Case Studies 

Oberto Sausage Company:  April 2004 
The Oberto Sausage Company (www.oberto.com) opened its doors in 1918 as a one-person shop selling family recipes to Seattle's Italian community through local ethnic stores.  Today the company is still privately held but operates three manufacturing facilities, warehouses and employs over 1,000 people.  (To read the entire case study, click here)

Cascade Engineering: September 2003
Cascade Engineering (www.cascadeng.com) is a world leader in the research, design and manufacture of engineered plastic products for the automotive, container, furniture and consumer products industries. Founded in 1973 in Grand Rapids, Michigan, in a single plant with six employees, the Cascade Family of Companies now employs more than 1,100 people at 12 facilities worldwide. (To read the entire case study, click here)

Freudenberg-NOK:  May 2003
Freudenberg-NOK (www.freudenberg-nok.com) is the American partnership of German-based Freudenberg and Japan-based NOK Group, the world’s largest producers of elastomeric seals and custom molded products. Michigan-based Freudenberg-NOK has enjoyed remarkable growth since its creation in 1989, including a quadrupling of its annual revenues to nearly $1 billion. The company’s parent boasts total annual sales of nearly $7 billion. Of that, worldwide automotive sales represent approximately 60%, placing the global partnership among the world’s top automotive suppliers. (To read the entire case study, click here)