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Design Challenge Celebrates Manufacturing Month

10/16/2019

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October is National Manufacturing Month

The Champaign Economic Partnership (CEP) in Urbana hopes to capitalize on the national monthlong celebration with partners in manufacturing and education to showcase and encourage young people to explore career opportunities in the modern era of manufacturing, including holding the second annual Champaign County Design Challenge.

“We are fortunate to have such diversity of manufacturing in Champaign County,” said Marcia Bailey, CEP Director. “We want our young people to understand the career choices that exist in manufacturing and having this opportunity helps them gain first-hand knowledge. We have approximately 3,700 people working in manufacturing in our community and many companies are looking for skilled employees.”

Last year, the CEP, Ohio Hi-Point Career Center, Urbana University, and manufacturers from around the area created the inaugural Champaign County Design Challenge. After a successful first year, the design challenge is returning. For the second year in a row, approximately 90 students from Graham, Mechanicsburg, Triad, Urbana, and West Liberty-Salem are participating.

The student teams were challenged to design a mousetrap race car within a series of criteria and constraints under the guidance of an industry mentor. Each school participating can have up to four teams with five students and is open to middle or high school students. For the challenge, the mousetrap car must include five simple machines and four wheels with the goal of the car going 20 feet. The teams cannot purchase or 3D print materials.

The mentors for the teams are Steven Brandeberry from JWP, Zack Zizzo and Stephen Oser from Orbis, Mike Wagner from Navistar, Colin Turcu, Hayden Gephart, and Ethan Hess from KTH, Jeff Helman from Rosewood Machine and Tool, Jacob Schmitt from Ultra-Met, Dan Yohey from Rittal, Tyler Bumbalough from the Urbana City Engineering division, and Steve McCall from Champaign County Engineer.

“The goal of the design challenge is to expose students to local manufacturers, interact with professionals, and use their creativity to complete a project,” said Allison Koch, Ohio Hi-Point Satellite Supervisor. “The groups are being judged on their collaboration and their ability to explain their successes and challenges.”

The teams compete at their school district and the winning team from each school district advance to the countylevel competition held at Urbana University on November 1. All participants are invited to listen to the finalists present each team’s design to the judges.

During the event, students are also able to participate in a tradeshow with local manufacturers.

“Design thinking happens at the intersection of art and science. Designers direct our lifestyle, create our products, and shape the environments where we live, work, and play,” said Dr. Christopher Washington, Executive Vice President and CEO of Urbana University. “Urbana University is proud to host the Champaign County Design Challenge event for young designers in our region.”

The Champaign County Design Challenge trophy is currently housed at last year’s winning school, Triad High School.

For more information about manufacturing programs for students, please visit www.ohiohipoint.com or www.urbana.edu.
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Urbana Manufacturing Firms See $80M in Investment in 2017

10/16/2017

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Urbana Ohio KTH Manufacturing
KTH employees inspect the parts as they roll off the new servo press. Bill Lackey/Staff
By Matt Sanctis - Springfield News-Sun Staff Writer
Champaign County manufacturing firms invested more than $80 million and added slightly more than 100 new jobs through expansions this year, economic development officials said last week.

The number of workers employed in the industry in Champaign County has fluctuated in recent years, according to information from the Champaign Economic Partnership.But local economic development officials said there are signs that efforts to attract younger workers and improve the workforce are paying off.
​

The CEP hosted a breakfast and awards ceremony last week to review recent successes and recognize manufacturing firms for their efforts in Champaign County. So far this year, local firms have invested more than $80 million and added more than 100 new jobs, mostly through expansions, said Marcia Bailey, economic development director for the CEP.

Much of that success is the result of local companies working together to resolve common challenges, like training and worker retention, she said.

“For the manufacturing partnership we’ve created, we’re seeing the results of that,” Bailey said.

Several Champaign County companies announced expansions earlier this year. Most recently, Weidmann Electrical Technology Inc. said last month it will add about 2,600 square feet to its facility at 700 W. Court St. in Urbana. The company, which produces specialty insulation for transformers, will also add 20 new jobs and spend at least $500,000 in new equipment as part of an expansion valued at around $2.7 million.

Navistar also broke ground on a roughly $12 million project to build a new distribution center and add 40 new jobs in Champaign County. Auto parts manufacturers like KTH Parts Industries in St. Paris and Parker Trutec also announced significant investments and expansions in the past 12 months.

