www.labconco.com
Kansas City
Labconco of Kansas City, Missouri was founded in 1925. It remains committed to U.S. manufacturing; the growth of its U.S. workforce; and its relationships with U.S. suppliers and distributors. The company manufactures a wide variety of products specifically designed for laboratories, including chemical fume hoods, biosafety cabinets, freeze dry systems, evaporators, concentrators, glassware washers, forensic enclosures and much more.
They are especially proud of three of their product lines that could contribute to LEED® points (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design):
- Protector® XStream® Laboratory Fume Hoods,
- Purifi er® Logic® Biosafety Cabinets
- SteamScrubber® and FlaskScrubber® Laboratory Glassware Washers.
New products are the lifeblood of the company, and Labconco is always seeking new market opportunities they can serve. “We found ourselves asking ‘why aren’t we doing this, or that?’ ‘Where are the growth ideas we need to pursue new markets?’” says Mark Schmitz, Labconco Vice President of Resources and Engineering.
The company decided they needed a facilitator to help them with their long term strategic planning for innovation and growth, so they contacted Missouri Enterprise for assistance.
The Missouri Enterprise team helped Labconco key in on innovation processes as they related to strategic planning to promote the new product and market ideas the company needs to continue to thrive and grow. They facilitated the development of a long term strategic plan to promote innovation and keep Labconco on track towards their goals. They also conducted workshops to educate key employees on effective strategic innovation processes that would encourage ideas and examine and develop opportunities efficiently.
“We thought our short term processes looked to be OK,” Schmitz tells us. “But we needed someone from the outside to help us facilitate our forward thinking. Missouri Enterprise had the solutions we were looking for. We’ve found them to be a useful resource over the years and we stay in touch with them.”
As a result of their work with Missouri Enterprise, and through the strategic innovation skills of their management and staff, Labconco projects they will be adding half a dozen new jobs and the potential to generate millions of dollars in new sales in the coming year.