Get Used To Growth, Ohio

Get used to growth, Ohio.

Whether it’s the two biggest capital investment announcements in Ohio history in 2022 or the very real statewide manufacturing resurgence, Ohio is on a trajectory for growth and opportunity which most Ohioans haven’t seen in our lifetimes.  Governor Mike DeWine is right to say, “It’s Ohio’s time.” 

Though the idea of getting used to growth could mean different things in different parts of our state, there’s clearly one thing in common:  Ohio is poised to grow in a way that hasn’t been experienced for generations. 

Manufacturing never truly left, but certainly the narrative about its importance to Ohio and the nation is back in a way that we can expect will continue.  “We are amidst a once-in-a-generation shift of global manufacturing footprints, and 2023 should continue to be a year of opportunity for manufacturers in the United States,” predicted national site consultant Michelle Comerford in January.  Axios reported that U.S. manufacturing growth at the end of 2022 outpaced the rest of the planet year-over-year, and the report added the comment, “for the first time in recent memory.” 

Ohio is the third largest manufacturing state.  Per capita, Ohio outpaces the other two. Therefore, national manufacturing growth equals Ohio manufacturing growth. 

Big cranes and big earth movers are the early signs of growth.  It’s great to see cranes are arriving and concrete is waiting to get poured at Intel’s Ohio fabs in Jersey Township in Licking County right now.  A drive by on Interstate 71 through Jefferson Township in Fayette County shows work has already begun for Honda as well.  

Jobs are the next sign.  Manufacturing employment in Ohio is very nearly back to pre-pandemic levels even before new hiring has started for the announced projects.  At least a quarter of Ohio’s counties are within commuting distance of the Intel and Honda sites. 

Manufacturing brings wider growth opportunities too. Some of the best jobs and tax base growth are with suppliers.  Intel already finds suppliers in 22 of Ohio’s 88 counties as they look to find more vendors in the state.  Honda boasts a supplier presence in 55 Ohio counties with the potential to widen. 

Getting ready for growth also means preparing to welcome back homesick Ohioans and new Ohioans.  Put out the welcome mat.  Over the years, Ohioans have been dispersed.  Job opportunities are the pathway back home.  

It’s already happening.  For two of the last three years, U-Haul has ranked Ohio in the top 10 states for growth when it looked at its rental truck trends as an indicator.  Returning to Ohio is a one-way U-Haul trip.

To me, a guy who grew up in a steel town that doesn’t make steel anymore, growth equates to opportunity.  I’m optimistic that my kids’ and my grandkid’s future opportunities to make a living in Ohio are better than they were when I grew up.  I am lucky to know Ohioans in all corners of our great state, and I’m certain that sort of parental aspiration is a statewide sensation.

 It will be great to get used to growth commonplace in Ohio.

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This column is a regular development column for the Newark Advocate also submitted to The Columbus Dispatch.

Development News Predicts 2023 Opportunity

I’m a student of family history research.  I know that, in one branch of my family, my third great grandparents came to Ohio over 150 years ago from Germany.  Their granddaughter, my great grandmother, left the state but later came back.  In that same family branch, my grandfather left Ohio. He graduated high school and college on the West Coast but came back to Ohio 85 years ago.

Coming to Ohio, and coming back to Ohio, had a common reason among my ancestors.  The reason in every generation:  Opportunity.

I can’t help but think my personal family history trends could be a pattern for other families all over Ohio as the development announcement news of the last few years gets realized in job opportunities opening up. Ohio history has historical examples of windows of job opportunities that bring people to Ohio for the first time or homesick Ohioans back home for good. 

Ohio Governor Mike DeWine used his second inaugural remarks to call for legal immigrants and people interested in seizing opportunity to “come to Ohio.” The Governor is on to something. Use of his bully pulpit is spot on.

JobsOhio CEO J.P. Nauseef labels what we are experiencing in development announcements in Ohio as “generational opportunities.”  He’s right. 

2023 will be that year.  Licking County is at the heart of it.

New projects are getting more real.

Behr Paint will open a new building which will be the third largest on the Port Authority’s campus in Heath that boasts 80 years of manufacturing development.  The building will be ready this Summer.

Amgen’s building in Western Licking County is going up fast.  Little known fact:  Amgen is already hiring and quietly opened up in a new speculative-built industrial building in Heath last June.

Intel could start hiring in 2023, including internships with a promise of a permanent job when the facility is ready to open.  Follow Intel.com/Ohio. 

