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Updated October 4, 2007
Wall Street Journal and Winning Workplaces Recognize Restek Among 15 Top Small Workplaces
Restek Corporation (Bellefonte, PA USA www.restek.com ) was one of 15 companies across the United States selected as Top Small Workplaces by The Wall Street Journal and Winning Workplaces. The winners were announced in the October 1 issue of The Wall Street Journal.
"My vision was always to create a workplace where employees enjoy coming to work as much as going home," said Restek founder and board Chairman Paul Silvis.
"Each of the 15 Top Small Workplaces winners has a great story to tell," said Ken Lehman, Winning Workplaces founder and board chair. "The winners come from very different business sectors and are geographically diverse. But, they share a commitment to valuing, trusting, and respecting their employees, and viewing them as the key to achieving business success. These winners should inspire small businesses everywhere that they, too, can become great workplaces."
The Journal and Winning Workplaces, a nonprofit whose mission is to help leaders of small and midsize organizations create better workplaces, began soliciting nominations last fall. More than 800 small businesses — those with fewer than 500 employees and less than $200 million in annual revenue—applied for the recognition. The search sought out companies with workplace environments that encourage professional growth and provide an atmosphere and benefits that encourage employees to remain with the company.
A U.S. panel of small-business experts was chosen to judge the finalists, who were selected based on both metrics and qualitative assessment of their success in creating workplaces that nurture, challenge and reward employees, according to the release.
Restek—one of the world's leading manufacturers of high-quality chromatography products—offers numerous employee-friendly benefits, including an incentive-based wellness program, on-site fitness and recreational facilities with subsidized personal trainers, company contributions toward child care costs, reimbursement for continuing education and development programs, 401k and employee stock ownership programs, open-book management, and a casual dress code.
To read the 2007 Top Small Workplaces report, please visit:
Wall Street Journal: www.wsj.com/entrepreneur
Winning Workplaces: http://www.winningworkplaces.org/topsmallbiz/2007winners/index.php
Restek Wins PA/DE Chapter 2007 ESOP Company of the Year Award
Bellefonte — Restek Corporation has been named the 2007 ESOP Company of the Year by the PA/DE Chapter of The ESOP Association at the Chapter's Annual Meeting on September 19 in Scranton, PA. The ESOP Association is the national trade association for companies with employee stock ownership plans (ESOP) and the leading voice in America for employee ownership. The PA/DE Chapter represents ESOP companies in Pennsylvania and Delaware.
Based in Bellefonte, Restek is an employee-owned company specializing in high-quality chromatography products. Restek began business in October 1985 and has more than 250 employees. In addition to the company's headquarters and main manufacturing facility in Bellefonte, Restek also has an R&D lab in California, subsidiaries in France, Germany, Ireland, and the United Kingdom; and more than 95 distributors throughout the world.
"Recognition by the regional chapter of the ESOP Association is a true reward for the culture we have been striving to build and improve on since the company was founded by Paul Silvis in 1985," commented Bryan Wolcott, Restek's Chief Financial Officer.
Restek Corporation will compete against a competitive field of ESOP Companies of the Year from The ESOP Association's 18 other state and regional Chapters for the title "National ESOP Company of the Year." The winner of this prestigious award will be announced at The ESOP Association's Annual Conference in Washington, DC next year.
Founded in 1978, The ESOP Association represents over 1,400 ESOP companies and over 1 million employee owners who believe that employee ownership will improve American competitiveness, increase productivity through greater employee participation, and strengthen our free enterprise economy.
Beta Test iPod Winner
Congratulations, Lori Palmer of SunLabs, Inc.! Lori won the grand prize in the drawing held June 30.
Restek thanks Lori and all the other beta testers for helping us with our new online ordering system.
Introduced at 2007 PittCon
The latest Restek innovations unveiled in Chicago. Dozens of technical presentations and product briefs.
Restek Ranks #43 Among Best Place To Work in Pennsylvania
Restek Corporation (Bellefonte, www.restek.com) has been named #43 among medium-sized companies on the 2006
list of Best Places to Work in PA. This marks the third time Restek has placed on the list since the program
began in 2000. The top 100 companies were recognized and honored at the Best Places to Work in PA awards
ceremony on Tuesday evening, November 28, 2006, at the Hershey Lodge & Convention Center. 322,000 businesses
are registered in Pennsylvania, making the top 100 a highly prestigious group.
