bringing clarity to business

From pickup upgrades to full work truck outfitting, Central Arkansas Truck Outfitters specializes in providing a large assortment of truck accessories such as bumpers, cargo boxes, electronics, flat beds, hitches, level kits, towing products, truck bed covers and much more, with the installation know-how to keep your truck going and productive. SBS consultant, Rudy Ortiz, was asked to review and analyze the company’s financial statements as well as discuss the overall operation of the business to see where profitability and operational improvements might be made. After doing so, a few areas of opportunity were identified which improved the human resources side of the operation of the company, leading to higher employee satisfaction and functionality, as well improving the purchasing side of the business which increased the company’s profit margins, leading to more earnings for both the owner and the employees. Other suggestions were made which will allow the company to continue to make improvements in the company’s operations and profitability going forward. Business owner Carl Gann states: “Rudy has done a great job in getting my company moving in the right direction. As a small business owner, it is sometimes hard to see everything going on in my business. It is great to have someone with Rudy's knowledge to be able to take a look from the outside at the big picture. I look forward to our success due to Rudy’s guidance.”

John Sinclair is the CEO of Lycus LTD and a two-time winner of the Arkansas Governor's Excellence in Global Trade Award. In our continued efforts to improve our production processes and of availing any assistance for such through the State of Arkansas and its related agencies, Rudy Ortiz with the Arkansas Economic Development Council has been nothing less than invaluable. Specific areas of assistance are as follows: 1. Section 301 Tariff Exclusion Application- Mr. Ortiz provided a roadmap for Lycus through this most complicated process. Although our application was not successful due to a very technical matter, Mr. Ortiz got Lycus down this difficult path to get the answer on the application which was helpful in structuring our operations to absorb the raw material tariff. 2. TTAG Grant- Mr. Ortiz guided us through the successful application of funds related to the discovery process of creating a raw material process through the University of Arkansas. That process is ongoing. However, Mr. Ortiz has continued to keep that process on track the past several months which, if successful in developing, will not only save Lycus hundreds of thousands of dollars annually and result in an increased payroll and benefits of several hundred dollars annually. 3. "Ready for Business" Grant- Mr. Ortiz made Lycus aware of a $21,000 grant catered to the development of means to deal with the new issues related to COVID-19 in the workplace. These funds became an integral part of our internal COVID-19 Action Plan. As a result, we have had only one instance of a virus contraction. 4. Arkansas Economic Development Council- Mr. Ortiz invited Lycus to attend ExporTech export seminars which has fortunately resulted in Lycus increasing its sales percentage of exports from 13% to over 30% in less than five years. That equates to approximately $1,500,000 in annual revenue. 5. Networking- Mr. Ortiz has freely shared his huge network of manufacturing professionals throughout our state in addressing Lycus' day-to-day operational issues. This network has allowed Lycus to obtain valuable expert advice with just a phone call or email.

Galley Support Innovations (GSI), winner of the Arkansas Governor’s Excellence in Global Trade Award, is located in Sherwood, Arkansas. GSI is a designer and manufacturer of interior hardware for planes, trains, yachts and more. They have been a family-owned and operated business for over 50 years. They offer core parts with thousands of possible variations and are able to design and provide custom latches. GSI became one of the first interior hardware manufacturers to become AS9100 Certified and are in the process of becoming AS9100 Rev C Certified. With 100 percent of their lots inspected, they strive to provide a product that exceeds industry standards. As a consequence of the quality of their products, they have as clients, prestigious companies such as American Airlines, Boeing, Dassault-Falcon, Gulfstream, Hawker-Beechcraft, Sikorsky, United Airlines and many more. SBS consultant Rudy Ortiz, started working with GSI and assisted them with analysis and improvement of their financial statements and accounting system in preparation for requesting a large SBA-backed loan. The purpose of the loan was to purchase the building GSI was housed in as well as make a large addition to and major remodeling of the building. Acquisition of this loan allowed GSI to increase their capacity significantly in order to take on larger orders from their existing client base as well as orders from new international clients. Mr. Ortiz also assisted GSI with other operational issues in order to improve GSI’s overall operation and profitability. Below is what owners Gina and Wade Radke say about the assistance they received from Mr. Ortiz: “We first took our business to Rudy in hopes of preparing our financials to secure a large SBA loan. In the process of working with Rudy, we discovered we, in fact, could have been running our business much more efficiently. Rudy has a wealth of knowledge in cost accounting and manufacturing cost of goods sold. In essence, Rudy worked as a well versed CFO to help get our company not only the loan, but to prepare us to be more profitable in the future. Rudy taught us that by learning to prepare and read our financials they would tell us if our company was running efficiently or not. Rudy explained how to break down our cost of goods sold, analyze our profit margin, and decide where we could make improvements in our process just by looking at our financials. Rudy also helped us understand the correct way to price our product to maintain both a profit and a market share. In addition to acquiring the loan, our business has been positively impacted by working with Rudy in the past two years and that impact will last for the life of our business."