Las Vegas manufacturers turn to Terry Culp when they need help making their businesses more efficient and profitable.
As business manager of Nevada Industry Excellence, the Nevada System of Higher Education's industrial outreach program, Culp and his team offer help to small and midsized manufacturing campanies. If a business needs help streamlining production processes, Nevada Industry Excellence heads to the site to offer advice, training and implementation of best practices.
Culp has worked with some of the city's largest manufacturers, including Young Electric Sign Co. and WMS Gaming, and also budding entrepreneurs, to help them "become more globally competitive and more profitable," he said.
JIM MILLER | LAS VEGAS BUSINESS PRESS
Terry Culp, business manager, Nevada Industry Excellence "We've got a lot of great companies in the state that have benefitted from what we do," Culp said. "That's what we're all about, and that's what floats my boat."
Nevada Industry Excellence recently launched a new service, ExporTech, to help manufacturers export goods and services. Culp also works with local economic development organizations to recruit companies to move to Nevada and help existing companies expand.
Culp, a Purdue University graduate, came out of retirement to oversee the outreach program in 2000.
When he isn't advising small manufacturers on efficiency practices, you might find Culp at the newly opened Smith Center for the Performing Arts.
"I encourage Las Vegans to take advantage of that wonderful facility," he said.
Las Vegas isn't exactly known for its manufacturing prowess. Is that a common misconception?
The misconception comes from the fact that gaming is so strong and the resorts are so popular. The state of Nevada is a very business-friendly state, especially for manufacturers. We have 1,000 manufacturers up north and about 1,000 in the south.
How have you helped companies survive the recession?
A lot of companies that we have worked with and helped would have been in a lot more trouble through the recession if they hadn't implemented a lot of lean initiatives throughout the years prior to the recession. In some cases, some of the companies we worked with didn't lay off virtually anybody during the recession.
You advise businesses — what is your own business background?
I used to own manufacturing operations in western New York. After having sold those, we moved to Las Vegas. Retirement didn't work too well for me. I golfed myself silly for a year and a half, started doing some consulting work, took some courses at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas and connected with this program.
What is your business philosophy?
Regarding the clients, my philosophy is to listen to what they have to say about their business and the issues that they're having. As we get to know them and they get to know us and realize we're there to help them because we're rated on their success, then we become a partner as a result. In some cases today, we have a number of companies that don't move forward with any initiative until they call us first.
Do you tend to work with the same clients over several years?
Yes. Definitely. Our relationships with clients are long. In one case, we started working with a client (Chef Rubber) — he and his partner came to us and took our CEO mini-MBA course. They had a dollar and a dream, didn't know how to price their product, didn't know how to put a catalog together. We showed them how to do all that. They grew as a result, and are now a multimillion-dollar organization. They sell all over the world.
Since growing bored of golfing, what do you do in your free time?
Golf is still one of my favorite pastimes. I love to play the piano and the bass and the organ. I got myself through college playing in bands.
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