"What's most important is that the results (of our employee surveys) and our practices helped place us with
the "best of the best" companies operating within Pennsylvania," said Head Coach Don McCandless. Tina
Welch, Director of Human Resources, adds, "In addition to celebrating the ranking, we are very interested
in learning from the results to see what we can do better."
The Best Places to Work in PA award program is a public/private partnership of the Pennsylvania Department
of Community and Economic Development, Team Pennsylvania Foundation, the Central Penn Business Journal,
Best Companies Group, and the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry. The Best Places to Work in
PA list is made up of 100 companies split into two groups: 50 medium-sized companies (25-250 employees)
and 50 large companies (more than 250 employees).
Companies from across the state entered the two-part process to determine the 100 Best Places to Work in
PA. The first part consisted of evaluating each nominated company's workplace policies, practices,
philosophy, systems, and demographics. The second, more heavily weighted part consisted of a confidential
employee survey to measure the employee experience. The combined scores determined the top companies and
the final ranking. Restek was one of a small number of manufacturing companies from across the state, and
the only Centre County business, represented in the evaluation.
Restek—one of the world's leading manufacturers of high-quality chromatography products—offers numerous
employee-friendly benefits, including an incentive-based wellness program, on-site fitness and
recreational facilities with subsidized personal trainers, company contributions toward child care costs,
reimbursement for continuing education and development programs, 401k and employee stock ownership
programs, open-book management, and a casual dress code.
For more information on the Best Places to Work in PA program, visit www.bestplacestoworkinpa.com
Restek Speakers Will Help Commemorate Shimadzu's 50th Anniversary
Dr. Shawn Reese, Senior Research Chemist at our California research facility, Restek West, and Professor of Chemistry at Folson Lake College, has been invited to participate in the "50th Anniversary of Shimadzu GC", to be celebrated on September 18 - 20 at Shimadzu do Brasil Comércio Ltda., São Paulo. Dr. Reese will describe the development of a new generation of exceptionally inert, ultra-low bleed, highly reproducible capillary GC columns.
A second distinguished Restek representative, Dr. Eberhardt Kuhn, Sales & Distribution Manager for Asia and the Pacific Rim, has already joined the celebrations in Singapore and Indonesia, and has been invited to participate in Shimadzu anniversary events in China in September and in India in November. Dr Kuhn's technical expertise and appreciation of different cultures have made him a popular speaker around the world. He will discuss the latest column technology for GC/MS and GC.
We congratulate Shimadzu GC for 50 years of achievements, and wish them many more such milestones, and we wish Drs. Reese and Kuhn safe and enjoyable journeys.
International Distributor Conference Held at Restek Global Headquarters in Bellefonte
Restek Corporation held an International Distributor Conference at its global headquarters in Bellefonte, PA from 18-21 June 2006.
The conference was attended by over 40 representatives from 28 companies located in 24 countries from around the world.
The conference included a combination of business meetings, product training, new product updates, and social activities designed to maximize interaction among the delegates and global headquarters staff.
The primary focus of this conference was to share information to assist Restek's International representatives in providing Plus 1 service and support to local chromatographers worldwide .
Conference feedback from the delegates attending was overwhelmingly positive.
As part of Restek's philosophy of continuing education and training, the next Restek International Distributors Conference will be held in Europe in 2007.
Restek Welcomes Noted Guest Scientist
We are pleased to announce that Dr. Maurus Biedermann will be participating in a four-week cooperative project
in the Restek Innovations Laboratory. Dr. Biedermann is a long-time member of Dr. Konrad Grob's chromatography
group at Kantonales Laboratory, Zurich, Switzerland, and has been involved in developing numerous liquid
chromatographic and gas chromatographic methods for monitoring food quality. During a previous sabbatical at
Restek, in 1997, Dr. Biedermann used Restek's unique chiral gas chromatography column phases to develop several
new applications, including methods for determining the authenticity of "natural" flavor extracts and essential
oils, and for evaluating the enantiomeric composition of pharmaceuticals. One of Dr. Biedermann's objectives
during his forthcoming visit is to use Restek's two-dimensional gas chromatography system to develop novel
applications for Restek products.
New Rxi™ GC Column series
New Head Coach
On October 20, 2005, Restek's 1st Head Coach and Founder, Paul Silvis, passed the torch to Restek's new President
and Head Coach, Don McCandless.
