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Operating at full capacity. 2012 Franchise Operations Performance Summit (OPS), to be held July 18-19 in Denver, CO, sells out.

Evan Hackel
Evan Hackel of Ingage Consulting will be a featured speaker at Franchise OPS, July 18 & 19 at the Westin Hotel in Denver, CO

DENVER, COLORADO…

The Franchise Operations Performance Summit (OPS), the only franchise executive conference dedicated to performance operations excellence, recently announced the July 18-19 event was a sellout.

“Clearly we’re thrilled with the response to this year’s Franchise OPS in Denver. One of the thoughts in putting together this year’s OPS and the one we held last year in Atlanta is that there is very little out there in terms of conferences for franchise operations executives. The sellout of this session bears that out ,” said Evan Hackel, founder of Ingage Consulting, one of the event’s sponsors. “Fortunately for those who weren’t able to attend this session, we’re planning another session with updated operations material for later in the year.”

To be held at the Westin Hotel in downtown Denver, Franchise OPS includes two days of workshops conducted by a number of franchise operations experts. In addition to Hackel, those franchise operations experts include: Deb Binder of Ingage Consulting, Stacey Ruth of Actio Marketing, Eric Stites of Franchise Business Review, Keith Gerson of FranConnect, Rupert M. Barkoff of Kilpatrick, Townsend and Stockton, Barth Getto of BizUnite and Bill Gauthier of CCA Global Partners.

“The strength of OPS is our roster of speakers. It includes some of the preeminent authorities on franchise operations in the country,” said Hackel. “In addition, we’re going to be covering material that’s critical to franchise operations and attendees will leave with an actual action plan they can begin to implement from Day One of their return to their franchise.”

A sampling of the workshops being held at Franchise OPS includes:

  • Real World Franchise Compliance
  • Impactful, Substantive and Effective Conventions/Conferences 
  • Turning a Survey into a Powerful Management Tool
  • Maximizing the Benefits of an Online University
  • Supercharging Operational Excellence with Web 2.0 Technology
  • Making the Most of Franchise System Buying Services

In addition to the educational benefits, roundtable discussions and networking opportunities with C-level franchise executives, the Franchise OPS offers the added bonus of being approved for 300 CFE credits by the International Franchise Association.

Franchise OPS is sponsored by Franchise Business Review, Kilpatrick Townsend, Actio Marketing, BizUnite and Ingage Consulting. For complete information on Franchise OPS, including announcements on future Franchise OPS conferences, please visit http://www.franchiseoperationssummit.com.

About Ingage Consulting

Ingage Consulting is a management consulting firm that works with cooperatives and cooperative councils and leadership to improve the organization’s culture which in turn increases sales and satisfaction; improves growth and retention and boosts loyalty and profits.

Ingage Consulting provides solutions that drive the cooperation, commitment, passion and loyalty of cooperative members.  They offer unique services that help solve the problems of cooperatives in a number of ways.  Working closely with clients, the Ingage Consulting team quickly and thoughtfully assesses, understands and devises solutions to a cooperative organization’s challenges.  Leaders come away with ideas for improvement, including methods for maximizing collaboration among co-op members and a clear strategy and execution plan for change, customized to meet organizational objectives.  Ingage Consulting’s proven techniques to increase collaboration brings about greater productivity and success on many levels. In short, Ingage Consulting makes cooperatives more successful.

Ingage Consulting is located at 400 Trade Center, Suite 5900 in Woburn, MA.  For more information, contact (781) 569-5900 or visit the website www.ingage.net.

 

 

Operating at full capacity. 2012 Franchise Operations Performance Summit (OPS), to be held July 18-19 in Denver, CO, sells out.Read More

Citizen groups joins Union at rally calling on Governor Patrick to ask NRC to close Pilgrim Nuclear during union lock-out

BOSTON AND PLYMOUTH, MA –

Today a statewide coalition of public health, nuclear safety, social justice, and environmental groups joined members of the Utility Workers of America Union Local 369 in a rally at the State House requesting Governor Deval Patrick requesting to ask the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to close the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station because the plant’s owner has locked out its regular workforce from the Union. A letter making a similar request was delivered to the Governor on Friday, June 22, http://www.capecodbaywatch.org/2012/06/supplement-to-2-206-enforcement-petition-regarding-labor-dispute-at-pilgrim/.

