Muskegon-area industries lead the economic recovery that's expected to ...
20.05.12
“Part of this is the normal economic cycle where the weak players fall along the way and the remaining do well in the recovery,” said Larry Hines, president and owner of the Hines Corp. — a group of six industrial companies, including Bennett Pump in Norton Shores, Johnston Boiler in Ferrysburg, Michigan Spring and Stamping in Norton Shores and Pacific Floor Care in Muskegon.
Hines said his industrial companies are projecting double-digit growth in 2012. Those projections would bring the industrial group back to revenue levels above where they were prior to the recession, Hines said.
“We're optimistic,” Hines said of 2012.
Some Muskegon-area industries didn't survive the last decade, including Sappi Fine Paper in Muskegon and Lift Tech International in Muskegon Heights — both companies more than 100 years old that ended local operations during the recession.
On the other hand, another group of local industries have recast themselves in light of new global realities. Surviving the downturn, they now are poised to take advantage of the upturn to Muskegon's benefit, said Cindy Larsen, president of the Muskegon Lakeshore Chamber of Commerce.
Source: Michigan Business Review - MLive.com