Sunday, February 28, 2010

Richmond Times - Dispatch

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February 28, 2010
Circulation: 133,161
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In manufacturing, the niche is where it's at

The Richmond area's manufacturing economy is down, but not out.

Even as the recession has delivered punches to industry sectors ranging from paper and packaging to high-tech electronics, the region has seen some investments in manufacturing, particularly in smaller, niche markets that have weathered the economic storm fairly well.

Other entrepreneurs are trying to find ways to salvage new opportunities from what has been lost in manufacturing.

One example of that is in Ashland, where Howard Hager and a group of former employees of the Reynolds Metals Co. and Alcoa Inc. manufacturing operations in the Richmond area have started their own business, Hanover Foils.

"We are essentially starting from scratch," Hager said. The startup company has set up operations in a former Philip Morris USA product development facility on Hill Carter Parkway.

Production machinery was moved into the site in January, and the company began production earlier this month making packaging for customers such as the confectionary and pharmaceutical industries.

Hager and other Hanover Foils employees were part of a wave of people who lost jobs at the Reynolds Packaging operations in early 2009 when the company closed its downtown Richmond aluminum foil plants. The decision to close them came after the local businesses, which had been owned by aluminum maker Alcoa since 2000, were acquired by a New Zealand-based investment firm.

Hager said he has received numerous calls from former Reynolds employees interested in working for the new company.

"We have got so many qualified people who have been in the business for many years and now they don't have jobs," he said. "People that I never expected have called me about jobs."

The hundreds of job cuts at Reynolds were among several major losses that have hit the region's manufacturing base during the recession.

The Virginia Employment Commission reported in January that manufacturing employment in the Richmond metropolitan area was down by 3,300 jobs, or 8 percent, from the end of 2008. That sector directly employs about 7 percent of the local work force, though its economic impact extends much further through the supply chain into the service sector.

Yet since early 2008, the Richmond metropolitan area has had new investments in manufacturing worth about $414 million, expected to create about 1,565 jobs, according to Virginia Economic Development Partnership records of major job announcements. Many investments have come from small to medium-sized firms. The average announcement was about 46 jobs.

Food processing, for example, is one industry sector that has gained some traction in the area.

Will Davis, Chesterfield County's economic-development director, cited several manufacturing-related expansions that were announced in 2009. Those include packaged-foods maker Maruchan Virginia Inc.'s announcement that it would invest $18 million to open a new product line at its Chesterfield plant, creating 50 jobs. Refrigerated food display case maker Hill Phoenix also announced a $9 million investment to expand its operations in Chesterfield.

"Our manufacturing base in the Richmond region is very diverse, when you think about what is made here," Davis said.

Sabra Dipping Co., a maker of kosher packaged foods, has completed work on a new factory in Chesterfield that is expected to employ 250 people.

"We have progressed very well," said Meiky Tollman, Sabra's executive vice president and the plant's director. Plans now call for a late spring start of production, and Tollman said the company's market is holding up well. The company serves a niche, but growing, market for kosher, vegetarian foods.

At Hanover Foils, Hager and other employees are courting customers in the food, confectionery and pharmaceuticals industry who once bought packaging from Reynolds.

"As soon as I got out [from working at Reynolds], I started looking for investors" to start up a new company, said Hager, who started as a machinery operator but eventually became a supervisor at Reynolds.

"For six months, I went up and down the East Coast looking for and meeting with potential investors. I had three different investors at different times that wanted to fund it."

For various reasons, however, those investors fell away. Finally, in the summer, Hager found a local investor who was able and willing to help finance a startup manufacturing company.

Local economic developers say future growth in manufacturing likely will come from smaller factories, many of them serving niche markets and employing smaller numbers of people than the large-scale manufacturing of 20 to 30 years ago.

"I think that is where we will see the growth, mostly in the niche manufacturers," said Marc Weiss, Hanover County's economic-development director. "It's people who are making high-value products that cannot be made overseas for a variety of reasons."

The Greater Richmond Partnership, a regional economic-development group, has about 438 manufacturing prospects in its database, out of 1,500 total prospects. Of those, about 68 of the manufacturing firms are considered active prospects, meaning they are considering locating in the region and either have visited the area or soon will.

The trend has been down because of the economy, said Greg Wingfield, the partnership's president. But some of the more promising sectors include aerospace-industry firms that are looking at the area because of Rolls-Royce's planned investment of more than $100 million for an aircraft engine components plant in Prince George County.