“It is unreasonable in this current economic climate for a company like Entergy to continue to demand give backs in the wake of record profits.  The CEO is not being asked for a cut in benefits, why should these workers? Instead he is risking the well being of the entire community by having replacement workers do the job of the experienced people that earned him those profits,” said Jennifer Doe, Organizer, Massachusetts Jobs with Justice.

Entergy Nuclear Generating Corporation of Louisiana, owner of Pilgrim nuclear, locked out the union work force on June 5, and has been using replacement workers. The groups say the replacement workers lack the necessary training and expertise to run Pilgrim safely.

When the labor dispute began in mid-May, local groups Pilgrim Watch and Jones River Watershed Association filed a legal petition asking the NRC to close Pilgrim until the regular workforce is back on the job. Pilgrim Watch has filed five supplemental requests based on new facts and events they say show Entergy is violating its NRC operating license. The groups say Entergy is not providing reasonable protection for the public’s health and safety. This includes cancelling an emergency response and safety drill on June 13 because the replacement workers are not trained in security or general emergency response procedures, and on June 20, failing to complete an emergency response drill.

On June 20, 2012, Local 369 voted by a two-thirds margin to reject Entergy’s latest contract offer, and the groups say Entergy’s failure to reach an agreement with the union jeopardizes the safety of the region.

The groups asking the Governor to take action are Pilgrim Watch, Jones River Watershed Association, Massachusetts Jobs With Justice, Clean Water Action, Cape Codders for Peace and Justice, Pilgrim: Make Us Safe Today, Cape Downwinders, and Toxics Action Center Campaigns, Suffolk University Center for Women’s Health and Human Rights, Union of Minority Neighborhoods, New England Jewish Labor Committee, LaCommunidad of Everett, and Environmental Massachusetts.

Citizen groups joins Union at rally calling on Governor Patrick to ask NRC to close Pilgrim Nuclear during union lock-outRead More

Local groups call on state and federal agencies to require Entergy to stop Cape Cod Bay pollution at Pilgrim

PLYMOUTH, MA

Jones River Watershed Association (JRWA) and Pilgrim Watch (PW) today renewed their request for government agencies to address issues relating to Entergy-Louisiana’s destruction and pollution of Cape Cod Bay from its operations at the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station in Plymouth.  Pilgrim takes in and heats 510 million gallons a day of sea water to make steam for its electric turbines and cool the reactor. This process kills plankton, fish and other sea life.

According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Pilgrim’s operations have created a four-square mile thermal plume of pollution in Cape Cod Bay. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) and Entergy data shows that in the past 40 years, Pilgrim has used an amount of water equivalent to the entire volume of Cape Cod Bay for its cooling water system.  On June 15, 2012, the two groups delivered a letter to the state office of Energy and Envrionmental Affairs asking the office to revoke its 2006 approval for Energy’s relicensing under the Coastal Zone Management Act,  http://www.capecodbaywatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/06.15.12-JRWA-to-CZM-reconsider-final-1-1.pdf.

“It is clear that the state has authority to stop the destruction of Cape Cod Bay from Entergy’s pollution.  The state Supreme Judicial Court in 2011 ruled that the harmful environmental impact of cooling water intake systems like Entergy’s is “staggering.”  Yet, the state agencies are standing by and letting this destruction continue,” said Pine duBois, executive director of JRWA.

