FEATURED PROJECTS
Featured Projects
John Sinclair is the CEO of Lycus LTD and a two-time winner of the Arkansas Governor's Excellence in Global Trade Award. In our continued efforts to improve our production processes and of availing any assistance for such through the State of Arkansas and its related agencies, Rudy Ortiz with the Arkansas Economic Development Council has been nothing less than invaluable. Specific areas of assistance are as follows: 1. Section 301 Tariff Exclusion Application- Mr. Ortiz provided a roadmap for Lycus through this most complicated process. Although our application was not successful due to a very technical matter, Mr. Ortiz got Lycus down this difficult path to get the answer on the application which was helpful in structuring our operations to absorb the raw material tariff. 2. TTAG Grant- Mr. Ortiz guided us through the successful application of funds related to the discovery process of creating a raw material process through the University of Arkansas. That process is ongoing. However, Mr. Ortiz has continued to keep that process on track the past several months which, if successful in developing, will not only save Lycus hundreds of thousands of dollars annually and result in an increased payroll and benefits of several hundred dollars annually. 3. "Ready for Business" Grant- Mr. Ortiz made Lycus aware of a $21,000 grant catered to the development of means to deal with the new issues related to COVID-19 in the workplace. These funds became an integral part of our internal COVID-19 Action Plan. As a result, we have had only one instance of a virus contraction. 4. Arkansas Economic Development Council- Mr. Ortiz invited Lycus to attend ExporTech export seminars which has fortunately resulted in Lycus increasing its sales percentage of exports from 13% to over 30% in less than five years. That equates to approximately $1,500,000 in annual revenue. 5. Networking- Mr. Ortiz has freely shared his huge network of manufacturing professionals throughout our state in addressing Lycus' day-to-day operational issues. This network has allowed Lycus to obtain valuable expert advice with just a phone call or email.
Galley Support Innovations (GSI), winner of the Arkansas Governor’s Excellence in Global Trade Award, is located in Sherwood, Arkansas. GSI is a designer and manufacturer of interior hardware for planes, trains, yachts and more. They have been a family-owned and operated business for over 50 years. They offer core parts with thousands of possible variations and are able to design and provide custom latches. GSI became one of the first interior hardware manufacturers to become AS9100 Certified and are in the process of becoming AS9100 Rev C Certified. With 100 percent of their lots inspected, they strive to provide a product that exceeds industry standards. As a consequence of the quality of their products, they have as clients, prestigious companies such as American Airlines, Boeing, Dassault-Falcon, Gulfstream, Hawker-Beechcraft, Sikorsky, United Airlines and many more. SBS consultant Rudy Ortiz, started working with GSI and assisted them with analysis and improvement of their financial statements and accounting system in preparation for requesting a large SBA-backed loan. The purpose of the loan was to purchase the building GSI was housed in as well as make a large addition to and major remodeling of the building. Acquisition of this loan allowed GSI to increase their capacity significantly in order to take on larger orders from their existing client base as well as orders from new international clients. Mr. Ortiz also assisted GSI with other operational issues in order to improve GSI’s overall operation and profitability. Below is what owners Gina and Wade Radke say about the assistance they received from Mr. Ortiz: “We first took our business to Rudy in hopes of preparing our financials to secure a large SBA loan. In the process of working with Rudy, we discovered we, in fact, could have been running our business much more efficiently. Rudy has a wealth of knowledge in cost accounting and manufacturing cost of goods sold. In essence, Rudy worked as a well versed CFO to help get our company not only the loan, but to prepare us to be more profitable in the future. Rudy taught us that by learning to prepare and read our financials they would tell us if our company was running efficiently or not. Rudy explained how to break down our cost of goods sold, analyze our profit margin, and decide where we could make improvements in our process just by looking at our financials. Rudy also helped us understand the correct way to price our product to maintain both a profit and a market share. In addition to acquiring the loan, our business has been positively impacted by working with Rudy in the past two years and that impact will last for the life of our business."
