My Economists on Reshoring: It's Real

"You can kick anybody's butt right here in the U.S." was the stand-out phrase directed at manufacturers during a recent Vistage podcast featuring economists Alan and Brian Beaulieu.  I call them my economists not only because I like what they have to say, but because they have a penchant for accuracy.  They have a great sense of humor uncommon to most economists too.

The message was that reshoring, or near-sourcing if you prefer that term, of production is "real."

This was one of four key trends the Beaulieu brothers cited in predicting steady growth through 2018.  A healthy energy segment, better/stronger productivity, and "growing the industrial economy for the World" were the other three U.S. trends.  Upbeat.

The Ohio-Native Meadow Project: Year One

 

A year ago, the Port Authority began a demonstration project that was the product of a brainstorming session at The Wilds on what basic things we could do to improve the campus setting for our customers' personnel at the Aerospace Center.  We called it the Ohio-Native Meadow project. 

We took about an acre of land that was undevelopable.  It sat too close to the creek and right under a high voltage transmission power line.

Yet we still had to maintain it.  It got mowed weekly, yet it was only seen by security cameras and walkers by.

So we copied what we saw at The Wilds and followed the lead set by The Dawes Arboretum and planted a meadow with a seed mix consistently of only Ohio-native wildflowers and grasses.

From our research, we knew it would take a while.  Most sources said it would take a couple of years to really take.  And that's proven true, especially in a drought year.

But it's already proven to be a good project that we'll probably look to duplicate.

We don't have to mow it, except to cut it down once a year as part of a proper maintenance plan.  That has allowed us to keep lawn maintenance costs flat and spare a few carbon molecules from less fuel consumption.

And it's a nice, quiet setting too.

I've not done this yet, but, in theory, I could go out from my office and conduct business from there.  I can transfer my phone to my iPhone or iPad and be checking e-mail, surfing the web, and taking and making phone calls as if I was right at my desk.

Pretty cool.  See the video for more.

On Walking The Appalachian Trail

I've walked the Appalachian Trail.  Not the whole thing, though.  That's over 2,000 miles.

More times than I can count since 1979, I've been to Skyland at the highest point in Shenandoah National Park and walked along the trail where it crosses with the Stony Man Nature Trail to Stony Man Mountain. 

This trip I also drove over it while passing through the Catoctin Mountains in Maryland. 

The trail is really quite a feat if you think about it.  Maybe some day I'll actually walk it.

Sharing Vacation Nature Photos

Hopefully not too boring for you.

Here's my personal top five scenic photos I took during my vacation at Shenandoah National Park.

From walking along Stony Man Mountain nature trail near the Appalachian Trail.

No color enhancement going on here.  All natural.

Less close up.  Here's the tree that gave this fungi a place to grow.

Looking north from Stony Man Mountain.  That's Skyline Drive at center.

Looking south from Miller's Head.  It's easy to see why the Blue Ridge Mountains are called such.

Eco-Friendly Development in the Suburbs

What wasn't there to like?

Redevelopment.  Rail.  LEED certification.  Electric transportation.  Heat island reduction.  Pervious concrete drainage.  Native plants.  We threw in 3D virtual, global collaboration to boot.

We thought all these things, on paper, added up to be a magnet for environmentally-minded people. Apparently, some other people did too.

However, we just found out that a once-approved excursion during the EcoSummit 2012 to the Port Authority has now, since, been canceled.  The Summit is almost five months away and, yet, the crystal ball showed not enough interest.

We'll now have to find another way to get the concept that suburban development can, indeed, be eco-friendly to the environmental movement.

--------------------------------------

Here's what the proposal read:

Eco-Friendly Development in the Suburbs

Licking County, Ohio epitomizes the Joel Kotkin (author of The Next Hundred Million: America in 2050) vision of the future which sees eco-friendly development in the United States for the next 40 years will be most robust in amenity-rich suburban locations offering green infrastructure.  At one location, the Central Ohio Aerospace & Technology Center in Central Licking County, participants can pay witness to that vision. 

