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July 23, 2021

7/23/2021

july 23, 2021

7/23/2021

SHARING IS CARING…PCDA spends a fair amount of digital ink in this weekly blog telling you how economic development is far more than just recruiting companies. Since you asked, the first priority is making sure that companies in Ponca City have a competitive edge by being here. Case in point was a June approval by the very impressive and always prescient PCDA Board of Trustees when they approved the purchase of a “Coordinated Measurement Machine” or CMM. This piece of equipment can measure manufactured parts and components to almost ridiculous extremes. In today’s changing and competitive economy, customers want exact, no nonsense parts that are certified as being exactly “X” (as opposed to “in the ballpark”).

The real kicker is that a lot of companies can use this but almost none need it enough to buy it, so they eat the time and money to send it to the big city. By making the equipment available to them through our buddies at Pioneer Tech (it lives in the PTC “Plan Room,” another PCDA, PTC collaboration) any manufacturer in town that is trained to use it can do so free of charge. Having this in town allows Ponca City manufacturing companies to do the measuring themselves, saving a lot of money and, vastly more important, a lot of time. This in turn allows companies to get more stuff done (see Wikipedia: “Productivity”) which allows them to get more work, employ more people and pay higher wages (aka “Economic Development”). For more information, call Laurence Beliel in the PCDA office (580.765.7070) and be prepared to have your questions answered and your opportunities multiplied.

Unless you try to do something beyond what you have already mastered, you will never grow. -Ralph Waldo Emerson

Is your company seeking new customers? New to the area? Maybe your business is ready to work with local, state, federal or Native American Tribal government entities. Have you seen the government forms and applications you need to fill out?

Never fear. Ponca City (and most of Northwest Oklahoma) has a dedicated resource located at Pioneer Technology Center. Her name is Dawn Brakey and all you need to do is #JustAskDawn. Dawn has all the information on local bids, and access to the contracts and specs in the local Plan Room. What is the cost for this service, you might ask? It is Free. That is right. A free service, or rather, services for you. The business owners. The Marketing person. The contractor seeking new projects. #JustAskDawn. And here is how. Dawn Brakey, 580.718.4261 or email at [email protected]. FREE.

Find out more information at the July 28th "Be Prepared to Meet Your Government Customer" training session at Pioneer Tech, Room D123. Call Dawn to sign up for this FREE session.

Are you a new company here in Ponca City? Looking for a way to network and find new clients? Word of mouth is a great way and we had a new testing lab reach out to PCDA this week. TSL is located at 519 N. First Street here in Ponca City and is ready to assist your company with DOT, non-DOT and Rapid drug screen as well as DNA collections and other screenings. Staff of course suggested joining the Ponca City Chamber of Commerce to take advantage of networking opportunities and invited them to Business on the Balcony August 10th. But we thought mentioning them here was a good idea. Find out more about TSL by clicking here.

Gravity Room has a large projector, built in speakers for presentations, breakout rooms and seats 50 at tables.

CITY CENTRAL has rooms for all types of training with all sizes of groups. This week the Ponca Tribal Victim Services were in the Gravity Room hosting and participating in Motivational Interviewing training. This intense training was taught by Bridgette Franklin and Cecile. PCDA Staff was on hand to make sure all the tech was working and witnessed some of the interactive training. Thank you to PTVS for pictures!

The Chamber will have a Lunch and Learn on Wednesday, September 8th from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. at the Chamber Board Room. Cost is $10 to attend. Our Ponca Works Manager Liz Leaming will explain how internships works, do you pay or not pay, what hours should they work, what does a business need to share in order to have the intern(s) be successful. Phone the Chamber Office at 765-4400 to RSVP or email [email protected] or [email protected].

Wednesday, July 28 // Be Prepared to Meet Your Gov't Customer // 11 to 1 pm

Pioneer Tech, Room D123

July 29-31 // Crazy Days Downtown // Thursday-Saturday

Street Party Friday, July 30th at the Vet Plaza - 5 pm

Tuesday, Aug 10 // Business on the Balcony // PCDA Balcony 7 am to 8:30 am

Mark your calendar for a little breakfast & a lot of networking. Meet business people; get connected and get your questions answered. City Central, Suite #200. On the B.

Thurs Aug 12 // New Teacher Luncheon // PC Country Club 11:30 am

Contact Rich at the Chamber office if your business/company would like to sponsor a New Teacher. This is a great way to get to know our new educators. 580.765.4400

Wed, Aug 18// Ponca City School Begins // Watch out for the kiddos

Yes, School is back in session. Be on the lookout for crossings, walkers & bikers.

