Hastings Air Energy Control Inc., an industrial ventilation distributor, installation and service company headquartered in New Berlin, has launched its Intelligent Ventilation Energy Control (IVEC) system, a control system designed to coordinate and optimize the ventilation systems the company sells and services.

Hastings sells, installs and services point-of-use ventilation systems designed for welding, woodworking or other work stations that generate smoke or fumes. The firm also sells equipment that filters or scrubs material or fumes from the air before re-circulating the air into the plant.

The IVEC system is designed to coordinate multiple systems, maximizing efficiency to lower energy bills. It can also lower fan speeds and reduce noise, as well as increase the longevity of an existing system.

"Today, (customers) are buying the Hastings Unit, an energy management control system for ventilation,” he said. “We’re not just collecting air, we’re filtering it and re-circulating it back into the plant while we are measuring the fans and speed to save (customers) money.”

The IVEC system, available in four different configurations, is able to automatically turn fans on and off, automatically clean filters when they are dirty, open and shut ducts to multiple ventilation stations, and can even communicate and control multiple devices.

Hastings began selling the IVEC system early this year, but the company’s employees have been working on it since early 2006. The system marks the evolution of Hastings’ 40 years in the air handling business, said Kevin Rohde, general manager of the company.

Hastings recently sold the first full version of the IVEC system, which it will install in Chrysler’s Jefferson North Assembly Plant in Detroit.

“We’ve been piloting this for 18 months in their concept facility and we’re moving toward the full production area in this single plant,” Rohde said.

Hastings also has prototypes of its IVEC system in Milwaukee-area companies such as Sentry Equipment Corp. in Oconomowoc and Bradley Corp. in Menomonee Falls. Hastings has installed four of its largest IVEC systems, named the Steward series, in four companies to date, and has achieved significant energy reductions.

“We’ve taken about 500 horsepower and reduced it to about 50 horsepower over all four (facilities),” said David Bohrer, president of Hastings.

“By creating a 50 percent reduction in usage we can create an 87 percent reduction in energy usage,” Rohde said.

Hastings Energy has about 32 employees in its facilities in New Berlin, Chicago, Detroit and Minneapolis, Bohrer said. Although its overall sales are slightly down year to date, the company believes the introduction of IVEC will help it increase sales this year.

“IVEC will carry us through this time,” Bohrer said. “We’ve kept all of our sales people on, and we’re bullish on the second half of the year.”

For more, visit www.hastingsairenergy.com.

Some production to resume at Chrysler plant in Kenosha

Some production will resume this week at the Chrysler Group LLC engine plant in Kenosha, which has been idle since May 4

Seven of Chrysler's vehicle assembly plants are set to open by Monday, June 29. All of the engine production and stamping facilities that support those plants are set to reopen at the same time, Chrysler officials said. All of the company's assembly and production facilities were shut down on May 4 after the company filed for bankruptcy in late April.

Chrysler spokeswoman Diana Gutierrez said the company was unable to provide numbers of employees that will be returning to work when the Kenosha plant reopens.

"We aren't releasing specific details," she said. "But some (facilities) will start slower than others."

All of Chrysler's facilities are scheduled for a two-week shutdown during the weeks of July 13 and July 20, Gutierrez said. Normal production should resume after that point.

The Kenosha plant is currently targeted for permanent shutdown in December 2010. Some media outlets have reported that Fiat, Chrysler's new owner, may keep the plant open.

"We can't comment on any business talks that are ongoing," Gutierrez said.

Actuant lost $17.6 million in quarter

Butler-based Actuant Corp. reported a fiscal third quarter net loss of $17.6 million, or 31 cents per share, compared with net earnings of $38.6 million, or 60 cents, in the same period a year ago.

Sales for the quarter declined 35 percent to $290 million from 445 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2008.

Results for the third quarter of 2009 include the previously announced $31.7 million pre-tax non-cash asset impairment charge related to the company's "harsh environment electrical product line," as well as restructuring charges of $12.2 million.

Robert Arzbaecher, chairman and chief executive officer of Actuant, said, "While the third quarter proved to be more challenging than we anticipated, I am pleased with the response of our leadership team and employees in delivering strong cash flow and executing our aggressive restructuring initiatives."

Looking forward, Arzbaecher said, "As we move into the fourth quarter, we are encouraged that revenues have begun to stabilize in several of our end markets and that improved consumer confidence, higher oil prices and global stimulus investments could benefit the Actuant businesses. However, we are attempting to be realistic in our expectations that global economic conditions, including higher unemployment and lagging European demand, will constrain growth in the near term. As such, we plan to continue to aggressively execute restructuring and cost reduction actions which we estimate will reduce fourth quarter pre-tax earnings by approximately $5 million."

Carmex rolls out new premium lip balm

Carma Laboratories Inc., the Franklin-based maker of Carmex lip balm products, recently introduced its first new product line in 70 years.

Carmex Moisture Plus is marketed as a ultra-hydrating lip balm. The premium lip balm includes vitamin E, aloe, shea butter and avocado butter, and provides a hint of gloss and a SPF 15 rating.

Carma Labs president Paul Woelbing said, "For 70 years, Carmex has consistently performed for retailers and our loyal consumers. It made sense to introduce Carmex Moisture Plus to build on this strength of the trusted Carmex brand and the evolving needs of our consumers."

Richard Meeusen, chairman, president and CEO of Milwaukee-based Badger Meter Inc. has received the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of the Year 2009 Award in the manufacturing category of the upper Midwest region. The award recognizes outstanding entrepreneurs who are building and leading dynamic, growing businesses and contributing to improving their communities.

