Archive: Business & Technology

U.S. Representative Richard Hanna commended Upstate New York small businesses last Friday, during the 48th annual observance of National Small Business Week.

Hanna is a member of the House Small Business Committee. On Thursday, he toured Transonic Systems in Ithaca, N.Y., and today he hosted an economic roundtable discussion with staff at Fermer Precision in Ilion, N.Y.

Transonic Systems recently added 35 new jobs since last year, upping employment to about 145 people. Founded in 1983, Transonic Systems is an industry leader in biomedical flow measurement, innovation and quality.

Fermer Precision, founded in 1947, was created as a tool and die company and has evolved into an expert CNC machining technology center for manufacturing components used in a multitude of industries – ranging from residential and commercial water pumps to automotive power trains. It employs 51 people.

“Our small businesses should be treated as gems,” Hanna said. “They are what built this nation. Small business owners, particularly in Upstate New York, are some of the fiercest entrepreneurs in the country. They know how to survive and how to excel.”

Fermer Precision Executive Vice President Mark I. Cushman welcomed the congressman to the facility.

“Our management and our employees are extremely proud to be showcasing to Rep. Hanna the world-class CNC-machining technology, quality and work-ethic that is coming out of Fermer, as well as other great small New York state businesses.”

Hanna recently co-sponsored legislation that will help promote American jobs and economic growth. The cost-free legislation, H.R. 1425, “Creating Jobs Through Small Business innovation Act of 2011,” will reauthorize two programs: the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and the Small Business Technology Transfer Program (STTR).

Both programs are widely supported and recognized as important engines of innovation.  The SBIR and the STTR programs offer competition-based awards to stimulate technological innovation among small private-sector businesses while providing government agencies new, cost-effective, technical and scientific solutions to meet their diverse needs, without extra federal spending.

“I’ll continue to work to support legislation that fosters job creation and supports small business nationwide and especially in Upstate New York,” Hanna said.

To kick off National Small Business Week, Hanna on Monday, May 16, hosted a roundtable discussion at Nelson Associates in Clinton, N.Y. with local business leaders.

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