On June 18, 2012, the NRC’s Atomic Safety Licensing Board issued an order saying that the NRC staff apparently violated its own rules under the Endangered Species Act for the Roseate Tern. The three judge panel said, “There is no evidence that the FEIS (final environmental impact statement) was ever submitted” to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (US FWS) as required by the ESA regulations.  The judges said that the information presented by JRWA and PW presents “extensive additional information and considerations” that may warrant future attention by the NRC staff.”

JRWA and PW on June 28, 2012 sent a letter to US FWS asking for a reevaluation of the impacts of Pilgrim relicensing on the endangered tern and its main food supply, the sand lance, which is regularly killed by Pilgrim’s cooling water system, http://www.capecodbaywatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/ESA-Tern-Reinitiate-1.pdf.

On June 28, 2012, the groups also asked the National Marine Fisheries Service to reinitiate Endangered Species Act consultation for whales, sea turtles, and sturgeon, claiming that the agency’s May 17, 2012 decision that the relicensing is “not likely to adversely affect” the endangered species or their habitat was arbitary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, or not otherwise in accordance with law, http://www.capecodbaywatch.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/06.28.12-Final-NMFS-Req-Reinitiate-1.pdf.

“There are many concerns about the future impacts of Pilgrim’s relicensing that still have not been answered, and the NRC should not have issued a new operating license until these were resolved,” said Lampert. “We will continue to press the state and federal agencies to do their jobs or protecting the public health, safety and the environment.”

Local groups call on state and federal agencies to require Entergy to stop Cape Cod Bay pollution at PilgrimRead More

Wood Products Division Launched at Emerson Bearing Boston

Lee Holt

From logs to finished cabinetry, Emerson Bearing Boston caters to the forestry and wood manufacturing/processing industries through their new Wood Products Division.

Emerson Bearing Boston, a leading bearing distributor/dealer catering to OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturers) and MRO (Maintenance, Repair and Operations) markets around the world, has recently established a Wood Products Division, which will be overseen by Lee Holt, Marketing Specialist. With more than four decades of experience in the bearings industry, Mr. Holt will advise clients of bearing technologies that are most suitable, by taking into consideration the specifications, recommendations, maintenance strategies, fatigue life and wear resistance of the bearing in relation to the application.

The forestry and wood processing industry spans a variety of bearing requirements. At the logging level, heavy duty mounted units and roller chain are essential as the logs are delimbed and rough processed at the sawmill. The finishing phases requires saws, planers and finishing equipment that use high speed spindles that work under great stress while maintaining critical tolerances.

Emerson Bearing Boston offers the most comprehensive selection of bearings and related products for these industries including Ball Bearings, Roller Bearings, Super Precision Bearings, Mounted Units, Linear Motion, Oil Seals and Spherical Bushings. They also offer special solutions of Radial ball bearings with the P53 designation. The Abec 5 precision accommodates high speeds and controlled runout while the C3 internal clearance allows for the stress and heat buildup of high radial loads.

For more information, contact Lee Holt, Marketing Specialist at 866-995-8763 or visit the website www.EmersonBearing.com.

The Emerson Bearing Difference

In a proud tradition, the same families that started the company in 1957 keep Emerson Bearing rolling by specializing in bearings for OEM and MRO markets throughout the world. Emerson Bearing’s highly knowledgeable staff housed in their 23,000 square foot facility provide bearings ranging in size from 3mm to tunnel-boring 15-foot-diameter giants.

Emerson Bearing provides solutions to a variety of industries including: aggregate, concrete, mining, machine tools, electric motor repair, marine, material handling, metal processing, packaging, food processing, paper converting, printing, wind/power generation, recreation, heavy construction, robotics, automation, transportation, wood products, wastewater treatment, pump, compressor and oil field.

Emerson Bearing offers customers a one-stop shopping experience. With an online product catalog with over 3 million bearings; a vast inventory of bearings; worldwide sourcing; a fixed price program; a knowledgeable staff dedicated to delivering; same day shipping and 24/7 service, Emerson Bearing has become the leading provider of bearings to OEM and MRO markets in the U.S. and is the sister company of Action Bearing. Emerson Bearing maintains headquarters at 201 Brighton Ave. Boston, MA. For more information, contact 617-782-1400 or toll free, 800-225-4587, email info@emersonbearing.com or visit www.emersonbearing.com.