“It is a great honor to accept this award on behalf of the Board of Directors and employees of Badger Meter, as well as the many individuals who support Milwaukee’s growing position as the ‘silicon valley of water technology,’” Meeusen said.

The program honors entrepreneurs who have demonstrated exceptionality in such areas as innovation, financial performance and personal commitment to their businesses and communities. The award winners are selected by an independent panel of judges.

Meeusen is now eligible for consideration for the Ernst & Young LLP Entrepreneur Of The Year 2009 national program. Award winners in several national categories, as well as the overall national Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year award winner, will be announced at the annual awards gala in Palm Springs, Calif., on Nov. 14.

Goff’s Enterprises, Inc., Pewaukee, recently announced the appointment of Marcus Mohwinkel to the position of vice president of sales and marketing. Mohwinkel has 12 years experience with material handling and door sales.

Joe Klett recently joined Price Erecting Co., Milwaukee, as an engineer, project manager and estimator. Klett is a recent graduate of UW-Madison’s Civil Engineering program.

Rockwell CEO calls for new American industrial revolution

Milwaukee-based Rockwell Automation Inc. chairman and chief executive officer Keith Nosbusch is calling for business and government to invest in smart factories that are flexible, efficient and sustainable as the best way to create higher-paying, long-term manufacturing jobs in the United States.

"The public and private sectors need to invest in advanced technology that will lower costs, increase productivity, and make U.S. manufacturing competitive globally," Nosbusch said recently at The National Summit, a gathering hosted by the Detroit Economic Club to promote actions to improve America's manufacturing competitiveness in the global economy. "This investment is the best way to create enduring, higher-wage manufacturing jobs that can compete against other economies with lower costs of doing business."

Nosbusch also called for a renewed U.S. industrial policy that includes federal stimulus and research and development on industrial automation and information technology, to keep U.S. manufacturing competitive globally.

Nosbusch cited research that shows most Americans believe that highly automated, modern factories are important to grow the U.S. economy. A majority of Americans said the government should provide incentives for companies to invest in advanced technology to improve U.S. manufacturing.

"A $50 billion investment in retooling factories would create 250,000 direct manufacturing jobs in the U.S., support an additional 725,000 indirect jobs and generate up to $120 billion in revenue resulting from increased demand for products," said Nosbusch, citing a study by the Apollo Group, a business-labor coalition focused on job creation.

Nosbusch called for the Obama administration to double research and development for manufacturing innovation to bring it back to 1970's funding levels.

"If you really want to invest in long-term, high-quality job creation, you have to invest in innovation," he said. "We also need an education system that will train workers to operate these smart factories and produce engineers who develop innovative manufacturing solutions for the future. This needs to start with a better pre-school to college STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) talent development pipeline."

Conference Board says recession is 'losing steam'

The Conference Board proclaimed last week that the U.S. recession is "losing steam" and a slow recovery should begin by the end of the year.

The Conference Board said its index of leading economic indicators rose 1.2 percent in May, the second consecutive monthly increase.

"The strengths among its components continued to exceed the weaknesses this month. Vendor performance, the interest rate spread, real money supply, stock prices, consumer expectations, and building permits contributed positively to the index, more than offsetting the negative contributions from weekly hours and initial unemployment claims," the Conference Board reported.

Meanwhile, manufacturing firms in the Philadelphia region reported their best business conditions since September, the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia said today. The Philly Fed index improved to negative 2.2 in June from negative 22.6 in May.

In related data, the number of Americans on unemployment insurance rolls dropped in the latest week for the first time since early January.

The U.S. Labor Department said the number of people on unemployment insurance rolls fell 148,000 to 6.69 million in the week ended June 6, the largest such drop in more than seven years. The drop also breaks a string of 21 consecutive weekly increases, the last 19 of which were record highs.

Survey says local employers more optimistic about third quarter

The vast majority of employers in Wisconsin and northern Illinois expect their businesses to either improve or remain the same in the third quarter, according to the latest survey by QPS Companies, a Brookfield-based staffing and recruiting firm.

QPS surveyed more than 300 manufacturers, banks, printers, distributors and information technology firms throughout the region as part of its regular employment forecasting survey.

According to the survey, 87 percent of local companies expect their business to improve or remain the same in the third quarter. Forty-one percent expect business to improve, while 46 percent expect business to remain the same and 13 percent expect business to decline. The numbers are an improvement over the second quarter, when 54 percent expected conditions to decline.

Among the hiring trends in the survey:

21 percent anticipate increasing staff for third quarter, up from 15 percent in the second quarter.

16 percent anticipate decreasing staff, down from 26 percent in the second quarter.

63 percent anticipate no change in staffing levels, up from 59 percent in the second quarter.

According to the survey, the biggest issues facing local companies are the economy (91 percent), insurance costs (26 percent), material costs (20 percent) and receivables (17 percent).

QPS employs more than 4,000 associate employees weekly and works with more than 1,000 companies in Wisconsin and Illinois.

BizTimes Milwaukee will present its “Technology Forum: Productivity & Profits Through Better Technology” on Tuesday, June 30 from 7:30 to 11 a.m. at the Pfister Hotel, 424 E. Wisconsin Ave., Milwaukee. Panelists at the event include:

Mark Ernst of Milwaukee-based Engberg Anderson Design Partnership Inc., who will discuss efficiencies realized in a green work environment.

Stephan Achs, president and chief technology officer at KabelSchlepp America Inc., who will discuss employing cost effective process automation to measure and control costs, eliminate waste and maximize profits.

Charles Wickens, consultant, who will give an overview of economic stresses on business and technology initiatives.

Erik Brenn, CFO of Menasha-based McClone Insurance Group, who will discuss lowering costs through implementing better telecommunication strategies.

For more information, or to register, visit www.biztimes.com/techforum.