Advertising and public relations agency Laughlin Constable has again been recognized as one of Milwaukee’s finest, most progressive places to work, this time as a winner of the Alfred P. Sloan Award for Business Excellence in Workplace Flexibility. The agency will receive the award at the FUEL Milwaukee event on August 6, 2008 at 5:00 p.m. at the Grain Exchange.
The Alfred P. Sloan Award recognizes employers in select communities nationwide that are successful in utilizing flexibility to reach employee and business excellence. The Sloan Award is given in conjunction with the Families and Work Institute’s ongoing, national initiative to promote workplace flexibility and effectiveness as competitive business strategies.
Steve Laughlin, Partner and Executive Creative Director, sees flexibility in the workplace as a critical element in overall business effectiveness.
“With the extreme demands upon people’s time today, it’s important to be flexible with your team, in order to help them make the most of their personal and professional lives. We’re proud to be recognized for successfully using workplace flexibility to retain great, productive employees while helping the organization meet our goals.”
Laughlin Constable is one of 10 Milwaukee area companies to receive 2008 Alfred P. Sloan Award. Other winners include: Clifton Gunderson, Deloitte, Ernst & Young, KMPG LLP, Kahler Slater, Inc., Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce, Robert W. Baird & Co., Tashaus Computer Services Inc., and West Bend Mutual Insurance Company.
FUEL Milwaukee is a talent network working to establish the seven-county Milwaukee region as the destination for world-class talent and strengthen the region’s business base. It is an economic development initiative of the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce (MMAC).
Salon Selectives “Steps Out” with National Advertising Campaign
CHICAGO, March 31, 2008 -- Salon Selectives®, the recently re-launched iconic hair care brand, will kick-off a national television campaign on March 31, 2008.
The campaign creates a new genre of advertising for the hair care category - action fashion - as a springboard for reinforcing the brand’s core message: With Salon Selectives, women can choose the combination of products that will allow them to look and feel their best, "like they just stepped out of a salon." Each spot portrays confident, empowered women who are able to narrowly escape sticky situations by using their intelligence and strength, along with the transformational powers of Salon Selectives.
“Women remember the original Salon Selectives advertising. They remember the tagline and can still sing the jingle,” said Anne West, chief marketing officer for SBB, LLC, Salon Selectives’ marketer and distributor. “The new campaign leverages the brand’s original core messages of transformation and customization while modernizing the theme. We have developed a new ad approach for the hair care category, moving away from product demonstrations and impossibly beautiful hair close ups, to connect with women through fantastical action-adventure stories.”
The spots were developed by Chicago-based Laughlin/Constable, and will be running on national cable channels, including CMT, E!, Lifetime, Oxygen, the Style Network, and VH1.
Salon Selectives
Salon Selectives, made popular in the 1980s and 1990s by Helene Curtis Inc., was re-launched in March 2008 by Chicago-based SBB, an acquirer and developer of undervalued brands in the personal care category. Salon Selectives was the first salon-inspired brand available in mass retail stores. At its peak, the brand had a 6.5 percent market share and annual sales totaling $275 million.
The product line currently features three shampoos, five conditioners and ten styling products with a suggested retail price of $3.99. Salon Selectives is currently available online, as well as through food, drug and mass market retailers nationwide.
SBB, LLC The Salon Selectives brand is distributed and marketed by Chicago-based SBB, LLC. The company was formed in 2007 to acquire and revitalize undervalued brands in the personal care category. For more information on Salon Selectives, visit www.salonselectives.com.
Customer Requirements Drive Design of MaxxForce™ 7
WARRENVILLE, Ill., Nov. 6, 2006 — International Truck and Engine Corporation today announced the MaxxForce™ 7, the engine that will redefine commercial diesel performance and driver comfort for the industry. Featuring a high-pressure common-rail fuel system utilizing piezo-actuated injectors and an advanced air management system, the MaxxForce 7 provides exceptional fuel economy, power, performance, reliability and durability, while meeting the EPA’s stringent 2007 EPA emissions standards.
“To meet demanding customer requirements, we started with fresh thinking based upon customer needs to design the new MaxxForce 7,” said Jack Allen, president, International Engine Group. “Customers told us they need an engine that not only provides fuel economy, power and performance for their business, but also ‘quiet power’ for driver comfort and reduction of noise pollution for city routes where many of our products are used. We deliver that with the MaxxForce 7.”
Fuel Economy
The new V-8 platform has had more than 80,000 hours of engine testing and 6 million miles of development and validation, the results of which show impressive numbers. Thousands of hours of dynamometer testing with the MaxxForce 7 engine have demonstrated exceptional fuel economy over its predecessors. By optimizing transmission and drivelines it is possible for our customers to see double-digit improvements in fuel economy. This is where the value of an integrated truck and engine company pays off for the customer. International has the ability to optimize its vehicles to achieve economy and provide these advantages and benefits to its customers.
“Our lab data verifies a double-digit fuel economy gain during pickup and delivery cycles,” said Helmut Endres, vice president engineering and product development, International Engine Group. “Even with increased displacement and the impact of exhaust aftertreatment devices, engine dynamometer and vehicle testing indicates the fuel economy of MaxxForce 7 powered products will not degrade (relative to the current V-8 product) under any operating condition.”
