Local company benefits as U.S. manufacturing numbers add up
9News
DENVER - U.S. manufacturing activity in the month of December rose to its highest level since June and employment in that sector rose with it. The ISM Manufacturing index rose to 53.9 from 52.7 in November and 50.8 in October. An index reading of 50 is an indicator of economic expansion.
Intertech Plastics, a Denver manufacturing company, saw dramatic growth in sales in 2011.
"I have not seen growth in the 32 years that I've been in business compared to what we saw this last year. We doubled our sales. We broke $20 million this year and we're on pace to double it again to $40 million in 2012, which is unheard of," Noel Ginsburg, CEO of Intertech Plastics, said.
To meet the demand, Intertech Plastics has added equipment and staffing.
"We're seeing a significant amount of capital investment required in order to meet the demand as well as we just hired 25 people in the last 30 days, really to support the growth," Ginsburg said.
Mac Clouse, a professor of finance at the University of Denver's Daniels College of Business, says this growth is significant and telling of an economic recovery.
"This is the kind of growth that we need, growth that isn't artificially stimulated, growth that is coming from the solid basic core of the economy," Clouse said. "The manufacturer is purchasing new equipment, which is a sale for somebody else. He's hiring people, so he's gotten someone off of the unemployment line that can now spend a bit more dollars once he or she gets income again, so there are a lot of good domino effects."
Ginsburg is part of a governor's task force on manufacturing and says the success is not limited to his company.
"Two weeks ago, we had a meeting and there were 30 manufacturers there and across the board there is definitely optimism beginning to build for manufacturing in Colorado and I think in the country," Ginsburg said.
(KUSA-TV © 2012 Multimedia Holdings Corporation)