It’s a good bet that those of us in the development community are focused on helping ensure our existing industry has the chance to grow too.

Boeing is at its highest employment level in over 20 years.  They’re still hiring at jobs.Boeing.com.

Transcendia’s new building in Union Township looks great.  Jobs are there.

The list is long and wide in manufacturing in Licking County.

These now-emerging generational trends can continue as long as we continue to work, as a community and a state, to seize the opportunity before us. 

Let’s all make it our job.  Welcome homesick Ohioans back home. Welcome new Ohioans here. 

National author Joel Kotkin, who has been a frequent visitor to Ohio and Licking County, has his finger on the pulse of opportunity in manufacturing.  Kotkin recently wrote in a national column, “History is calling on North America, and the future depends on how we respond.” 

What a great time to be in Ohio.  What a great time to be in Licking County.

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This column is a regular development column also appearing The Advocate.

Thanksgiving Talking Points Memo

A gathering for Thanksgiving and the holidays is a time to talk about keeping our family in Ohio and persuading our homesick Ohio relatives to come back home.  It always is.

The case to be made is even stronger now than ever.

There are 20 billion new reasons in Ohio since last Thanksgiving to be making that point hit home.

Intel’s January 2022 announcement in Newark of a $20 billion investment promising 3,000 direct manufacturing jobs is taking shape before our eyes in Jersey Township, Western Licking County. As the Intel fabs take shape, the job opportunities will get closer and closer to reality too.

There’s no reason to wait for your persuasive message to your family members though.  Go for it!

When’s the right time?  Now.

I asked a training expert for the list of skills that Intel might be needing in the future.  Here’s the short list:  Robotics, Automation, Fabrication, Health and Safety, Mechanical, Electrical, Industrial Networking, Quality Control, HVAC, and Material Handling were among the needed skills on the list.

Guess what?  These skills are already needed with job opportunities with employers already in the job market.  Manufacturers may make different products, but their skill needs are very similar to each other.

The list of companies already here in Licking County is too long to list in this memo, but here’s just a few:  Hendrickson Auxiliary Axle Systems, Kaiser Aluminum, THK Manufacturing of America, Tech Tire, Holophane, Nature’s One, MISTRAS Group, Ariel Corporation, Owens Corning, Boeing, KDC/One, Anomatic, Covestro, Ampacet, Amgen, and Gathered Foods.

Pick on just one career field title—multi-craft maintenance.  The maintenance part is keeping equipment up and running.  The multi-craft part means skills in multiple areas of equipment.  

Every manufacturer needs multi-craft maintenance technicians.  Demand has never been greater.  The pay is tops among the top.

Where do you go to get some of these skills?  Close by.

C-TEC and Central Ohio Technical College are ready with the curriculum right now.  The training and educational capabilities of these two places has a long, proven track record for individuals in Licking County for decades.  

Employers know that and seek out graduates.

One example.  The Port Authority sponsored a new STEM scholarship at OSU-N and COTC this school year. One of the first students to find it is proving to be a rock star.  A young woman at one of our area manufacturers seized scholarships and is upping her skills to advance her career.  She proves that you can find the training and you can find the funding help to achieve.

It's all of our jobs to make sure our family members know what opportunities are being served up for them to stay in Ohio or come back to Ohio.

Don’t put whipped cream on that piece of pumpkin pie until you’ve made your case.  

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This column is a regular development column also appearing The Advocate.

Five Development Thoughts

 

Just sharing some thoughts about development.

Ohio Just Keeps Winning.  Credit Governor Mike DeWine’s leadership.  

The recent $3.5 billion Honda and LG Energy Solution announcement to manufacture batteries for electric vehicles in Fayette County is another in a year-long string of big Ohio manufacturing development wins.  Intel in Licking County remains the biggest announcement in Ohio history, by far.  Better days are ahead.

National media had all but put a nail in the coffin for manufacturing and the Midwest, but Ohio keeps proving those pundits wrong, by the billions.  Winning sure beats the alternative.

Learn More About Reshoring Manufacturing.  There’s more to the story about why Ohio keeps winning.  Among the advance work was an early 2021 report from think tank Heartland Forward titled “Reshoring America:  Can the Heartland Lead the Way?” Besides the fact that manufacturing never left, the report made the case that the middle of the country, and Ohio in particular, was uniquely positioned to grow our manufacturing sector and the coveted manufacturing jobs. 

