eFulfillment Service
Short’s Brewing Co.
Windemuller
Petoskey Plastics
Keep your eyes on these six Northern Michigan businesses. While many Michigan businesses struggle through the pandemic, some are finding a way to survive and thrive. By Craig Manning Which Northern Michigan businesses are best positioned to thrive in the aftermath of COVID-19? While the pandemic has been devastating for many industries, it has also created opportunities elsewhere. Northern Express flagged six local businesses that are poised for growth going forward because of smart business pivots or simply being in the right industry at the right time. eFulfillment Service — which stores and ships products for hundreds of online businesses — has had a gigantic 2020, according to COO Steve Bulger. He says the company went from processing about 20,000 orders a week in the first two months of the year to handling more than 44,000 per week at the peak of the pandemic. As stayat-home restrictions have lifted and retail stores have reopened, those volumes have tapered slightly, but are still 50 percent above eFulfillment’s year-over-year average. The uptick in business hasn’t been without challenges. To keep up with increased order volume, eFulfillment had to hire 20 new staff in the middle of the pandemic. The business — and the rest of the e-commerce industry with it — also faced difficulties restocking inventory as demand spiked, and factories around the world halted operations. Bulger is hopeful that, having navigated the first wave of COVID-19 successful, eFulfillment Service, and the e-commerce industry as a whole, will be well-prepared in the event of a second wave. The company has focused on perfecting its safety protocols, splitting its nearly 100-person
warehouse team into two shifts to allow Short’s also recently announced that it for better social distancing. As for the had acquired the full beer brand portfolio rest of the industry, there’s a new trend of of Arcadia Brewing Company. Founded diversification throughout the e- supply in 1996 in Battle Creek, Arcadia was one chain that could make a big difference of Michigan’s first craft breweries and was going forward. known for beers like Whitsun, a wheat beer “What we’ve been hearing is that a lot of brewed with coriander, orange peel, and e-commerce sellers are looking to expand honey; or Jaw-Jacker, a seasonal pumpkin the number of manufacturers beer. Short’s has begun that they’re using, or the bringing Arcadia’s beers back Ninety percent of locations they’re sourcing to the market, starting this from,” Bulger explains. month with Whitsun — a all Americans have “Nobody wants to get caught said that COVID was strategy Newman-Bale says is not being able to restock motivated by the pandemic. causing financial their inventory again.” “There’s been a trend Diversification is also in craft beer [during the stress and that part of the strategy for pandemic] of people going paying for healthcare back to brands that they Short’s Brewing Company. According to CEO Scott was among their top know,” he says. “We know Newman-Bale, the Bellaireconcerns. As a result, that a lot of people have good based craft brewery has memories of Whitsun, so the we are more certain deal made a lot of sense.” been able to weather the pandemic due in large part A different kind of now about the to a beer delivery service pivot is underway at HealthBridge thesis that it launched in March, Windemuller, a contractor both in northern Michigan that provides electrical and than ever before. and in Metro Detroit. communications services. In Between the popularity response to COVID-19, the of the delivery service, solid curbside sales at business is offering what it calls “elevated the Short’s pub during the shutdown, and a skin-temperature-monitoring solutions” to “stronger than anticipated” bounce-back for help businesses screen employee or visitor restaurant and bar accounts, Newman-Bale temperatures. says revenue figures for Short’s for 2020 are While temperature screenings have in good shape. become somewhat common at businesses Short’s is now looking at ways to keep since the pandemic started, those efforts thus beer delivery around for customers who far have been mostly manual. Windemuller’s want it without cutting out key supply chain system utilizes thermal cameras that can partners like distributors and retail stores. automate these temperature scans and
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reduce exposure risk for the workers taking temperatures. The camera systems can also enforce masking policies, by detecting whether or not someone is wearing a face mask. “We’ve had a pretty robust response so far, as far as interest goes,” Technology Manager Homer Campbell says. He adds that manufacturers, hospitals, doctor offices, colleges, and schools have been particularly drawn to the technology. Several manufacturers in the region have also changed course to do their part in fighting the pandemic. One of those companies, Petoskey Plastics, made the jump back in March to start manufacturing non-surgical isolation gowns for healthcare workers and patients. While Petoskey Plastics has traditionally done a bit of work in the medical sector — manufacturing biohazard medical bags for hospitals, laboratories, dental offices, veterinary offices, and other healthcare settings — the company does most of its business in other industry segments, including automotive, retail, and construction. When COVID-19 hit, those market segments started to dry up — particularly automotive. Petoskey Plastics makes a significant percentage of its revenue by manufacturing vehicle protection products for auto service providers and automotive OEMs (original equipment manufacturers), but with COVID-19 shutting down auto factories across the country in March and April, much of that revenue segment vanished overnight.
