance premiums, Excellus said. Therefore, slashing spending on medications can help keep premiums down, according to Owerbach.

“It means tens of millions of dollars we don’t have to put into our premiums, so we can put out an affordable product,” he says. “If you happen to be using one of these drugs, depending on what your benefit is, you’re going to be paying less on a generic. Additionally, it makes it more affordable for employers to be able to provide drug-benefit coverage for their employees.”

A total of more than 529,000 upstate residents use the 35 drugs that Excellus expects to come out as generics by the end of 2013. Savings vary depending on the medication, but generics are often drastically less expensive, the insurer found.

For example, patents covering the heart medication Plavix expired in May, and the generic version, clopidogrel, started making its way into pharmacies. A 30-day supply of the brand-name Plavix cost about $230, but a 30-day supply of generic clopidogrel could be found for as little as $10, Excellus noted.

About 61,700 upstate residents are on Plavix, according to the insurer. Switching them to the generic would net savings of $101.7 million per year, it estimated.

Lowering the cost of drugs can have long-term effects, Owerbach says. Patients are more likely to take lower-priced drugs as prescribed — and when they don’t skip doses, they are less likely to have serious medical issues.

“People who are compliant with statin drugs tend to have less long-term medical costs,” he says. “They don’t get as many heart attacks. That helps lower medical costs and keeps premiums low.”

Excellus is encouraging doctors and patients to consider generics. Last year, it set a target of an 80-percent generic fill rate in upstate New York.

In the insurer’s commercial business, the rate was about 77 percent in the first quarter of this year, Owerbach says. It was likely around 75 percent in Central New York, although no regional breakdown is available yet, he adds.

“We try to promote a dialogue and a conversation to continually educate doctors and educate consumers to say there are lower-cost options and alternatives,” Owerbach says. “The good news is we expect 85 percent to 90 percent of people who start on a generic will continue on a generic, because the drug works for them.”

Excellus based its estimates on data from October 2011 to March 2012 from its pharmacy-management division. Its cost-savings calculations assumed 100 percent of brand-name drug users would change to generics and that generics would cut costs by 80 percent.

Small-business optimism slips in May; firms ‘treading water’

Small Business, Subscriber Only

A monthly measurement of small-business owners’ optimism nationally stabilized in May, diminishing incrementally after registering ups and downs in April and March. The Small Business Optimism Index from the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) dipped one-tenth of a point in May. It registered 94.4, which is low by historical standards and matches slow growth

Already an Subcriber? Log in

Get Instant Access to This Article

Become a Central New York Business Journal subscriber and get immediate access to all of our subscriber-only content and much more.

Learn More and Become a Subscriber

A monthly measurement of small-business owners’ optimism nationally stabilized in May, diminishing incrementally after registering ups and downs in April and March.

The Small Business Optimism Index from the National Federation of Independent Business (NFIB) dipped one-tenth of a point in May. It registered 94.4, which is low by historical standards and matches slow growth in employment and gross domestic product, according to the business organization.

May’s indication of relatively steady optimism levels comes after contrasting gains and losses over the last two months. The index fell 1.8 points in March, then rose 2 points in April.

Even so, small-business owners adjusted some of their views during May. They shifted their sales expectations downward while cutting back on negativity about the economy as a whole.

A seasonally adjusted net 2 percent of owners expected higher sales over the next three months, the NFIB found. That’s down 4 points from April, when a net 6 percent anticipated higher sales.

And a net negative 2 percent predicted better business conditions in six months, seasonally adjusted. Although the indicator is negative, it is up 3 points from April, when a net negative 5 percent of owners foresaw improving business conditions. The negative result indicates more business owners expect worse conditions than better conditions.

The NFIB calculates net percentages by subtracting pessimistic survey answers from optimistic answers. A positive net percentage indicates more optimistic business owners, but a negative percentage shows predominant pessimism.

New York director’s comments

Small-business owners in New York State are keeping their outlooks steady, according to NFIB New York State Director Mike Durant. Their feelings are similar to those reflected in the business organization’s optimism index, which is developed from a national survey, he adds.

“It’s great that they’re treading water, but at the same time you’re not going to move the needle very far when you have more regulations, a potential minimum-wage hike — all the things we’re seeing at a national and state level,” he says.

Even if New York’s legislative session expires this month without the passage of a minimum-wage increase, which many business owners fear, fall elections are breeding uncertainty, Durant says.

“They’re keeping one eye on Washington, D.C. and the fogginess that exists there with the presidential election,” he says. “They’re playing wait-and-see.”

Other survey findings

Hiring plans edged up 1 point in May, the NFIB’s national survey found. A seasonally adjusted net 6 percent of small-business owners said they planned to increase hiring in the next three months.

Hard-to-fill job openings also increased. Seasonally adjusted, 20 percent of owners reported having positions they were unable to fill, an increase of 3 points from April.

And plans to boost inventories rose. A seasonally adjusted net 2 percent of business owners indicated they wanted to increase inventories in three to six months, up 2 points from 0 in April.

But business owners were satisfied with their current inventory levels. The seasonally adjusted net percent of owners who said their inventories were too low was unchanged from April at 0. Also unchanged was the portion of business owners who rated the next three months as a good time to expand. It slotted in at a seasonally adjusted 7 percent for the third straight month.

