Buyers/Sellers Forum 2010 - Edmonton

.....this Edition of Grapevine is currently being Edited.  Please check back for the perspective of an attendee at this years Buyer/Seller Forum

Harley Richards at the Red Deer Advocate did a very interesting article about the Manufacturing Sector that you may find interesting.  In it he mentions an online commentary entry from Todd Hirsch and also quotes our very own Executive Director, Mark Burggren. 

One of our members was contacted by some rather unscrupulous characters that were looking for product to order and then be shipped overseas and using a credit card to pay.  However, there were a few “red flags” that alerted our member to the fact that this was not on the “up and up”.  We wanted to advise you about this occurrence to get the word out that these scammers are out there.

Examples of how the fake shipping company scam usually works:

• A potential new customer contacts a supplier via relay operator or e-mail to order a large quantity of product.

(Red flags: The email exchanges are often littered with misspellings and poor grammar, and often come from a Gmail, Yahoo or similar free e-mail account.)

• The customer wants to pay for the product with a credit card and wants to ship the order a large distance, sometimes the end destination is across the country, sometimes it’s on another continent. (It turns out that the purchasing credit card is usually stolen).

(Red flags: Scammers usually place an order for products they could easily get from a local supplier, and the credit card billing address doesn't match the shipping address.)

• The potential new customer says they want to use their preferred shipping company to transport the product. They ask the business to pay the delivery company directly and say they will send a cheque or money order to the supplier to repay the delivery costs.

(Red flag: Business owners have reported scammers request to use the shipping companies: AGC Delivery International, Ox Direct Shipper, Cargo Trust Shipping Freight Co. or Baggage Shipping Company)

• After the supplier has paid the delivery company, the scammer’s cheque or money order won’t go through, leaving the supplier without the thousands of dollars of delivery costs and with wasted product.

• Orders through relay operator for the hearing impaired
• Email orders with numerous typos and grammatical problems
• Orders that require long-distance shipping
• Orders that request use of a shipping company chosen only by the customer
• Orders paid for with a cheque written out for more than the cost of the product
• Orders paid for with a credit card that has a different billing address than the shipping address.
• Orders from a Gmail, Yahoo or other free email account.

Have you heard about the RED Challenge yet?

Some aspiring entrepreneur under the age of 35 and in the final year or within one year of graduating from post-secondary education will be awarded a $20,000 cash prize to get their innovative business idea started.

Additionally, he/she will receive free mentoring from experts and office space for a year.

Red Deer College Applied Research and Innovation is heavily supporting this competition, and will be a resource to applicants as they hone their presentations and then a mentor to the award winning entrepreneur to increase the probability of their business success.

If you know of a qualifying family member, friend or acquaintance with an innovative business idea, please direct them to the website www.REDChallenge.ca or have them call (403) 356-4864 for RED Challenge details.

Closing date for entries is December 18th, so encourage them to get started on their entry.

RED Challenge partners include:

City of Red Deer, Red Deer Chamber of Commerce, Community Futures - Central Alberta, Red Deer College, Red Deer County, Government of Alberta (through its Youth Technopreneurship Program).

Just found out about an innovative new product manufactured in central Alberta. It’s called a Rizor Automated Tonneau Cover, and it has some great features that offer real advantages to pickup truck owners.

• It’s automated and self locking. You can operate and lock it remotely or from inside the vehicle, hands-free.

• The tonneau cover can be left open at highway speeds without damage due to its side-to-side clamshell design. This is great for times when you unexpectedly need to transport something too tall to fit under the tonneau cover, and you don’t want to drive home, take the cover off, drive back to pick up the load, drive back home again and then reinstall the cover.

• Hence no need to ever take it off.

• It’s fit to your particular make of pickup truck.

Check out photos and other information at www.rizorcovers.com

Alberta Innovation Voucher Pilot Program

We’ve just learned that round two of this popular program will be launched this fall, with an official announcement expected by the end of October. .

This AB Government program provides either $50k or $10k vouchers to cover up to 75% of the costs for the use of technology to move product or service concepts to commercialization.

Round one earlier this year saw 179 vouchers awarded to successful applicants totaling $5.23M. A like amount is expected to be available for round two.

Vouchers will be available to qualifying technology or knowledge-driven small Alberta businesses (less than $5M sales, fewer than 51 employees) developing new products or services for growing markets.

There will be a shorter application period (4 weeks) than for the first round of vouchers last winter, so it will be important for potential applicants to get a quick start once the announcement is made. We are planning to have a workshop here at RDC during the application period to help interested parties understand the application process.

In the meantime, contact the CARMA office at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it to receive a copy of a short PowerPoint presentation for more details about this program.

It is no secret that we here at CARMA are strong proponents of 5S and the principles of LEAN Manufacturing as essential ingredients to becoming a world-class globally competitive operation. That’s why we’ve been proactive in bringing LEAN workshops and LEAN forums to central Alberta.

The next regional opportunities to introduce your key associates to LEAN Principles will be mid-November at Red Deer College. The suite of workshops will include:

LEAN Principles 101 (the “benchmark” workshop featuring the Lego airplane manufacturing simulation for maximum learning retention)

LEAN Principles for High Mix / Low Volume (LEAN tailored for engineered-to-order, one-off type operations)

LEAN Office (LEAN tailored for business process professionals)

Watch the website’s Upcoming Events schedule for more details