Yesterday I had lunch with Ivan Schrodt, the new CEO of IPS. Formerly known as Integrated Paper Service, IPS has moved beyond its roots in the paper industry and now provides technical services, testing, and quality assurance work for a wider industrial cross-section. Manufacturers of nonwovens materials, consumer products goods, fibers, paper, board, and other products can benefit from the technical expertise offered by IPS. For example, they have world-class expertise in fiber analysis (they've even helped the FBI and other agencies in assessing authenticity of documents based on fiber analysis), microscopy, and material property testing.

Under Ivan's leadership, the future looks especially bright as they move out of their old facilities in the Oneida Flats area into a completely new facility with 17,500 square feet of space designed for their testing and analytical needs. It's under construction right now in a new building in the northeast corner of Appleton, with an open house celebration planned in February. I had a tour of the new facility and came away really impressed with the vision that IPS is pursuing and the opportunities they will have as they expand their scope and customer base. They have a great reputation as it is, but the future looks especially bright with the many positive changes they are going through.

Good luck, IPS!