|
To compete in the next century, companies need links to world markets, entry to knowledge channels, access to a world-class work force and webs of suppliers and services. In short, they need a good network.
And that's what Northeast Ohio is building. In recent months this big-thinking region has put in place a unique amalgam of transportation linkages and positioned itself as a location of choice for global business. |
|
That approach recognizes that the winners in the next century will be those regions that bundle human, capital and locational advantages into economically competitive units. Shunting territorial parochialism, political boundaries and narrow thinking, Northeast Ohio is emerging as regionalism at its best.
This region encompasses 22 counties and four metropolitan areas, spaced between scores of small towns and rural settings. In this urban-rural mix, there are lifestyles to please any taste. It is a region where the rhythms of rock and roll mix amiably with classics from the nation's finest symphony orchestras and the twangy sounds of country/western. Embracing parts of Ohio and Pennsylvania, the region encompasses 6.9 million people, making it the fourth largest agglomeration of population in the nation. Within are two million workers, where bankers' buttoned-down shirts mingle with blue-collar workers of a mighty manufacturing force. |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
Northeast Ohio is a robust blend of 7,000 manufacturing facilities, corporate headquarters and influential service industries. Based on its title as capital of the tire industry for nearly a century, Northeast Ohio was perhaps best known as the place where the rubber meets the road. Today, it's better known as "Polymer Valley," because ideas for new plastic products spark from the research centers of the nation's tire makers. Ohio leads the nation in production of plastics and in polymer research. Today over 400 polymer and plastics companies employ over 30,000 people in the region. Three of the nation's best known polymer research centers --- the University of Akron, Case Western Reserve and Kent State University -- support those operations. |
A long history in metal-working complements the region's automotive and aerospace industries. Over 4,000 metal-working companies in the region funnel specialty steel, precision machine parts, molds, tool and die, equipment services and supplies into industry's maw.
|
We are not speaking small influence here. Ohio is the 16th largest economy in the world, and Northeast Ohio contributes 50 percent of the state's economic base.
Northeast Ohio occupies 30 percent of the state's geography, but it houses about 40 percent of the state's consuming public and labor force, nearly half of its manufacturing operations and 42 percent of its service industries. |
|
This is one of the most diversified markets in the nation, a fact that contributes to the region's economic stability. An historically productive durable goods center, Northeast Ohio is home to 75 percent of the U.S. industrial sectors. Today, there are new ties to aerospace, medical technology, polymers, specialty chemicals and measuring and controlling instruments.
|
The region is a substantial player in the auto industry as well. GM assembles Chevrolet Cavaliers and Pontiac Sunbirds at Lordstown. GM's Delphi Division is a major influence in Northeast Ohio's Trumbull County, from which the fast-growing company directs worldwide operations.
The Cleveland area is Ford territory, where the company has major assembly operations in Lorain and Avon Lake. Ford's biggest casting plant is in Cleveland. Tier 1 suppliers like Eaton, TRW and TRINOVA complement the automaker's presence in the region. |
|
Favored by foreign firms, Northeast Ohio rolled out the red carpet for 40 percent of Ohio's 500 international companies, including those from Germany, Canada and Japan.
|
Service sectors, such as banking, law, accounting, insurance, data processing and consulting, are expanding, led by such high performers as National City Corp., Progressive Insurance, Key Corp. and BancOne Corp. Northeast Ohio is the regional headquarters for one of the nation's 12 U.S. Federal Reserve Banks.
While 14 Fortune 500 companies headquarter in the region, it is the medium or small-sized companies that generate much of the growth. In fact, 43 percent of Ohio companies in Inc. Magazine's 1996 listing of America's 500 fastest growing private companies are located in Northeast Ohio. |
|
In Site Selection's annual tally of new plants and expansions, Ohio is a state of superlatives, ranking first in total number of new facilities and new manufacturing facilities for 1993-96. Northeast Ohio contributed an outsized share of the total. The metropolitan areas of Cleveland/Lorain, Akron, Canton and Youngstown/Warren, when taken as a business unit, make Northeast Ohio the No. 1 region in the state for new plant investment.
