Bill Adams

"Demand around this time of year is slack anyway," said William Adams, chief energy and capital market strategist at LaSalle Futures Group Inc. in Chicago."We are preparing for the demand we are going to see."

The hurricane season, which begins next week and ends in November, will yield 13 to 16 named storms, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration predicted.Hurricanes last summer damaged refineries along the U.S. Gulf Coast, reducing refining capacity by about a third and causing pump prices to soar.

"The weather premium is not built into the prices" of gasoline futures, Adams said.

"Demand just keeps going up," said Bill Adams, senior energy and capital markets strategist at Direct Futures LLC in Chicago.

Bill Adams, President & CEO Vannatter Group
...
Bill Adams, President & CEO Vannatter Group With over 25 years executive experience, Bill is a recognized international leader in World Class Manufacturing (WCM) principles with experience in the rubber, metal, plastics and electronics industries.He has held senior management positions in Ontario, Tennessee, Ohio, Kelowna BC, and currently in Wallaceburg Ontario.

Bill started his career with Firestone Canada, and was recognized as achieving excellence in manufacturing through his leadership in implementing WCM principles.Bill moved to Tennessee, as General Manager of the Polymer Division of Tridon, and under his leadership and use of WCM techniques, Bill's operation was awarded the prestigious Ford Q1 rating and the Nissan preferred supplier award for six years in succession.

As President and Chief Operating Officer for Bliss Manufacturing in Ohio, Bill had accountability for two stamping divisions and a custom machine shop serving the passenger and truck markets.Here he doubled the operations revenues and profits.Returning to Canada as President of Northside Industries in Kelowna BC, Bill was responsible for a heavy duty stamping and fabrication facility supplying the Heavy Duty Class 8 Market.With Northside Industries Bill negotiated several multi million dollar contracts and was instrumental in expanding the companies operations with new facilities in Quebec and Virginia.

Bill is currently President and CEO of Vannatter Group Inc. in Wallaceburg Ontario.Vannatter Group Inc. is a supplier of large intricate tools and dies as well as Aluminum parts to the major OEM automobile companies in North America, Mexico and Europe.

Bill holds a BA in Labour Studies from McMaster University and has and Executive MBA from the Ivy Business School and has taught numerous courses on manufacturing and Just in Time Managing for Excellence.

Still, Bill Adams, capital markets and energy strategist for LaSalle Futures, said reports such as one from International Energy Agency that China's oil demand growth was slowing was encouraging some observers that lower oil is ahead.

That in turn could bring investors who had been spooked by recent energy price records back into stocks, he said.

"It's all an emotional reaction," said Adams.

The committee includes Bill Adams, president and CEO of H.E. Vannatter Ltd.; Jim Forgie, board member of Waltec International; Scott McGeachy, president of McGeachy Farms; Bert Rammel-aere, chairman of the Chatham-Kent Drainage Board; Frank Saraka, owner of the Chatham Canadian Tire; and Hank Vander-Pol, president of Rol-Land Farms Ltd.

Silverberg (left) and business partner Bill Adams
...
Maison Rouge, a project also backed by Silverberg's wife, Sherryâ€"whose personal collection forms much of the inventoryâ€"and partner Bill Adams, a trader at LaSalle Futures Group, offers works in various media from roughly 1900 to 1950, as well as some contemporary pieces.

"There is an overwhelming amount of news on the bull side" pushing up prices, said William Adams, chief strategist at LaSalle Futures Group Inc.He said it would be "realistic" to expect another 50-cent increase in gas prices this summer.

Bill AdamsPresident and CEOVannatter Group Inc.

Although Vannatter began to recruit professional managers as early as the 1980s, his commitment to team leadership blossomed fully in late 2001, with the creation of a management team that includes Bill Adams as President and CEO of Vannatter Group.
...
A big-picture strategist, Bill Adams brought to the company an extensive experience in the automotive and medium to heavy-duty truck industry.He was previously President of Kelowna, B.C. based Northside Industries and held executive positions at Bliss Manufacturing and Tridon Inc.He holds an MBA degree from the Richard Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario and a bachelor degree in labor studies from Hamilton's McMaster University.

Adams clearly recognizes the severe challenges facing the tool shop industry.
...
For Vannatter Group, which is in the mid-size to large supplier category, Adams sees a window of opportunity in the Southeastern U.S. states of Mississippi, Louisiana, Georgia, Alabama and South and North Carolina.In their efforts to create employment opportunities, these states have offered attractive monetary incentives to Asian auto manufacturers looking for new site locations.These are also "right to work" states, offering an "anti-union" sentiment that is attractive to transplant operations.

"What we have to do is capitalize on the Southeastern U.S. market and demonstrate to the transplant manufacturers that we can build tools of equal quality at prices competitive with Japanese suppliers," Adams says.Although the Vannatter Group itself is a fully unionized environment, it has opened doors through its association with Aisen, a Japanese die cast company based in Kentucky.Largely owned by the Toyota Motor Company, Aisen supplies both Toyota and Honda Motor Company.Aisen recently announced that it will build a new plant in Cambridge, Ontario to supply Toyota's automotive manufacturing site in nearby Kitchener.

Vannatter Group has been selected to produce for Aisen the first transmission die to be used on Toyota cars in North America.The die is currently in trial stages and Adams says his company is hoping to build on this relationship and become a key supplier of tooling to Aisen.
...
"If the price of magnesium continues to fall to the point that it matches the price of aluminum, that would create an opportunity for car companies to produce more parts out of magnesium that are currently produced from steel or aluminum," Adams says.
...
Although the Vannatter Group has housed all of its operations in Wallaceburg for the past 50 years, Adams doesn't rule out the potential for setting up shop in Mexico or another country.