ACS Sales Procedure

Albuquerque, NM

The largest city in New Mexico, Albuquerque is also its economic center; it accounts for nearly half of the state’s economic activity. Part of its success can be attributed to a diverse economic base consisting of government, services, trade, agriculture, tourism, manufacturing, and research and development. In 2004 Forbes magazine ranked Albuquerque the 12th best city in the nation for doing business. The Rio Grande River valley contains rich farm and pasture lands that support a sizable food industry, based mainly on fruit and produce, in the Albuquerque area. Since its early years as a stop on the Santa Fe Trail, the city has been a transportation and service center. Albuquerque is also home to more than 700 manufacturing firms—many of them located in well-planned industrial parks—that produce such goods as trailers, food products, electronic components, neon and electric signs, hardware, and machine tools. Among the major manufacturing firms that call Albuquerque home are Intel, GE, and General Mills. The Rio Grande Research Corridor, a constellation of high-technology industries, sprang up in the wake of the development of nuclear research during and after World War II. Each year, more than $4 billion is spent on research and development in the region. The area’s major employers are part of this complex. Sandia National Laboratories, a government research and development lab, is involved in laser technology and solar energy. Kirtland U.S. Air Force Base, the area’s largest employer and the sixth-largest military base in the world, is a weapons research center. In 2004, the value of the base’s economic impact to Albuquerque was $3.3 billion. For nearly a century people have valued Albuquerque for its dry air, which is especially beneficial to those with respiratory problems. Today the city’s medical services and facilities are a vital part of the local economy. The year-round sunny weather attracts pleasure seekers as well; more than four million tourists visit Albuquerque each year, to ski the Sandia Mountains and to absorb the city’s rich ethnic heritage. Items and goods produced: machine tools, fabricated structural steel, furniture, hardware, textiles, paints, varnishes, fertilizers, scientific instruments, electronic equipment, neon and electric signs, native American jewelry and curios.

Oakland, CA

Oakland’s leading industries are business and health care services, transportation, food processing, light manufacturing, government, arts, culture, and entertainment. The Port of Oakland is one of the busiest ports in the world for container ships. Nearly 200,000 jobs are related to the movement of cargo through Oakland marine terminals. Chief exports at the port include fruits and vegetables, waste paper, red meat and poultry, resins, chemicals, animal feed, raw cotton, wood and lumber, crude fertilizers/minerals, industrial machinery, and cereal. Oakland’s principal imports include auto parts, computer equipment, wearing apparel, toys, games and items made of plastic, processed fruits and vegetables, fasteners and household metal products, red meat, pottery, glassware and ceramics, iron and steel, beverages, and lumber products. Oakland is an important commercial center. Approximately 13 percent of Oakland’s work force is employed in the wholesale and retail trade. The city has hundreds of manufacturing plants employing almost 9 percent of the city’s workers. Shipbuilding has flourished along the city’s inner harbor. Other major industries include electrical equipment, chemicals, glass, automobiles and trucks, and pharmaceuticals. Oakland’s leading industry sectors include business services, health care services, transportation, food processing, light manufacturing, government, arts, culture and entertainment. In 2002, Oakland was ranked the 8th best city in the nation for business in the Forbes annual survey of the Best Places in America for Business and Careers. In the mid-2000s, Oakland benefited from a strong and diverse business environment. Among its major corporations were Clorox, Kaiser Permanente, Cost Plus, Dreyer’s Grand Ice Cream, APL Limited, and Rainin Instruments. According to the Landauer Realty Group, out of the 60 largest office markets in the United States, Oakland was expected to have the strongest market for the next several years. Items and goods produced: processed foods, transportation equipment, fabricated metal products, non-electrical machinery, electrical equipment, clay and glass products.

Phoenix, AZ

Phoenix is currently home to four Fortune 500 companies: electronics corporation Avnet, mining company Freeport-McMoRan, retailer PetSmart and waste hauler Republic Services. Honeywell’s Aerospace division is headquartered in Phoenix, and the valley hosts many of their avionics and mechanical facilities. Intel has one of their largest sites in the area, the second largest Intel location in the country. American Express hosts their financial transactions, customer information, and their entire website in Phoenix. The city is also home to: the headquarters of U-HAUL International, a rental and moving supply company; Best Western, the world’s largest family of hotels; Apollo Group, parent of the University of Phoenix; and utility company Pinnacle West. Choice Hotels International has its IT division and operations support center in the North Phoenix area. US Airways, now merged with American Airlines has a strong presence in Phoenix, with the corporate headquarters located in the city prior to the merger. US Air/American Airlines is the largest carrier at Sky Harbor International Airport in Phoenix. Mesa Air Group, a regional airline group, is headquartered in Phoenix.

