Orlando Business Journal is honoring the 2022 Golden 100, our annual list that recognizes Central Florida’s 100 largest privately held, locally based companies based on most recent-year revenue.
To qualify for the Golden 100, companies must be based in Orange, Seminole, Osceola or Lake counties, and can not be a subsidiary of a firm headquartered outside of Central Florida. Data is gathered from hundreds of local firms to determine their place on the list.
See below to learn more about four of the companies, and read more on all of this year’s Golden 100 — including the rankings — in OBJ‘s Sept. 30-Oct. 6, 2022, weekly edition, as well as online.
Want to be on the 2023 Golden 100 list? Email Denise Hicks at dhicks@bizjournals.com for the survey.
What was your company’s greatest accomplishment in the last year and how did you get it done? Completing the 14th floor of the Orange County Courthouse, it had never been built out. Between elevator issues and security, getting people and product up to the 14th floor was a challenge. We arranged a crew for 14 hours a day just to get materials up to the 14th floor.
How do you describe success? Success is the result of good planning, hard work and persistence in completing the project.
What is your company’s greatest challenge in the coming year and what’s your strategy to overcome it? Our greatest challenge is handling the growth. Our strategy is always to find the best employees, train them into our system and reward them.
How have inflation or supply-chain issues affected your business in the last year? It has made our project schedules longer.
Are you currently hiring? Yes, project superintendents and field workers.
How do you keep your staff motivated? We make our working environment fun by engaging them in different ways and events during the year.
Your advice to other local businesses on surviving this challenging economic environment: Don’t skimp on marketing and lead generation — the more client relationships, the more projects you can build.
Interesting fact about your company: S.A. in S.A. Casey Construction, Inc stands for Shawn Anthony, the president’s first and middle initials.
What was your company’s greatest accomplishment in the last year and how did you get it done? Thanks to our strategic partnership with clients and suppliers, we have managed to keep competitive prices despite the tough economic times. This led us to increase our sales significantly compared to previous years.
How do you describe success? Keep going despite the difficulties — our daily effort turns the dream into a reality. The feeling of satisfaction when achieving good results moves us to do great things.
What is your company’s greatest challenge in the coming year and what’s your strategy to overcome it? The lack of skilled workers is our greatest challenge and the plan to overcome it is to train people and have apprenticeship programs.
How have inflation or supply-chain issues affected your business in the last year? The inflation and shortages lead to skyrocketing prices not only for a wide range of materials but for skilled laborers and it’s been a challenge to keep offering a competitive price specially on projects that were put on hold due to the uncertainty the pandemic created.
What investments has your company made to maintain success and/or grow? We have invested in our people to foster a productive and employee-focused workplace, which keeps them motivated and engaged. A better trained workforce brings better outcomes and boost productivity.
Are you currently hiring? We always are looking for skilled labor such as plasterers, carpenters, foreman and superintendents.
How do you keep your staff motivated? We lead with a vision, create a welcoming environment, encourage teamwork and make sure every team has autonomy. We recognize and reward great work.
Your advice to other local businesses on surviving this challenging economic environment: Cut costs, develop a strategic networking plan to connect the right people you need to keep your business alive such as suppliers and potential clients and grow where you have a competitive advantage.
Interesting fact about your company: We have a total of 45 years’ experience in the construction field and 24 years in the Central Florida market. We have battled various economic downturns and have continued to thrive with our excellent quality of work and service.
What was your company’s greatest accomplishment in the last year and how did you get it done? AITC was selected as one of only five prime contractors to be awarded the $800M Total Engineering and Integration Services IV contract to support the Army’s technologies needs worldwide.
How do you describe success? Success is the satisfaction of having accomplished a previously established goal.
What is your company’s greatest challenge in the coming year and what’s your strategy to overcome it? The biggest challenge in the coming years to support growth are recruiting and retaining top talent. AITC ended up hiring dedicated recruiters and expanding its HR/benefits departments to address the personnel challenges. Additionally, AITC is expanding its internship programs and relationships with universities and colleges to establish a talent pipeline.
