Dayton Daily News Library

The Miami Valley is humming
but needs more skilled workers

By Laura A. Bischoff and Mike Wagner
DAYTON DAILY NEWS
Published: Sunday, April 18, 1999

  Doug Scholz is a home builder who too often has to tell people he can'tbuild their homes.
  Scholz's Vandalia-based company, Unibuilt Industries Inc., constructs aboutfive modular homes per week, but they could build another two houses a week ifthey could find enough workers.
   And the problem becomes more painful each day for Scholz, who says he couldincrease the company's annual revenue by 20 percent if he could find moreworkers.
   `(Employers) have two choices in today's job market: They can hire from theunemployed, who are less skilled, or they can steal people from otheremployers,'' said Scholz, whose company generated $28.5 million in sales.

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MOVING UP
Climbers say key
is managing growth

By Laura A. Bischoff and Mike Wagner DAYTON DAILY NEWS     

Published: Sunday, April 18, 1999

  The Miami Valley's top privately held companies are proof that businessesdon't have to be on New York's Big Board to make dramatic gains in a boomingeconomy.

About 15 percent of the companies listed in the 1999 Dayton Top 100 jumpeda minimum of 10 spots because of increasing annual revenue. That compares withonly two companies on the list that dropped more than 10 spots from last year.Arthur Andersen compiles the list based on information voluntarily submittedby local companies.
   The highest-climbing companies this year found themselves in growingindustries, expanded their business or landed major contracts.

`It's a good time for businesses in most industries, but the key is tomanage and control the growth,' said Carl Mays, chief executive of ReynoldsMachinery Inc., a company that moved 27 slots up the list, more than any otherlocal company.

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COMMENTARY
We owe lots to
valley's Top 100

By JIM DILLON DAYTON DAILY NEWS

Published: Sunday, April 18, 1999

  With the Dow Jones Industrial Average pushing 10,500 and Internet stockstrading at ridiculously high prices, it's easy to understand why publiclytraded companies receive so much attention these days. America is flat-outfascinated with the buying and selling of common stock issued by companiesranging from mighty General Motors Corp. to the tiniest of startups with .comin their names.
  But it's important to remember that private enterprise remains a key driver ofthe economy. Those who launch and build their own businesses often do so atgreat financial risk with little or no safety net. They have no shareholdersto share in that risk. Yet they persevere and provide millions of jobs andbillions of dollars in tax revenue. They are the unsung heroes of our economy.

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MILLENNIUM BONANZA
Y2K scare has hundreds flocking to Dollar Towne

By Mike Wagner DAYTON DAILY NEWS
Published: Sunday, April 18, 1999

  Call it Y2K panic. Call it insanity. Call it a modern-day gold rush.

Phillip Herres calls it `plain crazy' that hundreds of people are pullingtheir money out of stocks and mutual funds to buy gold and silver from DollarTowne, his Dayton-area distribution business.
   `The people buying up the gold are the people who think the world is goingto end when 2000 comes. Some are putting barrels of food in the ground,storing water and buying up every generator they can find,' Herres said.

`All this because of some damn computer bug, but I guess I shouldn'tcomplain too much.'

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The 1999 list:

1 - Primus, Inc.
2 - The Iams Company
3 - Dayton Heidelberg Distributing
4 - The Antioch Company.
5 - Shook National Corp.
6 - Gosiger Inc.
7 - Danis Building Construction
8 - Akey Inc.
9 - Modern Technologies Corp.
10 - Bush Transportation Systems
11 - O-Cedar Brands Inc.
12 - Arkay Industries Inc.
13 - I Supply Company
14 - Miami-Luken, Inc.
15 - Woolpert LLP
16 - Dayton Freight Lines Inc.
17 - Henny-Penny Corporation
18 - Lion Apparel, Inc.
19 - Schear Financial Services Inc.
20 - Becker Electric Supply
21 - Norman-Spencer-McKernan
22 - Oberer Development Co.
23 - Ferno-Washington, Inc.
24 - Ferguson Construction Co.
25 - The Dupps Company
26 - Setzer Corporation
27 - Dolly, Inc.
28 - Mike-sell's Inc.
29 - Kirk NationaLease Co.
30 - Reliable Oil Equipment Inc.
31 - Amos Press Inc.
32 - Duncan Oil Co.
33 - Ernst Enterprises, Inc.
34 - Baldwin & Whitney Insurance
35 - CTG, Inc.
36 - Y.S.I. Incorporated
37 - Dayton Supply & Tool Co.
38 - Presto "America's Favorite Food"
39 - Earhart Petroleum, Inc.
40 - GZK, Inc.
41 - Kurz-Kasch, Inc.
42 - Rieck Mechanical Services, Inc.
43 - Shastar, Inc.
44 - The Minco Group
45 - Dollar Towne
46 - Koenig Equipment, Inc.
47 - Moraine Materials Co.
48 - Scott Industrial Systems, Inc.
49 - Adams Robinson Enterprises
50 - Crayex Corporation
51 - KMH Systems
52 - Unibilt Industries, Inc.
53 - Miami Industrial Trucks, Inc.
54 - Angell Manufacturing Co., Inc.
55 - Peerless Machinery Corp.
56 - F. C. Industries, Inc.
57 - Springwater Enterprizes Inc.
58 - Western Ohio Pizza, Inc.
59 - Reynolds Machinery, Inc.
60 - Excellence in Motivation, Inc.
61 - R.B. Jergens Contractors Inc.
62 - Connor & Murphy Insurance
63 - Witt Plastics, Inc.
64 - Bonbright Distributors, Inc.
65 - The Omega Company, Inc.
66 - CAD CAM Inc.
67 - Creative Extruded Products., Inc.
68 - Leisure Lawn, Inc.
69 - Unitize Company, Inc.
70 - Crabar Business Systems
71 - Allied Supply Company, Inc.
72 - Fed Holdings Inc.
73 - Shore to Shore
74 - Innovative Technologies Corp
75 - All World Travel Service, Inc.
76 - Everybody's Workplace Solutions
77 - 2-J Supply Co., Inc.
78 - Morris Home Furnishings
79 - French Oil Mill Machinery
80 - Joyce-Dayton Corp.
81 - Chemical Services Inc.
82 - UES, Inc.
83 - CB Manufacturing & Sales Co.
84 - George Welding & Fabricating
85 - Aetna Building Maintenance
86 - ESKCO, Inc.
87 - UCR Computers
88 - LJB Engineers & Architects
89 - Bullet Trucking Inc.
90 - BASS, Inc.
91 - Blue Chip Computers Company
92 - Miller Consolidated Industries
93 - The Lorenz Corporation
94 - MacAulay-Brown, Inc.
95 - Medical Case Management
96 - Irongate Inc. Realtors
97 - Globe Products Inc.
98 - Dimco-Gray Company
99 - Universal Technology Corp.
100 - Kelchner Environmental Inc.

HOW TOP 100 ARE SELECTED

  To qualify for the 1999 Dayton Top 100, a company must meet all of thefollowing criteria.

LOCATION: Be located in Clark, Clinton, Darke, Greene, Miami, Montgomery,Preble, Shelby or Warren County.
OWNERSHIP: Must be privately held with no more than 110 shareholders.
SIZE: Companies are ranked by annual sales revenue for fiscal year 1998.Revenues do not reflect intercompany sales.
MULTIPLE OWNERSHIP: If a majority of the same shareholders have ownershipin more than one company, then the combined sales number, net of intercompanysales, is shown.