Oxnard Hopes to Help Businesses by Focusing on the Positives

Steve Kinney, executive director of the Greater Oxnard Economic Development Corp., is well aware of the poor image Oxnard residents frequently have of their hometown.

“God knows there’s been enough negative stuff out there associated with the Oxnard name over the years,” Kinney said. “Why not focus on the positive?”

Toward that goal, Kinney and the Oxnard EDC have printed the first 2,000 copies of “Made in Oxnard,” a full-color, glossy brochure that provides mini-profiles of eight local businesses that have made good.

The highlighted businesses are: Lumonics, a manufacturer of laser machinery; the Gills Onions processing plant; Belding Sports, makers of customized golf bags and accessories; the Procter & Gamble paper products company; the Drum Workshop, a leading manufacturer of drums and drum accessories; Borla Performance Industries, a maker of auto exhaust systems; the Haas Automation machine tool manufacturer, and Bungee International, maker of bungee cords.

“I think there’s a tremendous wealth of quality industrial products being made and distributed out of Oxnard that residents have no idea are taking place here,” Kinney said. “Our idea was to make residents aware of what a good industrial base the community has and use that to build community pride.”

Kinney said the brochures will also be used to encourage businesses from outside the area to relocate to Oxnard.

“This is an attractive way of packaging the information of what firms are here now, so outside companies can gauge the breadth and depth of our industrial base,” he said.

Monique Vernhes, vice president of sales for Bungee International, said she and other company officials were apprehensive when they moved from the San Fernando Valley to Oxnard in 1996. But she now encourages other businesses to follow Bungee’s lead.

“People had said, ‘You’re going to a farm area, where are you going to find workers?’ ” Vernhes said. “But we’ve found everyone from mechanics to customer service to accounting to inventory control to assembly.”

Furthermore, Vernhes said that morale and performance at Bungee have improved since the move west.

“We’ve received more productivity just being a couple of miles from the ocean than being in the smog and heat in the Valley,” she said. “I think there’s just great opportunity for business. I think it’s more cost effective, the housing is more affordable. I think it’s a nicer atmosphere.”

Kinney said the brochures will be available at public places and through civic organizations, such as the Chamber of Commerce and the city’s visitors center. They also will be included in marketing packets distributed to businesses. He said the brochure will be updated periodically to highlight different Oxnard businesses.

“We’re using the same theme in a couple of different ways,” Kinney said. “I’ve talked with the Oxnard city manager [Ed Sotelo] about starting a regular feature at City Council meetings monthly, or quarterly, in which we would bring in the CEO of one of the companies featured [in the brochure] and give the acknowledgment and appreciation of the council to elevate the importance of these companies.”