IMPACT Partnership with Industrialinfo.com Proves to Be the Ironworkers Union Business Manager's Best Friend

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In today's competitive industrial construction market, knowledge regarding upcoming business opportunities (who and what are building where) equates to success in the market place. It's important for marketing managers to know everything they can possibly know about their area of influence, as early as possible, in order to make intelligent decisions regarding future business prospects. The Ironworkers Union is doing just that. In a recent interview with Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources, Incorporated; Houston, Texas), George Kratzer, President of the Ironworkers District Council of Southern Ohio and Vicinity, and General Vice President of the International Iron Workers Union, shared the following success story. "When we first signed up with Industrialinfo.com, one of our business managers contacted a member of the board of directors from a company listed on an upcoming project report. The director didn't know anything about the project, but the company was having a board of director's meeting that evening, so he would inquire and get back to the business manager. The next morning the director called the business manager and asked how he found out about a project that hadn't even been discussed by the board of directors. However, the company was in the early planning stages and would perform a $40 million union project. The business manager had been totally unaware of the project before picking it up off of Industrialinfo.com."

Mr. Kratzer goes on to say, "That's the great thing about Industrialinfo.com, it gives you a clear and proven advantage over other crafts and gets your contractors on board, and in many cases, a year before the job is going to start. And there have been numerous other projects within our district council that our agents and organizers have been able to get on top of and turn those jobs around from non-union sector to a union sector."

In an innovative, online joint venture with Industrialinfo.com, IMPACT, the Ironworker Management Progressive Action Cooperative Trust is providing its members access to Industrialinfo.com's industrial project database through IMPACT Direct. IMPACT Direct's industrial project information is now available to all members of the IMPACT team, including member Local Unions and their Signatory Contractor Associations, giving them access to more than six thousand active projects, with new projects being released every day. IMPACT Direct is also available to Individual Member Contractors at a 70% discount. Yet another benefit of partnering with the IMPACT team.

Mr. Kratzer additionally states that right now construction activity is slow in almost every local in the district, but he expects that to turn around by June, as the summer construction season begins to kick in. This is especially true for commercial construction. Industrial sector jobs, on the other hand, are disappearing to overseas locations. Also, reinforcing and structural steel contractors and fabricators are in a quandary, because of the escalating price of steel. Contractors and fabricators are hesitant about bidding projects that are further out than 30 days and pressure on steel prices isn't showing any signs of letting up.

With the state of the economy for the construction industry as it is, Iron Worker locals need every advantage that they can get to identify, and qualify, new business for their members.

Mr. Kratzer ends the conversation by stating emphatically, "If a business manager doesn't think that he needs to check Industrialinfo.com, then he is not concerned with the work that is in his area for the future. Because that's what it is all about. What work is coming up in the business manager's area in the future? The business manager has got to be on top of every job that's out there."

Contact Elisabeth Springer at (202) 393-1147 and Team up with IMPACT Direct today!