Israel Hernandez and members of CS Chicago with winners of the export award from Frain Industries.

Frain Industries Receives Export Achievement Award from the Department of Commerce

CS Chicago began working with Frain Industries in 2003 when they participated in the CS Gold Key program to Guatemala. Frain found the service to be so beneficial that they participated in second Gold Key in September, 2007 to Costa Rica.

As a result of value-added counseling where Jeff Graber, of CS Chicago, offered detailed market research and trade data on Mexico, Frain participated in a multiple regional Gold Key Service to Guadalajara, Mexico City and Monterrey in Feb., 2008.

Frain entered into a formal agreement with a new authorized distributor for Monterrey, Mexico (ABT Manufacturing Services, S.A. de C.V.) and is currently in process of negotiating a second agreement for the region of Mexico City (Teyco S.A. de C.V.).

Frain is also currently following up on leads that were generated in their recent catalog promotion at Expo Comer trade exhibition in March, 2008 with the assistance of CS Panama City.

Frain is a good example of the commitment required for small and medium size enterprises to grow internationally by investing additional human and financial resources to achieve their international sales plan. This is exemplified by Frain management utilizing multiple CS. Together with Director of Business Development Harold Booth, they are well on their way to reaching their goal of doubling international sales from 2007 to 2008.

To further assist them in achieving this goal, Frain is has developed Spanish language brochures and is working to have portions of their corporate website in Spanish. In addition, to enable them to properly support t their new partners in Mexico and proactively solicit new business in Central and South America going forward, they are actively recruiting for a Customer Service Manager that is fluent in Spanish. Frain is working with EXIM Bank and local EXIM broker, Trade Acceptance Group, to secure financing options to allow them to offering more competitive financing options to their new business partners.

Following their return from the Mexican Gold Keys to Mexico, Mr. Madden summed it up well by stating, “The Commercial Service support we received was most beneficial and allowed us to accomplish our objective more efficiently and effectively than we could have by our own means. Our decision to engage the Commercial Service Gold Key Service was the correct decision to help us identify and select the most qualified business partners. ”

The U. S. Commercial Service is a U. S. Department of Commerce agency that helps small-and medium-sized U. S. businesses sell their products and services globally. The U. S. Commercial Service’s network includes 107 U. S. Export Assistance Centers

With its network of offices across the United States and in more than 80 countries, the U.S. Commercial Service of the U.S. Department of Commerce's International Trade Administration utilizes its global presence and international marketing expertise to help U.S. companies sell their products and services worldwide. For more information, visit www.export.gov.