Alternative energy, medical devices and food processing also are strong sectors within manufacturing, Wingfield said.

When a recovery comes in manufacturing, the types of jobs that are created are likely to be different from those of past recoveries, he said.

"I think it is going to be different in that there will be fewer people hired back," Wingfield said. "We are talking about a more productive kind of manufacturing, and more capital intensive, so you will have more equipment and machinery with less people doing the work."

"I think there will be more diversity in the job requirements, with one person doing a couple of different aspects of the job," he said.

That type of scenario seems to be developing at Hanover Foils, which has no plans to employ the kind of work force that Reynolds once had in the Richmond area. Instead, Hager said the company is drawing from among the most talented and experienced of the labor force. About 10 have been hired so far.

Carol Graves, a chemist who worked as a packaging scientist for Reynolds and Alcoa for more than 30 years, joined Hanover Foils to operate its packaging testing laboratory.

"This is probably the one place where I can put to use about everything I learned in 30 years at Reynolds and Alcoa," Graves said. "We know what can go wrong, so here we have an opportunity to do it right."

Monday, February 22, 2010

MohrResults.com


3 Favorite Heart Healthy Snacks
February 22, 2010
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On the go doesn’t mean you have to turn to fast food and vending machines.

Here are 3 of our favorite snacks – quick, portable, convenient, and fantastic for your heart.

Sabra Hummus single serve. Hummus is incredible for you. And we were excited to recently find single serve hummus at the store. It’s hard to find super convenient healthy foods that taste great, so this fits the bill. Perfect for the office or when you’re waiting to pick up the kiddos in the carpool line. Bring some baby carrots and there is zero prep needed!

Friday, February 12, 2010

iVillage



Seal of Approval: New Food Products You Love

February 12, 2010

Visitors: 3,468,750

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Portioned Hummus

“My favorite new discovery is the Sabra hummus single packs at Costco. The hummus is very creamy and the single-serve containers are convenient and help tremendously with portion control.”

—goldgirl

Thursday, February 11, 2010

Nu-Train


I’m not sure why snacks have become this daily staple for so many folks. Maybe it’s a growing appetite, or maybe a lingering remnant from childhood serving as an afternoon comfort food. No matter how or why they’re here, snack attacks have more of a potential to be all filler and not really hunger killers.

“Snack”- it sounds like just a little harmless treat! But there can be some serious trouble lurking behind that cute little word. If you’re just popping, non-stopping for the sake of it – it’s time to nip your nibbles in the bud.

To start re-evaluating snack-time, ask yourself these questions:

Does eating a snack make you eat less?

A snack is actually worthwhile if grabbing something mid-afternoon really and truly does help you moderate at night. If an apple is all you need to stop you from a “nosh and cook” scenario, or will stop you from feeling ravenous and making not such a great dinner decision, then by all means – snack away! But for many, dinner-time is a real time to sit back and think about what they’re chomping on. If you’d rather have a fuller plate when you can actually enjoy your food, the snack is just needless calories.

Do you find you actually lose weight while on vacation?

Okay, this might sound a little crazy but seriously, think about it! How often do you need a snackneed a nibble? If the answer is never, then you probably don’t need a snack to get through your day, hunger-wise, but more boredom-wise. Try replacing your routine snack with another sort of break – take a walk (even if it’s just to chat with a co-worker) or make yourself a cup of green tea. If you can do that and not get ravenous for dinner, you probably don’t need a daily snack. on vacation? And not even on vacation, how often do you stop yourself at 3 pm on a Saturday because you

Are you mindlessly munching on “air foods”?

“Air foods” are simply foods that you shove down but really don’t do anything for you. Sure, something might be just 100 calories, but if it leaves you hungry, unsatisfied and still filling up your dinner plate – it’s a waste of 100 calories. Try having your snack at whatever time is the least busy for you, a time when you can sit back and process what you’re eating so you get the satisfaction that will lead to the snack serving its purpose – helping you eat less at dinner. If you wind down your day with a half an hour answering e-mails or enjoy your commute home, those are the ideal times to get in a few bites of something satisfying.

Is your sweet tooth souring your whole day?

