BY JOHN ECKBERG
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Business arrives in cycles, and 1998 offered a manufacturing trend among the 11 newcomer companies included on the Arthur Andersen Greater Cincinnati 100 list.
Five of the firms new to the list were manufacturers -- although products created ranged from welding alloys to labeling equipment. The new manufacturing companies are Connector Manufacturing Co.; Superior Label Systems Inc.; KDI Precision Products Inc.; Champion Window Manufacturing & Supply Inc.; and J.W. Harris Co. Inc.
Other newcomers to the list are Beechmont Motors; Rumpke Consolidated Companies Inc.; Paper Manufacturers Co.; Entek IRD International Corp.; Cincinnati United Contractors Inc.; and Remke Markets Inc. (Beechmont Motors, J.W. Harris Co. Inc. and Superior Label Systems, have been on the list in previous years, but were not on it last year.)
Companies included in the Cincinnati 100 had 1997 sales of $12.1 billion and employed 66,084 workers -- an increase of $2.2 billion from 1992 sales.
Firms that almost made the list, called the "Up and Comers," were Hilltop Basic Resources Inc., a sand and gravel mining firm; Landrum & Brown Inc., an airport consulting company; Modern Office Methods Inc., a company that stores and distributes documents; Priority Dispatch, a messenger service; and Spectrum Interiors Inc., an interior specialty subcontractor.