Wood Products Division Launched at Emerson Bearing BostonRead More

Local RE market ‘builds’ momentum. Stonebridge Homes begins construction of 17th home in Maplewood Estates in Rockland, MA

ROCKLAND AND SOUTH EASTON, MASSACHUSETTS

Stonebridge Homes, Inc., local home builder and developer, announced the start of construction for the 17th home built in Maplewood Estates, a single home community located off Webster Street in Rockland, Massachusetts.

“We’re quite pleased to start another home in the Maplewood Estates development,” said Rami Itani, business manager for Stonebridge Homes. “The response from the current residents has been quite favorable and I’m sure that’s piqued interest in other buyers considering moving to Rockland.”

Maplewood Estates is set on 30 acres of natural wooded land and is located in the town of Rockland, Massachusetts. All of these beautiful homes offer many amenities and options to satisfy the savvy buyer looking to build a new home that comes with quality construction, quality living, and quality investment. Prices start at $348,000 and the size of homes range from just under 1700-square feet (the three-bed, Newbury) to the Gloucester (2740-square-feet and four bedrooms).

Maplewood Estates is zoned for 72 homes. The complete list of models available includes:

  • The Arlington (1704 square feet)
  • The Arlington II (2064 square feet and four bedrooms)
  • The Berkeley (1826 square feet)
  • The Clarendon (1812 square feet with first floor master bedroom)
  • The Dartmouth (2177 square feet)
  • The Exeter (2372 square feet)
  • The Fairfield (2382 square feet)
  • The Gloucester (2740 square feet)
  • The Redwood (2054 square feet with first floor master bedroom)
  • The Newbury (1674 square feet)

Model homes at Maplewood Estates are open daily for tours by appointment. Coldwell Banker Residential Brokerage in Norwell is the official realtor for Maplewood Estates. You can schedule a tour or request more information by contacting:

Interested parties can also get more information, including plans, by visiting www.newhomesatmaplewood.com.

About Stonebridge Homes, Inc.:

For more than 20 years, Stonebridge Homes and its team, now based in South Easton, Massachusetts, have built many residential communities throughout the northeastern United States. More recently, Stonebridge has been focusing on building in towns of southeastern Massachusetts, including Abington, Easton, Raynham, Taunton, Franklin, West Bridgewater, Pembroke, Rockland, Whitman and Norwell. The styles of these communities have varied from imaginative condominiums to custom single‐family homes designed by its award‐winning in‐house architect, whose specialty is customizing dream homes for individuals, couples and families. Each development is built with the same commitment for quality and satisfaction.

Open house hours for Maplewood Estates are Thursday 4:00 to 6:00pm, Saturday 12:00 to 3:00pm, and Sunday 12:00 to 3:00pm. For more information visit www.newhomesatmaplewood.com, or call 508.230.2300.

Local RE market ‘builds’ momentum. Stonebridge Homes begins construction of 17th home in Maplewood Estates in Rockland, MARead More

Groups call on Governor Patrick to ask NRC to close Pilgrim Nuclear during union lock-out.

PLYMOUTH, MA – (June 22, 2012) – Today a statewide coalition of public health, nuclear safety, social justice, and environmental groups delivered a letter to Governor Deval Patrick requesting that he ask the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) to close the Pilgrim Nuclear Power Station because the plant’s owner has locked out its regular workforce from the Utility Workers of America Union Local 369.  The letter is available at: http://www.capecodbaywatch.org/2012/06/supplement-to-2-206-enforcement-petition-regarding-labor-dispute-at-pilgrim/

Entergy Nuclear Generating Corporation of Louisiana, owner of Pilgrim nuclear, locked out the union work force on June 5, and has been using replacement workers. The groups say the replacement workers lack the necessary training and expertise to run Pilgrim safely.

