NEWS

Winners of Global Iowa Export Awards Announced Four companies from northeast Iowa recognized for their exporting success during regional seminar held at Buena Vista University today

April 21, 2010 (Storm Lake, Iowa) -  Winning the 2010 Global Iowa Export Awards this year were Algona-based KOFAB, GOMACO Corporation of Ida Grove, Storm Lake-based Merrill Manufacturing Co., Inc. and SIG International of Boyden.
The Global Iowa Export Awards are presented annually to recognize companies who are expanding their market by conducting business internationally. Recipients are chosen based on their past year's achievements and commitment to exporting as a component of their business strategy.

The award recipients listed in alphabetical order:
KOFAB was the dream of Donald Schiltz.  He had a vision of providing opportunities for himself, his family and fellow employees.  Donald started from very humble means taking over a one stall car wash of less than 1,000 square feet in July of 1977. Today, COFAB is a business with more than 111,000 square feet divided between two facilities.  KOFAB’s success has been attributed to developing and delivering high quality products and creating a good working relationship with their customers. Their continuous philosophy is to put their customer’s needs first. KOFAB is continually striving to expand its export opportunities through trade show contacts and working with OEMs that have exporting ties. Having those relationships produces in growth in their percentage of sales.

GOMACO is the worldwide leader in concrete construction equipment and concrete paving technology and employs approximately 320 people in their Ida Grove facilities. Today, GOMACO has a global network of 100 distributors with more than 200 office locations. The products are sold in over 90 countries. The company’s history demonstrates the importance given to producing quality products with innovative features to improve the equipments’ handling, cost effectiveness and quality of the finished concrete.   The company has over 42 patents to its credit and has won numerous awards for product innovations.

Merrill Manufacturing Co. Inc. is a 60-year-old family owned business that supplies products to the water well industry. They have always been a leader in the water well industry, holding more than 20 patents for various water well products. They also pride themselves on shipping orders in excess of 98 percent complete in less than 36 hours.

SIG International is a niche market pork harvest and packing corporation. The owners of the company had a facility in Taiwan that would export Berkshire meat to Japan, but about 12 years ago there was an outbreak of Foot and Mouth disease in Taiwan and Japan, which shut down all importing of pork. SIG International then began looking for a facility in the Midwestern portion of the United States. They found an empty beef packing plant in Boyden, Iowa and made the necessary modifications and SIG International Iowa was born. SIG International meets high standards for concentrating all efforts into quality rather than quantity, and these standards extend all the way from the farm to the arrival of products in Japan.
The companies received their awards today at the regional seminar, “Why Export – Why Now?” at Buena Vista University.  The one-day seminar featured speakers from Brown Medical Industries, Fredrikson & Byron, P.A., Iowa Department of Economic Development and a panel comp rised of the Global Iowa Award winners.  Topics discussed included “What Are Some Known and Unknown Factors Affecting Global Trade?” and “Assistance/Resources for Iowa Exporters”.

Seminar Hosts
Northwest Iowa Development
Iowa Lake Corridor Development Corporation Mid Iowa Growth Partnership Western Iowa Advantage Iowa Department of Economic Development
Photo-Brian Schiltz and Sen. Jack Kibbie

To view this press release on the IDED website, please visit
For more information contact:
Kay Snyder (515) 725-3150