The No. 1 issue facing manufacturers in Ohio is the difficulty finding qualified skilled workers to meet the needs of the industry in the state, according to sources at the Manufacturing and Distribution Update held June 27 at The Pinnacle in Maumee by Gilmore, Jasion & Mahler Ltd. (GJM).

Staff members from GJM learned about the continuing need for skilled workers while meeting with about 20 manufacturers in Northwest Ohio this year, reported Charles Heid, lead tax partner for the Manufacturing Specialist Group at GJM.

“We continue to hear that wherever we go in Ohio,” said Ryan Augsburger, managing director of public policy services for the Ohio Manufacturers’ Association (OMA), who spoke to an audience of about 120 people at the update.

The continuing problem of finding qualified workers for manufacturers is the No. 1 issue facing that industry, according to Gary Thompson, vice president and director of JobsOhio for the Regional Growth Partnership (RGP).

From left, Ryan Augsburger of the Ohio Manufacturers’ Association, Charles Heid and Kevin Gilmore of Gilmore, Jasion & Mahler Ltd., and Gary Thompson of Regional Growth Partnership at the Manufacturing & Distribution Update. TOLEDO FREE PRESS PHOTO BY DUANE RAMSEY

Mike Mulholland, chief operating officer of the Freeman Co. in Fremont, said “it’s a continuing struggle” to find qualified skilled workers for the tool-and-die business with 58 employees. He said the company has faced a need for 10 to 15 new workers over the past two years.

Mulholland reported the firm is seeking skilled tool-and-die makers, as well as design, process and programming engineers for its modern, high-tech operation. Freeman focuses on thermal-form tooling for plastic containers used in the food industry.

He said they have found that students today are not encouraged to go into manufacturing if they have aptitude in engineering, math or science. Manufacturing is now a high-tech business that needs workers who are trained to meet their needs, according to Mulholland, who attended the update.

“Ohio is a manufacturing state that is among the top five in the U.S.,” said Augsburger. “Manufacturing was the leading source of new private investment in Ohio, which ranked first in the U.S. in new site selections.”

The $80 billion in manufactured goods in Ohio in 2010 ranked fifth nationally and was 17 percent of the state’s gross domestic product. The 600,000 manufacturing workers comprise 10 percent of Ohio’s workforce with $33 billion in payroll, according to the OMA.

Ohio ranks first in several manufacturing product categories and second or third in many more, Augsburger reported. The state is the ninth-largest exporting state with $46 billion in products shipped to 216 countries.

Augsburger said that manufacturing locates where the “all in costs” — including labor, energy, equipment, environmental, financing, research and development, technology and transportation — are the lowest.

“Ohio is the heart of manufacturing in the U.S.,” said Gary Thompson, vice president of the RGP and director of JobsOhio in this region, who spoke at the update.

JobsOhio is a private nonprofit corporation, formerly part of the Ohio Department of Development. There are six regions for JobsOhio in the state with the Northwest Ohio region representing 17 counties. RGP is the local partner for JobsOhio in this region that is working to bring new business and jobs into Northwest Ohio, said Thompson.

JobsOhio focuses on manufacturing because that industry drives the state’s economy as the largest sector, with 21.2 percent. The state now looks for a return on investment for any incentives offered to companies for locating here under the administration of Gov. Kasich.

Thompson said JobsOhio uses the acronym HITS for Hire, Investments, Training, and Site as its criteria for working with prospective new business. It uses figures of $660,000 in payroll with a minimum of 10 employees and potential to grow by 20 percent for companies to qualify for job creations tax credit in Ohio.

“Manufacturing is part of the impressive economic community in Ohio and it’s important to come and stay together as a community to raise awareness and solve problems,” Augsburger said.

Augsburger is responsible for leading the OMA’s lobbying efforts at the statehouse in addition to spearheading the association’s member involvement in public affairs activities. He previously served as chief of policy and legislative affairs for the Ohio Department of Commerce and as personal aide to former secretary of state Bob Taft.

The OMA represents 1,500 manufacturing members in the state.

GJM is one of the largest accounting firms in the Toledo area and works with a variety of businesses in the manufacturing, distribution, healthcare, construction, government and not-for-profit industries. Heid is an active member of the tax committee for the OMA.

