Manufacturer & Business Association honors milestones of some local members
CRANBERRY TWP — The Manufacturer & Business Association honored three Butler County businesses among others in the region on Wednesday, Nov. 15 during the Association’s Member Milestone Anniversary IMPACT Brunch at the RLA Learning and Conference Center.
The event serves to shed light on member employers in the Pittsburgh region that are marking milestone anniversaries in 2023 and 2024.
Lori Joint, president and CEO of the MBA said the association has done similar events like this in the past, but this marks the first time they are bringing this recognition event to the Pittsburgh region.
“As an employers association we have members and in certain segmented areas what we like to do is celebrate our member companies that their organizations are celebrating a milestone,” Joint said. “It's a way to recognize the hard work and sacrifice that they have done. Without small businesses nothing happens.”
The MBA has a presence in 54 counties across Pennsylvania Joint said and hopes to bring this event back to the region every two years.
One of the Butler County businesses honored was Sadaka Corporation, a construction consulting firm that specializes in supporting heavy highway and bridge projects.
Michel Sadaka, president of Sadaka which is based in Cranberry Township, explained some of the benefits of being part of the MBA such as professional development training for employees among others.
“The benefits are health insurance through the organization and secondly legislative support,” Sadaka said. “They keep us up to date on legislative issues that would impact small business.”
Sadaka is celebrating 30 years of business in 2024.
Other benefits to being a member of the MBA include HR and legal support, professional development training and payroll services.
W.K. Thomas & Associates of Butler, who is celebrating 50 years was honored and the award was presented to president and owner Brent Thomas.
Thomas said the businesses is a commercial contractor that can help take a client’s project from design all the way to completion.
“The business has been really strong the past three years,” Thomas said. “COVID if anything accelerated the growth. I think there was a lot of money injected into the economy. Things are still pretty strong.”
Lastly, Carl Strutz & Co. of Mars which was founded in 1947 was also honored. Carl Strutz is a manufacturer who specializes in glass bottle decorating across many industries.
“We do machining and we also are machine builders,” Carrie Urey, controller at Carl Strutz said. “We machine a lot of our own parts. People from the community come in with their needs with machining services.”
More than half of small businesses according to the Small Business Administration survive for five or more years and about a third of them survive for more than 10 years.
This is why Joint feels the MBA is pivotal in the development of companies no matter how long they have been in business.
“It's not easy running a business and that's what we are here for,” Joint said.