In one compact location, the excursion host, the Heath-Newark-Licking County Port Authority will show off its redevelopment of the former Newark Air Force Base which is, today, an eco-friendly suburban industrial park with pragmatic, real-life applications of eco-friendly infrastructure.  Participants will see use of a rail line for freight, recreational paths for commuting, LEED-certified buildings, Segway PT’s for on-site transportation, green manufacturing practices, heat island reduction techniques, pervious concrete drainage systems, and more.   

The excursion will also expect to include a live demonstration of The Boeing Company’s Virtual Customer Integration Lab, a glimpse into the future of global collaboration via a virtual, 3-D environment used by Boeing today.

Manufacturing is High Tech: Annealing Steel Using Bismuth

Samuel Strapping Systems, at their Heath plant, uses a unique-to-North-America process of bismuth metal to anneal the steel used in some of their steel strapping.

The "bis" in Pepto-Bismol is bismuth.  In its metal form, bismuth is used in cosmetics.

Compared to lead, the more commonly-used agent for annealing steel, bismuth is pretty tame.

That's why it's pretty high tech to think of using bismuth metal in an annealing process to strengthen steel instead of nasty stuff like lead.  That's why a normally low-tech, in terms of how its thought of, product like steel strapping is actually pretty high-tech in the end.

Pretty cool.    And one more example of how manufacturing is high tech.

Earth Day is Today

I don't know who decides these things, but today is Earth Day 2012.

Our Port Authority had three activities of note that really fit well with Earth Day and a pragmatic approach to green, eco-friendly efforts for an industrial park.  Let me share.

LEED Certification Gotten.  We were proud to get word after spending much green with the U.S. Green Building Council, that the LEED Certification for our newest building on the campus was approved.  Our news release is true.  It's only the second building in Ohio to acheive the hard-to-get LEED for Core and Shell 2009 status.

Segways Touted.  We tweeted about our use of Segways on our campus a few weeks back.  That social media splash translated to a above-the-fold, front page story on Friday's Newark Advocate.  The eco-friendly value from putting 420+ miles on a Segway is calculated in less pounds of carbon.  That's Earth Day worthy too.

An Ohio-native Meadow Re-Planted.  We set aside one acre on our campus late last year for a demonstration project to convert the property back to a meadow using only Ohio-native plantings.  The experiment didn't grow when the rest of growth came so our staff, including me, got our hands dirty planting the second round of seedlings to try to restore this location which is not likely suitable for building.

The next time we mention these things is as part of the EcoSummit 2012 event Columbus is hosting this coming Fall.  Participants can pay witness to these and other pragmatic, eco-friendly actions in a suburban industrial park.  The organizers call it their Green Engineering/Manufacturing at a Regional Port Authority excursion.

The Case for a National Manufacturing Policy, In Conclusion

President Obama spoke on his jobs bill last night and ignited a national discussion about what to do about getting the U.S. economy going again. I didn't hear or see the speech, but I read it. I was disappointed to have to read three quarters of the way through the speech before I found the "M" word. Where was manufacturing?


With no specifics about how, he said, "We’re going to make sure the next generation of manufacturing takes root... in the United States of America." Manufacturing is the key part of the national discussion.

However, I believe that manufacturing deserves first paragraph billing in any national jobs policy. I think the case for a national manufacturing policy is strong. In fact, I think the "how to do it" part of such a policy can be made in Licking County.

All week, pre- and post-Labor Day, I've been spotlighting manufacturing aimed at making the case for a national manufacturing policy. There are key areas which I think need attention and focus.

It's time to focus on embracing manufacturing, investing in skills training, removing uncertainty about public infrastructure's future, achieving energy independence, and reducing regulations.

These are not just national issues.  There are local- and state-level policy challenges too.

