On a wire

Growth came relatively fast for Dave Chism in the 15 years he ran the Sarasota unit of Wire-Pro, a national wire and cable assembly firm.

The division he oversaw for the Philadelphia area-based firm, with clients mostly in the military and defense field, grew from about 30 employees in 1998 to 160 by 2004. Sales increased significantly on his watch.

The biggest business lesson Chism learned at Wire-Pro, through all the growth, was one that sounds obvious for any company, but isn't always the case: Be nimble and open to shifting quickly to meet customer needs. That ideal is especially counterintuitive in manufacturing, where some industry leaders in the region do one or two things well and stick to that, from valves to cups to windows.