Iowa Touts Pella, Eaton, Others As Stellar Companies

Six Iowa companies recently received awards for economic impact, workforce development, technology application, and new product development at the Governor's Iowa Industry Conference and Awards Luncheon. ConAgra Grocery Products, Pella Corp.--Story City Operations, and Toyota Motor Credit Corp. each won Economic Impact Awards for the creation of state-of-the-art jobs and investment in new capital. Engineering Animation Inc. of Ames received the Governor's Award for Innovative Product Development, and Sauer-Sundstrand won the Innovative Technology Application Award in recognition of its use of computer-integrated manufacturing. The Eaton Corp., Engine Components Division, earned the Innovative Workforce Development award for the creation of a new employee training program. Iowa ranks second in business retention over the last three years, with a rate of 67%, according to The Brandow Co., an economic development consulting firm. The business retention rate of the state of Iowa is five percentage points higher than the national average. Iowa's manufacturing sector has a retention rate of 66%.