The Leader - January/February 2009 - (Page 48)

H EArt LA nD H o L D i n G S tr on G: M iDWESt LA yS Gr ou n DW o rk fo r E co no Mi c rE bo unD in Richmond, Ind., in 2006 and last year acquired a 130,000-sq.-ft. (12,077-sq.-m.) facility with plans to eventually employ 300. With the auto industry’s uncertain position, another company has hedged its bets. Innatech, an injection molding manufacturer with a plant in Wayne County, shifted production from an auto-parts focus to making lids for baby formula containers. At the other end of life’s spectrum, Wayne County is a center of casket production and attracted the headquarters and manufacturing operations of casket-lining maker Tiedemann-Bevs from New Jersey to Wayne County last year. Even though caskets may seem like the ultimate recession-proof business, one of Wayne County’s casket makers was feeling the squeeze from industry consolidation. Hansen connected the casket maker, which had vast experience with metal stamping, with a local auto parts manufacturer seeking metal-stamping expertise, creating a local match that paid off for both companies. “Our companies are trying to diversify,” Hansen said. For Corporate America throughout the Midwest and the remainder of the U.S., the inexorable push for heightened efficiency and productivity will continue. eastern portion of the state and animal sciences farming and research concentrated in the western half of the state. Missouri’s manufacturing and agricultural sectors, not to mention behemoths like Anheuser Busch, Monsanto and Nestle-Purina, have long since been established, but its technology sector quietly emerges, as well, and, in some respects, defies conventional wisdom. In the North Central Missouri town of Macon, tech entrepreneur Shane Myers founded Onshore Technology Services after a career at Elsevier. Onshore offers consulting on global sourcing and portfolio management, as well as tech support, testing and development. The company also trains under-employed Missourians, giving them the basics of computer and web programming and better preparing them for the 21st Century work force. In Rolla, Mo., home to the Missouri University of Science and Technology, Brewer Science continues its groundbreaking advances in producing coatings for silicon chips, enabling chip producers to separate microchips by as little as 0.1 micron, which leads to smaller, more powerful chips and devices. Brewer performs its research and development at the Jordan Valley Innovation Center at Missouri State University in Springfield, Mo., in the southwest corner of the state. Companies like Onshore Technology Services and Brewer have caught the attention of the tech world, opening its eye to a market with just as much brain power but vastly lower costs than coastal markets, said Dave Claborn, vice president of The Missouri Partnership, a public-private economic development initiative. “There are all kinds of stories about these types of high-tech companies going about their business quietly, Claborn said. “The infrastructure is there.” “It’s realizing what is and realizing that there is a talent pool here,” Claborn continued. “Missouri is well suited, especially in the smaller communities, for these kinds of businesses.” Diversifying Missouri Across the Midwest, counties and states are diversifying and adapting to global trends – or reversing them – while emphasizing the advantages man and nature granted. Missouri capitalizes on its position in the middle of the country, the Mississippi and Missouri Rivers and I-35 NAFTA corridor through Kansas City to further its position as a logistics hub, which was noted in a 2008 business survey by Ball State University that ranked the Show Me State No. 1 in the U.S. for manufacturing and logistics. Missouri’s low commercial electricity rates – second lowest in the U.S. – and industrial electricity prices – 6th lowest in the U.S., according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration – as well as low manufacturing wages and recently enacted workers’ compensation and tort reform lend to its manufacturing allure, as well. The state also has the second-highest number of farms among U.S. states, 105,000 according to USDA National Agricultural Statistics, with concentrations of plant science research and development in the Wisconsin Grows Agriculture Sector, Life Sciences and Energy Wisconsin, too, has capitalized on its strengths and become not just a center for agriculture and manufacturing but a global hub for life sciences and new-energy research. Of course, manufacturing and agriculture still play a vital role. Wisconsin has a long history of advanced manufacturing with companies like Harley Davidson and Johnson Controls. The University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Small Engine Consortium helps further the state’s advanced manufacturing economic-development goals. Also, while most every state in the Midwest, Southwest and Plains is angling for a piece of the wind-energy-manufacturing pie, Wisconsin has established a corridor in the northeast section of the state devoted to the supply chain and manufacturing of every segment of the 8,000 pieces required to build the giant turbines necessary for wind-energy production. “Demand for wind turbines is outstripping supply,” said Mickey Judkins, director of Forward Wisconsin, a public-private partnership 2 0 0 9 tH E LE ADE r 48 jAnuAry / fEbruAry

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of The Leader - January/February 2009

The Leader - January/February 2009 Contents Leadership Message from the CEO Real Estate in the News Mergers and Aquisitions Assessing Green Building Performance Measuring Space You Actually Use Global Trends in Sustainable Real Estate Whirlpool’s Lee Utke Northmarq’s Kevin Farrell Plastics: Hoping for Resiliency in Resins Regional Profile: Heartland Holding Strong Industry Profile: Ascendas Brings New Age Business Space to Asia-Pac Industry Tracker From the Applied Research Center Discovery Forum Findings Capital Corner Career Development Young Leader Economic Development in the News Learning Spotlight Connect With CoreNet Global Index of Advertisers A Look Ahead In our Next Issue Calendar of Seminars

The Leader - January/February 2009

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