Carol Johnson, Southern Indiana Business Report
FRENCH LICK – About 150 vendors filled the Exhibition Hall at the French Lick Resort Tuesday for the Buy Indiana Expo, an annual event that provides an opportunity for Hoosier businesses to connect with Naval Surface Warfare Center Crane.
From small, locally owned businesses to large corporations, the Buy Indiana Expo provides a face-to-face experience for businesses to demonstrate what services and products they can offer to Crane, which is the third largest Naval base in the world. More than 200 Crane engineers and procurement staff registered to attend the expo and 100 additional visitors registered.
As a conduit of commerce, Crane is vital to Hoosier businesses. In fiscal year 2023, Crane spent $65 million with Indiana businesses, according to Kaylee Diamond, deputy for Small Business at NSWC Crane. So far in FY 2024, which runs from Oct. 1-Sept. 30, Crane has done $35 million with Indiana businesses.
“The Buy Indiana Expo is such a good way for our folks at Crane – in contracts, the RTAs, the engineers – that are trying to find capabilities they need and making those connections with what’s available. And we’re giving companies the right person to talk to when they’re trying to do business with Crane and not just talk to me, from the small business side, but being able to talk to engineers,” Diamond said. “A lot of times engineers are finding capabilities they didn’t know were available and it’s all right here in our backyard.”
One of those is J&R Tool, a small business in Martin County owned by Adam and Destinee Crouse.
Founded in 1994 in the garage of original owner Rick Bell, J&R Tool is located on US 50 in Loogootee and employs 12 people.
“We’re a machine shop,” Destinee said. “About anything Crane needs, we can supply.”
Destinee said contracts with Crane make up about 90% of the business and J&R Tool will construct a new 90 by 80 building this year to accommodate the business’s growth.
One recent job for NSWC Crane was providing parts for upgrades being made to military vehicles.
Even though J&R Tool has an established work relationship with Crane, Destinee said the Buy Indiana Expo presents new opportunities.
“Most of the communication with Crane is email and phone calls,” Destinee said. “This is a place where we can talk to a lot of the people we work with all at the same time.”
James Culhan, director of business development for 316 Product Development in Marion County, an engineering firm specializing in medical and defense devices, had examples of the company’s defense work at his company’s booth.
316 Product Development worked with another company, Hourglass Medical, to design an augmented reality headset to be used by medic on the front lines. Culhan explained the headset can communicate with a doctor thousands of miles away who can guide the medic’s treatment of the injured soldier in the field. The headset, called the Forward Reaching Advanced Formation Module, is currently in use by the US Air Force.
Culhan said the headset has other applications for military use as well.
316 PD has a staff of 15 engineers.
“We’re a small business so not only do we want to connect with executives at Crane, we also want to network with prime contractors that are here so we can help develop products and services they need as part of their team,” Culhan said.
Jarad King, division manager and member of the NSWC executive team, said the networking provided by Buy Indiana is important for Crane to fulfill its mission.
“If you look at current world trends and what our adversaries are doing, there’s never been a more important time to protect what we do,” King said. “Crane operates a global mission across the Armed Forces to give a technological advantage for our warfighter. Without industry partnerships, Crane cannot do what it does. Buy Indiana offers the government and our industry partners an opportunity to connect to do business with the government and what that means is to become critical partners to the government’s mission to deliver in our three focus areas which are expeditionary warfare, electromagnetic warfare and the special missions program, the nuclear triad.”
Crane has a vast array of needs ranging from the latest technology to maintenance services.
It’s the technology needs that have grown the most, King said.
“I’ve been at Crane 22 years, and when I started the moniker would have been the best kept secret in southern Indiana,” King said. “All the unique technologies we work on today, the vast amount of technology we work on is significant.”
Crane is no longer interested in being the best kept secret in southern Indiana.
“Crane is trying to be a national asset for the Navy and DOD so we give the warfighter those technological advances,” King said. “We can’t, as the federal government, build everything. We’ve got to lean on industry with their novel ideas and small companies are just as great as big ones with novel approaches to solve hard technical challenges our warfighters face every single day.”
Grant Sherfick, owner of Hometown Hardware in Shoals which opened in 2023, was attending his first Buy Indiana as a hardware store owner. Sherfick previously worked for the Department of Defense and is familiar with the needs of Crane.
As a new business located close to Crane, the expo gave his business exposure to a large audience as well as connecting with Crane procurement staff. He said his store can provide industrial and maintenance products Crane would need.
“It was important for me to let the community know we have that capability and we’re right here in their backyard,” he said. “We’re a small store, but the product offering we have is enormous.”
The Jasper Chamber of Commerce served as host of the 25th annual Buy Indiana. Opening remarks were made by Jasper Mayor Dean Vonderheide and Dr. Kyle Werner, NSWC Crane’s deputy technical director.
The Bedford Chamber will serve as the host of the 2025 Buy Indiana Expo.