LSL Industries
For some businesses, it’s all about location. For medical supply manufacturer LSL Industries LLC, however, it’s all about relations. Ash Luthra, Chief Executive and Owner of the Andersonville-based LSL, has garnered the networking beneits of being a CCV client since 2005.
“They help us get in touch with the right people,” Ash said, who started the business in 1985. LSL primarily sells Medical Devices and Disposable Kits to hospitals and surgery centers.
In 2008, CCV assisted LSL in winning four contracts worth about $10 million, which created 22 new manufacturing jobs at LSL. Ash works with the Community and Economic Development Association of Cook County Inc. to hire people from low-income groups in the neighborhood.
According to Ash, CCV helped him in three primary areas: introductions, preparation of contracts and other technology-related support.
CCV, through its Chicago Minority Business Enterprise Center, also provided funding for Ash to take a week-long course at the Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H. “They took you through certain case studies for minority and small businesses and that was extremely helpful,” Ash said.
“It’s not only a class and executive MBA, but a networking opportunity for him to get to know people from other parts of the country,” said Hans Bonner, Project Director and counselor at CCV, who meets with Ash in person about four times a year.
LSL has high hopes for the future. Ash said the company is growing, as evidenced by a new facility in Evanston and plans to open another plant in Milwaukee. The business also aims to do more direct-to-customer shipping and increase current market penetration.
Additionally, Ash has been able to volunteer and make charitable contributions to more than 13 different organizations in Chicago as well as establish a facility in New Delhi, India, that provides physical therapy to low-income and senior citizens free of charge.
Despite being busy running his thriving company, Ash still recognizes the importance of being a socially-responsible community member. his is truly a case of “paying it forward.”