Paul has served as Restek's head coach since he founded the company in 1985. Under his direction, Restek has
grown to be one of the top chromatography products manufacturing companies in the world. Paul strongly believes
in the importance of establishing a process for all leaders to replace themselves. This is especially true as
Restek transitions to a company of owners. Restek is currently 22% employee owned and 100% employee ownership
will occur before 2010. Don, Restek's current Vice President of Sales and Marketing, was chosen to serve as
Restek's new head coach because of his passion for Plus 1 customer service, his zest for learning, his 15-plus
years of chromatography experience, and his vision to take Restek to the 100 million dollar sales level. Paul
looks forward to returning to his roots as an inventor and will continue as an integral part of Restek's Board
of Directors and Leadership Team. Paul also looks forward to teaching other entrepreneurs and sharing his
experiences about how to create a winning team of employee-owners who enjoy coming to work as much as going home.
Restek Goes West!
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Roy Lautamo hang gliding over Kings Canyon in
the southern Sierra
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Restek celebrates continued growth in 2005 with the opening of Restek West, our new R&D facility in Shingle Springs, California. Roy Lautamo, Director of Innovative Research Chemistries, will manage the facility, focusing on R&D for our chromatography column product lines. Roy has an extensive range of experience in chromatography, acquired over more than a quarter of a century of research.
We welcome Roy and his staff into the Restek family!
Restek Founder to Serve as Entrepeneur In Residence
Students looking to learn how to start their own businesses will get a little help from this year's entrepreneur in residence, Restek founder Paul Silvis. Silvis will appear March 28 to 30 as part of a program that brings successful entrepreneurs to Penn State's University Park campus. Silvis' three-day visit will include participating in a number of classes in the College of Engineering's entrepreneurship minor.
Read the full story at live.psu.edu
Restek Technology Earns R&D 100 Award
Silcosteel®-UHV surface treatment has been recognized by a panel of independent judges and editors of R&D Magazine as one of the 100 most technologically significant products introduced in 2003.
Silcosteel®-UHV treatment minimizes migration of water, oxygen, and other molecules from the inside surfaces of ultra high vacuum system components into the vacuum chamber. This greatly reduces the time needed to evacuate the chamber to ultra high vacuum, and simplifies the pumping equipment needed to maintain the vacuum.
Silcosteel®-UHV is one of a family of patented surface treatments developed at Restek's Bellefonte, PA facilities: Silcosteel®-CR protects stainless steels from corrosion by inorganic acids or salt water; Silcosteel®-AC dramatically reduces carbon buildup on stainless steels; Siltek® treatment makes glass, steels, stainless steels, and high-nickel steel alloys exceptionally inert to reactive chemicals.
Restek In Space
Products developed and manufactured by Restek are part of the Huygens probe aboard the Cassini Mission to Saturn. After seven years of traveling through the solar system, the Cassini spacecraft reached one of the Saturnian moons in June of this year.
Restek products onboard the spacecraft include gas chromatography columns, micropacked columns, and internal plumbing for the flight instrument gas chromatograph/mass spectrometer on the Huygens Probe. "[The products were] developed to make them stable and rugged enough to withstand vibrations and pressures and still get the data they were looking for on a long-term project," says Don McCandless, vice president of sales and marketing at Restek. The instruments needed to be able to survive liftoff and the space voyage. "We provided MXT® capillary columns to NASA because the columns are made from unbreakable, thin wall, stainless steel that has been treated with our Silcosteel® process. This process deposits a submicron layer of flexible fused silica on the inside of the tubing, giving it the same inertness as glass," adds McCandless.
The Cassini Mission, launched in 1997, is a cooperative endeavor of NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Italian Space Agency, Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI) . The mission includes a sophisticated robotic spacecraft equipped with 12 scientific experiments, intended to orbit Saturn for a four-year period and study the Saturnian system in detail. The ESA-built Huygens probe will parachute into the thick atmosphere of Titan—one of Saturn's moons—with another six scientific instrument packages.
In 1998, Restek received the NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center Group Award for our contribution in the design, development, fabrication, and assembly of the Cassini Ion and Neutral Mass Spectrometer (INMS) and the Huygens Probe Gas Chromatograph Mass Spectrometer (GCMS).
Additional space program contributions from Restek include treatment of parts that monitor cabin systems on Space Shuttle flights and on the MIR space station.
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