When the labor dispute began in mid-May, local groups Pilgrim Watch and Jones River Watershed Association filed a legal petition asking the NRC to close Pilgrim until the regular workforce is back on the job. Pilgrim Watch has filed five supplemental requests based on new facts and events they say show Entergy is violating its NRC operating license. The groups say Entergy is not providing reasonable protection for the public’s health and safety. This includes cancelling an emergency response and safety drill on June 13 because the replacement workers are not trained in security or general emergency response procedures, and on June 20, failing to complete an emergency response drill.

On June 20, 2012, Local 369 voted by a two-thirds margin to reject Entergy’s latest contract offer, and the groups say Entergy’s failure to reach an agreement with the union jeopardizes the safety of the region.

“It is unreasonable in this current economic climate for a company like Entergy to continue to demand give backs in the wake of record profits.  The CEO is not being asked for a cut in benefits, why should these workers? Instead he is risking the well being of the entire community by having replacement workers do the job of the experienced people that earned him those profits,” said Jennifer Doe, Organizer, Massachusetts Jobs with Justice.

The groups asking the Governor to take action are Pilgrim Watch, Jones River Watershed Association, Massachusetts Jobs With Justice, Clean Water Action, Cape Codders for Peace and Justice, Pilgrim: Make Us Safe Today, Cape Downwinders, and Toxics Action Center Campaigns, Suffolk University Center for Women’s Health and Human Rights, Union of Minority Neighborhoods, New England Jewish Labor Committee, LaCommunidad of Everett, and Environmental Massachusetts.

Groups call on Governor Patrick to ask NRC to close Pilgrim Nuclear during union lock-out.Read More

Customer Loyalty comes ashore in Portland. New “Shop Local/Buy Local” marketing group helps Mom & Pop shops build greater customer loyalty by offering real-time access to customer feedback.

PORTLAND, ME…

While the “Shop Local/Buy Local” sentiment gets many Portland consumers in the doors of local merchant, the customer experience still dictates whether or not they return and continue to patronize a local business. Until recently, local merchants rarely had direct access to concrete data relating to a customer’s experience, good or bad. Local Marketing Community (LMC) Group recently launched a turnkey program to help Portland neighborhood businesses attain that feedback in real-time in order to build customer loyalty and grow their business.

“It costs seven to 10 times as much to acquire a new customer as it does to grow the value of an existing customer by the same amount.  A referred customer is the most profitable type of new customer to acquire.  A dissatisfied customer will return 92% of the time if the issue is resolved quickly.  Many businesses struggle to identify and measure the value of the individual customers to their business and to effectively focus on growing the more valuable relationships,” said Bruce Wildes, CEO of LMC Group. “With our program, the merchant knows who their loyal and most profitable customers are and also who the detractors are, potentially before they go viral on public web sites.  The LMC program gives them the tools to easily build upon their most valuable customer relationships.”

Here’s how LMC’s program works. Participating merchants give a feedback card to their customer that includes a tangible benefit for their feedback.  The customer completes a simple one-minute online survey with their smart phone or computer.  They are immediately emailed a validation code for the feedback card to redeem the benefit on their next visit to the merchant.  If the feedback is positive, the customer is given the option to refer others to join the Local Marketing Community and to also receive other offers from other participating merchants.  If the feedback is negative, the merchant is immediately notified to respond to the customer to address the concern.

“This kind of information is invaluable to merchants on a number of levels and has the added benefit of letting the merchant’s staff know that customers are being surveyed. This tends to improve the level of service, which increases retention and makes a customer more likely to refer family and friends,” said Wildes.

In addition to providing feedback, the LMC program offers a number of rewards vehicles so vendors can regularly communicate with their loyal customers. Those vehicles include:

  • Birthday Club
  • Anniversary Club
  • eClub
  • Text Club
  • Facebook and Twitter posts

Besides tools for customer feedback and communications, LMC’s program also provides a convenient referral platform to generate multiple referrals and develop customer appreciation programs.