SweepScrub.com , winner of the Arkansas Governor’s Excellence in Global Trade Award, is based in North Little Rock, AR. They are a wholesale e-commerce business selling used and refurbished commercial cleaning equipment and parts and have shipped to more than 30 countries on six continents. They carry both small and large floor cleaning machines and carry the very best brands the industry has to offer such as Tennant, Nobles and Advance. They offer a large variety of used floor scrubbers and floor sweepers, both walk behind and riding units, as well as a wide selection of used industrial cleaning equipment such as used carpet extractors, small and larger buffers, and and wet/dry vacs. They thoroughly check every floor sweeper and floor scrubber that is listed, insuring that every machine is reconditioned to factory specs. They have machines to fit every size facility and budget and offer Floor Sweeper and Scrubber rentals and accept Trade-Ins. They also provide floor sweeper and floor scrubber operator manuals for easy printing. According to the owners, certain parts of the world have limited access to high-quality cleaning equipment. SweepScrub.com helps fill the growing demand for affordable high-quality floor scrubbers, sweepers, buffers, burnishers, and other industrial-grade cleaning equipment. Exports have become an increasingly important part of the company’s sales and last year accounted for 22 percent of total sales. The following is what the owners of SweepScrub.com have to say about the assistance Mr. Ortiz has provided to them: “Rudy Ortiz has been a welcomed sage during the past couple of years with SweepScrub.com. With Rudy’s help and assistance, our company received the Arkansas Governor’s Award for Excellence in Global Trade. He always has good, tough questions to ask; the answers to which will make your company more prepared and stronger. ”
Spencer Jones, 23, was in nursing school at the University of Arkansas and in residency at St. Vincent Infirmary Medical Center when he was asked to draw blood on a patient. “They had an IV site, and I said, ‘Can I stop the infusion and pull blood?’ They said no; that the access devices currently being used did not have that capability.” It seemed unbelievable to him that with all the advances in medical equipment, there wasn’t a device that could perform these functions. Jones decided to develop his idea. He stated his device — the bifurcated venous access device, or BVAD — is intricate “but the concept is simple.” Thanks to its two-channel configuration, the device will allow blood draws a bit upstream from the delivery IV, “and the great thing is it’s all painless. It’s just a much better option for patients.” Mr. Jones decided to enter the 14-week ARK Challenge as a systematic way to develop his idea into a real, marketable product. During the 14 weeks, Mr. Ortiz met with Mr. Jones and provided him with a wide variety of guidance to assist him in the development of his technology and his business. Mr. Jones won the Ark Challenge and its $150,000 prize. In addition, he was able to attract an investor with ties to the medical device industry. Here is what Mr. Jones has to say about the assistance he received from business and technology consultant, Rudy Ortiz: “From the very first meeting I had with Rudy, I knew I was in good company. My early stage company needed guidance as I secured intellectual property protection, sought capital and negotiated investment agreements. The wisdom that Rudy had to offer was not just insightful, but proved to be tangibly fruitful after I applied it to my business. Anytime I needed to “run the traps” on a new development, or prepare for a pivotal meeting, I would seek consul from Rudy. By our third meeting, I trusted Rudy so much that I asked him to be on my company’s Advisory Board. Looking past the great advice, one thing that stood out early on with Rudy was the spirit of his professional relationship. I quickly understood that Rudy had my back, which gave me great confidence as I navigated the startup journey. His advice was crucial as I negotiated my company’s largest milestone; securing an investment partnership that’s taking my product to market. Without Rudy, my company would not have experienced the same degree of growth and progress as it has in the past 6 months." Since developing the BVAD, Mr. Jones has acquired a patent on “Safe Break”, an access line adapter that greatly reduces the chances of an IV being pulled out. The device can work in conjunction with the BVAD or with other access line devices.