Ohio is the third largest manufacturing state and the one best-positioned to grow our middle class by growing manufacturing investment.  Our advantages in energy, water supply, STEM learning, transportation, and, most of all, hard working people are the keys.

Celebrate Diverse Local Wins Too.  Behr Paint is building a huge manufacturing facility in Heath on the Port Authority’s campus right now.  Behr’s $80 million investment has been quieter than some of the other Ohio wins, but it’s certainly worthy of much celebration.  Who doesn’t use paint?

Licking County enjoys a diverse manufacturing base with products ranging from plant-based seafood to semiconductors (fish to chips!). Keeping a focus on retaining and growing that diversity is key to a strong economy for decades to come.

Answer the FRAMEWORK Survey. The TJ Evans-convened public-private partnership has entered the grassroots phase of the visioning of a framework for Licking County’s future.  A stop at frameworkLC.org or finding FRAMEWORK at a local event in the coming weeks is the way to give input to the visioning effort underway.   The partnership wants to hear thoughts from all of us in Licking County in answer to the question—"What is most important to you?”

The pattern has been set.  Getting input at the grassroots is part of the approach FRAMEWORK will use throughout its work ahead.

Detour Around a Closed Cherry Valley Bridge.  Much of Central Licking County is already feeling the effects of the closure of the Cherry Valley Bridge.  18,000 cars and trucks a day have to go somewhere.  Of course, any novice review of the photos circulating that show a big crack in at least one of the 190-year-old bridge’s arches is all it takes to concede that closure was, absolutely, the right move.

We can find solace in the knowledge that the Newark and Licking County advocacy to get the bridge replaced with a new one at Thornwood Crossing was a right move too.  Imagine the wait if, on top of bidding and construction, there was the much longer wait to design and prepare to build.

There’s much to be thinking about in development in Licking County and Ohio these days. 

It’s a great time to be in Ohio.  It’s a great time to be in Licking County.

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This column is a regular development column also appearing in The Advocate.

Writing Our 2020’s Song About Growth

Songs from the ‘80’s and ‘90’s are part of my youth in more ways than one.

 

Now Main Street’s whitewashed windows

And vacant stores

Seems like there ain’t nobody

Wants to come down here no more

Bruce Springsteen’s My Hometown might as while have been about my hometown.  I grew up in a steel town that doesn’t make steel anymore.  Much of my classmates did what Springsteen sang about—packed up our bags, maybe heading south.

Springsteen sung a ballad about my father’s hometown too—Youngstown.  It’s a melancholy song of a declining place in a country that didn’t appreciate manufacturing and the nation’s cravings for steel.

 

Well my daddy came on the Ohio Works

When he came home from World War Two

Now the yards just scrap and rubble

 

Even Billy Joel got in the act too singing about decline in the ‘80’s.  Allentown was about Pennsylvania towns, but it spoke to many of us Ohioans back then.

 

Well we’re living here in Allentown

And they’re closing all the factories down

Out in Bethlehem they’re killing time

Filling out forms

Standing in line

 

My kids and grandkids (I’m grateful for one of those on the way.) won’t have the same tunes stuck in their heads that I did.  The lyrics about growth and progress are writing themselves in places like Newark and Licking County in the 2020’s. 

A whole new generation of song writers have new fodder of so-called “problems” in Ohio in the 2020’s—more jobs than people to fill them, more buyers than sellers of homes, and more interested industrial businesses than available industrial sites.

My generation has an obligation to remind later generations that these problems are not really problematic in comparison to the alternatives.  Trust me.  I watched decline, not just listened to it in songs.

It’s harder to figure out how to fund a shrinking school system than a growing one nearing capacity.  It’s a real task to rebuild old streets on a dime than pave new ones on a dollar.  Waiting for your job’s new electronic paycheck in your account beats waiting for the old paper unemployment check delivered to your porch.

I’ll suggest that Bruce could write about Intel.  It’s first new factory in decades is happening in Ohio.  Ground was broken in Licking County earlier this month to signal the realness of a whole new semiconductor industry coming to the Heartland.  Suppliers are already here in Ohio and the promise is more are on their way. These facts bring with it a new song of positive progress instead of an old song of stagnation.

