CME Corporation 

Rob Young 

7235 Vicksburg Pike

Fort Wayne, IN  46804

Phone: 260-745-0251     Ext.  112

Fax: 260-745-2728

Web: www.CMEbuilditright.com

   CME Corporation was established in Fort Wayne in 1972 and the company has had a solid 39 years of successful business. CME works primarily in the tri-state area of Indiana, Ohio, and Michigan, but certainly has the capability of doing projects throughout the country. New Haven native Mark Hellinger, CME’s President and Owner, is quoted on their website, “Our valued customers and our talented team are by far CME Corporation’s greatest assets.” As I interviewed Rob Young, Business Development Manager, it became clear to me that this sentiment seems to be lived out in every area of CME Corporation.

   CME is a design/builder first and foremost. What that means is that they can work with a party from initial concept and design, to formal design, to construction, and then for all of the aftercare including expansions, renovations, etc. In speaking with Young, he explained how CME can take the building concept to a building plan, the building plan to State of Indiana approval, and then into the field to construct the facility. This can all be done primarily in house due to the variety of skill sets which comprise the CME team. Along with their experts such as an in house registered architect, CME has a field crew that averages about 35 persons (with capacity to go up when projects dictate). Young stated, “We self perform a good number of the trades - concrete, certain demolition, light steel erection, rough carpentry, finish carpentry, those kinds of things. We can design it and we can build a good share of it. For those things we don’t self-perform, we work well with any number of subcontractors in the area.”

   To emphasis this point, Young talked about an especially difficult project CME tackled in November of 2002; the Cooper Farms Cooked Meats Plant in Van Wert, Ohio. The Cooper plant was nearly leveled by a tornado. CME was contacted to see if they could rebuild the plant in a 5-½ month time span; a nearly impossible task. If the Cooper plant could not be rebuilt in that short time span, the company would not have rebuilt the plant at all and would have had to make other plans. CME took on the task and according to Young it became literally a day and night operation. He said, “I know at one point there were over 100 folks in the field working on that particular project.” Young explained how this particular project emphasized the ability of CME to do design/build projects. Through the design/build process you can design and get approval for portions of the building, while you continue building. Because of this type of project management, building goes on continuously with no down time while waiting for various approvals. CME is rightly proud of the fact that they rebuilt the Cooper Farms plant and have since expanded the facility several times. CME also recently won a pretreatment facility project at Cooper Farms’ St. Henry, Ohio, meat processing facility.

   Some more local buildings that CME has constructed are the new facility for Summit Foundry Systems in the Wayne Haven Industrial Park, and the building that now houses the Manufacturing Technology Centre also in Wayne Haven. CME built the retail center structure and then built out the Indiana Physical Therapy suite in that center on Isabella Drive. Some other local buildings would be the Indiana Tech Warrior Fieldhouse which was built using a former grocery store as a starting point. CME utilized eco-friendly, recycled turf to mimic outdoor materials and special toxic-free impact cladding to provide a highly functional and environmentally responsible facility. Also the expansion of Bishop Dwenger High School in which CME worked around school faculty and students to keep Dwenger’ s highly prestigious facilities moisture and disruption–free throughout its rigorous renovation and classroom addition project.

   CME has as a goal to expand its clientele not only in number but geographically as well. That is where Young comes in. Rob Young had served as president of the Fort Wayne-Allen County Economic Development Alliance prior to his employment at CME. He joined CME in August of 2010. Because of his ties with the business community his strength lies in “chasing projects,” which he enjoys and does every day. His background in economic development also gives him a little different approach to projects. Young said, “It boils down to time on task. Growing clientele is all about details; what are the opportunities, what are the challenges, what are the resources and how do they fit together. Somebody needs to be driving that train. “To rely on others who have other primary roles here isn’t fair, and it also means certain opportunities don’t or aren’t pursued because there isn’t the capability. I was brought in to pursue those opportunities because my job really is to run down the details and focus on the finer points of either relationships or potential projects.”

   What Young finds most interesting about working at CME is the breadth of talent in the team. Young said, “It is an interesting collection of folks and I mean that in the most positive way. You have individuals who are experts at estimating and architecture, and project managers physically running the project both from within the headquarters as well as in the field. Then you’ve got all of the skills of the crew members in the field. I have a hard time remembering working in a place with such diverse talent that comes together so seamlessly.”

   CME Corporation has been an active member of the New Haven Chamber of Commerce going back to 1999. CME does take advantage of the Office Depot Discount Program, but Young feels the simple networking opportunities and access to the membership is critical to their business. Also, at this time Young is one member of the Chamber’s Board of Directors. Young said, “I like smaller community chambers because they really are active voices in their communities, and it’s fun to be involved.”