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.

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.

Celebrating a STEM Skills Workforce

 

“The facility’s most important element is people.”  These were the words of Air Force General Mark Bradley inaugurating the then-new Newark Air Force Base in 1962. 

Nearly sixty years later, Bradley’s words are truer than ever.

Twenty-five years ago, when Boeing, the Air Force, and Bionetics - DESG joined with the Port Authority in embarking on a new approach for which there was no roadmap, it was clear the STEM-skilled workforce would continue to be the most important element.

We know, and it should not be forgotten, that of all the reasons that were behind why the work of a closed Newark AFB couldn’t just march off to some other distant place, the most critical of those reasons was workforce.  Wise people like the Port Authority’s Wally Horton and base commander Colonel Joe Renaud then asked, “Would the skills to maintain one-of-a-kind equipment move with the equipment?”  Many rightly pondered, “Could the knowledge from thirty years of remanufacturing precision instruments be replaced elsewhere?”

We’ve never had to answer those hard questions because of a partnership that we celebrate today.

This is a place critical to our local economy but also critical to the national defense.  Availability of STEM skills has made the Central Ohio Aerospace & Technology Center (the renamed Newark AFB) able to continue to achieve unmatched precision and accuracy--the equivalent of a pencil point on a football field levels of accuracy. 

Key to maintaining the important work here was maintaining the important workforce skills here.

Fearing the local consequences of a national statistic that once indicated 80% of parents discouraged their kids from science and technology careers, the Port Authority has made STEM learning a major focal point of our development efforts.  Partnered with The Works and many others in the community, the Port Authority and our customers have made it our collective jobs to provide a dash of local relevance to the recipe for science, technology, engineering, and math skills to be a Licking County emphasis.

Today’s commemorative event isn’t just about looking back.  It’s about paying forward with attention to the future.

Strategically, the Port Authority is doubling down on STEM learning in Licking County.  The Port Authority’s Board has promised $1 million dollars over the next 20 years to a new STEM Scholarship.  The Aerospace Center workforce and Licking County students at COTC and OSU-Newark will be the beneficiaries of a scholarship being funded today.

STEM learning efforts with The Works started more than a dozen years ago.  There are people in the workforce today able to seize job opportunities in STEM careers as a result of those seeds planted long ago.  These national model efforts will continue with vigor.  It’s ingrained in Licking County—STEM skills matter.

An aim to broaden the reach is also being sparked.  In partnership with the YMCA’s All-for-One camp, the Port Authority aims to bring STEM learning to more members of our community.  Integrated summer camps which include special needs children being exposed to the uplifting promise of STEM skills needs to be part of a brighter future for our community.

Let’s all celebrate our STEM skills workforce.  The occasion of 25 years since October 1, 1996 when uncertainty and doubts about the future ruled the day has been replaced with much better sensations--ones of stability and growth. 

STEM learning and a STEM-skilled workforce are behind those sensations and will remain well into our future.

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This development column is a regular column in The Advocate.

Count Me Grateful to Our Licking County Manufacturers

We can be proud.  Licking County is at the heart of an Ohio manufacturing comeback story.

Licking County manufacturers stayed open and safe throughout the pandemic, supplying the World with much-needed goods and services.

The stories are tremendous.  Plant-based seafood from Gathered Foods and organic baby formula from Nature’s One started production on the Port Authority campus in 2020.  The pandemic could not keep these shelf-stable, protein-rich products from making their way to consumers.

Military guidance systems from Boeing, soy crisps from GB Food, gas compressor components from Ariel, and steel strapping from Samuel Packaging kept the pace too.   Kaiser Aluminum, Bionetics, and MISTRAS Group were part of the diverse industry mix that kept churning out needed products and services.

The Port Authority’s industrial campus in Heath has proven to be Ohio’s shining example of the sort of economic engine that kept our economy churning despite the pandemic’s many challenges.  

The story is an uncommonly good one.  In 2020, the campus’ 20 employers added 194 jobs, a 13% increase.  Seven experienced double-digit increases in employment.

Collectively, the payroll grew to $127 million with average annual earnings over $77,000.  An estimated $2.8 million in local tax revenue fed a stronger tax base.  Our local governments took less a financial hit compared to their statewide peers as a result.