Area companies and the CEP have developed several programs to boost the county’s workforce, Bailey said, and there is some evidence that’s paying off. But she said it’s also clear there’s still more work to do.

Attendance at a camp hosted by the Champaign Family YMCA has tripled its attendance since it started three years ago, Bailey said. The Inventor’s Camp enlists local manufacturing firms to teach students about skilled trades.

Manufacturers also host a booth at the Champaign County Fair to make residents more aware of the products made in Champaign County. And the CEP worked with local companies to develop a website allowing local businesses to post jobs available within the county. Manufacturers have also increasingly sought to provide internships to area high school students to make them more aware of careers in the industry.

Information provided by the CEP shows that the efforts appear to be attracting more young workers. In 2015, only about 5 percent of workers in the industry in Champaign County were between 19 and 24 years old, Bailey said. That number was about 9 percent this year.

Still, attracting skilled workers remains a challenge, she said.

“There’s not a competitions for products,” she said of local companies. “But we need the workforce to get those products out.”
By the numbers:
3,832 — Manufacturing employees in Champaign County in 2015
3,725 — Manufacturing employees in Champaign County in 2016
4,029 — Manufacturing employees in Champaign County in 2017
$64,021 — Average earnings for manufacturing in 2017

By the numbers:
3,832 — Manufacturing employees in Champaign County in 2015
3,725 — Manufacturing employees in Champaign County in 2016
4,029 — Manufacturing employees in Champaign County in 2017
$64,021 — Average earnings for manufacturing in 2017
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Clark, Champaign Students Visit Manufacturers, Learn of Job Openings

10/7/2017

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By Katherine Collins and Parker Perry - Springfield News-Sun Staff Writer
High school students across Clark and Champaign counties visited local manufacturers on Friday, in an effort to educate students about the job openings available in the area and connect businesses with potential workers.

The visits were part of Manufacturing Day, recognized nationwide by the U.S. Census Bureau. The industry is the fourth largest employer in the country, according to the bureau.

Manufacturers across Ohio have had trouble filling open positions because of the drug epidemic. Many workers can’t pass a drug test, said Jeannie Seery, human resources manager at the McGregor OSMI Plant in Springfield.

“We face that every day,” she said.

The plant wants to let students know they don’t need to leave the area to get a good job.

“We hear so often that the kids in Springfield just want to get out and go other places,” Seery said. “We want them to know that Springfield is viable and the community needs them to stay here.”

And she wants students to be motivated to avoid drugs.

“They’re getting into it at such a young age … they can’t do that and be able to go into a job,” Seery said.

A group of students from Springfield High School visited the OSMI plant on Friday as well as the Yamada plant. In Champaign County, about 140 students from Triad High School and other county schools visited multiple manufacturing companies.

It was an eye-opening experience for Springfield High student Diane Meslam.

“I thought that Springfield didn’t have many job opportunities but I found out that they do,” she said.

Other students, like Springfield senior Tyler Carter, said he appreciates having a better understanding of the workplace.
“I really got to see what it’s like to work in a hands-on job and industry like that,” he said.

Marcia Bailey, with the Champaign County Economic Partnership, said having high school students explore manufacturing before they graduate shows them what type of careers available in the area.

“We have so many job opportunities in manufacturing here in Champaign County,” Bailey said. “It’s a career choice, not just a job. We want the kids in Champaign County to know what type of skills they need to get these jobs.”

Urbana High School Senior Jessica Beveroy said she’s interested in accounting and wants to find every opportunity that might be available to her. She’s open to working for a manufacturer.

“I enjoyed it a lot,” Beveroy said of the event. “I can see a lot of opportunities.”

Graham Local students also explored the manufacturing industry on Friday. It’s important for students to start thinking about potential careers as soon as possible, Graham Middle School Assistant Principal Nick Guidera said.

“Here at the middle school, we were able to bring in 12 business partners and explain everything to opportunities that range from prosthetic design, 3D printing, welding, there were plenty of different opportunities,” he said.

Even the younger students, like Graham eighth grader James Pelfrey were interested in learning about manufacturing.
“I found it pretty interesting,” he said. “I like it because you get to create something out of pretty much nothing.”
Springfield manufacturers wante to attract local students.

