Glass Fiber Inc. moving to Rita Road location

Glass Fiber Inc., an aerospace fiberglass insulation supplier, will open a new manufacturing facility in the 88,000-square-foot former Imation building at 8500 S. Rita Road.

Operations are scheduled to begin in November with an estimated 90 employees and increase to 190 employees as sales demand increases. The business is expected to generate an annual payroll of $2.6 million, with the majority of the employees recruited from the Tucson region.

Louise Henderson to build bungalows in historic Willcox

Developer Louise Henderson is building five historic style bungalows in the Willcox Historic District.

Henderson is working with Mascot Homes & Construction, owned by Stephen Klump, as the contractor. The floor plans include both two and three bedrooms, two baths in each, with prices starting at $159,000.

Tucson Museum of Art achieves accreditation

The Tucson Museum of Art and Historic Block has achieved accreditation by the American Association of Museums.

AAM Accreditation is a seal of approval from the museum field that recognizes a museum for its commitment to excellence, accountability, high professional standards, and continued institutional improvement. It also signifies that a museum fulfills its obligations to the public as set forth in its mission.

NES Rentals offers heavy equipment rentals in Tucson

NES Rentals is offering heavy equipment rental at its Tucson branch, at 4050 E. Columbia Street.

The brand-new fleet will consist of aerial work platforms, material lifts, compaction and earth-moving equipment, light towers, generators, welders, breakers, trenchers and utility-site vehicles. The equipment will come from a variety of manufacturers including Genie, Terex, Ditch Witch, Yanmar, Sullair and Skyjack.

Metro Car Wash opens East Speedway location

Metro Car Wash has opened a second location at 5150 E. Speedway Blvd.

The building’s design eliminated the overhead building, which reduced construction costs for the owners. Barker Morrissey Contracting did the work.

Carondelet buys Sahuarita property for $62M hospital

Carondelet Health Network has purchased property for the development of a regional hospital and medical services campus in the Green Valley/Sahuarita area.

The new campus is at the corner of Sahuarita Road and La Villita in the heart of the planned Sahuarita town center. Construction of the hospital is slated for 2010 with occupancy scheduled for 2011. The cost of the project is estimated at $62 million, with funds secured through a combination of Carondelet capital allocation and philanthropy.

Adecco’s employment processes get auditors’ OK

Adecco Engineering & Technical, a division of Adecco SA announced that the management and servicing processes used by its Tucson office to recruit, interview, select and place contract and full-time employees are registered to the ISO 9001:2000 standard for quality.

ISO 9001:2000 recognition, based on accepted international guidelines, is awarded after a company identifies its quality management systems, processes and procedures and subjects them to rigorous on-site examination by both internal auditors and independent third-party experts.

S. Arizona firms honored at 5th Cactus Quill awards

The Tucson chapter of the International Association of Business Communicators presented its 5th annual 2006 Cactus Quill awards recently.

The following were honored for excellence in business communication: ASU Research Publications; Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arizona; Clerk of the Superior Court, Maricopa County; Family Legacy Video Inc.; Pima Association of Governments; Raytheon Missile Systems; SAHRA, University of Arizona; SCF Arizona; Southern Arizona Chapter of STC; and Western Sky Communications

3 firms tied to UA medical school get bioscience awards

Three companies with ties to the University of Arizona College of Medicine received Excellence in Bioscience Awards at the recent Arizona BioIndustry Association annual awards dinner.

AmpliMed Corp., a developer of novel drugs for the treatment of cancer, was Bioscience Company of the Year.

DMetrix was Bioscience Startup Company of the Year. Founded in 2001 as a UA spinoff, DMetrix has emerged as a leader in digital microscopy.

Ventana Medical Systems, the world’s leading supplier of automated diagnostic systems to the anatomical pathology market, was Medical Device Company of the Year.

Buffalo Exchange expands with 3rd L.A.-area store

Buffalo Exchange has opened a store in the Westwood section of Los Angeles at 10914 Kinross Ave. It is the company’s third Los Angeles location. Tucson-based Buffalo Exchange now has 27 stores and five franchises in 11 states.

Marana 1st to use Dream Builder Jurisdiction software

The town of Marana is the first municipality to use The Planning Center of Tucson’s new Dream Builder Jurisdiction software. The program allows jurisdictions to quickly evaluate building permits and monitor building projects.

It also helps evaluate multiple building permit applications, shortening the time needed to review building applications.

A second software program developed by The Planning Center, Dream Builder Sales Office, has also been implemented locally. Standard Pacific Homes is using it at the Miramonte at the River development site.

Ed Hardy to bring ‘tattoo fashions’ to Old Pueblo

Ed Hardy, a store with its flagship location on Melrose Avenue in Los Angeles, is opening a location in Tucson.

The store, which blends fashion design and the art of tattoo, will open at 905 E. University Blvd.