|
A primary reason for that achievement is access to markets. This region of Ohio is a center of market for corporations seeking to shave costs from a location that can serve both the East Coast and Midwest.
|
Northeast Ohio's strongest suits are transportation, labor availability and industry competency. Let's take each in turn.
|
The history of Northeast Ohio is a history of transportation. In the 1800s, the canals transformed the region from frontier wilderness into a center of commerce and industry. In the next century, railroads displaced canals as the transportation arteries of industry. Now, as Northeast Ohio approaches the new millennium, it is once again at the forefront of the next revolution in transportation: intermodal shipping. The region is putting into place facilities that will minimize future distribution costs.
What is emerging is a seamless transportation system, offering time, cost and flexibility options to shippers. All modes are on the menu -- air, water, rail and road. Weaving the system together are six Northeast Ohio counties that formed the Northeast Ohio Trade and Economic Consortium (NEOTEC). This new cooperative body wastes no time exploring ways to attract international business. |
|
A first step is obtaining Foreign Trade Zone status. This allows the area's existing transportation hubs to provide tax breaks and tariff exemptions for products made or processed in the region -- an enticing invitation to international businesses.
|
|
|
|
To underscore the invitation, NEOTEC members are pursuing negotiations with machine tool makers in the southwest Saxony region of Germany. The idea is to establish reciprocal trade and technology exchange agreements in a region that shares many commonalties with Northeast Ohio. NEOTEC has already forged a sister city partnership with the Saxony town of Chemnitz, a machine tool and motor manufacturing center. Other strong relationships are sure to follow.
"This type of cooperation is vital if Northeast Ohio is to participate in the global marketplace," says NEOTEC director Dale Gibbons. "Transportation doesn't end at county borders," she says. The four building blocks of Northeast Ohio's intermodal system include a global air cargo center, a truck-to-train intermodal transfer facility, barge-truck intermodal projects on the Ohio River, commuter rail and Foreign Trade Zones at key locations in the region. |
Already in operation is the Neomodal facility in Stark County, south of Canton. The truck-to-train transfer facility is fast, computerized and growing in importance.
|
Designed to promote just-in-time operations, the 28-acre facility is open 24 hours a day, seven days week. A trucker barely has time for a cup of coffee before he's on his way.
Neomodal can serve double stack railcars, containers, standard tractor-trailer units and truck-trailers on flat cars. The cars are delivered to the Neomodal site by the Wheeling & Lake Erie Railroad, where they connect with Norfolk Southern, Conrail and CSX. |
|
|
Some 800 acres of land adjacent to Neomodal are being considered for development as an industrial park.
Just 30 minutes north of the intermodal facility, the Akron-Canton Regional Airport can jet executives to key business destinations throughout the U.S. The airport has a dedicated interchange off I-77, making it the most convenient airport in Northeast Ohio for passenger traffic. |
Cleveland-Hopkins Airport also provides access to international markets.
|
Meanwhile, Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport is speeding ahead with work to expand the airport into an international air cargo park. The region is well aware that in the 21st century just-in-time could mean delivery in one day or less to the global marketplace. |
Runway extensions will allow the airport to accept the largest cargo craft now in use or planned for the future. This will give manufacturers global just-in-time opportunities. The plan for the 1,235 acres of land in the airport area provides for enhanced road and rail access, a foreign trade zone and a 140-acre air cargo complex.
|
In the southern end of the region, the Columbiana County Port Authority is laying plans for a new rail-served industrial park on Conrail's main east-west line at East Liverpool's port, the largest Ohio River port and the northernmost barge shipping point on the river. A 1997 opening is planned for a barge-train-truck intermodal facility at Wellsville, just south of East Liverpool. The fourth block in the intermodal system is linkage of Canton, Akron and Cleveland by commuter rail, a project the state placed at the top of its rail transportation priority list. Northeast Ohio's Foreign Trade Zones (FTZs) are strategically spotted at key transportation facilities in the region. Providing significant savings for businesses serving global markets, the zones are one reason Ohio ranks first in the nation in number of exporting companies. |
|
At Akron-Canton Airport, a logistics and property management company, ASW Services, has put in place a business park and other facilities in the 143-acre FTZ. Norwe, a German manufacturer of coil formers for electrical equipment, snapped up one of the first sites.