Heid is seeking local CFOs to participate in a CFO round table in Northwest Ohio. Contact Heid at cheid@gjmltd.com.

Ohio forms manufacturing task force

The creation of the 21st Century Manufacturing Task Force in Ohio was announced this week by Speaker of the House William Batchelder (R-Medina).

The task force is designed to facilitate discussion between Ohio’s manufacturing community, public policy makers and any interested parties regarding the state of manufacturing and what can be done to improve its competitiveness in the state.

The speaker tasked the group with identifying resources to assist manufacturing, impediments that curtail it, future challenges to it, trends and specific ways to address those trends. It could also facilitate new manufacturing opportunities based on the unique characteristics of each section of the state and ways for it to partner with higher education research and development.

Rep. Kirk Shuring (R-Canton), a longtime and strong supporter of manufacturing in Ohio, was chosen to lead the task force that will consist of five Republicans and four Democrats.

The task force will conduct five hearings around the state and must report its recommendations to the speaker no later than Dec. 31. The task force is expected to hold one of the hearings in Northwest Ohio.

The Ohio Manufacturers’ Association is working with Chairman Shuring on programming for the task force. For more information, contact Ryan Augsburger of the OMA at raugsburger@ohiomfg.com

Tags: Duane Ramsey, Gary Thompson, JobsOhio, Kirk Shuring, manufacturing, Manufacturing and Distribution Update, Mike Mulholland, Ohio Manufacturers’ Association, Regional Growth Partnership, Ryan Augsburger, William Batchelder

This entry was posted on Thursday, June 28th, 2012 at 12:24 am and is filed under Community, Development, Employment, State of Ohio.
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In the past several weeks the stock market has given back almost all of its gains since the beginning of the year. What’s surprising about this correction is that the action in stocks is completed disconnected from the outlook for the U.S. economy. On the whole, the economy has continued to do extremely well, and the outlook remains bright.

Sooner or later the two (stock market action and economic outlook) must come into alignment. Granted, there is always the possibility that the market is predicting an economic slowdown to occur this year or at the start of 2013. However, that goes completely against all recent data.

At this point it seems much more likely that the majority of investors simply fail to see the economic recovery that has been going on. They also clearly discount the odds of this recovery continuing. As the investing public becomes aware that the economy has picked up – and that it is likely to continue – the market should rise to meet a more optimistic outlook.

The majority of the investors, not to mention media pundits, believe that the outlook for manufacturing and industry in this country remains relatively poor. As a result, these companies (and the companies producing their raw materials, i.e. commodities) should not do well. Investing in equities – particularly industrials and commodity-related stocks – over the past several weeks and months would naturally characterize an investor as contrarian.

So it should come as no surprise that we’ve been called just that.

Our positive outlook on industrial and manufacturing companies is the result of substantial research into the current state of the economy, where it’s likely to go, and why. This differs significantly from the tendency of most investors in reacting to the market as opposed to predicting.

A lot of time – fortunately or not – we end up moving against the majority of the investing public. This is especially true at time when the direction of financial markets or the economy is changing. At these points we and other contrarian investors tend to feel that we’re swimming upstream – which certainly isn’t altogether untrue.

Our goal – as should be the goal for anyone managing money for clients or themselves – should be to try to figure out what the economy is going to look like over the next 6, 12, and 24 months. From there investors need to determine which sectors of the economy will benefit from circumstances as they unfold.

The final step, naturally, is to invest in those chosen few sectors – heavily. There’s absolutely no reason for investors to do all the research and legwork, and then not take full advantage.

There are a number of people and firms who do – or try to do – or profess to do – what we do. Fortunately for us, our models differ more than they typically realize.

For example, some of these investors never get fully invested in the market, much less any one area. Instead, they tiptoe through the markets; their style is full of hesitation and trepidation. We, on the other hand, refuse to wade in the kiddie pool. We have no qualms with taking our money out of the markets and sitting on the sidelines when we feel it’s necessary, but when the time comes to invest, we dive in.

Then there are those who do all the research, then continue to diversify portfolios widely across sectors and asset classes. What we fail to understand is why! It’s like being given the key to a vault, then refusing to enjoy the rewards.

