Muskingum County |
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Zanesville, bisected by I-70, is one of Ohio's best manufacturing and distribution bets. The town of 28,000 in the county of 84,000 are just an hour's drive east of Columbus. In addition, the county is served by a Class I rail line and three regional railroads. It has a dual-runway airport to ferry freight and executives. In the offing is a rail-truck intermodal facility to serve distributors in an 11-county area. And it has the winning attitude and work ethic that industry seeks.
The Wendy's trucks are loaded with the millions of hamburger buns produced by New Bakery, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Ohio-headquartered hamburger chain. Three production lines bake the buns, freeze them and distribute them to 2,225 Wendy's restaurants in 31 states and the District of Columbia, says Stan Augsburger, general manager. Last year the company's 250 employees baked and distributed 49 million dozen buns. The company ships from its Zanesville airport location on its own fleet, says Al Rodgers, distribution manager. The company has come a long way since the 30-employee plant opened in Zanesville 18 years ago, originally choosing the location because of availability of sites at the airport, where executives could easily fly into the plant and out. Access for the growing company's fleet is even more important today -- it ships out over 100 trailer loads of buns a week and receives several bulk trailers daily filled with shipments of flour and other ingredients. The plant is within a mile of I-70 -- the ideal distribution location. Says Larry Merry, executive director of the Zanesville-Muskingum County Port Authority, which has assisted New Bakery in each expansion: "A lot of areas will tell you they have a great location, but our claim is legitimate. I-70 is America's highway -- it runs from coast to coast. We're a great location for manufacturing and distribution, without the traffic congestion a business would find in a more urbanized area." New Bakery added its third production line two years ago. The fact that almost the entire original work force is still with the company speaks loudly of the county's work ethic and loyalty. New Bakery has experienced little employee turnover. Most training of the semi-skilled and highly skilled workers is done in house, supplemented by courses at Muskingum Area Technical College for maintenance and computer training. The college is one of three higher education resources in the county. Muskingum College is a four-year liberal arts institution, while the Zanesville branch of Ohio University offers both bachelor and associate degrees. "From a business standpoint the most important part of the business climate here is the labor supply," says Augsburger. "They are good, dependable people, willing to work and very loyal. The location has something to do with it. If we were closer to Columbus the work force probably wouldn't be as stable." Work ethic and access were the issues that helped cement a $20 million expansion decision for Worthington Foods in Zanesville in recent years. Headquartered in Worthington, the company was founded nearly 60 years ago to cater to members of the Seventh Day Adventists Church who are vegetarians. In the 1970s Miles Laboratories acquired the company and expanded its product line. Miles deinvested in 1982, leaving the company with a broad consumer line of low-fat and cholesterol-free protein-based products. The fast-growing company broke $100 million in sales last year and plans to reach $200 million by the year 2000. "It took 57 years to reach $100 million and just four years to reach $200 million," says Craig Newton, general manager for the Zanesville operations. Since going public five years ago, the company has watched its stock price rise by 335 percent. |
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With that kind of growth, the company needed a site for high-volume production. Worthington acquired a large piece of land for the 176,000-sq. ft. plant with plenty of room to expand. "The Port Authority courted us with a very attractive package," says Newton. "But above all, our latest expansion decision was based on the way we have been treated here. For example, a mile-long access road is being built to make it safer for our trucks to get onto the highway."
The Zanesville plant, which opened in 1996 with 35 employees, now has 80 and is installing a new production line. Worthington has announced that this is where its major business expansions will take place. Of the company's 140 products, the Zanesville plant makes 14 high-volume products, including Better 'n Burger and Spicy Black Bean Burger.
The company, which maintains its "mother hen" warehouse in Worthington, has centralized its distribution in Zanesville, shipping and receiving 60 truckloads a week of the patty-shaped products and raw materials. The products are sold under the Morning Star Farms label in grocery and health food stores. The company produces over 40,000 pounds of product a day, distributing across the country and exporting to the United Kingdom, the Far East and the Caribbean. Restaurant chains like Chili's and Blimpies have added the products to their menus. Once targeting older, health-conscious adults, Worthington has found continuous research into product palatability has paid off. "Kids and young adults are the market spurring our growth now," says Newton. |
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Perhaps because it has watched several of its born-in-the-basement companies become huge successes, Muskingum County particularly likes to nurture its small businesses. Longaberger® Co. is now a $600 million dollar company whose 5,000 associates hand-make baskets, pottery and other home decorative items. 5B's, employing 1,200, has become the world's largest maker of embroidered apparel, operating more sewing heads than any other company in the world. When Nadim Ritchey immigrated from Lebanon to Zanesville 20 years ago, he knew no English. To get started in business he opened a sweet corn stand along State Route 60 north of Zaneville. Today Ritchey Produce supplies all state institutions in Ohio with fresh and processed produce, as well as salads and other products to restaurants in surrounding states. |
Says Larry Merry: "We all need to believe in dreams. Not everyone is going to be a Longaberger® or a 5B's but some will be, and we're here to help them."
Though Muskingum County is an accomplished courter of new industry, it also centers strongly on industry retention. One example proves that point. LFG Specialties, which makes methane gas burning systems for landfills, was faced with the choice of closing its Muskingum County facility or expanding to meet growing demand. Port Authority officials descended on the company's Cleveland headquarters and were able to swing the vote toward a stay-and-expand decision.
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It takes close cooperation among government agencies and the Port Authority to keep existing industry satisfied and new prospects interested. That's why so many expansion projects are underway. Owens-Brockway Glass Container is investing about $8 million to update equipment and "re-build" one of its furnaces. National PharmPak Services has invested more than $70 million in recent years to expand its pharmaceutical repackaging operation in Muskingum County. Processors Unlimted, a Texas-based company, started operations last year east of Zanesville in support of AutoZone's 550,000-sq. ft. distribution center. The company uses a new 50,000-sq. ft. facility to handle returned goods from AutoZone retail stores. New Bakery last year completed a $6 million expansion to increase capacity to produce Wendy's hamburger buns. |
In all of the cases, the Port Authority coordinated efforts of local government units in providing tax incentives for the projects. Additionally, in the case of New Bakery, the county helped solve a long-time waste treatment problem -- it was instrumental in providing sanitary sewer service to the company's facility.