By Judith Gilleland, City Manager
During ED business retention visits, we continue to learn about the quality and expertise of our
businesses. Middletown has a manufacturing expertise that is above and beyond many other
cities. Our companies enjoy a reputation that results in having national and international
customers. During a recent retention visit with Middletown Tube Works, Inc. (MTW), a global
supplier of welded steel tube, we learned that MTW distributes tubing to local, national, and
international customers. The company continues to aggressively pursue growth as well as to
explore operational efficiencies. They recently accomplished certification as a Women’s
Business Enterprise (WBE). This certification affirms the business is woman-owned, operated
and controlled. The WBE certification will help their existing customer base meet their goals for
Supplier diversity, and will provide new opportunities for MTW to market products to new
customers and industries.
The visit, which included city engineering staff, ED representative and a volunteer from our
retention committee, was in response to transportation concerns from MTW. We are finding
that having instant information from specialists (city staff) can benefit our companies and
provide the quickest and best information for them. We are also teaming on other fronts, both
to recruit new businesses and to address requests or concerns of existing businesses. We also
find that a retention member provides and important perspective outside of the city’s that adds
value to the visits.