Billy could write lyrics about blossoming manufacturing of all sorts like soy crisps at GB Food in Heath or polycarbonate at Covestro in Hebron.  I’d suggest song writers paint a picture about Behr paint soon to be made in Licking County or get fired up about gas compressor components assembled at the recently tripled-in-size Ariel plant.  The Tamarack Dairy milk plant is expanding.  So is the thin film plant owned by Transcendia.  Expansion story lines of the 2020’s sure beat the opposite story of U.S. manufacturing in the ‘80s.

Given decline or growth, who doesn’t choose growth for their kids and grandkids?

I think there really are some lyrics in there somewhere. Together, let’s sing about growth in the 2020’s in our hometown.

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This development column is a regular column in The Advocate.

Licking County Manufacturer Workers Play Key National Security Roles

 

Historians in Licking County proudly remind of us local people who stood out militarily like Johnny Clem in the Civil War and Don Jakeway in World War II. There’s a lesser-known role that stands out too.  Unique to the World capabilities abound. Licking County workers can proudly boast being a part of manufacturing products that serve the national security of our country in many important ways.

Intel’s $20 billion investment Ohio announcement is a future case of our workforce’s role in national security important work but there are current examples too.

Missiles and Aircraft

For 60 years, guidance systems for missiles and aircraft have come through Licking County and the Aerospace & Technology Center campus. As many have remarked over the years, the Newark AFB helped a nation win the Cold War.  Boeing's guidance systems are maintained and remanufactured at Heath.  They fulfill a critical part of the strategic deterrence fleet. 

 

Metals

For 78 years, the aluminum coming out of the Kaiser Aluminum plant in Heath has served a national defense purpose.  This continues today with the plant’s unique heavy alloy aluminum making process crucial to defense industry products.

 

Testing Labs

MISTRAS Group performs non-destructive testing on materials in use for a variety of defense, space, and aviation purposes.  The materials tested in Heath end up on national security important equipment from Boeing airplanes to military rockets.

 

Metrology

That’s metrology, not meteorology.  It’s not about weather, It’s about precision measurement. The Air Force Primary Standards Laboratory operated by Bionetics is the largest of the Pentagon's primary standards laboratories. Boeing's internal metrology operation is second largest within all of Boeing. Thus, combined, the metrology concentration is the largest of its kind in the World. It's the science of measurement and precision capabilities that separate our military from others around the globe. 

 

Baby Formula

The ongoing crisis of a shortage of baby formula pushed Nature's One's work to the forefront. The facility on James Parkway in Heath opened in June 2020 as the World's largest organic infant nutrition manufacturing facility. The pride comes through that the doubling of output is serving a timely, national purpose.

 

Armor

Two former Owens Corning engineers took their knowledge of advanced materials and created a composite armor made of fiberglass, ceramic, and other materials.  The result is armor made by Tencate and military helmets made by ArmorSource.

  

Semiconductors

Chips already have a supply chain path to Licking County and have for decades. Momentive Performance in Union Township manufactures silicon quartz crucibles and tubing consumed in the making of semiconductors.  One could, rightly, say Licking County already plays a role in putting silicon in the Silicon Heartland nickname.

Now, Intel Ohio puts Licking County on the map with manufacturing of semiconductors slated for a 2025 opening. Intel has picked our community’s collective capabilities to invest in the manufacturing of products which secure our nation’s future. The result secures Licking County's place in restoring a manufacturing balance to the shores of the U.S. is extraordinary and crucial.

This list is just a start.  It truly is amazing and both a source of pride for our workforce and a source of patriotism for all of us that these roles exist in Licking County.

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This development column is a regular column in The Advocate.

Licking County Is a Microcosm for U.S. Manufacturing Growth

 

From missile guidance systems to baby formula and from plant-based food to semiconductors, Licking County is proving to be a microcosm of a U.S. manufacturing resurgence. The Licking County manufacturing story has displayed an envious range of manufacturing’s transformation. We truly are showing the rest of the U.S. what the future of manufacturing can look like.

Even before the huge international news of the $20 billion Intel semiconductor plant in Jersey Township, Licking County manufacturers were proving the national pundits wrong about manufacturing.  How?  For one, they’ve been growing job opportunities.

According to a July 2021 report from Ohio’s LMI Division, Licking County saw manufacturing jobs increase 41% between 2010 and 2019.  Much of the job growth at New Albany’s Western Licking County side in the last 15 years has been in manufacturing.  Manufacturers at the Port Authority’s Aerospace Center campus keep growing too, for example, adding a 25% net increase in jobs in the last two years.  Growth continues.