We all have a role in industrial development.  Thus, I’m pondering what actions our community can take to keep this success story successful going forward.  Here’s my top three:

Ramp up pre-employment training.  The pandemic proved that critical industry jobs make for good careers.  Manufacturing has long proven to be the highest paying in Ohio.  There will be more job opportunities.  Despite a robust 2020, 60% of the companies on the Port Authority campus report expecting employment to go up in 2021. 

A growing pool of job seekers is critical to future growth.  In 2020, C-TEC EDGE gave over 100 people a chance to gain a manufacturing certification.  It is good news that C-TEC is setting an example for all of Ohio, continuing this model effort with another class this Summer.

Encourage critical industry competitiveness.  Capital investment in the past has been part of making this sustained growth possible now and into the future.  You incentivize what you want.  Strategically, we need to encourage more investment by critical industries, like manufacturing. 

The Port Authority signed a long-term lease extension with Boeing that represents a capital investment commitment over $25 million.  It could grow four-fold.  The extension sends a strong message back of greater economic stability for the workforce and our community.

Invest in growth-producing infrastructure. The manufacturing sector benefits from roadway investments which improve access.  It’s significant, also, when personnel commutes are made safer and shorter.

The Thornwood Crossing bridge project is an example.  The bridge project is critical and rightly being advanced by Newark.  Sitting where it does at the northern end of the largest manufacturing corridor in Central Ohio, it’s not only a bridge that needs fixed but one that can serve as a bridge to growth too. 

As we emerge from this worldwide pandemic, Ohio can emerge stronger thanks to manufacturing.  Licking County is proof.  Count me grateful to our manufacturers.  Let us keep this comeback story going!

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This development column is a monthly column in The Advocate. 

Telling Our Plant-Based Food Story

 I'm just going to put this right here.

Our customers tell the Port Authority's plant-based food story better than we can.

Here's the story link and here's the story below:

A Voinovich Lesson

Speaking with a gathering of young professionals recently, I quoted from a book written by the late George Voinovich, former Ohio U.S. Senator and Governor, with an eye on lessons.

I had three reasons to quote George Voinovich.  For one, he truly was a guru on public-private partnerships and the book hits home with real life lessons from his native Cleveland.  He also had an affinity for the Aerospace Center as it was an Air Force Base that closed during his gubernatorial term.  Thirdly, I worked for him for the better part of seven years and learned a lot of personal lessons from him.

I copied two conclusion pages below.  For the young professional audience, the message was to strengthen your bench.  He wrote, "Pass your hard-learned lessons on to the next generations."

The Voinovich lesson gave the reason, succinctly, that I was telling this group about the Port Authority public-private partnership story from a historical- and future-looking point of view.

Thanks, Governor.

Ohio-Native Plantings Approach a Smart, Eco-Friendly Move

Ohio-native plantings like this stand out for sure

The entrance on the east side of the Aerospace Center was landscaped with only Ohio-native plantings. It's a policy of the Port Authority, and has been for years now, to require all new plantings we maintain on our campus to be exclusively Ohio-native.

That means, only plantings that are native to the Ohio climate zones are able to be planted.

The experts at Dawes Arboretum predicted that the native plants would be a hardier plant and that the maintenance would be lower.  They were right.

The Ohio Native Meadow in 2016

We planted a whole acre under Ohio-native meadow grasses and wildflowers.  We have to mow it once a year and that's an area that used to get moved every week for up to nine months a year before.

We have two landscaping areas that proudly wear the Dawes' Ohio Sustainable Landscape label.

Our Port Authority prides itself on being a government innovator.  We like to set an example for not only our fellow governments, but the private sector too.

Doing things that are both eco-friendly and economic friendly is an easy, smart move.

360 Degree Inspiration

It was standing room only yesterday for James Carson's demonstration of the 3D printer installed in the Port Authority's just-unveiled 3D Printer Lab.  James Carson is inspired by engineers.

James Carson is a high school student who has had two years at C-TEC, our local technology vocational school, to learn design and printing on 3D printers.  He's inspired by IC3D's 3D printers.  The things he's designed and printed are amazing.  What he's gotten the IC3D printer to do are astounding.