Complete coverage
The Springfield News-Sun digs into important stories about jobs and the economy in Clark and Champaign counties, including recent stories on local unemployment rates and how driverless cars might impact Navistar.
By the numbers
11.4M: Workers in manufacturing nationwide
4th: Largest industry in the U.S.
$56,000: Average annual pay for manufacturing employees
$639B: Payroll for the entire manufacturing sector nationwide
Source: U.S. Census Bureau
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Jordan Tours Local Construction Sites

9/1/2017

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Jim Jordan Damewood Tour
Inside Navistar’s new warehouse at the Urbana Industrial Park, U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, third from left, speaks with Brad Damewood of Damewood Enterprises, which is leasing the property to Navistar. Also pictured are Pat Thackery, an Urbana city councilman and board member of the Champaign Economic Partnership; Steve Hess, Champaign County commissioner and CEP board member; Kirby Brandenburg (background), U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan’s field representative; Kyle Hall, CEP board member; and CEP Director Marcia Bailey.
U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan (Rep.-Urbana) saw economic and community development taking shape when he recently toured Urbana with Champaign Economic Partnership Director Marcia Bailey and five members of the CEP’s Board of Directors.

They visited four construction projects – Navistar’s 355,522-square-foot distribution center, Urbana City Schools’ new pre-kindergarten through eighth grade school and high school, and Memorial Health’s new medical building – as well as Mercy Health Urbana Hospital, formerly Mercy Memorial Hospital, which is planning updates to facility and services.
Bailey was joined by CEP board members Kyle Hall, president of the Hall Company; Steve Hess, Champaign County commissioner; Evelyn Levino, chief of staff of Urbana University; Ron Salyer, president and chief executive officer of Pioneer Electric Cooperative; and Pat Thackery, Urbana city councilman and owner of Café Paradiso, Carmazzi’s, the Studio and Fine Arts Gallery, and Room 117.

“It’s great to see all the good things happening in Champaign County – the investment and job opportunities. It’s all good,” Jordan said.

Navistar Warehouse
At the Navistar site, Jordan spoke with Jerry and Brad Damewood of Damewood Enterprises, on whose property the warehouse is being built in the Urbana Industrial Park, at 915 Phoenix Drive.

The $12 million facility is expected to be completed by Dec. 1. Navistar will store up to $16 million in inventory in the warehouse to support contracts with General Motors at the Navistar assembly plant between Springfield and Urbana. The facility will retain 114 existing Navistar jobs. In addition, 27 jobs will be transferred from Xenia and 13 new full-time jobs will be created.

Schools underway
Urbana City Schools Superintendent Charles Thiel led the group through the district’s two building projects, along with representatives of general contractor Gilbane Building Company and the Ohio Facilities Construction Commission (OFCC), which administers the projects. The new schools are being funded 61 percent by state funds and 39 percent local.

The 180,000-square-foot pre-K through eighth grade school will have an enrollment of about 1,500 students when it opens in early 2019. Located on South U.S. Route 68, the school property is in the process of being annexed into the city of Urbana.

Thiel said that classes will begin in the new Urbana High School, on the site of the current high school on Washington Avenue, in the spring of 2018. Two portions of the existing building will remain after the project is completed: the iconic Castle building and the auditorium/gymnasium building.

Funding through OFCC does not pay for auditorium construction, but Thiel said the school’s auditorium underwent an extensive upgrade in 2001. He added that the floor below the auditorium could be used for a manufacturing lab to help with workforce development.

The new school, for about 500 students, is designed for flexibility in classroom layout to support project-based learning and use of the latest educational technology.

Thiel said the public is invited to tour the high school construction project Friday, Sept. 8, 5-6:30 p.m., before the Urbana-Greenville football game.

Urbana hospital preparing for upgrades
Mercy Memorial Hospital, founded in 1951, is undergoing more than a name change, to Mercy Health – Urbana Hospital. Jamie Houseman, the hospital’s president, said that Mercy Health, which is Ohio’s largest nonprofit health system, is providing capital funding to:

*Upgrade the hospital’s central sterile system to accommodate the addition in 2018 of a da Vinci® robotic surgery system. Houseman said this will expand the range of minimally invasive surgical procedures available locally to Champaign County residents, at Mercy Health – Urbana Hospital.

