Companies’ Export Efforts to Be Recognized

A recent survey of local businesses by the combined community colleges in the county showed that 12% consider exporting an important part of what they do. That’s about 11,000 businesses sending goods or services out of the country.

Several of them will be recognized Thursday by the World Trade Center Assn. of Orange County at its annual Excellence in International Trade Award.

The dinner program will be at the Sutton Place hotel across from John Wayne Airport. Tickets, at $125 apiece, will be available at the door, organizers said.

Nominees for the trade awards illustrate the range of business in the county. At one end is AMP Research--a 30-employee, $6-million-a-year Laguna Beach manufacturer of high-end mountain bikes and mountain bike suspension systems. At the other is Santa Ana-based Ingram Micro Inc., an $8.6-billion-a-year microcomputer industry wholesale distributor with more than 4,000 employees worldwide. In between are companies that make printing systems, custom buses, computer systems, household cleaners and scientific instruments.

For information or reservations, call the World Trade Center Assn. at (714) 724-9822, Ext. 12.

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John O’Dell covers major Orange County corporations, manufacturing and economic issues for The Times. He can be reached at (714) 966-5831 and at john.odell@latimes.com