Embracing Manufacturing.  Licking County is better than most, I think, in having a citizenry that embraces manufacturing.  There's always room for more believers in the concept that manufacturing is alive.  The STEM program at The Works is a national model for how communities can prepare parents and the next generation workforce for working in advanced manufacturing. 

Ohio's STEM efforts, on the other hand, are almost solely urban-focused, socially-oriented education programs that are not reaching a critical mass to benefit manufacturing industries.  Ohio needs to do a better job embracing manufacturing and recognizing that its Ohio suburbs where the action will be.

Investing in Skills Training.  Licking County, for 40+ years, has been a national leader in this area as well.  Central Ohio Technical College and our vocational school, now known as C-TEC, have figured out how to reach local industry and train to their needs.  C-TEC's new 79|Seventy Manufacturing Certification Program has been busy working with 20 local manufacturers preparing a pre-employment trained pool of manufacturing workers. 

Because it is self-sustaining and because it works, C-TEC possesses a model for skills training that could be replicated statewide and nationally. It should be and Ohio is absolutely the right place to start.  Encouraging pre-employment training for manufacturers should be a state priority.

Removing Uncertainty About Public Infrastructure's Future.  There's little Licking County can do in this regard but to keep advocating for infrastructure improvements and encouraging our Congressmen and Senators to get a transportation bill done.

Completion of the Cherry Valley Interchange portion of the 161/16 project is critical.  Attention should continue to be devoted to the Columbus-Pittsburgh Corridor too.  Based on past-looking projections of growth needs, the state has all but suspended planning for eastern-going highway improvements at a time that the oil and gas industry is about to boom.  Time to catch up.  Transportation planners need to get out a crystal ball I think.

Achieving Energy Independence.  Licking County is on the fringe of a ready-to-boom oil and gas area of the nation.  The Utica shale play promises to change our region of Ohio for a very long time, and we're poised to benefit.  Even if the nation should fail to achieve energy independence, it's clear that reduced transportation costs for natural gas should play a role in improving the competitiveness of our heavy manufacturers. 

Governor Kasich has an Energy Summit coming up later this month that is, absolutely, the kind of role that government should play to convene stakeholders and spotlight the issue.  Keep it coming.

Reducing Regulations.  Again, this is, mostly, a national issue.  Licking County started a county building department that is the model of efficiency and super responsive to industry.  Agencies like the US EPA and Army Corps of Engineers could learn a thing or two from Jack Pryor's shop on how to process permits. 

Ohio's Lt. Governor is in charge of an effort to reduce Ohio regulations.  I'll admit to not hearing much about this, but I am hopeful for more to come in the near future.

Bottom Line:  Licking County enjoyed hearing from national author Joel Kotkin in mid August with a look forward at the potential for the United States in 2050. The potential for a positive future for manufacturing was one of Kotkin's key messages.


The U.S. is poised to grow manufacturing while we grow our population. We can spend the "demographic dividend" and seize the advantage of over our GDP competitors by boosting manufacturing. We can get on a quicker road to recovery and job creation.

A national manufacturing policy is a huge part of getting there.

The Case for a National Manufacturing Policy, Part 4

Last week, I wrote five blogs and all five times I wrote on manufacturing. That was a lead-up to Labor Day.

The conclusion of my manufacturing spotlight series was on making the case for a national manufacturing policy. There are key areas which I think need attention and focus.

It's time to focus on embracing manufacturing, investing in skills training, removing uncertainty about public infrastructure's future, achieving energy independence, and reducing regulations.

I'm taking the five days this week to explain these. Here's today's:


Achieving energy independence.

One President set a goal to put a man on the moon, and we did it.  Why not set a goal of energy independence in coming years?  Let's do it.

With advancements in accessing oil and gas deposits in North America, better coal-burning technology, safer nuclear plant development capabilities, and fuel cell development among the options, this goal is doable.  With energy independence, renewable fuels have as much a chance of success in the future too.