Plans to make capital outlays receded 1 point. Seasonally adjusted, 24 percent of business owners planned capital expenditures in the next three to six months.

Expectations for credit conditions lowered as well, slipping 2 points in May. A net negative 10 percent of regular borrowers expected borrowing to become easier over the next three months. In other words, most business owners thought borrowing will become more difficult.

Finally, earnings took a hit, as a seasonally adjusted net negative 15 percent of business owners reported their earnings were higher in the last three months when compared to the prior three months. The result was down 3 points from April and indicates most business owners experienced worsening earnings.

Taxes claimed the top spot as the single most-important problem cited by business owners. In May, 22 percent said taxes were their single biggest problem. They were followed closely by poor sales, cited by 20 percent, and government regulations and red tape, which was named by 19 percent.

The NFIB, a nonprofit organization representing members in all 50 states and Washington, D.C., calculated the Small Business Optimism Index after surveying 681 of its members in May.

St. Joseph’s names Women and Children’s Service Line leaders

Health Care, Nonprofits, Subscriber Only

SYRACUSE — St. Joseph’s Hospital Health Center has named an administrator and medical director for its Women and Children’s Service Line, cementing a new organizational structure it has been using for much of the last year. “We’re structuring how we deliver care,” says Gael Gilbert, director of Maternal Child and Inpatient Psychiatric Services at St.

Already an Subcriber? Log in

Get Instant Access to This Article

Become a Central New York Business Journal subscriber and get immediate access to all of our subscriber-only content and much more.

Learn More and Become a Subscriber

“We’re structuring how we deliver care,” says Gael Gilbert, director of Maternal Child and Inpatient Psychiatric Services at St. Joseph’s and the administrator of its Women and Children’s Service Line. “We’re hopefully making it more efficient, more patient friendly, more staff friendly, and more provider friendly.”

The service line encompasses the hospital’s labor and delivery section, intensive-care nursery, postpartum mother-baby area, low-risk birthplace area, women’s medical surgical unit, and primary-care areas. More than 150 staff members work in the line’s areas. The idea is to bring people together from different units to help improve aspects like safety and efficiency.

The main service-line committee is made up of about 15 people and meets on a monthly basis. It also has subcommittees to work on specific issues, and it calls in ad-hoc members to help with certain focus areas, such as purchasing or marketing.

Service-line committee members aren’t all department heads, according to Dr. James Brown, who was named the line’s medical director.

“A lot of times you’ll have managers and their higher-up chairmen making decisions, but you won’t have the everyday people that are working on the front lines and can recognize that you can’t do something this way because of an issue,” he says. “So, now we have the frontline people being a part of the process. They can tell us what will work because they’re living it every day.”

For example, the hospital’s new emergency room is not close to its labor and delivery unit, Brown says. And while most mothers-to-be enter the hospital through its main entrance, a few go through the emergency room.

Employees at the main entrance know how to take a mother to the labor and delivery unit smoothly, according to Brown. But the Women and Children’s Service Line has been working to help the hospital’s emergency-room staff — its nurses and physicians — move soon-to-be mothers safely and efficiently, he says.

“Those are examples you find throughout the network,” Gilbert says. “We’re the experts in women’s and children’s [health care]. We want to make sure we’re working with other areas.”

The Women and Children’s Service Line is the fourth service line at St. Joseph’s Hospital Health Center. St. Joseph’s also has cardiac, orthopedic, and behavioral-health service lines. The first of those lines, cardiac and behavioral health, were informally established in 2005 and then set up formally in 2008.

St. Joseph’s Women and Children’s Service Line has reduced costs and improved efficiency, Gilbert says. But, she declined to share specific data because she says it is competitive information.

In trips around the country, Brown has seen other hospitals implementing service lines, he says. Hospitals typically start with orthopedics and cardiac surgery, although some, such as Rochester General Hospital, also have women and children’s service lines, he adds.

As St. Joseph’s Hospital Health Center’s Women and Children’s Service Line administrator and medical director, respectively, Gilbert and Brown communicate with each other daily and meet weekly.

“Theoretically, every single person who works at St. Joseph’s is impacted by this,” Gilbert says. “Services for women and children touches every single department in the hospital, whether it be radiology, whether it be admitting, whether it be marketing.”

St. Joseph’s Hospital Health Center is a nonprofit hospital with 431 beds and a health-care network that serves patients from Onondaga County and 15 surrounding counties. It is affiliated with Franciscan Companies and sponsored by the Sisters of St. Francis.

Get our email updates

Stay up-to-date on the companies, people and issues that impact businesses in Syracuse, Central New York and beyond.

Get our email updates

What's New

Upcoming Events

Greater Binghamton Chamber Connect Over Lunch

NOFA-NY 43rd Annual Winter Conference

Central New York Political Leadership Institute Information Session

CNYBJ Job Board

Get Instant Access to This Article

Get Instant Access to This Article

Get Instant Access to This Article

Get Instant Access to This Article

Get Instant Access to This Article

Get Instant Access to This Article

Get our email updates