In either case, discrepancies in practices tend to come down to a simple issue: conviction. Some have it – and can handle the market’s wild swings – while others don’t. Obviously it’s up to every potential investor to do their own soul-searching to figure out which one they are BEFORE they dive in.

Dock David Treece is a partner with Treece Investment Advisory Corp (www.TreeceInvestments.com) and is licensed with FINRA through Treece Financial Services Corp. He provides expert content to numerous media outlets. The above information is the express opinion of Dock David Treece and should not be construed as investment advice or used without outside verification.

Tags: commoditities, Dock David Treece, industrials, manufacturing, market research, realigning markets

This entry was posted on Friday, May 25th, 2012 at 4:00 pm and is filed under Toledo Business Link, Treece Blog.
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The management of Bolt Express of Toledo were among 90 percent of survey respondents that are optimistic about the future of manufacturing in the U.S., according to the McGladrey Manufacturing & Distribution Monitor Report for Spring 2011.

Bolt Express participated in the spring survey and attended the second annual Manufacturing & Distribution Update on June 22 by Gilmore, Jasion & Mahler Ltd. of Maumee. The results, including 904 respondents from 45 states, were reported at that event by Karen Kurek, of RSM McGladrey Inc.

“We work mostly with manufacturers so we need to know what’s happening in their business. Manufacturing is in direct correlation to our time-critical expediting business,” said Ben Bauman, president and CEO of Bolt Express.

Bauman said the outlook for manufacturing is positive and they see the same for their business, which has grown about  42 percent year-to-date in 2011. The firm has already hired 12 new employees this year increasing its work force to 85, he said.

Bolt Express experienced a 109 percent growth in sales in 2010 for the fifth consecutive year of more than 50-percent growth, according to Bauman. About 30 percent of its growth has been outside the U.S. correlating to 50 percent of manufacturers that were growing through international business, according to the McGladrey report.

Ben and Elizabeth Bauman with Charles Heid of Gilmore, Jasion & Mahler.

Bauman said the company began working with Gilmore, Jasion & Mahler to cover some accounting and tax issues with their growing Mexico and international business. It led to a much stronger relationship beyond its international business.

“It’s a true partnership,” Bauman said about the relationship with Gilmore, Jasion & Mahler.

Bolt opened an operations center in Laredo, Texas in 2010 to handle its growing transportation business in Mexico for many of its customers with locations there, Bauman said.

“We’re like an industrial ambulance service. When the just-in-time system fails and our customers need it now, we come in and solve the problems for them. We use air charter and air freight when ground transportation can’t get it there in time,” Bauman said.

“That’s where we fit in expediting everything from a small box of parts to a prototype car. Everything we do is exclusive shipments from point A to Point B with no damage. Most of the critical freight is picked up within 90 minutes of their call,” he said.

“Our technology provides real-time data tracked by satellite and updated by computer that informs our customers where the truck with their load is located at any given time.”

Ben and his wife, Elizabeth, started Bolt Express in 2000 after acquiring the assets of a small expediter. They began with four employees, 11 trucks and a business plan that has not changed to this date.

They expanded the business in 2003 to better meet the needs of their customers. They started Bolt Logistics, a special operation to provide customers with a single-call option for their rush-critical shipments and air charter needs.

They built a new headquarters in the North Cross Industrial Park in North Toledo while growing at an accelerated pace. Starting with 10,000 square feet in 2005, they added sections with a total of 30,000 square feet in 2008.

Bolt Express is nearing completion of another 15,000-square-foot addition expected to open in September with a drivers’ lounge, training center and garage services.

Bolt Express is the presenting sponsor of the inaugural Great Lakes Convoy, Bike Rally and Rock the Lot Party on Sept. 24. The truck convoy and bike route will begin at the I-280 and I-80/90 interchange in Perrysburg, loop through Toledo and return to the starting point.

The event will raise funds for the awareness, prevention and cure of women’s cancers with proceeds benefiting the American Cancer Society, Foundation of Women’s Cancer and local chapter of the Susan G. Komen Foundation.

Tags: Bolt Express, Gilmore, Jasion & Mahler, manufacturing

This entry was posted on Saturday, July 16th, 2011 at 1:41 pm and is filed under Entrepreneurs, Toledo Business Link.
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