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July 16, 2021

7/16/2021

MAKING A PLAN..... and then following the plan. Trusting the plan. Tinkering with the plan, but not scrapping it. This isn't as easy as it sounds. People make plans all the time. Some plans work; some don't. Staff is talking business/strategic planning in particular. And if giving the act of planning a cool name makes the process easier, we haven't found anyone willing to step up and make that statement. Business planning, strategic planning, heck this time of year planning a vacation might put someone into tears and screaming. But taking the time to plan is the best way to 1. Have a roadmap 2. Be ready for pitfalls or successes and anything in between and of course 3. Have something to change as you adapt to the new.

Because change is part of the plan. Why does your fearless economic development staff mention plans and planning? So glad you asked. It is the time of year when planning is part of the budget cycle. And with the past couple of years, all of us (business, family, life in general) have learned the abruptness of quick change and the power of a PLAN. So, join us in making a plan; working the plan; adapting the plan as we work through fiscal 2021-2022. Your business will thank you; your employees will be ecstatic. And for any of our Adam Sandler fans out there "YOU CAN DO IT!".

“If you don’t know where you are going, you’ll end up someplace else.” – Yogi Berra

Did you miss the massive ribbon cutting last week to open the Ponca City Airport Runway? Or do you just want to relive the memories? We here at PCDA have you covered. Click here to see the City's FB live post and check out the biggest ribbon cutting picture EVER below! It's a veritable "Where's Waldo" of PC people! Really, the re-opening of our airport runway is a big thing for Ponca City and our area. Now, how about those First Saturday Fly-Ins?

Representatives from four of Ponca City’s industries were on hand for the initial Keyence Coordinate Measuring Machine (CMM) training held at Pioneer Tech this week. The Keyence CMM offers the latest in laser technology for measuring the physical geometrical characteristics of an object. This system provides precise 3D measurements of parts for design, First Article Inspections (FAI) and reverse engineering.

The Keyence CMM will allow local manufactures to do detailed part inspections at Pioneer Tech instead of sending parts out of town for time consuming and expensive 3^rd party inspections. The Keyence XM CMM machine is part of PCDA’s Shared Equipment Program which also includes a 3D resin printer and laser cutter. For more information on using this equipment, give Laurence a call 580.761.7071 or email.

Pictured left to right are: Thomas Bunting- Keyence, Dustin Glenn-Moonlight Machine, Jeff Williams-Centerline, Andrew Neisen -Precision Tool & Die, John Utech-Precision Tool &Die and Keagan Brown-K&C Manufacturing. Not pictured Johnny Thornburgh and Janet Schwabe- Pioneer Technology Center and Laurence Beliel-PCDA.

CITY CENTRAL was the host to 50 students of art this week and all their various instructors. The PC Art Association had their Art Camp for kids ages 6 to 12 all week. Great art was created (we have the pictures to prove it) and artists shared their passions and talents including painting, tie-dye, acrylic, watercolor, textiles, 3D creations and sewing. If you would like to see more pictures, make sure to like and follow the Ponca City Art Association. Thank you to all the sponsors who make camps like this possible to kids of all income levels.

#PCProud

Boettcher Devinney Ingle & Wicker Law

John & Mary Anne O'Neill

Equity Bank

Carl & Brenda Renfro

This week Ponca Works staff met with the Committee Number 1 (the originality of this title makes us giggle) for the Center of Workforce Excellence in North Central Oklahoma. Pioneer Technology Center is hosting this center for our region and has done a great job of assimilating the information of programs and projects that are done “excellently” in our areas – and pulling them together into one easy stop.

Ponca Works presented programs which will be used in the entire region to build career awareness, grow our own workforce and create some diversification in gender dominated roles (think Girl Power!) Thanks PTC for the work you’ve done so far – PCDA is glad to be a part of the process.

July 16-18 // SHREK! The Musical // Poncan Theatre

Get your tickets now at the Poncan Theatre and bring the kids to Shrek!

presented by the Evans Academy. You will not want to miss this production!

Wednesday, July 28 // Be Prepared to Meet Your Gov't Customer // 11 to1 pm

Pioneer Tech, Room D123

July 29-31 // Crazy Days Downtown // Thursday-Saturday

Street Party Friday, July 30th at the Vet Plaza - 5 pm

Tuesday, Aug 10 // Business on the Balcony // PCDA Balcony 7 am to 8:30 am

Mark your calendar for a little breakfast & a lot of networking. Meet business people; get connected and get your questions answered. City Central, Suite #200. On the B.

Thurs Aug 12 // New Teacher Luncheon // PC Country Club 11:30 am

Contact Rich at the Chamber office if your business/company would like to sponsor a New Teacher. This is a great way to get to know our new educators. 580.765.4400

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July 9, 2021

7/9/2021

Check out this video of the event here!

