Ideas

As kids, our well-intentioned dentist forcefully instructed us to "Brush and floss twice each day." Sound advice that we largely ignored. After we blew off that first evening chore and realized the world didn't end, we became more ambivalent on following the regimen with precision.

Gov. Scott Walker announced $1.2 million in additional federal employment and training assistance to help approximately 1,600 dislocated workers across the state learn new job skills.

The Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. (WEDC) is seeking Wisconsin companies to participate in a trade mission to South Africa March 6-15.

The Milwaukee branch of the American Welding Society has established a new national scholarship for those who want to attend school for welding or welding engineering.

Generational Equity, a Dallas-based mergers and acquisitions advisor for privately-held, middle-market businesses, announced the sale of its client, Acry Fab Inc. of Sun Prairie, to The Vollrath Company LLC of Sheboygan.

Milwaukee-based Briggs & Stratton Corp. announced a multi-year agreement with GE Capital Retail Bank to provide private label retail financing programs for power equipment and standby generators.

Waukesha-based DUECO Inc. has sold its sister company, Utility Equipment Leasing Corp. (UELC), to Bluffton, Ind.-based NESCO, LLC, one of the largest North American providers of specialty rental equipment for the electric power transmission and distribution industry.

The union that represented workers at the now-shuttered Golden Guernsey milk bottling facility in Waukesha says it tried to cooperate with the owners of the company to reduce costs, but to no avail.

About 73 percent of Wisconsin manufacturing companies saw an increase in sales in 2012 over the previous year, and 75 percent are forecasting an increase in sales this year, according to Milwaukee manufacturing development organization The Paranet Group.