A Belated Introduction to Our Blog

We added this blog to our website a couple of months ago. As it’s growing into a team project here at Midland, and our readership has increased, I thought we should post an introduction and talk for a minute about what this blog is …and more importantly what it isn’t.

We want this to be a place we can communicate with our current customers and where prospective customers can come to get to know us a little bit. Some of what you read here will be very specific to Midland, other entries will be of more general interest…however closely or tangentially related to our jobs here.

What it won’t be is one long spam-fest masquerading as open communication. I resent being subjected to spam and I’m sure you do, too. We want this to be informative and fun and not a self-indulgent tribute to our awesomeness.

That’s not to say I don’t think Midland is an awesome company to work for – I actually do. I’ve worked for companies for whom I’d never have blogged (you know that old saying, “if you don’t have anything nice to say…”)

I was thinking about that the other day. In this economy it’s de rigueur to feel grateful just to be working. I’m lucky – I’m grateful to work here and that’s not a trivial distinction. It’s not a perfect gig – my parking spot is on the banks of Bubbly Creek and once toner leaked all over my desk (what a mess) – we all have our burdens. But I work with talented and amazing people every day and I’ve never once had to choose between my integrity and my paycheck since I signed on with Midland. You can’t beat that.

Let me assure you this will be my one and only entry about blogging itself. Jeff Atwood rails against the concept of meta-blogging so much better than I, on his website Coding Horror. If you're like me and abhor the concept of blogging about blogging it's a good read.

Jamie Brezinski - Director of IT

Midland News

Midland Metal Products is pleased to announce the release of our new web site WWW.MIDLANDMETALPRODUCTS.COM.

The site offers a fresh, new look at our company including detailed information about our storied 85 year history, our diverse capabilities, and the materials we fabricate. The site also contains a detailed portfolio showing examples of our work and our collaboration with our customers. Finally, the site addresses our sustainability efforts, a topic of constant interest to our customers.

Over the past several years, the point of purchase industry has undergone some dramatic changes. Globalization, retail consolidation, and new technologies have presented every company in this industry with both opportunities and challenges.

To secure our future, we have and will continue to invest heavily in our people, capital equipment, and technology. Although we are proud of our accomplishments, our work is not done. Our loyal customers expect us to provide a quality product, at a competitive price, within an increasingly compressed time frame. We intend to meet and exceed these expectations by improving our company continuously.

The web site presents our story as told today. We will update you with our monthly newsletter and the web site changes as our story of metal fabricating for the 21st Century continues to unfold.

Closing Schedule

Midland Metal Products will be closed for Vacation, Inventory,

and Maintenance June 29 through July 3, 2009.

Inventory begins at 2:30 on Friday, June 26.

We will be back to work as usual on Monday, July 6.

If you have any questions during that time that require immediate

attention please contact your sales person directly.

Have a safe and happy July 4.

Allie and Friends Golf Classic

Midland Metal Products once again took an active role in the 5th annual Ryan Diem's Allie and Friends Golf Classic, which took place on May 4th, 2009 in Chicago and raised over $130,000.

The golf event raises awareness and much needed money for a rare form of pediatric cancer called neuroblastoma. Neuroblastoma is the most common cancer found in infants and the most common extracranial solid tumor found in children. There is very little known about why neuroblastoma occurs, or about what factors increase the risk for occurrence. There is no known cure. Every sixteen hours a child with neuroblastoma dies.

With the help of Chicago native and Indianapolis Colt Ryan Diem, Allie and Friends has been able to raise over $600,000 of funding to support the Children’s Neuroblastoma Cancer Foundation based in Bloomingdale, IL.

For more information about the event and the Children's Neuroblastoma Cancer
Foundation please check out the website at www.allieandfriends.org. There are
many different levels of sponsorship available for the 2010 event to take place
next May.

KidsSTRONG Event

As many of you may be aware - Midland joined forces with Concept Designs earlier in the year on a Wii Lockbox that is currently being installed into many children's hospitals around the country. The first run, with which you all helped, was for 50 units to be tested and then rolled out on a much bigger scale across the country.

"This inaugural effort has been made possible through the generous donations from several corporate sponsors like Midland and its employees. This first set of Lockboxes are being placed at Lucille Packard Children's Hospital at Stanford. They allow the children with cancer, who are in forced isolation, to play, get physical exercise, interact, and momentarily take their minds off of the physical and emotional pain of cancer treatment.

Again, your generous work for this effort will be helping children with cancer across the country and we offer our sincere thanks." - Louis Hsaio, Concept Designs.

And below is some reaction from the hospital about how the project has been received.

A six year old boy fighting cancer has not stopped playing with his kidsSTRONG WiiStation since it arrived in his bone marrow transplant “isolation” room last month. His grandmother is enjoying playing games with him too.

This was the story we heard today when we visited a children’s cancer hospital to check in on the kidsSTRONG Wii therapy pilot.

Hospital personnel told us:
➢ The kidsSTRONG WiiStation system is a Godsend!
➢ The systems are easy to install and manage.
➢ These systems really do allow children touched by cancer to be kids first and patients second!
➢ They let them have a normal life again.
➢ Thank you kidsSTRONG!

Thank you all for your work on this project!