SASCO wins Global Commerce Award
EDC announces 2012 Industry Award Winners
Press release from the issuing company
Wednesday, April 4th, 2012
The Albany-Dougherty Economic Development Commission announced today the winners of the 2012 EDC Industry Awards, part of Albany-Dougherty Industry Celebration Week.
The winners of the 2012 EDC Industry Awards* are:
- Global Commerce: SASCO Chemical Group
- Economic Impact: Phoebe Putney Health System
- Excellence in Innovation: Central Monitoring
- Good Life City Award for corporate community citizenship: Gerdau Long Steel North America
2012 EDC Industry Awards: Criteria & Winners:
Global Commerce: SASCO Chemical Group
Criteria
The company’s primary market area(s):
- Global exports over the past three years
- Percentage of export sales as a percentage of total sales
- Utilization of federal/state export assistance programs or services from banks
When brothers Marc and Rusty Skalla bought the family chemical business in 2009, they had a dream: to go big.
The company was started in Albany in 1948 by Ernst Skalla, a German immigrant chemist who set up shop on Pine Avenue in downtown Albany with three workers. It was bought my brothers Lan and Randy Skalla in 1972; by then the company was focused mostly in the auto- and rubber-related industries.
Since the third-generation took the reigns, SASCO has expanded into new markets, revisited old industries, invested millions into an expanded corporate and manufacturing facility, purchased and designed new equipment, and has gone global.
In 2011, through assistance from the Albany-Dougherty Economic Development Commission and the Georgia Department of Economic Development, SASCO was able to make headway in numerous new markets, including Mexico.
Part of the strategy is “being a key player worldwide, instead of just in the United States and Canada, like we have been in the past. There’s a lot of concentration in Central and South America,” said SASCO COO Rusty Skalla.
In 2011, SASCO exports increased by 120 percent; exports to Mexico specifically increased by 2,700 percent.
“We shipped our first container to Venezuela last week, and we have some guys in Spain,” said Skalla, who estimates that 2012 exports will be “300-400 percent over” what they were last year.
With fresh leads, a new innovation and technology center and distributors throughout the world, SASCO’s at a turning point.
“We really have ourselves in a position to where we can grow and expand how we want to,” Skalla said.