product can be made right here at home.”
Among the reasons why companies like Intelligrated choose
to locate or expand in Ohio is the region’s talent pool.
“We have a very well-educated workforce with a strong work
ethic,” says van Bodegraven. “Ohio is good at developing job
skills. People can start learning about logistics in high school
and end up with a Ph.D. in logistics at Ohio State.”
John Ness, president of ODW Logistics, concurs. “People
here have a Midwestern work ethic that is to ‘promise your
best, and deliver [on] your promise,’” he says.
ODW, a Columbus-based third-party logistics service
provider, operates from 16 locations in nine states, with half of
its operations in Ohio. Ness cites Ohio’s labor pool, available
and affordable real estate, low labor costs, freight access, and
favorable business climate as major reasons why logistics has a
strong foothold in the state.
In addition to his duties at ODW, Ness serves as co-chair of
the Columbus Regional Logistics Council, a group formed to
promote growth in the region’s logistics capabilities. Recently,
the council has been working with Columbus State
Community College to retrain dislocated workers for jobs in
logistics. Administered through the Central Ohio Workforce
Commission, the training program has utilized a federal grant
of $4.6 million to graduate over 600 logistics students over the
past two years. It also has a 74-percent job placement rate for
its grads.
DEEP ROOTS IN THE BUCKEYE STATE
Another material handling equipment maker with deep roots
in the Buckeye State is Crown Equipment Corp. Since 1956,
Crown has shipped lift trucks made at its facilities in New
Bremen, north of Dayton, to customers worldwide.
Like Intelligrated, Crown has partnered with the state on a
number of initiatives. Jim Mozer, Crown’s senior vice president, points to fuel cell development as an example. Ohio has
awarded Crown Equipment two $1 million grants for the
development and testing of fuel cell-powered forklifts, he says.
With these funds, Crown has built more than 500 new fuel cell
forklifts and reconfigured many of its existing vehicles to
operate with fuel cells.
During the past three years, Crown has also received more
than $250,000 in training grants from the state. In return,
Crown has purchased and revitalized empty facilities within
Ohio. Last year, it acquired a vacant 75,000-square-foot facility in Minster to house its wire harness assembly operations.
Crown also revitalized the former Huffy bicycle manufacturing site in Celina, turning it into a vibrant 850,000-square-foot
manufacturing facility for lift truck products.
“Ohio has been a key part of Crown’s growth as a global
material handling company, and I hope that state officials
would say the same thing about Crown’s role in Ohio’s emergence as an international logistics hub,” says Mozer. “The supply chain and logistics community in the state has provided a
valuable ecosystem of resources for our customers. We’ve
found that Ohio is an excellent place for us to do business.” ;
