ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Friday, June 14, 1996 TAG: 9606140035
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: A-7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: ALLEN G. BREED ASSOCIATED PRESS
COMPANIES SENT representatives to a trade mission to Sweden sponsored by the Appalachian Regional Commission.
APPALACHIAN FOLK are no strangers to venison, but reindeer is another matter, representatives find.
Sammy Hammons traveled across the Atlantic Ocean from Richmond, Ky., for the chance to eat reindeer and talk turkey.
The B&H Tool Works Inc. president joined representatives of about a dozen other small Appalachian region companies in Lulea, Sweden, Thursday for the Europartenariat, a trade development program sponsored by the European Community. Hammons' group members were among the first U.S. business operators invited to participate.
``It's an experience,'' Hammons, whose company does tooling and electrical components, said by telephone from his hotel. He met with six companies about possible ventures Thursday and got bites from firms based in Israel and Sweden.
The trade mission was sponsored by the Appalachian Regional Commission and state economic development agencies in Georgia and Alabama.
The group included representatives of nine companies - three from Kentucky, two each from Alabama and Georgia, and one each from Pennsylvania and West Virginia. Several other companies were represented, and others took part by videoconference from the Georgia agency's Atlanta headquarters.
Bob Erwin, the Georgia agency's export program manager, said Europartenariat differs from traditional trade shows in that much of the matchmaking is done ahead of time. By the time participants set foot in Sweden, they had a full slate of meetings set with companies who knew their products and business profiles.
Joan Lightfoot, export manager for Gulf-Atlantic Veneer Products Inc. of Tuscaloosa, Ala., had 15 meetings Thursday and 14 more Friday.
``It was pretty intense,'' said Lightfoot, whose firm has wood-products plants in Georgia and North Carolina. ``I think I had a 30-minute break and I still haven't had lunch.''
It was 7:30 p.m., Sweden time.
That Lightfoot was allowed to attend at all is somewhat remarkable.
ARC spokesman Duane DeBruyne in Washington said the Europartenariat - held in a different city every six months - has been all but closed to American companies. A pilot program involving three companies sponsored by the Georgia agency last September helped open the doors to this year's delegation.
``European officials in the past have felt somewhat intimidated, essentially by the vast size of the United States,'' he said.
The Appalachian businesspeople said they were welcomed with open arms in Lulea.
Lightfoot, whose company produces veneer, lumber, flooring and construction materials, said she was picking up marketing ideas and ``planting a little seed in their head'' about uses for her firm's products.
``None of them have been in our market area, and I haven't been over here,'' she said. ``You're not really familiar with the products lines and what the consumer is interested in.''
She said two Swedish companies and one from Norway asked for further meetings.
``I think it was definitely a positive thing,'' she said.
Tom Wood, national sales manager for MTI Inc. of Sugar Hill, Ga., had five meetings Thursday with companies interested in his whirlpool baths and sinks. He said he got two completely different contacts: A Finnish company that builds and packages ready-built homes, and a German firm that designs bathing facilities from top to bottom.
He said he even spoke with a businessman from Kazakhstan in the former Soviet Union.
``I've never even pronounced it before this week,'' said Wood, whose company employs 65 workers. ``I think it's going to be worthwhile.''
U.S. officials are already planning on future trade missions like this. The videoconferencing equipment in Atlanta could be an integral part of that, and of keeping companies in touch with their foreign partners.
Erwin said it could be a year or more before some of this week's contacts bear fruit. He said two of the three companies that went to Europe last year now have joint ventures with Swedish companies.
ARC said studies show that 40 percent of the companies that attend the event acquire signed contracts within a year.
Hammons, the Kentucky manufacturer, is hoping to take his firm to a higher level.
He started in the tool and die business in 1983 with one employee and $36,000 in annual sales. With 160 workers and $6 million in sales, he now hopes to move up from stamping and manufacturing components to actually assembling and marketing a finished product.
But he's not ready to go completely global.
``I'll be glad when I get home,'' he said. ``We've got it really good in the United States when it comes to eating. I'm not into eating Rudolph.''
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