How have inflation or supply-chain issues affected your business in the last year? Supply-chain issues have impacted our operations significantly. We have projects on hold due to shortage of parts, and in most cases, we cannot invoice until the entire project is complete. In other cases, we cannot even start the project, which means we have personnel standing by, getting paid, but without supporting any income-generating projects. Inflation has impacted our costs significantly, from fuel to airfare, building supplies to food during business travel, our costs have increased dramatically.
What investments has your company made to maintain success and/or grow? We have made investments in people, processes, systems, tools, facilities, etc. We also invested and focused on business development (for example, AITC invested close to $1.5M over two years to pursue and win the TEIS contract mentioned above); Reinventing itself every few years to focus on new customers, offerings, technologies and locations. For example, AITC now supports efforts in Germany, South Korea, Belgium, Saudi Arabia, and others. We just invested close to $4M in a new building in Arizona to better support our local customers.
What new markets do you plan to expand into in the next year? We are working on expending operations to Latin America, Europe and the Middle East. From a customer perspective, we are expending heavily into medical simulation, cyber security, network operations and other related technologies.
Are you currently hiring? Yes, AITC is always hiring. We have dozens of positions worldwide. For more information, candidates can visit our website, www.aitcinc.com
How do you keep your staff motivated? With close to 200 people in over 25 locations, motivating staff is a challenge. We have periodic town hall meetings where every employee can dial in. We have several recognition and awards programs, from spot bonuses to employee of the month, quarter and year. We offer competitive compensation, remote work options and much more.
Your advice to other local businesses on surviving this challenging economic environment: Take action: Identify opportunities; reinvent yourselves; focus where the money is; never stop learning; do what is difficult, there are millions of others focused on what is easy; don’t feel sorry for yourself; finally, take risks.
Interesting fact about your company: AITC almost went under twice, once because of significant market change (federal government sequestration) and the second, because of a $1.2 million loss on a contract which resulted in our credit lines getting pulled. We survived the first time because we had no debt, cash in the bank and credit lines. We survived the second time, thanks to a phenomenal banking partner, Cogent Bank, who, despite the $1.2 million loss, extended us the needed capital to continue operations.
What was your company’s greatest accomplishment in the last year and how did you get it done? We continued to rebound from the effects of the pandemic. We were fortunate to only have a small decrease in revenue in 2020 and came back strong with double digit growth in 2021. Communication within our organization, as well with our customers, suppliers and partners was the key to success.
How do you describe success? Success is being able to observe team members collaborate and resolve issues with little to no interaction by me.
What is your company’s greatest challenge in the coming year and what’s your strategy to overcome it? Managing the growth with capacity restraints. We have purchased additional real estate and technology. Physical space was needed for additional machinery. Also, investment in technology to improve internal efficiencies.
How have inflation or supply-chain issues affected your business in the last year? We cannot think of one tangible item we purchase or service we have that has not increased in price. The supply chain is in flux and changes daily. The best information we had yesterday may be different today. We have had to change the way in which we manage inventory, how we purchase and continue to communicate with our customers as soon as we know the updated information.
What investments has your company made to maintain success and/or grow? In our industry and manufacturing in general, you need to continually invest in people, machinery and technology. It is a constant process, starting with the people — they are the core that drives the success every day. Invest in them and good things will happen.
Are you currently hiring? Yes.
How do you keep your staff motivated? The daily grind can be tough on everyone. We communicate and try to be as transparent as possible to keep the staff engaged. We also realize we have lives outside the four walls of Data Graphics. Balancing work/home life, celebrating and supporting them as well as their families gets to the root of what we stand for.
Your advice to other local businesses on surviving this challenging economic environment: Communicate with anyone you work with, be it internally or externally. While manufacturers are selling a tangible product, we all have a thirst for information. Data is what drives our businesses decisions. Listen to what is going on around you and then make informed decisions based on the analytics.
Interesting fact about your company: Our founder Bob Welter was a manufacturer’s representative and also a licensed pilot. In the early 1990s, if we needed to get parts to a customer quickly, he would fly them to the regional airport nearest the customer and meet them there to hand off the package. Service like this is what we call the DG Difference.
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