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HOCKING COUNTY |
| To travel the rolling hills of Hocking County is like stepping back to a quieter time. Yet this county on the edge of Appalachia is just 50 minutes from Columbus and half an hour from the all-cargo airport at Rickenbacker.
"Fifty minutes is no more time than it takes to travel across town in Columbus," says Hugh Morton, executive director of the Hocking County Community Improvement Corp. The county has excellent access to other parts of Ohio via the four-laned U.S. 33. A good mix of industries likes the Hocking County lifestyle, its peaceful labor relations and its lower costs of doing business. General Electric's sole plant for production of fluorescent tubes for the domestic market is here. Goodyear Tire & Rubber turns out auto instrument panels, and Carborundum makes abrasives for polishing railroad tracks. Amanda Bent Bolt makes auto parts, and Smead produces office supplies. |
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These and other industries find a cornucopia of employee training options in Hocking County -- a vocational school, Ohio University in nearby Athens, plus Hocking College, which aggressively develops industry-specific training programs.
After polling local industries on their training needs, Morton is putting together a certification for plant maintenance personnel who, like the millwrights of old, can make anything or fix anything. "This talent has almost disappeared into a field of specialties," says Morton. "What companies tell us they need is the plant maintenance specialist who is an electrician-plumber-welder-machinery mover-HVAC expert to keep the plant running." Hocking College is developing the program.
Serving shippers in Hocking County is the I&O, an aggressive shortline railroad that also partners with the county in provision of sites. The I&O connects to CSX, Norfolk Southern and Conrail in Columbus.
The shortline ships in wheat for Keynes Flour Mill, one of the largest suppliers to commercial bakeries in the Midwest, paper for Smead, sand and caustic soda for the GE fluorescent lamp plant.
"Dealing with the I&O is a different world than dealing with the Class I's," says Morton. "You need a siding put in? No big deal. They'll put it in and credit the cost to your future freight business. The Class I's wouldn't talk to you for a car a week. I&O will. You need a car moved at 3 a.m.? They'll be down. That's the way we do business here in Hocking County -- it's highly customized and personalized."
That way of doing business must be the right style -- Hocking County has a number of big name companies which have had facilities in the county for several decades.
"A lot of places will tell you their employees have the best work ethic," says Morton. "We can prove it by that the fact that our employers are all still here. Goodyear has been in Hocking County 35 years and GE for nearly 50 for good reason."
| One "old-timer" industry is Metal Powdered Specialties, one of only half a dozen or so industries of its kind in Ohio. The company, which has been in Hocking County over 40 years, makes custom high-tolerance pieces using the powder metallurgy process. "The advantages are that it's cheaper than competing processes like machining and die casting, it saves a lot of material and can come up to a net shape quicker," says Norman Kulpa, V.P. and general manager. |
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The company forms the powder in a set of tooling, compresses it into shape, then sends it through a furnace, where it's metallurgically bonded. The company's niche is short-to-medium runs for the automotive, industrial controls, pumps and hydraulics and consumer goods markets. The customer base is nationwide. MPS has found a knowledgeable workforce in its Hocking College-trained employees.
One unique asset for Hocking industry is a supply of gas from local wells. In fact, it was the availability of an ample supply of gas that drew the refractory industry to the county long ago.
The Community Improvement Corp. can build a new plant for incoming industry in just 120 days. Several rail-served sites are available.
Hocking County's quality-of-life assets are many. Most visible is the scenic beauty, which is the subject of the resort community at Hocking Hills, popular with executives who commute to Columbus.
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