Three Thoughts: Ohio Ranks, Again

 

Site selectors used to get asked, “Why is Ohio on our list?”  Now, if they leave Ohio locations off from the list of potential sites for their business clients, they’re asked “Why isn’t Ohio on our list?” 

Site selectors are the consultants behind corporate decision making.  These are the folks involved in every “mega” project finding their location.  By many estimates, 60% of large job-creating deals flow through site selectors. 

In July, CNBC named Ohio the number one state in its “America’s Top States for Business” annual list for 2026.  The news that Ohio tops the list is still reverberating weeks later. 

The site selector listing change tends to parallel the CNBC ranking changes. 

Ohio ranks top because of the state’s leadership, manufacturing edge, and natural location advantages. 

First Thought: Manufacturing edge matters

“Manufacturing is not simply part of Ohio’s success story. It is the reason Ohio leads.”  The Ohio Manufacturers’ Association leadership’s assertion on the CNBC ranking is true. 

Ohio’s economic success is owed to the manufacturing sector.  Among the top three manufacturing employment states, Ohio is number one in per capita manufacturing.  The edge in manufacturing is evident in Ohio too. 

Few were predicting that Ohio would reach $1 trillion GDP as fast as it did just as fewer were predicting Ohio would leapfrog to the CNBC top rank this year.  Manufacturing is indeed the reason behind the economic side of the gains. 

Another Thought: Location advantages matter

CNBC cited Ohio’s infrastructure as a top reason for the top spot ranking. 

Ohio has long had natural advantages in infrastructure.  Historically, Ohio has been an industrial development leader because of cost of doing business, abundant energy, transportation access, natural resources, and human capital.  

Market access matters.  Logistically, Columbus is tops for reaching 60% of U.S. and 50% of Canadian markets. 

The CNBC ranking confirms that Ohio is leading the way in putting these Ohio-specific attributes to work again in growing our state’s economy. 

Third Thought: Leadership matters at all levels

Who’s at the helm matters. The get-things-done leadership of Ohio Governor Mike DeWine has made a difference.  We’ve all been witness to his hands-on approach to winning capital investment especially when it plants the seeds for future jobs. 

The business climate focus of the Ohio General Assembly is leadership that matters.  Taming taxes and focusing on regulations that aid electricity customers have been critical. 

The JobsOhio model is the envy of other states for its business-minded approach.  JobsOhio tilts the scale for Ohio’s success with marketing prowess that communicates our state’s advantages coupled with smart incentives.  That’s leadership that CNBC noticed. 

Local leadership matters too.  Local industrial development shines where it has been ready to receive the manufacturing surge, taking advantage of expansions of existing industry and new locations. 

No top ranking occurs without competitive local real estate--ready-to-go buildings and sites.  No improved ranking occurs without local infrastructure readiness or local workforce development capabilities. 

Now, every business looking for a place to invest and bring jobs has to take notice—Ohio ranks, again.

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This column is a regular column in The Columbus Dispatch.

Three Thoughts: Innovation Knows No Population Density

“Rick’s been rescued from cornfields and cow pastures” is how an email exchange presented the idea that hard-to-find cleanroom space was available for lease from our Port Authority in central Licking County. 

The author meant well.  The email recipient wouldn’t have believed it, perhaps, without the rural reference.  The author, frankly, didn’t believe it either. 

Thirty five miles from Ohio’s largest city sits the largest concentration of cleanroom space in the state.  It may defy some folk’s conventional wisdom, but it’s been true for going on 65 years. 

That email recipient converted use of the cleanroom space into a technology startup. 

Today, in that same cleanroom space, a life sciences company is aiming to commercialize taking brain tissue generated from an individual’s skin cells into a predictor of future ailments.  Even more, the predictions can be coupled with early cures. It’s personalized, predictive medicine. 

Yes, that’s happening in a lab in Heath, population 10,000.

Innovation knows no population density. 

First Thought: Urban vs. Rural Isn’t New.

This urban versus rural thing is not a new notion.  David McCullough’s book The Wright Brothers evidences the idea that innovation and technological capabilities can come from unlikely places.  New York media ignored Orville and Wilbur’s achievements out of disbelief that bicycle mechanics from a small town in Ohio could achieve the world’s first powered flight. 

Yet, the $1 trillion annual aerospace and aviation industry in the U.S. was born in Dayton, Ohio. 