It doesn't have to mean government subsidy to get there, either.  Energy independence starts with not picking the winners, but actually stopping from picking the winners. 

There's no good environmental reason, for example, to favor windmills over natural gas.   Arguments that natural gas, overall, is environmentally friendlier are pretty strong.

A national manufacturing policy should help create manufacturing opportunity in the U.S. and provide abundant, home-sourced energy by seeking and achieving energy independence.

In Search of Paperless Meeting Device

Paperless meetings.

I like the idea, but I'm struggling with the right solution.

Our last Port Authority Board meeting had a budget document and numerous resolutions that resulted in, at least, a ream of paper being copied and distributed.  That's probably the average paper usage each time.

Our multi-person fly-in to DC each year sees us carrying around briefing papers galore.

Now, sparing six or seven reams of paper a year isn't going to save too many trees, but the timing seems right to move to paperless meetings.  If nothing else, we'll feel more green and less guilty. 

The tech-savvy look of carrying around tablet pc's has some value too.  I haven't seen a group fly in to DC yet who tried this (though I'm sure there are such groups).

So, now convinced, I started looking.  I'm a quick decision maker but this has not been easy.

I've used a PDA or a smartphone of some sort for over six years.  This is an area of comfort for me.

I looked at the Samsung Galaxy.  No chance.  I tried it out for 24 hours and couldn't get comfortable with it.  Its usefulness seemed less than my smart phone.  The 3G service stopped working, and I couldn't find a help button.  With its smaller screen, it didn't fit our paperless meeting goal either.  I think it was an oversized PDA or a smartphone with its phone disabled.  That makes it a handicapped dinosaur.

I looked at the I-Pad. Not sold, yet. It's size is right, but I can't get sold on it's incompatibility with our other Windows-based devices.  I might be persuaded though.  I know at least five people who own them and, even though one has sold his, they all like them and swear by them.

I want to test drive a HP Slate.  I think the slowness of Windows vs. Android is way oversold.  I like the idea of having Windows Office programs on my wireless device. 

I was just told about the Barnes and Noble entree, Nook.  Nook may not be the robust, multi-function devices that the I-Pad and others are, but I can see us going this way.  It's less expensive, by far, than the Slate and appears, from a cursory review, to have paperless meeting capabilities.  We'll be digging deeper on this one too.

Lastly, there's been an explosion of generic tablets with Android platforms.  They're so inexpensive, usually below $200, that it could be a safe call as long as it does the basics--store documents and display them for reading.  The "could" part has me hesitant.  I, as of yet, have not found one that didn't have mixed reviews.  Wanting to be seen as tech-savvy but having a cheap solution may give our customers a mixed review on us too.

So, the jury's still out.  Our aim?  A truly paperless Board meeting in February and a paperless DC fly-in that same month too.  Stay tuned.

Solar Panels Are Coming, Solar Panels Are Coming

There's much excitement in economic development and eco-friendly circles with the announcement that a new $250 million solar array will be built on reclaimed strip mined ground in Southeast Ohio.  It really is fantastic news. 

The construction project will generate jobs and the impact of $250 million in spending will have an impact on Ohio's economy.

The size of the project will help to better establish Ohio, despite our lack of sunny days compared to desert locations, as a place where there is a market for selling solar modules.

The best part will be Ohio's ability to capitalize on this investment to feed its robust supplier chain.

The excitement will be greater if the solar panels installed are ones made in Ohio.  Manufacturing careers are better than panel-installing man hours.  On that, everyone must agree.  Solar modules can be sole-sourced from Ohio manufacturers.

The excitement will be greater if they are PV panels made while consuming silicon crucibles manufactured in Hebron, Ohio by Momentive Performance.  In the value chain of the solar industry, these highly-engineered, precisely-manufactured, high-value items are at the top.  This is an Ohio plant that, in part aided by the international surge in solar modules' sales, is booming.