Tempe-based Sundt is nation’s 64th-largest construction firm

Sundt Construction, is the 64th-largest construction company in the United States, according to statistics compiled recently by Engineering News Record Magazine. The employee-owned company is headquartered in Tempe.

For 2005, Sundt reported revenue of $614 million and signed $828 million in new contracts during the year.

S. Arizona auto repair shops get top awards from AAA

Five southern Arizona auto repair shops have been rated Top Shops by AAA Arizona. Selected shops must meet more than 20 standards in order to be recognized by the Approved Auto Repair program.

The shops honored were: Hardin Brothers, Catalina; Hickey Automotive, Green Valley; Borst Automotive and AASTRO Transmission & Auto Repair, Tucson; and AASTRO Transmission & Auto Repair, Marana.

Hardin Brothers and Borst Automotive have been on the list for five years.

Royal Jaguar honored with ‘Pride of Jaguar Award’

Royal Jaguar in Tucson is one of 16 Jaguar dealers nationwide to receive the 2005 “Pride of Jaguar Award of Excellence” from Jaguar North America.

Jaguar executives evaluate dealerships from January through December. Evaluations are based 60 percent on customer satisfaction and 40 percent on sales performance.

Royal Jaguar is locally owned by Paul Weitman. Steve Lace is general manager of Royal Automotive Group, And Bill Ecklund is general manager of Royal Jaguar, 4670 N. Circuit Drive, in the Tucson Auto Mall.

This is the first time Royal Jaguar has been named a Pride of Jaguar Award of Excellence recipient

920-acre Madera Highlands opens south of Tucson

Madera Highlands, a 920-acre master-planned community near the pecan orchards south of Tucson, is now open.

Located near the foothills of the Santa Rita Mountains and near the entrance to Madera Canyon, Madera Highlands’ first phase includes about 600 homes. A variety of neighborhoods will be built around a 13-acre village park concept.

Single-family homes are offered by Lennar, U.S. Home, Richmond American Homes and Meritage Homes. Faulkner Land Company is offering custom lots.

Heart Center of S. Arizona gets prestigious accreditation

The Heart Center of Southern Arizona announced it is the first echocardiography laboratory in southern Arizona to receive national accreditation from the Intersocietal Commission for the Accreditation of Echocardiography Laboratories.

Accreditation is a voluntary process, but the designation acknowledges the laboratory’s high-quality cardiology care in the area of echocardiography. The Heart Center joins nine other laboratories in Arizona with this certification, putting it among the ranks of the Mayo Clinic, the Cleveland Clinic and Stanford University Medical Center.

ICE named Select Partner by Cisco Systems

International Consulting and Engineering has achieved the small and medium-size business Select Partner designation from Cisco Systems.

The Cisco designation recognizes ICE’s understanding of the networking needs and concerns of small- and medium-sized businesses, those with between 20 and 250 employees. Cisco provides ICE with the training, support, and resources necessary to provide the highest quality of services available to their SMB customers.

State agency wins job-creation award

Area Development magazine will recognize the Arizona Department of Commerce with its “Silver Shovel” award for the agency’s involvement in some of the nation’s top job-creating and investment projects in 2005.

The magazine based the award on the state agency’s efforts to create jobs and draw new investment to Arizona.

Assistance by the Department of Commerce in luring Pella Windows to Tucson, which is expected to create 300 new jobs and $30 million in capital investment, was cited by Area Development as one of the projects considered in granting the award to the state agency.

Skyline CC receives platinum designation

Skyline Country Club has been awarded Platinum Club of America status, a ranking that identifies the top-200 private country clubs in the United States.

The honor comes from the Club Leaders Forum, a national private-club industry publication.

The ranking is based on survey results from more than 6,000 private club managers and presidents. The designation places Skyline Country Club, 5200 E. St. Andrews Drive, in the top 3 percent of private clubs nationwide.

Firms have chance to market in Japan

Small- and medium-size Arizona companies interested in exporting can take advantage of the Arizona Department of Commerce’s invitation to participate in Japan’s Exposition of Analytical Instruments and Solutions show Aug. 30 to Sept. 2.

The agency would like to showcase Arizona’s optical and analytical companies by displaying marketing literature, brochures, panels and products. Representatives of the agency will pass out information about Arizona firms to prospective clients and, upon their return from Japan, provide businesses with a list of inquiries.

Participation is free.

Sponsors of this show included U.S. Commercial Services, the Japan External Trade Organization, the Trade and Industry of Japan and many others.

The show and the exhibitors include a wide variety of business fields including analytical instruments, entrusted analysis, analytical software, temporary staffing of analytical experts, and sensors and devices for analytical instruments.

For more information, call Karla Teixeira, international trade specialist, at (602) 771-1156, or e-mail karlat@azcommerce.com.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 5th, 2006 at 12:00 am and is filed under Edge. Tags for this post: Consumer, Edge-Consumer, Edge-Consumer-World, Tucson Business Edge, World. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.