Engineers from our customers at Boeing, UTC Aerospace Systems, and Bionetics have key card access to use the machine themselves.  They are future consumers of 3D printing and users of 3D printers and they are being inspired by James Carson.

Then, we tweet the story on Twitter and get a response from Michael Cao, the engineer who made the 3D Printer.

Seems there's a whole lot of inspiration going around, and around.

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P.S.  Any company wanting to leap frog into 3D printing take note.  James Carson will graduate this school year.

The Future. . .in 3D

I never have the same day twice.  That's the nature of my job.  And I love it that way. 

Yesterday stands out as more proof of that than most. It was, unofficially, 3D Printer Day in Licking County.

Michael Cao, owner and inventor, IC3D, visited to rev up our STEM Advisory Committee for The Works, kick off the new 3D Printing Partnership, and show Newark Rotarians how 3D printers work.

The members of our STEM committee at The Works are, in and of themselves, pretty impressive people who have stand-out success stories in the STEM arena.  Michael Cao added a big plus telling his story and his company's goal of getting desktop 3D printers into the education arena in a bigger way.  The future, in 3D, is solid here.

School got called off for some kids and they wandered down to The Works only to find a presser underway to demonstrate one of the 3D printers that will be a permanent installation in the Invent Lab there.  The Newark Advocate would later give it front page coverage and WNKO radio had a clip on the radio.  The 3D demand is building for the future here.

The Rotary logo printed out while 120+ Rotarians listened to Cao.  In the 98-year history of Newark Rotary, it's safe to say there's never been a 3D printer doing that.  Future in 3D for sure here.

No day like yesterday.  That's for sure.

But the Thaw Could Be Worse

This view from one of our Port Authority security cameras captures the sense of cold that is being felt across much of the country today.

This morning had a flurry.  Two calls were in about heating systems failures, the gate systems' key pads were frozen, the wireless network failed, and a sprinkler line burst in the entrance way to our largest tenants' building.  The last one spilled into the street and froze too.

It's what we didn't get calls on that we still have to watch.  We are up from the -7.6 F temperatures to a whopping -1.8 F and could be above freezing this Thursday.  That's when we worry again.

The thaw could be worse.

3D Printers Coming to Licking County

Today, I got to meet the inventor and entrepreneur behind IC3D, a Central Ohio manufacturer of 3D printers and filament for 3D printers.  Michael Cao, CEO/Founder, has a great story to go with his cutting edge technology too.

A Columbus Dispatch article late Summer sparked an idea how Licking County can more boldly go into the 3D printing world as a way to inspire the next generation of people who make things.

The Port Authority is pairing up a trio of 3D printers with partners with the goal of sparking a greater interest in STEM-focused manufacturing careers.  C-TEC is our place to train the next generation and add in the technical skills.  Our science museum, The Works, provides the venue to reach families and local industry.  A 3D printer made in Ohio by a Central Ohio inventor provides the inspiration.

Turns out, Cao has the same goals.  Look for him to visit Licking County soon to meet with more industry, community leaders, and students.  Inspiring.

Willkommen in der Mitte

I'm practicing my German. 

Willkommen in der Mitte is translated to "Welcome to the Center" and that's what 50+ leaders in Licking County will be doing tomorrow on our Port Authority's Aerospace Center campus to welcome xperion, an Avanco Group company.

Avanco is a Herford, Germany company making its first investment in a production facility in the U.S.  Their new building is well underway and should be ready for occupancy in early 2014.

Willkommen in der Mitte.

Confessions Of a Guy With a Messy Desk

This is my desk.  Yes, it's messy.

I've always blamed it on heredity.  Messy desks are in my DNA.

Now, a piece entitled "Why You Should Have a Messy Desk" puts us messy desk folks in good company with creative, risk-taker types--Steve Jobs and Albert Einstein to name a couple. 

I confess, now, to a messy desk.  Just don't touch anything, and I know where everything is.

Tooting Our Own Horn a Bit

The story is out on our official word that Boeing has extended its commitment to the Aerospace Center  and the community with a lease extension through 2021 and an option through 2028. 

The most extraordinary thing?  There's now no early termination clause in the lease.