|
The major benefit of locating in the zone is to reduce, defer or eliminate U.S. customs duties. But industries find they can also shave days from shipping by utilizing facilities in Northeast Ohio's FTZs. Shippers can bring a bonded container by rail or truck from an East Coast port to one of the NEOTEC sites, clear customs at the site and get back to the East Coast quicker than clearing customs in, say, New York.
The intermodal projects enhance an already attractive transportation picture. |
|
|
The interstate highway network includes I-80, the heavily traveled main east-west route across the country; I-76, the connection between Akron, Youngstown and Pittsburgh; and I-77, which runs from Cleveland to the manufacturing centers of the Carolinas. I-71 runs north and south from Cleveland to Cincinnati and on to the southern U.S.
The interstate quality State Route 11, the "Lake-to-River Highway," ties the Ohio River port of East Liverpool to the Lake Erie port of Ashtabula. At 90 miles, it is the shortest distance between the two waterways. Other key highways include State Route 62, the air/rail/truck intermodal route; and U.S. 30, the rail/truck route to the Ohio River ports. |
| When shippers require rail, they find three strong Class I railroads, each operating mainlines to link Northeast Ohio to key markets in the U.S. and Canada. In addition, the region has a good network of Class II (regional) and Class III (short haul) railroads. A number of industrial properties are rail-served, or have the potential for rail service. Costs of industrial sites in the region are significantly below those of competing locations, and many carry investment incentives. |
|
|
Northeast Ohio shippers can access low-cost barge channels and deep water ports. The Great Lakes ports of Cleveland, Fairport Harbor, Ashtabula and Conneaut connect the upper Midwest with the St. Lawrence Seaway and the North Atlantic Ocean. These ports, reaching to 70 countries, are closer to European markets than those on the East Coast, resulting in savings of time and money. The Port of Cleveland has the best heavy lift capacity on the Great Lakes.
Ohio logs an exceptional number of technological heroes, among them Thomas Edison, the Wright Brothers and B.F. Goodrich. Inventive Ohio minds have given the world light and flight, tires and on-line communications services. It should come as no surprise that Northeast Ohio provided its share of creative thinking to the state. Entrepreneurs and inventors from the region gave the world the first windshield wipers, traffic lights and, of course, the region's signature product, tubeless tires. When Dr. Benjamin Franklin Goodrich established his company in Akron in 1870, he set the stage for the region's emergence as both a major rubber and plastics center and an automobile production hub. The company transitioned from its tire and commodity chemical business to specialty chemicals, aircraft systems and services a decade ago. BFGoodrich directs its worldwide operations from a new corporate command center in Richfield, its aerospace headquarters in Akron and its specialty chemicals and R&D center in Brecksville. The company maintains key manufacturing facilities in Akron, Avon Lake and Cleveland.
If Dr. Goodrich were starting out today, he'd be impressed by the rich array of technological resources available to help entrepreneurs and established industries alike. Northeast Ohio today ranks among the top academic and industrial research regions in the world. Some 250 labs provide outstanding technical resources. Three of Ohio's nine Edison Industrial Centers are located in Northeast Ohio. The Edison Polymer Innovation Program (EPIC) stimulates private sector polymer development. The Cleveland Advanced Manufacturing Program (CAMP) is a resource for technology development, quality programs and training, and the Edison Biotechnology Center is working with business and universities to develop biotech applications.
The NASA Lewis Research Center is currently conducting space applications and technology programs, including development of the power and propulsion systems for America's Space Station. Kent State University, in Portage County, patented the liquid crystal technology now licensed all over the world for use in flat panel displays in such products as wrist watches, hand-held data scanners and lap-top computers.