ARE WE THERE YET?....A lot of us want the pandemic to be over, and the news has been full of stories telling us it is not. PCDA will leave the health stuff to health experts but we can tell you that the economic impacts of the pandemic are a long, long way from being over. The pandemic was to the economy what peanut butter is to your fingers. Hard to remove. The changes wrought, from workforce to supply chain issues to government response have a long way to go before we can fully feel their impacts. From Ponca City’s perspective, we’ve done well, particularly relative to the rest of the nation and super duper well relative to most of the world. Nevertheless, there will be changes to supply chains which we have not yet felt, and economic outcomes such as inflation, housing pressures, monetary policy, even the lack of computer chips for new cars that will take a long time to play out.

You may have noticed a new look to this week's Update. We hope you enjoy and will invite people to sign up for the newsletter. GoPonca.com has received a facelift as well. Go check it out!

Century Livestock Products is making improvements on their new home at the former D&M building in the Airport Industrial Park. When completed, this dirt work will become a lay down area for finished products waiting for shipment out of Ponca City. Welcome to the AIP!

MAKING GOO GOO EYES…at companies is something PCDA likes to do. Last week, we had one such company in town touring the hangar to determine if it would work for them. You may know that Archien Aerospace was a victim of the pandemic as airlines no longer needed to refurbish older 737s since they no longer needed many older 737s. The folks last week work on similar airplanes. While PCDA was making goo goo eyes at them, they were making goo goo eyes at the new runway. They left saying that they needed to figure out if they could reconfigure their current businesses (they have four different locations so far) to fit. Selecting a location is not just about the right building (check…got that), not just about the right deal (check…got that too) and not just about the having the right workforce (did we mention we have the right building and deal?), it’s about how their own internal supply chain works. It may sound elementary but shifting where a company gets their supplies and where they ship products is like a modern day rubiks cube (older folks…please explain to younger folks). Takes time, takes patience, and takes more than goo goo eyes.

Bliss Industries is moving and grooving this week. Did you know this company has a testing lab which hosts some pretty big names in the food industry for testing products on hammer and pellet mills? Staff really can't name names; client confidentiality and all that. But you would definitely recognize the companies.

This week, Bliss was also getting some pellet mills (look left) ready for shipping to their forever homes. Outside Ponca City. In another state. What was that? Oh, that was the loud cheer from our PC economy for primary industry doing a fantastic job! #MadeinPoncaCity #economicdrivers

DXDT was last Friday at Central Fare. Great crowd, great music and wonderful people! Newcomers to the event were pleased with the kid friendly activities, the cash bar and the food trucks! Thanks to Astoria Blvd for running the bar, Montana Tacos and Dapper Dog for all the eats and treats. Next Down By DownTown is Friday, August 6, 6 to 9 pm. See you DXDT!

Thank you Theresa Sacket for the video.

Ready for a little B on the B? Next Tuesday, July 13 mark your calendar to drop by City Central on the Balcony for a little breakfast and a whole lot of networking. Have an 8 am meeting? Great, swing by at 7:30 for a cup of coffee and some great conversation to get your day started. Better yet, have a meeting at City Central in The Link after you invite your meet to Business on the Balcony. We always have room for one more!

Second Floor Suite #200

@ City Central 400 E. Central Ave.

There are jobs for the asking! This week in City Central there was a job fair for Kaw Nation,and interviews for Starbucks. Ponca Works posted 29 jobs last month, with 686 people applying.

In Kay County right now there are 2,252 unique job postings. Express Employment Professionals hosted a job fair with a bouncy house, refreshments and welcomed children.

It’s a collective dinner bell ringing, come and get them jobs! Only about 10,000 for Oklahoma’s Back to Work Incentive, so there are about half of incentives left for the taking! Check out more information here, along with Ponca Work’s job postings. https://www.goponca.com/-work.html

If you have a job to post – email a job description to [email protected].

Friday, July 9 // Ponca City Airport Runway Dedication // 10:00 am

Join Oklahoma Aeronautics, The PC Chamber and State Leaders as the Ponca City Runway is officially dedicated. PCDA Hangar is the place to be Friday morning.

July 9-11 & 16-18 // SHREK! The Musical // Poncan Theatre

Get your tickets now at the Poncan Theatre and bring the kids to Shrek!

presented by the Evans Academy. You will not want to miss this production!

Wednesday, July 14 // CyberSecurity Lunch & Learn //City Central

11:20 to 1 pm sponsored by OSU, Pioneer Tech and PCDA. Sign up with Dawn Brakey at PTech by emailing [email protected]. Lunch is provided.

Wednesday, July 28 // Be Prepared to Meet Your Gov't Customer // 11 to1 pm

Pioneer Tech, Room D123

July 29-31 // Crazy Days Downtown // Thursday-Saturday

Street Party Friday, July 30th at the Vet Plaza - 5 pm

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July 2, 2021

7/2/2021