The brain tissue researcher in our Port Authority’s cleanroom in Heath often tells the Wright brothers’ story when he speaks to fellow innovators in Boston or Dubai.  After all, he does have to explain the surprising place from where his research originates. 

Another Thought: Don’t Discount Rural Areas.

It’s an easy trap to discount the potential for innovation based on how few people live in a place. 

I’ve been to Bi-Con in Derwent, Ohio and contend the highest concentration of innovation per capita is there.  At night, Derwent is home to a population of less than 100.  During the day, Derwent swells in working population thanks to the company which makes control panels and automation for the natural gas industry. Major, life-safety problem solving is owed to this place. 

The Derwent tale is a lesson for suburban dwellers too.  

Third Thought: Celebrate Innovation Wherever It Began.

Ohio is so frequently discounted as “fly over country” or “Rust Belt.”  Those pejoratives are owed to the population density myth too.  Yet, Ohio has many reasons to celebrate innovation. 

Fiberglass, invented in Newark, Ohio, is in everything today from car bodies to data lines.  Kent, Ohio is the origin of liquid crystal displays, the guts to screens for our phones and computers. 

The U.S. Capitol holds a statue of Thomas Edison.  He’s the face of innovation and Ohio, rightly, celebrates his many achievements.  He was born in Milan, Ohio. 

It’s a fallacy to conceive that one location can possess superiority, economically, based solely on population density.  The best measure of innovation comes from what a place produces, not how many people it packs in.

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This column is a regular column in The Columbus Dispatch.

Three Thoughts: It’s Personal, That’s Why the Business of Ohio Manufacturing Matters

 

There’s a takeaway quote from The Godfather, “It’s business, not personal.”  The reality is that the takeaway about how we all look at and value business is that its personal after all.  One needs to see the personal side, in order to have buy in to the business side. 

In Ohio, manufacturing business is personal. 

The Ohio Manufacturers’ Association’s Manufacturing Counts report helps make the case.  You don’t have to be a nerd on economic facts to mine the report and find the personal side of Ohio’s business economy. 

First Thought: Gross Domestic Product Measures Impact.

Ohio’s Gross Domestic Product, the best measure of the economy, likely surpassed $1 trillion in the first part of this year.  That’s a milestone worth celebrating.  

In fact, only 21 countries exceed our state’s GDP.  Ohio’s economy, as a single state, is bigger than the economy of the entire countries of Ireland, Taiwan, and Sweden. 

That GDP level is owed to manufacturing more than any other sector of our economy.  

Fully 15% of Ohio’s economy is from manufacturing.  If you factor in related transportation, back office, real estate, and research and development (manufacturing is the biggest part of R&D), the real number could be over 30%. 

The breadth of manufacturing’s impact on Ohio’s economy makes it personal. 

Another Thought: Small Business is Manufacturing Too.

While the big stuff like GDP is data worth noticing, it’s also worth noticing the small stuff. 

The Ohio Manufacturers’ Association reports that more than 60% of manufacturers in Ohio employ less than 20 people.  There are over 780 manufacturing establishments in Franklin County alone.  The average employment is under 50. 

Mid-sized manufacturers employ the most.  40% of the state’s manufacturing employment was with companies in the 100-499 employee range.  

It might be even more surprising to some that less than 1.5% of Ohio manufacturers have over 500 employees.  

It’s hard to ignore the personal side of business when the impact of small and mid-sized businesses are taken into account.

Third Thought: Jobs. Jobs. Jobs.

Manufacturers in Ohio are economic engines most of all for how many they employ.  They also enjoy Ohio’s biggest paychecks. 

Ohio ranks third among the states for the most manufacturing jobs.  Only Texas and California surpass Ohio.  

One in every seven jobs in Ohio is a manufacturing job.  

It varies around the state, though.  In Shelby County, nearly one of every two jobs is held in manufacturing.  Look to your left.  Look to your right.  One of the people is employed in manufacturing.  That’s personal indeed. 

Paychecks hit the bottom line too.  Manufacturing wages were $50 billion in the last report, more than any other sector of Ohio’s economy.  That’s not a new trend either. 

The average annual pay in manufacturing hovers around $80,000 a year.  The average paycheck for chemicals and petroleum employees exceeds $100,000 annually. 

The bottom line? It’s personal. It’s our neighbors who work in manufacturing.  That’s the impact that matters most of all in Ohio.

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This column is a regular column in The Columbus Dispatch.