North Bay Business Journal

The two largest wine label printing companies in the North Coast have been expanding through acquisition, organic growth and equipment upgrades in the past year and a half as sales of wine bottles have been accelerating.

SEBASTOPOL — FlashCo Manufacturing, a fabricator of roof-penetration details with integrated flashing designed to trim installation time and enhance waterproofing, is doubling the size of its headquarters plant in a move to Santa Rosa.

PETALUMA — The first North Bay Manufacturing Trade Fair and Jobs Expo, held on Feb. 20 at the Sequoia Business Center, attracted more than 340 attendees, including 100 high school students and dozens of candidates looking for jobs.

In 2003, California manufacturers lost a sales tax credit on their capital equipment purchases, making them approximately 6 percent less competitive than manufacturers in most other states. Since then, there have been no less than 20 proposed exemptions in different forms before our state Legislature. None have made it to even a second committee hearing.

NAPA — Tapp Label Technologies Inc., a printer of wine and spirits labels from plants in Napa and Canada, today said it acquired Ben Franklin Press & Label Co. of Napa.

Sonoma-based staffing company Nelson recently opened of a new office in Southern California, the second location to open in that region within the past year. …

The 28 small- and mid-sized business for sale offerings that were sold in Sonoma County last month was a nearly three-fold increase over the same period last year, which saw 10 such transactions, according to BizBen Index. …

Prima Medical Group officially welcomed physicians from Palm Drive Medical Center to its expanding team. …

Santa Rosa-based TriVascular, Inc. recently announced U.S. Food & Drug Administration approval of its Ovation Prime abdominal stent graft system for the treatment of abdominal aortic aneurysms. …

ROHNERT PARK — Amy’s Kitchen brought the convenience of frozen vegetarian meals to the grocery aisle 25 years ago, and now the Petaluma-based packaged-foods company wants to do the same for the fast-food drive-through.

After helping to form an industry group for Sonoma County’s advanced manufacturers in late 2011, Sonoma County Building Economic Success Together — BEST — is coordinating a similar gathering of executives from the county’s top players in food and beverage manufacturing that participants hope will spur further growth in that sector.

PETALUMA — Sharing a common vision, the founders of Paragon Label and Vintners Global Resource (VGR) have formed a strategic partnership to provide small-and-medium-size wineries with a package of labels, bottles, supplies and services from a single source.

PETALUMA — More than 40 North Bay manufacturers plan to exhibit at the North Bay’s first industry trade fair to be held Wednesday, Feb. 20, from noon to 6 p.m. at the Sequoia Building located at 5341 Old Redwood Highway in Petaluma.

SANTA ROSA — Osseon Therapeutics, Inc. announced today that it has raised a $14 million round of equity financing led by a private investor, which will allow the medical device maker to expands its product line that treats vertebral compression fractures.

SANTA ROSA — Direct Flow Medical, Inc. today said it has received approval to use its transcatheter aortic heart valve replacement in Europe.

UKIAH — New life for the former Masonite plant in north Ukiah as a home for multiple manufacturers began early this month as a growing local maker of exhaust systems for personal watercraft and snowmobiles begins a $6 million project this year to triple the size of its production plant.

More than a dozen North Bay companies undertook major expansions or moves: TricorBraun WinePak, Raydiance, Enphase Energy, General Dynamics, Langers of Sonoma, Anette’s Chocolates Napa Valley, Marmot Mountain, Wineshipping, BioMarin Pharmaceutical, EO Products, Birkenstock USA, Toys for Bob, Adventist Health, Amorim Cork America, SPG Solar, Biosearch Technologies and Telltale Games.

Buyers and store managers from Whole Foods Market, which has 10 North Bay stores, plan to meet potential new vendors for Northern California and Reno, Nev., storeis via an event in Oakland in early February.

With the fiscal cliff looming and demand for manufactured goods falling, North Bay manufacturers are finding ways to cope with uncertainty.

One thing is sure: manufacturing is not for the timid.

“To stay in the game you have to make your own opportunities,” said Jim Judd of J & M Manufacturing Inc. in Cotati. “You can’t sit around waiting for things to improve.”

SONOMA — MPK Sonoma Corp. for more than two dozen years has been co-packing the Soy Vay brand of Asian-style sauces and marinades, and now the 28-year-old food-processing company says it has just a few months to line up replacement business for that 4.5 million-bottle-a-year contract else lose nearly all revenue.

WINDSOR — KriStar Enterprises first realized it needed a third production plant a year ago when it landed a huge rush order to install a newly designed and bulky system to collect and clean rainwater flowing off the expansive parking lots of the forthcoming 49ers stadium in Santa Clara, and now the Santa Rosa-based company is rushing to get a plant in Windsor on line by early next year to supply a large Caltrans contract.

NORTH BAY – When Annie’s Homegrown CEO John Foraker saw his company’s mascot displayed at the New York Stock Exchange this March, he paused. The company’s initial public offering was a watershed moment, but seeing the natural food mascot above the busy trading floor held a greater significance.

Corte Madera-based Restoration Hardware Holdings, Inc. (NYSE: RH) announced Nov. 7 that it has completed its initial public offering …

Medtronic, Inc. (NYSE: MDT), whose CardioVascular division is based in Santa Rosa, announced a grant of $250,000 from the Medtronic Foundation to the American Red Cross to support relief efforts in areas affected by Hurricane Sandy. …

Novato-based Ultragenyx Pharmaceutical Inc., a biotechnology company focused on developing treatments for rare and ultra-rare genetic disorders, announced it has completed patient enrollment in a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled phase two study of UX001. …

Sutter Health employees raised over $661,000 in 2012 for the California Chapter of March of Dimes. …

For the month of October, Envolve Winery of Sonoma and its “Real Men Drink Pink Campaign” raised money for the Sonoma Valley Hospital Foundation and their programming offering free mammograms in October. …

The Non-GMO Project has verified San Rafael-based EO Products as the first certified non-GMO body care company. …