*Open a 10-bed geriatric psychiatric unit in a section of Mercy Health – McAuley Senior Living (formerly Mercy McAuley Center), which adjoins the hospital. The short-term inpatient treatment program is intended for individuals 55 and older. The secured unit will be ready year-end to accept patient referrals from a variety of sources. The program will provide short-term monitoring, medication adjustment and treatment of medically complicated conditions. Due to a lack of such facilities in the area, patients must often be transferred hours away for care, Houseman said.

Memorial Health Medical Building
Spence Fisher, executive vice president of Memorial Health, spoke with Jordan about Memorial Health’s $9 million 30,000-square-foot outpatient medical building under construction at the northwest corner of East U.S. Route 36 and North Dugan Road.

The facility, which will open mid-2018, will retain 16 existing jobs and create 12 new jobs. Memorial Primary Care, now at 900 Scioto St., Urbana, will move to the new facility. The practice, now with four primary care practitioners, will have room to recruit three more in the new location.

The medical building also will accommodate rotating medical specialists, urgent care, x-ray imaging, lab testing services, sports medicine, physical and occupational therapy, and a medical therapy clinic, where a clinical pharmacist and nurse practitioner will evaluate and counsel patients with complex, chronic conditions.
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Navistar Project Moving Forward

5/25/2017

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Navistar Groundbreaking
by Joshua Keeran, Urbana Daily Citizen
​Navistar, one of the area’s largest employers, revealed plans for its new Urbana distribution center during a groundbreaking ceremony held Thursday at the Urbana Industrial Park on the city’s south side.

At an estimated price tag of $12 million, the 355,000-square-foot facility at 1155 Phoenix Drive is under construction and expected to be completed by Dec. 1. Once up and running, the facility is expected to house inventory for Navistar that could total up to $16 million.

“It’s a very exciting time for Navistar here in the great state of Ohio,” said Edward Franklin, senior manager of supply chain operations at Navistar.

Earlier this year, Franklin said, the company started production on a second assembly line at its Springfield assembly plant as part of an agreement with General Motors in which Navistar is manufacturing cutaway models of GM’s G Van.

“This facility will help us sustain our new relationship with GM as well as give us the opportunity to sustain our product portfolio growth in the future,” he said. “I’m very excited to get all our material and be able to consolidate it into one place here in Urbana.”

Joint venture
Located on property owned by Damewood Enterprises Limited, the new distribution center is being built by Dublin Building Systems. Once complete, the facility will be leased by Damewood Enterprises to Navistar.

Rich Irelan, vice president of sales and marketing for Dublin Building Systems, said his company is “committed to hitting” the target completion date of Dec. 1, and he said meeting such a deadline is obtainable thanks to the city’s willingness to see the project through.

“It’s so refreshing to work in the city of Urbana,” Irelan said. “We are going to promote more business in Urbana, Ohio, for sure.”

Speaking on behalf of Damewood Enterprises, Brad Damewood said, “We are very grateful for the opportunity to participate in this project,” and he added it wouldn’t have been a possibility without the help of Marcia Bailey (Champaign Economic Partnership executive director) and the support of a tax abatement agreement by Urbana City Council and Urbana City Schools Board of Education.

“I’m sure Navistar had plenty of options for build-to-suit locations as well as exciting buildings,” he said. “One of the things that allowed Urbana to be the site chosen was the tax abatement.”

The agreed upon Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) agreement grants Damewood Enterprises a 10-year, 100 percent tax exemption of real property tax.

Impact on local community
While Bailey acknowledged the new distribution center will result in at least a $28 million investment into the area ($12 million into the building and $16 million in inventory), she said the biggest winner in the deal is the local community from a jobs standpoint.

“We were able to save 114 jobs here in our community that could have went to another community,” she said. “We are looking at another 40 coming in either from another facility or new employment all together.”

In the CRA agreement, Navistar stated its plans with the new facility are to retain the 114 employees currently employed at its ODW Logistics facility (located at 1030 S. Edgewood Ave.), transfer 27 full-time jobs from Xenia to Urbana, and create 13 new full-time jobs.

Bailey said the distribution center will have a payroll of nearly $7 million.

Urbana Mayor Bill Bean added the city has been able to build great relationships over the years that has led to the numerous construction projects underway from two new school buildings to new commercial properties like the Navistar distribution center and a new medical center for Marysville-based Memorial Health.

“We have a lot of things going on. A lot of growth, and this (Navistar facility) is part of it,” he said. “Without good partners, we couldn’t do this.”

​Joshua Keeran may be reached at 937-508-2304 or on Twitter @UDCKeeran.

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