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The University of Akron's Polymer Research Center is a world leader in that field. It is said that Ohio has the greatest concentration of rubber and plastics academics in the world, and most are centered where the action is -- Northeast Ohio. Named recently as the second ranking polymer science university in the nation by U.S. News & World Report, UA sends its graduates to polymer producers around the globe.
|
These universities readily share their enormous pools of knowledge with Ohio's polymer firms, as well as partner in commercialization of products. Industries from all over the world gravitate to Northeast Ohio to tap the region's knowledge network. For example, sVision selected the region for a new facility because of the resources at Kent State's Liquid Crystal Institute. "The talented human resources available to staff our facility was also a consideration," says Allan Davis. sVision will make image-display products based on the company's revolutionary Micro Liquid Crystal Display component technology. |
|
Hankook Tire of South Korea just built a new research facility in Summit County because the company needed a link to the region's world-class polymer research.
|
"Many of the suppliers, technology companies, universities and other tire industry partners have roots, offices or operations here," says Y.R. Cho, Hankook's chairman. "The ability to have close interaction with these organizations will enable us to cooperate with them more effectively." Hankook is the world's 10th largest tire manufacturer.
In a region that has hitched itself to a plastics star, it is no surprise that the polymer industry permeates Northeast Ohio's schooling system. There are plastics coloring books for preschoolers and plastics technology courses in four high schools. At the higher levels of education, the University of Akron has graduated more students in polymers than any other university in the country -- some 1,700 at the master's and Ph.D. levels. Northeast Ohio firms, like Gencorp, Goodyear and Advanced Elastomers, staff their R&D labs with UA graduates. |
|
|
"We have always felt this is the best location in the nation, with over half of the population within 500 miles."
Tom Murdough, president, Step2 Corp. |
An increasingly competitive global environment and more complex machinery prompted the creation of intensive industrial training programs in Northeast Ohio.
|
Among the wealth of institutions are some resources unique in the nation. One is the award-winning Akron Machining Institute, owned by the Akron Chapter of the National Tooling and Machining Assn. At the institute's well-equipped machining laboratory, students are skilled in entry-level machine building, mold-designing and mold-making for the machining and plastics industries. An affiliated facility offers machinist apprenticeship programs. |
Another unique resource is Stark State College of Technology in Canton, where an Applied Polymer Technology Program is run in partnership with industry, professional associations and other colleges and universities.
|
Kent State's School of Technology develops customized training programs for industry. One to benefit recently was Chrysler's Mopar Division in Portage County. Kent State brought the program to Chrysler's site. The university maintains multiple branches in Northeast Ohio to bring education and training within easy reach of residents and industry.
A superior training resource is the University of Akron's Polymer Training Center, where hands-on training and programs customized for industry feed workers into the plastics industry.
For knowledge networking, Northeast Ohio fields some of the nation's most prestigious groups. The Edison Polymer Innovation Corp., in Brecksville has emerged as a leading catalyst of market growth and competitive strength for the polymer industry. In its partnership with the University of Akron and Case Western Reserve University, and its expanding association with other polymer organizations, EPIC can draw from over 300 academic polymer scientists, engineers and researchers, as well as consulting firms and industry professionals. |
At the trade level, Northeast Ohio is home to several industry networks, including the Plastic Processors Assn., whose World Wide Web site is Polysort. And because of the region's concentration of manufacturing, it is a publishing hub for numerous trade magazines.
| Among Northeast Ohio's greatest resources is the work ethic of its labor force. One measure of productivity is the region's fourth place rank in the nation for least number of days lost on the job. |
|
Northeast Ohio's reputation for excellent work is one reason the region wins so many new facilities. That reputation was the deciding factor for a major Japanese firm to locate a new manufacturing plant, spare parts warehouse and customer service center in Columbiana County in 1995.
| Downtown Youngstown |
 |
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI), a 150-year-old conglomerate that, among many other products, pioneered the radial tire, makes hydraulic tire presses in the little town of Leetonia (pop. 2,122). MHI deliberated long in its decision. There was painstaking review of 20 sites, each measured against a matrix of 25 criteria.
|
Key factors in the decision were an eager work force and reasonably priced labor. Transportation costs for the heavy components were competitive, with good access to I-76.