This is the longest lease and the first time in 17 years there was no early termination right in the lease.

Triplet Spec Buildings Along 79|Seventy

The prototype for Southgate Corporation's two spec buildings.

Three in three years.

That's how many spec buildings have been built along the 79|Seventy Corridor in Central Licking County since 2011.  All three are within two miles of each other in Central Ohio's largest manufacturing corridor.

Southgate Corporation announced that they will be building a new 50,000 sq. ft. industrial building, on speculation, at the corner of James Parkway and Kaiser Drive in Heath.  That's on the Port Authority's Aerospace Center campus and proves the Port Authority's role as a "land bank" is paying community dividends.

Southgate started a building in 2012 that stands in Hebron off of Integrity Drive too.  Southgate's move brought the first industrial spec building of a significant size in more than a decade.  The Class A building is sure to attract a manufacturer soon.

The Horton Building started as a spec office and clean room building.

 The Port Authority built the Horton Building that opened in 2011.  Design began as a speculative building.  Though UTC Aerospace Systems gobbled up the first floor office space before construction began, 17,000 sq ft of office shell space and 10,000 sq ft of a clean room addition remain available.

Second floor office space is available for build-to-suit

A Class 10,000 clean room stands ready

At a time when regional officials are trying to encouraging speculative building in the Central Ohio market, it's great to be sitting in the midst of a corridor where spec buildings aren't hard to find for those companies wanting ready-to-occupy space.



Green Doesn't Have to Mean Red

Doing something that's ecologically-friendly doesn't have to cost more than it's worth.

The Port Authority's Ohio Native Meadow is one outstanding example. Inspired by Dawes Arboretum and a setting at The Wilds, we converted a one acre section of lawn north of one of our industrial buildings to a meadow in 2012.

The seed cost some money and the time to till and plant it was an expense.

We don't have to mow it, though, and nature provides the setting that construction didn't have to provide.   In time, these will pay off and our green investment will be in the black.

I typed this blog while sitting among the Ohio-native plantings that, just a short 18 months into the experiment, have already brought wildlife with them.

Sharing Photos From The Base

Updates to our stock of photos on the Aerospace Center campus give a glance at the buildings of our largest customers.

 

 

 

Cookout with the Customer

Nothing like a cookout to show your customers appreciation.  The Port Authority hosted a record crowd among our customers' personnel today.  There were happy faces despite Defense sequestration.

D.C. Day By The Numbers

Eight hours in to our day when this photo was taken, we still hadn't seen a soul from Capitol Hill.

Yet, by the time we were headed back, we had seen all 16 Ohio Congressional District offices, the White House, and both Ohio Senator's offices. Three members of Congress--Pat Tiberi, Steve Stivers, and Bill Johnson--personally took the time to listen and engage in a productive dialog with our contingent.

And what a contingent it was!

40 community leaders from among elected officials and business people joined in a chorus of support for the Aerospace Center. Combined those leaders committed over 900 man hours to telling our story.

Impressive numbers. Impressive day.

My Blog Christmas Wish List

My Top 5 Christmas wish list for my blog is here.

#5. A few more readers.  I'm not monetizing this blog, I'm merely channeling my innate desire to write.  Who doesn't want more people to read it though?

#4. One viral post.  Though I have a couple entries that have surpassed the four-figure mark in readership over time, I'm still not seeing any true "viral" post.  Just one would be ok.

#3. My Rust Belt message heard.  My personal favorite among the high-traffic blogs I've written is my Rust Belt Thesaurus Entry post.  I wouldn't mind if #4 and #3 combined. 

#2. More manufacturing inspiration.  The topic of manufacturing is worthy of daily attention.  I'm sensitive to too often writing about the same thing though so I wish for inspiration to write about manufacturing in several hundred different ways a year.

#1. Balance.  I can't write about manufacturing every day so I hope for a balance.  This is a column about perspective on family, community, and work after all.  My personal metric is to look at the keywords cloud list in the right-hand column.  If it gives Licking County (my community), the Port Authority (my work), family (my inspiration), and my favorite topics--manufacturing and economic development--bigger sizes than some of the other keywords, then I'm achieving balance.

Merry Christmas!