Salt Lake City, UT

One Fortune 500 company is headquartered in Salt Lake City, Huntsman Corporation and two Fortune 1000 companies, Zions Bancorporation and Questar Corporation. AlphaGraphics, Sinclair Oil, Franklin Covey, and Overstock.com are smaller companies that are located around SLC. Adobe, Unisys. Micron, and 3M are a few of the large technology companies with major operations in the area. The Salt Lake area houses about 44% of Utah’s labor force and joins the state of Utah with having the second lowest unemployment rate in the nation. The economy of SLC and surrounding areas continues a strong rebound from the past recession and the rate of growth is almost twice that of the national rate. The major employers of the area are Delta Airlines, University of Utah, Sinclair Oil Corporation and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Local, state and federal governments are the number one employer followed by trade, transportation, utilities, professional and business services, and health and health educational services. These areas along with construction had the strongest growth in employment. SLC is the largest banking center in the United States and is known as the ‘Crossroads of the West” because of its central location in the western United States. The distance from Los Angeles, Denver, San Francisco, Portland, Phoenix and Seattle are approximately the same. This is the reason many regional transportation centers are located in the area. Though less than half of the people living in the SLC area are Mormon, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints has a significant and positive impact on the culture of the SLC area. The people are generally healthy, hardworking and responsible. There is a high birth rate that is contributing to the population growth. Young Mormon men are strongly encouraged, if not required to spend two years in the mission field. These men return with fluent foreign language skills as well as sales skills. When these young people return from the mission fields they enter the workforce. They tend to be knowledgeable and highly educated in the technical and business fields as well as possessing world experiences, making them excellent employees.

Tucson, AZ

Copper mining has traditionally been a vital part of the city’s economy; in 1976, for instance, one of every twenty Tucson residents was a copper miner. Seven years later, a combination of foreign competition and depressed copper prices forced a dramatic downturn in mining industries nationwide, with the result that only four-tenths of a percent of the working population was employed in mining by the mid-1980s. The early 1990s saw an upturn in the mining industry again. In Arizona, the mining industry continues to contribute to the economy, although locally and globally the industry has shown signs recently indicating a slowdown. At the time of the mining crisis, Tucson and southern Arizona looked to economic diversity. In the 1980s the area experienced economic growth from Davis-Monthan Air Force Base with more than 9,200 employees and the University of Arizona with more than 11,000 employees as well as growth in the high-tech and service industries, particularly in banking. Today the Tucson economy is based on the arts, tourism, manufacturing and high-tech industries. Unique because of Tucson’s relatively small size is the fact that a ballet, symphony, live theater, and opera call Tucson home. Tucson’s dependably dry and sunny climate assures continuing growth in tourism, an industry that employs about 1 in 10 workers in the metropolitan area labor force and brings in well over 1.5 billion dollars annually. Manufacturing activity has doubled in the last 10 years and includes such companies as AlliedSignal, Weiser Lock, 3M, Burr-Brown, Environmental Air Products, Inc., Krueger Industries, Inc., and Raytheon Missile Systems Company. Marked changes have come about elsewhere in Tucson’s economic base, however, with copper mining being most deeply affected. Tucson has actively promoted expansion in the high-technology industry. The Milkin Institute ranked Tucson the seventh Best Performing City out of 200 Metropolitan Areas in large part because of job growth in the high-tech arena. More than 300 local companies are directly involved in information technology. Other growing high-technology areas are bio industry, aerospace, environmental technology, plastics and advanced composite materials, and teleservices. It is hoped that these industries will continue to be a catalyst, drawing companies to Tucson. Another factor in the renewed strength of Tucson’s economic base is the building or relocation of major corporations in the area. Industry leaders include Raytheon Missile Systems, IBM, Honeywell, Texas Instruments, Intuit, America Online, and Bombardier Aerospace. Tucson has become more involved in international trade and has developed close partnerships with Mexico. One development asset in Tucson is the city’s proximity to the Mexican border. The city actively encourages the growth of twin-plant or “maquiladora” industries locating part of their operations in Tucson. Increased expansion is predicted in the manufacture of electronics, aerospace, and computer component products. Items and goods produced: aircraft and aircraft parts, electronic equipment, steel castings and fabrications, flour, boxes, agricultural chemicals, aluminium products, radios, mobile homes, air conditioning machinery, creamery products, beer, liquor, saddles and leather goods, apparel, native American and Mexican novelties.