Site consultants say that places around the country that can provide a manufacturing culture, a manufacturing workforce, manufacturing-oriented educational infrastructure, and ready-to-go manufacturing sites in growth-minded communities are winning manufacturers’ investments.

These are also chief among the reasons Licking County is winning manufacturers’ investments.

STEM learning is part of that manufacturing mix.  Licking County has a track record in producing a STEM-skilled workforce. 

The recent STEMfest at The Works, the 13^th year in a row of bringing industry and educators together with parents and kids, proved the point.  What science museum in the country wouldn’t be proud to brag the names of Boeing, Covestro, Goodyear, THK, Ariel, and Screen Machine on the event marquee as it was at The Works? 

Globalization is starting to take shape around the globe in a whole new form.  Reshoring of manufacturing was beginning before COVID but was accelerated by it.  According to the capital managers at BlackRock, the last 30 years of globalization are being proven a mistake.  Fears of overseas turmoil creating domestic economic turmoil makes U.S. production reshoring a national imperative. More and more this mantra will be true:  If you want to sell in the U.S., you must make it in the U.S.

Matching globalization trends is nothing new to Licking County.  National author Joel Kotkin wrote in 2010 about the reasons that the middle of country stood to host the return of manufacturing.  Licking County was a prominent part of his follow up reports that kept the issue front and center.  The author’s recent visit to Licking County was a precursor of more to come.

More than just be proud of being a microcosm, we need to seize upon the opportunity it presents.

The truth is that the recent years of manufacturing growth in Licking County, though vitally important, are lesser known.  Our challenge is to capitalize on the high-profile Intel news.  Now is our chance to grow our manufacturing workforce for all--Intel as well as our existing manufacturers.  There are great opportunities for our students to pursue well-paying, stable careers in manufacturing. 

It’s our time.  What a great time to be in Ohio.  What a great time to be in Licking County.

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This development column is a regular column in The Advocate.

Intel Amongst Us: We All Play a Part in Welcoming $20 Billion Investment

“What’s the blue light special?”

As an economic development guy, I was horrified at the thought of all that could go wrong.  Walmart executives, lacking a local Walmart store to stop at in Steubenville in 2001, went to the local Kmart to get the feel for the workforce and community.  They asked one worker to explain this technique for sparking impulse buying among Kmart shoppers

It was as if the fate of hundreds of jobs in Eastern Ohio rested in the hands of one person.  That’s because it did.

I witnessed as the gentleman was respectful and more than happy to explain.  He did a great job.  Little did he know what role he played and, if he had had a bad day or behaved differently, how he could have turned the story for the worse.

Three months later, the community would receive the incredible economic news that a new $75 million Walmart Food Distribution Center would be built.  Today, it’s the largest economic base employer with 800 employees in Jefferson County, Ohio.

It’s always been my personal example of how everyone in the community has a role in economic development.  Everyone.

I have some new stories on the heels of this recent Intel announcement. Intel is amongst us. 

A visitor to a local museum questioned his host about natural sites and the history of Licking County.  After the Intel announcement went off last month, the host connected the dots.  The visitor was identified as working with Intel and have Licking County connections.

The informal tour and chance encounter could have been a turning point.

Just a few days into the new year, a big bus stopped at the Midland Theater and other venues in Newark.  Mine was the only local, familiar face.  No names were shared.  No corporate wear was spotted.  No business cards were handed out.  I’m sure many wondered what was going on.  The bus was the event crew for Intel and state officials scouting out locations for a then-upcoming announcement. 

Though the deal was a done deal, the announcement venue was certainly not decided.  All local stops showed the sort of capability that has long been our county’s mantra—big enough to have the resources, yet small enough to care about one company at a time.

The rest, as they say, is history.  The Midland and Newark will be forever associated with Intel and the day Ohio’s largest economic development project ever was announced.

What happened between June and January that could have been our local equivalent of the blue light special quiz?  A shopper at Granville Milling in Johnstown.  A pet owner at the Kennel Club in Jersey Township.  Hikers at Blackhand Gorge.  Guests at Cherry Valley Hotel.  There have been numerous past encounters that could have been the turning point too. 

There will be more in the future. 

The role we all play in economic development will continue.  The community has the opportunity to capitalize on the $20 billion Intel news, gain on Intel’s plans to grow their investment to $100 billion, and attract supplier facilities.  It will take all of us.

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This development column is a regular column in The Advocate.