The excitement will be greater if the solar trackers, the systems that help align increase the sun's power by tilting the panels into the maximum output angles, were engineered and made in Ohio.  THK in the Newark Ohio Industrial Park has a role in the manufacturer of solar trackers.

The excitement will be greater if the services to these equipment yield continuing Ohio business.  Those solar trackers need to be calibrated using metrology services and an azimuth reference.  That's something that can be done by Bionetics in Heath, Ohio.

Get my point?    The real impact of this solar panel news is when, and if, Ohio's supplier chain gets to feed it.

Godspeed on the solar panels.  Godspeed on the supplier network being in Ohio too.

Ready to Be Green

Validation.

Of all the myriad of things I've picked up this week at the International Economic Development Conference and caused to think more about, it's one of the things that I've already been thinking about that stand out.

I knew bike paths in Licking County where a healthy community thing.

I've known the 44 miles of bike paths were good for recreation and families.

I've known, from personal experience, that our network of bike paths is a real stand-out capability to have in a community our size.  The site location decision makers have told me the paths are a good thing for economic development as it is one of those rare amenities that makes us attractive to keeping talent and being acceptable place to locate for in-transferees.

But I never thought about this one fact until today.

It's already happening.  With more and more corporations adopting sustainability and green standards for their operations, communities that can provide and environmentally-friendly amenities that also add "points" in green building certifications are going to win out more than their counterparts that don't.  That's as true for existing companies which answer to a corporate HQ elsewhere as to that yet-to-find-us company whose investment we hope to attract in the future.

Licking County is ahead of the game with our bike paths being not only good for community health, recreation, and development but also being an amenity that is ready to be green for a greening corporate world.

--------------------------

Take action:  I'm asking my fellow Licking Countians to vote in favor of Issue 7.  This countywide ballot issue provides a permanent source of funding for the Licking Park District.  Without that funding, which is a mere $6 (not a misprint) per YEAR for a typical household, parks will have to close and the bike paths could suffer.

If Sohio Was In Charge. . .

. . .would the current Gulf situation be different?

Probably not.

The reactions from Ohioans might have been different though.

Ohioans no longer feel a connection to this once-Ohio-based company.  It started with the removal of the Sohio name from the company's headquarters and then the retail gas stations in the late 1980's.

The Ohio connection has completely dried up in the 11 years since the HQ moved from downtown Cleveland to suburban Chicago in 1999.

Into the Snakehead

There's an area on Port Authority property we call the "Snakehead."  I'll be joining some wetlands experts from Dawes Arboretum and Dave Handley, environmental guru of our staff, for a walk through it today.

I believe the name is attributable to the shape of the wooded area and how it appears on an aerial photo.  I hope I don't find the name has a double meaning.  I really don't like snakes at all.

The Port Authority, as part of a wetlands mitigation plan, has attempted to help Mother Nature expand wetlands in this permanent open space area on our industrial campus.  Admittedly, I've signed a lot of purchase requisitions for work in that area, but I have never taken a deep dive look myself.

So, into the Snakehead we go!

---------------------------

Update:  A Facebook album has been uploaded with photos with yours truly behind the camera for the trip into the Snakehead.

Going Green is a Generational Thing

From my viewpoint, being an environmentalist is often more a generational thing. One generation’s self-labeled environmentally-conscious consumer would be an average consumer at best in a past generation.

My family is an example of that.

I, by nature, avoid short driving trips to just go get one item. My daughter, though, will drive miles to get a single box of some brand item.

I drink my water from a tap. She prefers water in a plastic bottle that consumes petroleum to make and transport and then it gets landfilled.

I simply cannot leave a room without turning off the lights behind me. Natasha has some electronic devices in her room that are never turned off.

I know what refillable milk and pop bottles were. She doesn’t.

Best of all, she used to drive to high school every day and our house is visible from the school entrance.  I carpooled and parked further away from my school's entrance than our house is from hers.
 
Nonetheless, she’s an environmentalist, and I’m not. Hmmmm.