Tom Cellitti, vice president and general manager, Medium Truck Vehicle Center, International Truck Group said, “In-city cycle testing indicates a significant improvement in tank mileage. This level of improvement is a result of base engine and vehicle power train optimization. Actual comparative vehicle fuel economy tests will be conducted later this year and actual results made available at that time.”
High-Pressure Common Rail with Piezo-Actuated Injectors
Helping drive the fuel economy improvements is a high-precision, high-pressure common-rail fuel system that utilizes Piezo-actuated fuel injectors. The Piezo-electric linear actuator is a solid-state ceramic actuator that converts electric energy into linear motion precisely controlling the needle’s opening and closing through the hydraulic circuit. The capabilities of these actuators, the fastest in the industry, combined with the ingenuity of International’s calibrators result in a system that delivers five shots of fuel through the combustion cycle. This allows the fuel to burn more completely and efficiently resulting in greater fuel economy, lower noise, low emissions and aftertreatment control without external dosing.
Advanced Air Management
Working in conjunction with the common-rail fuel system is an air-management system utilizing an electronically controlled variable geometry turbocharger (EVRT™). The EVRT employs a set of vanes that automatically adjust to optimize the airflow within the turbo to provides exceptional response over a wide range of engine speeds for impressive acceleration, grade climbing capability, high-altitude performance and towing capability. It also drives EGR, delivers more air at lower RPMs and reduces parasitic loads in low or no load conditions. All of this helps to reduce noise, improve fuel economy, meet emissions and make the International trucks the MaxxForce 7 powers responsive and driver friendly.
Other features behind the reliability, durability and performance of the MaxxForce 7 include: * Parallel cooling optimizes the cooling of critical components versus using series-cooling loops. The parallel system used on the MaxxForce7 allows dedicated coolant flow to each critical component providing even cooling, which equates to long component life. * Directed Piston Cooling Jet Tubes and gallery cooled pistons, a big-bore feature incorporated into the new engine, distribute cooling oil into a passage surrounding the combustion bowl to remove the maximum amount of heat from the piston. This helps to achieve maximum durability and reliability and assure outstanding power and cylinder life in the face of higher injection pressures. * A single ECM with 32-bit processor provides powerful electronic control of the engine and aftertreatment systems and is vertically integrated to provide efficient communication with International’s trucks. * Top-mounted oil filter provides for ease and low cost of maintenance and ownership by allowing for quick and easy removal of the innovatively designed oil cartridge, which is similar in concept to a printer cartridge. This keeps oil self-contained during a filter change, which should be done every 10,000 miles, and the engine free of dripping oil during routine maintenance. * 10,000-mile oil drain interval allows drivers to go longer between service stops, adding to the engine’s low cost of required maintenance and ownership. * Hydraulic lifters give the MaxxForce 7 a service-free valvetrain, eliminating the need to ever get under the valve cover.
The MaxxForce 7 diesel engine will power Class 5 through Class 7 trucks with 200-230 hp at 2,600 RPM and 560-620 ft. lbs of torque @ 1,400 RPM.
International Truck and Engine Corporation
International Truck and Engine Corporation is the operating company of Navistar International Corporation (NYSE: NAV). The company produces International® brand commercial trucks, mid-range diesel engines and IC brand school buses, Workhorse brand chassis for motor homes and step vans, and is a private label designer and manufacturer of diesel engines for the pickup truck, van and SUV markets. The company is also a provider of truck and diesel engine parts and service sold under the International® brand. A wholly owned subsidiary offers financing services. Additional information is available at: www.internationaldelivers.com.
MILWAUKEE (September 24, 2007) — For the second year in a row, MetroParent, a parenting publication in Southeastern Wisconsin, has selected Laughlin/Constable as one of the most "family friendly" work places in the Milwaukee area. Praising our flexibility for working parents, the article highlights Laughlin/Constable’s family friendly policies such as sick days for sick children, summer hours and the children’s summer party. Special thanks to Steve Laughlin and Mitch Winter for believing in our family friendly policies!
In today’s competitive business environment, these smart employers realize they need to set themselves apart in ways that appeal to today’s discerning workforce. Instead of talented, educated, highly skilled working professional moms looking for the exit after their second or third child, they’re given accommodation and encouragement — and they stay. Increasingly, family friendliness also means flexibility for dads who are more and more involved with their kids and employees who need time for older family members. Giving employees what they really need — work/life balance — family-friendly companies are winning the war for talent.
Advertising agencies, like law firms, have not always been known for their family friendliness. That makes the atmosphere at Laughlin/Constable that much more notable, says employee Anna Zeck. “When I had my first child, I went part-time, but in order for it to work, I had to be accessible full-time,” says the vice president of public relations and mom of three children under six. “Soon I moved my office to my home, though I still have a work station at the office. “Between email and a shared network, it works.” Laughlin/Constable knows making such accommodations helps them keep talented staff. “The competition is fierce, and that makes our family friendly policies more attractive than ever,” says senior v.p. Joyce O’Brien. “We’ve found our approach builds a stronger, healthier and happier workforce. The positive impact on the bottom line is an added bonus.” Laughlin/Constable offers sick days for sick children, paid leave for school functions, a summer hours program, even a children’s holiday party.
For Zeck, who does p.r. for the Ronald McDonald House, among other things, her company’s flexibility lets her enjoy the best of two worlds. "My primary job right now is Mom, but to an extent you define yourself by your job,” says Zeck. “I have an opportunity to work on behalf of a Blue Chip company and to help improve Milwaukee.