If your afternoon or mid-morning is never complete without something sweet (or something savory but sinful,) then ditching the snack altogether right off the bat probably isn’t possible. A mid-morning snack should be no more than 180 calories, while an afternoon/evening snack should be no more than 80 calories. If it’s cookies in the morning, potato chips in the evening, pizza at supper-time — you are definitely in need of a snack makeover. For someone who’s crunching on cookies, try a sweet Luna bar, like “Nutz Over Chocolate”. Some deli turkey in the afternoon isn’t going cold-turkey off the snacks, but a much better option than salty, crunchy, irresistible chips.

If you’re snacks are here to stay, that’s totally okay!

If your snacks only enhance your daily eating, keep them as part of your routine. My final secret is to keep them interesting and fun. This way, it doesn’t ever become the same, boring bar day in and day out and will continue to be a treat and not a chore. Here’s a few new ideas for mid-day munchies to keep things spicy and snacking smart!

3. Sabra or Tribe 100 calorie hummus with 1-2 fiber rich crackers (average supermarket)

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Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Super Bowl Party Satellite Media Tour with Marc Silverstein

Total Viewership: 7,751,078

DMA NAME STATION NETWORK AIR DATE DAY TIME TOTAL AUD
National / NewsWatch ION
2/5/2010 FR 0530A 3,517,443
NATIONAL - The Daily Buzz

1/29/2010 FR n/a 3,376,532
NEW YORK / NJ NEWS 12 CAB 2/3/2010 FR 0500P 13,358
myfamilymylifenow.com INT INT 1/29/2010 FR n/a 1,000
Jacquelineluxe.com INT INT 1/30/2010 SA n/a 150,000
DENVER KWGN CW 2/3/2010 WE 0600P 35,956
ORLANDO CF NEWS 13 CAB 1/29/2010 FR 0800A 3,567
ORLANDO CF NEWS 13 CAB 1/29/2010 FR 0830A 3,567
ORLANDO CF NEWS 13 CAB 1/29/2010 FR 0500P 5,620
ORLANDO CF NEWS 13 CAB 2/1/2010 MO 0430P 4,244
ORLANDO CF NEWS 13 CAB 2/1/2010 MO 0530P 5,620
ORLANDO CF NEWS 13 CAB 2/1/2010 MO 0630P 7,115
ORLANDO CF NEWS 13 CAB 2/1/2010 MO 0730P 6,923
ORLANDO CF NEWS 13 CAB 2/1/2010 MO 1100P 6,041
ORLANDO CF NEWS 13 CAB 2/2/2010 TU 0300P 3,809
ORLANDO CF NEWS 13 CAB 2/2/2010 TU 0430P 4,244
ORLANDO CF NEWS 13 CAB 2/2/2010 TU 0530P 5,620
ORLANDO CF NEWS 13 CAB 2/2/2010 TU 0630P 7,115
ORLANDO CF NEWS 13 CAB 2/2/2010 TU 0730P 6,923
ORLANDO CF NEWS 13 CAB 2/2/2010 TU 1100P 6,041
ORLANDO WKMG CBS 2/7/2010 SU 0630A 8,702
RALEIGH WFNC RADIO 1/29/2010 FR 0730A 129,800
CINCINATI WVNU RADIO 1/29/2010 FR 0930A 240,000
GREENSBORO WGHP FOX 2/2/2010 TU 0500A 29,945
NEW ORLEANS WVUE FOX 1/29/2010 FR 0930A 18,850
LEXINGTON WTVQ ABC 2/5/2010 FR 0530P 9,609
WITCHITA KCTU IND 2/4/2010 TH 0130P 16,298
TRI-CITIES (TN-VA) WEMT FOX 2/2/2010 TU 1030P 30,097
HUNTSVILLE WYAM IND 1/26/2010 TU 0830A 21,865
HUNTSVILLE WYAM IND 2/3/2010 WE 1200P 27,865
BURLINGTON WVNY ABC 2/6/2010 SA 0630P 4,869
DAVENPORT WQAD ABC 1/29/2010 FR 1230P 3,585
AUGUSTA WJBF ABC 2/3/2010 WE 1230P 13,595
PALM SPRINGS KESQ ABC 2/7/2010 SU 0930A 1,973
COLUMBUS WTVM ABC 2/6/2010 SA 1130P 9,372
PALM SPRINGS KESQ ABC 2/7/2010 SU 1130A 4,512
RAPID CITY KNBN NBC 1/29/2010 FR 0830A 9,403