Community members and pioneer representatives take part in the ceremonial groundbreaking event for Pioneer's new distribution center being built in the Green Industrial Center of Spencer.

SPENCER, Iowa - Community and business leaders from Spencer and the Iowa Lakes Corridor region celebrated the groundbreaking of a regional distribution center in the Spencer Green Industrial Center. Pioneer Hi-Bred, a DuPont business, will ship corn and soybean seed products from the 200,000 square foot facility, which is slated for completion and occupancy in October.

"We are proud of the continued demand for our top performance products and services, and look forward to a larger presence in the Spencer community," said Todd Frazier, Pioneer business director for Iowa and Missouri. "This regional distribution center will help us meet our customer needs."

The Pioneer facility is the second building to be constructed in the Green Industrial Center. About 140 acres remain for other development as well as 70 acres in the Spencer Tech Park South on the west side of Spencer.

"We are proud that Pioneer selected Spencer and the Iowa Lakes Corridor region for this new distribution center," said Spencer Mayor Reynold Peterson. "Pioneer is a great company and we thank them for their faith in our community and making this investment here."

"This project involved many local partners working together to attract this kind of investment and this celebration today," said Kathy Evert, president and chief executive officer of the Iowa Lakes Corridor Development Corporation. "We thank Spencer Municipal Utilities and the City of Spencer for their leadership in creating and developing the Green Industrial Center, the Spencer City Council and staff for the quality business climate they have created here, our partners in the Iowa Area Development Group, Iowa Department of Transportation, Iowa Economic Development Authority, Northwest Iowa Planning and Development Commission, Iowa Lakes Electric Cooperative and Black Hills Energy for their assistance and support of this project."

This warehouse announcement is in addition to several recent Pioneer expansion projects in Iowa, including a new corn research center in Orange City, a new research facility in Johnston and an expanded corn research facility in Dallas Center. 

Fostoria location only glass cast foundry in world

FOSTORIA - After 40 years of woodworking, Hugh McKay's hands could not take it anymore; but, rather than seeing this as a setback for his career, McKay ventured off into the unknown world of glass casting.

When McKay began glass casting, information on the subject was scarce; however, he read all of the books available on the subject. With a grin on his face, McKay recalls first starting out, "The books are so general and so wrong that they give a beginner virtually no direction." Still, McKay did not let this stop him. The glass casting world is very small, in fact McKay says that Cast Glass Forms of Fostoria is the only glass casting foundry in the world, as far as he is aware.   

Hugh McKay with glass buffalo skull for customer Ralph Lauren

Cast Glass Forms uses kiln casting, which requires the use of a solid mould to cast the glass. McKay uses wax most often as his solid material for the model in a process known as "lost wax." Using the lost wax process, the wax can be steamed away by the kiln. The completed mould is then put in the kiln with glass pieces and the melted glass fills the mould. Unlike other casting processes, glass casting has no room for error-once one makes a mistake it is obvious and cannot be fixed. This makes glass casting unique because a mistake can be fixed by a simple touch-up in metal casting.

Because of his high status in such a small field, McKay gets business not only from across the United States, but from across the world. He works with customers interested in personal and industrial glass casts. Some famous names that McKay creates glass creations for range from Ralph Lauren to Judy Chicago. Big companies, such as a laser company in Canada, and famous people find out about McKay's business because he is the only glass foundry in the world. 

"It's fun, because the glass strikes a chord with the human imagination," McKay explains.

Cast Glass Forms' immense experience sets them apart from other artists in the field. "It takes years to learn to read the signs of what went wrong and learn to make intelligent corrections," McKay explains. With McKay's hopeful outlook on the future, he rarely denies a project as he is excited to learn new methods for projects.

"Failure," McKay replies when asked about what he credits to his success. An unusual answer, but a genuine one nonetheless. "This art is failure-prone, it is like walking on a tight rope each day. But we make mistakes faster than anyone else, and somehow have found the very narrow path to success."

When asked about his advice for young entrepreneurs, McKay advises, "Give it your full focus, and pay attention to numerous details. Basically, if you don't feel like you're overwhelmed, you're probably not making much progress."

McKay is grateful to Iowa Lakes Corridor Development Corporation for their constant availability and willingness to help. The Corridor has provided McKay with opportunities to connect with other business leaders throughout the community that have been beneficial to his company. The Corridor has also served as a source of contact for any employment needs McKay may need in the future.