LMC’s program has already enabled many local businesses to grow their business and recognize staff members.

“Statistics indicate that if a business treats a customer well, chances are 26% that the customer will become a loyal patron. Statistics also state that if we are able to exceed the customer’s expec­tations, chances of developing a loyal customer jump to over 80%. LMC offers the most effective tool to measure if we’re actually accomplishing our goal,” said Jeff Corey, president of Day’s Jeweler. “The customer feedback has been a wonderful reinforcement to our front line staff because they are seeing first hand that customers are appreciating their hard work.”

“Until now, smaller, local businesses didn’t have a convenient way to identify the customer, measure their experience, and then further build a relationship with them to keep them coming back,” said Reade Brower, an advocate of the LMC program in Rockland, Maine. “With LMC, it’s quite simple for both the merchant and consumer to participate.  It also encourages the customer to support other participating local merchants in the community.”

LMC offers a number of affordable packages to participate, ranging from $65 to $150 per month. There’s an initial commitment of one year, with a six month opt-out. For more information, please visit www.lmcgroup.biz or contact Bruce Wildes 207 370 8210 or bruce@lmcgroup.biz.

Customer Loyalty comes ashore in Portland. New “Shop Local/Buy Local” marketing group helps Mom & Pop shops build greater customer loyalty by offering real-time access to customer feedback.Read More

South Coast Improvement Company Appoints Sean J. Whalen as Vice President of Business Development

Sean J. Whalen

South Coast Improvement Company, based in Marion, MA, one of the largest providers of design/build, construction and renovation services in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic states,

has recently named Sean J. Whalen, a Marblehead resident, as Vice President of Business Development.

In his new role at South Coast Improvement, Mr. Whalen’s responsibilities will include building relationships and strategic alliances, channel development, expanding the company’s sales markets and overseeing the sales team.

Mr. Whalen has more than 22 years of business development experience working for large public and private corporations as well as start-ups. He has held a number of senior positions over the years, most recently, he served as a Senior Account Executive at CGL Electronic Security, Inc. of Norwood. Prior to that, Mr. Whalen was Commercial Sales Director at DriveABLE and Director of Sales, Eastern USA at Magtec Products, Inc. One of Mr. Whalen’s most notable achievements while serving as Director National Accounts/OEM at LoJack Corporation was development of a new channel of distribution for the company which focused on commercial construction equipment, national accounts and transportation. He successfully implemented OEM installations and secured the company‘s single largest order in history, $1.5 million.

Mr. Whalen holds a Bachelor of Arts in Communication from Boston College. As the father of five sons, one with Type 1 Diabetes, Mr. Whalen volunteers and also serves as a mentor at the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. He and his wife Sandra strive to raise awareness and funds for a cure through the Promise to Remember Me campaign and the annual Walk to Cure Diabetes Boston.

About South Coast Improvement

South Coast Improvement offers an extensive range of design, construction and construction management services regionally in the Northeast and across the U.S. With decades of experience, the company is renowned for high quality, efficiency and high standards of compliance which sets them apart from their competitors. They are are engaged in projects across sectors that include healthcare, institutional, commercial, hospitality and planned communities/residential. The company offers pre-construction analysis, construction management, general contracting, design/build services, capital improvement, building envelope improvements and interior renovations.

South Coast Improvement maintains memberships and professional affiliations with the

Assisted Living Facility Association, the American Society of Interior Designers, the International Facility Managers Association, the Community Associations Institute, as well as International Real Estate Managers and the Greater New Bedford Chamber of Commerce.

South Coast Improvement is headquartered at 208 Wareham Road in Marion, MA 02738.

For more information, contact 888-448-8887; email Information@southcoastimprovement.com or visit the website at www.southcoastimprovement.com

South Coast Improvement Company Appoints Sean J. Whalen as Vice President of Business DevelopmentRead More