A factor of long-term benefit to MHI is Columbiana County's Tech Prep program, modeled after vocational education systems in Germany and Japan. In addition, a new, two-year Kent State University branch educates students toward an associate degree in engineering. |
Quality labor played a significant role in another company's meteoric rise. Entrepreneur Tom Murdough, starting with nine employees in 1970, built his Little Tikes Co. into the world's largest rotational molder, eventually employing 1,500 workers in the region, producing children's playthings. Murdough later sold Little Tikes to Rubbermaid, another company headquartered in Ohio.
|
"We have the labor and work ethic we need in Northeast Ohio," says Murdough. "The commitment of our employees in Northeast Ohio is outstanding."
Northeast Ohio has few rivals in cultural fare. The region ranks fifth in the nation in number of major cultural resources per one million people. Launching Step2 Corp. in 1991, Murdough parlayed his experience in molded plastics into a $60 million-a-year business employing nearly 1,000 workers in three Northeast Ohio plants. It took just four years. A part of his entrepreneurial success story is employee commitment. |
| Travel & Leisure magazine cited Cleveland as one of the world's "10 hot spots" for travelers in 1997. The magazine named such attractions as the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum, the Great Lakes Science Center, the RTA Waterfront Line light-rail system and the Flats riverfront district, which the magazine called "the entertainment mecca of the Midwest." |
|
|
Lake Erie's Cinderella city has blossomed under a mammoth self-improvement program to spruce up its image and its tourist appeal.
|
For history buffs, Northeast Ohio is a treasure trove. The Ohio & Erie Canal National Heritage Corridor, a newly designated 87-mile federal historic corridor, runs from Cleveland through Akron and Canton to Zoar, providing miles of designated bikeways and historical canal visitors centers. State parks in the region cover more than 21,000 acres. Among these are Beaver Creek State Park, located in an isolated gorge in Columbiana County, and Mill Creek Park in Youngstown, considered one of the best urban parks in the nation. |
|
The Cleveland Orchestra is among the finest in the world, and the region supports two internationally acclaimed ballet companies. Blossom Music Center, an outdoor amphitheater, attracts top talent every summer and is the summer home for the Cleveland Orchestra.
|
|
|
Executives can take their pick of lifestyles in the region. Housing choice are both ample and affordable. Indeed, Northeast Ohio residents spend 30 to 50 percent less for housing than residents in other comparable metro areas. In fact, in a comparison of living costs among metro markets, Akron-Canton is significantly below the national average and comes in at less than half of New York City living costs. Northeast Ohio is one of the leading medical centers in the nation and is rapidly emerging as a center of excellence in biotechnology research. The Cleveland Clinic is world renowned for its advances in cardiology; Children's Hospital Medical Center in Akron is recognized as one of the best in the country; and University Hospitals of Cleveland is a nationally recognized center for cancer research and treatment. |
|
| Akron, the nation's polymer capital. |
 |
Quality living options are one more way Northeast Ohio bundles its assets. The web of advantages -- industrial strength, market links, knowledge networks and quality of life -- weave a solid spring board for business and industry growth. Taken as a whole, this is one region worthy of consideration for investment now and in the next millennium.
NEOTEC (Northeast Ohio Trade and Economic Consortium)
175 South Main Street, Suite 207
Akron, Ohio 44308
Telephone: 330-643-2549 or 1-800-793-0912
Fax: 330-643-2886
E-mail: neotec@neotec.org
URL: http://www.neotec.org
Executive Director: Ms. Dale Gibbons
 |
|
1-800-345-OHIO Ohio Department of Development Donald E. Jakeway, Director Telephone: 614-466-2480 or 1-800-848-1300 E-mail: djakeway@odod.ohio.gov URL: http://www.ohiobiz.com |
 |
| Fame is the name of the game in Northeast Ohio -- the region celebrates the best of bright ideas, the sport of pro football and the sounds of rock and roll in three outstanding attractions. "Brains" -- the National Inventors Hall of Fame, which is next to Inventure Place. |
|
|
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
