Large firms happy with ’17, aim for better ’18

The mood is upbeat as larger businesses in Northeast Ohio close the books on 2017 and set their sights on continued growth in 2018.

“Things are better now for our larger companies. I’m getting positive vibes from everybody,” said Linda Reed, executive director of the Eastern Lake County Chamber of Commerce.

Christine Webber, president and CEO of the Mentor Area Chamber of Commerce, said the larger manufacturers in her chamber “are having a good year. Their businesses are growing.”

A similarly encouraging overview was offered by Karen Tercek, president and CEO of Willough by Western Lake County Chamber of Commerce.

“It’s a strong market, in general,” Tercek said.

Area business leaders Eric R. Schnur of the Lubrizol Corp. in Wickliffe, Cynthia Moore-Hardy and Rick Cicero of Lake Health and Ed Babcock of Junction Auto Sales in Munson Township all pointed toward good bottom lines in 2017. They expect sustained performances in 2018.

Schnur is president, CEO and chairman of the board of

Lubrizol. The company has operations in 17 countries, annual sales approaching $6.5 billion and 8,500 employees involved in the development and production of lubricant additives and other specialty chemicals.

“From a Lubrizol perspective, 2017 was an OK year,” Schnur said. “Top line, we did well across all segments. Volume and revenue were up some, which is good. Not all of our businesses are real high growth. Actually, very few of them are really high growth. Raw material costs all year were a problem, so not all the top-line growth translated to the bottom line.”

The mitigating factor in Lubrizol’s overall performance, Schnur explained, was damage caused by Hurricane Harvey’s landfall in southeast Texas and surrounding areas in late August.

“We had three major plants in the Houston area that took direct hits,” Schnur said. “Our people did really well getting up and running again after a relatively short period of time. But the hurricane disrupted raw material supply lines and transportation. It put more costs in the supply chain.”

One of Lubrizol’s major capital projects in 2017 was a $70 million upgrade of its Painesville Township manufacturing operation.

The upgrade included the opening of a 180,000-square-foot warehouse and installation of new drumming technology.

“Half of the products we sell as Lubrizol additives contain at least one ingredient produced in Painesville Township, so we’re always looking at what we can do to enhance operations there,” Schnur said. “The footprint of our site there is significantly improved by all the upgrades. We removed some of the congestion at the plant and became more efficient in delivering products to customers.

“Overall, we did a lot of good things in 2017 that will have direct bearing on the company’s performance in 2018 and moving forward beyond that,” Schnur added.

Moore-Hardy is president and CEO of Lake Health, a private, not-for-profit, community health care provider. Cicero is its senior vice president for business development.

Lake Health has 15 facilities, including two hospitals — TriPoint Medical Center in Concord Township and West Medical Center in Willoughby. With a work force of 2,900, Lake Health is the largest private employer in Lake County.

Moore-Hardy and Cicero said 2017 was a “strong year” for Lake Health.

High points included the opening of the SOM Medical Campus in Willoughby, construction of the 86,000-square foot Mentor

Wellness Center (set to open on Jan. 2), growth of the Health Calls program of athome care (over 1,000 visits in 2017) and expansion of the system’s roster of primary care physicians, specialists, nurse practitioners and physicians assistants.

“There is constant evaluation of the health-care needs of the people we serve,” Moore-Hardy said.

As estimated 800,000 patients will have availed themselves of Lake Health services by year’s end.

“Going forward in 2018, we plan to continue adding services and working with employers to control healthcare costs,” Cicero said.

Babcock is the third-generation owner of the business started in 1931 by his grandfather, Clifford Babcock, and father, Warren Babcock. Ed Babcock’s son, Chris, is general manager of the dealership with 110 employees. Junction Auto offers the Buick, Chrysler, Dodge, GMC, Jeep, and Ram product lines.

“At this dealership, 2017 has been a good year for sales and service,” Ed Babcock said.

Babcock said the sales breakdown at Junction Auto in 2017 will be 60 percent for new vehicles, 40 percent for used vehicles. Sales for larger passenger vehicles and trucks are much stronger than sales of smaller vehicles.

He believes the sales of new and used vehicles are good indicators of improved consumer confidence here and across the country.