Annual Dog Day Afternoon & Pet Photos this weekend
October 13, 2009
Richard Anthony Savoie
October 15, 2009
Amelia’s Coastal States’ Bart Bonne is beating the economic odds. The small business owner, with a funding boost from Louisiana Economic Development, is succeeding at growing his fabrication shop – adding services and workers.
Buoyed by two computer programs to run his custom fabrication – including one that runs the shop’s plasma cutter – Coastal States just wrapped up a $15,000 deal with Morgan City’s LaBorde Marine.
The Bayou Region of the Louisiana Small Business Development Center in Thibodaux – a part of the South Louisiana Economic Council – was instrumental in helping Boone and his brother Tim expand. Their aluminum and steel fabrication company makes containers, stairways, handrails, lockers and storage boxes. The 17-year-old company also sells and services fire extinguishers and helps prepare offshore vessels for U.S. Coast Guard inspections.
“We’re a little job shop that services offshore supply vessels and crew boats,” Boone explained. “The most services we can provide customers, the less expensive it is going to be for them and the more we get out of it.
“These computer programs have been a big plus – now we can do a whole lot more a whole lot quicker and better,” he added.
LED Secretary Stephen Moret made a stop at the site earlier this month to get a firsthand look at Coastal States’ operations and to view the programs in action.
“Ninety percent of the job growth in Louisiana is from small businesses,” Moret said during the tour. “Helping owners like Mr. Boone to put together a financial package ensures not only his expansion, but job growth within the state.”
Employee Bill Tuger, who designs marine and industrial equipment at Coastal Services, heralds the technological addition.
“This equipment enables us to do layouts that allow us to make cuts at precise dimensions – all types of dimensions – that would be hard to cut by hand,” he said.
By promising and achieving big feats, Coastal is keeping pace with demand.
“We make a lot of promises that we intend to keep,” Tuger said. “I think that has a lot to do with why we have been successful in our business.”
According to Moret, the Bayou Region office and LED have assisted 24 small businesses to obtain grant loans via the state’s Small and Emerging Business Development Program. Since July 1, 2008, LED has also assisted at least 277 small businesses in some capacity, he said.
“A lot of people think that, with all the budget cuts statewide, programs like this don’t exist anymore,” Moret explained. “However, that’s the contrary. This year, we’ve increased funding to programs like this by 30 percent. In fact, we expect to help 500 more businesses before this year is out.”
Tori Rayne, a business consultant at the Thibodaux Bayou Region office, was equally optimistic about the program’s future locally. “I’m ready to help as many people as I can,” she vowed. “That’s what we’re here for.
“We can even help (small business owners) fill out those long, hard-to-understand forms,” she added.
The development center is located on Nicholls State University’s campus – inside SLEC’s office.
Rayne can be reached at (504) 202-6329.
Coastal States’ Bart Boone explains recent improvements to his Amelia-based fabrication shop to state Economic Development Secretary Stephen Moret during his recent visit. * Photo by HOWARD J. CASTAY JR.
