By JAN LARSON McLAUGHLIN
BG Independent News
Bowling Green industries invested more than $50 million in machinery and facilities last year.
“Our companies keep reinvesting in themselves,” Sue Clark, executive director of Bowling Green Economic Development, said Thursday during the annual meeting of the organization. “It was a steady year of growth.”
And while adding machinery, they also added jobs – with there now being more than 4,000 manufacturing employees in the city.
“We now have more employees in the manufacturing sector than the university does,” Clark said.
The largest investment was made by Phoenix Technologies, which added equipment to its East Poe Road plant. The addition of the new plant process means that a plastic bottle dropped off at the nearby recycling center can be washed and ground up at the Poe Road plant, then trucked to the Fairview plant where it is pelletized, then trucked to Southeastern Container on North Main Street where it can be reinvented into a new bottle.
The full circle process in one city for plastic recycling is remarkable, Clark said. “We’re very proud of that.”
The city is also seeing some commercial growth, with a Fairfield Inn being constructed and Kroger being expanded.
The economic development office made a move itself to 130 S. Main St., along with the Bowling Green Chamber of Commerce, the Convention and Visitors Bureau, and Downtown BG.
Also in 2015, the city “survived another year of construction on I-75” and weathered the peaks and valleys of the auto industry, Clark said.
But there are difficulties, she told the audience.
“While I paint a rosy picture, we’re not without our concerns,” she said. “Finding good employees is at the top of our list.”
During annual meetings with local employers, a common concern expressed is the inability to find skilled trade workers. According to Clark, this problem has kept some manufacturers from expanding in Bowling Green.
“While we are a university town, we still value plumbers, electricians, die makers and machinists,” she said.
And like any presidential election year, there are uncertainties ahead – perhaps more this time around, Clark said.
“We’re not sure what the next four years will be like,” she said. “There are some candidates with some really unusual and different ideas.”
Also at the meeting, Clark presented the annual Economic Development Recognition Award to Rex Huffman of the Wood County Port Authority. Huffman and the port authority have assisted the city in its efforts to attract and retain business.
“He always thinks outside the proverbial box,” she said of Huffman. “He’s been a valuable tool in my economic development toolbox.”
Clark recognized Huffman’s ability to bring people together to make things happen, and promote teamwork.
“He’s a very valuable player in the arena of economic development in Bowling Green and Wood County,” she said. “He helps people work together. It’s not like that in all of our region.”
Betco is one of the industries investing in BG.
Some of the 2015 highlights in Bowling Green include:
- Big Fab Lab opened in Woodland Mall. The lab is a “maker space” concept which is open to the public and provides space, tools, equipment and instruction.
- Kellermeyer Co. was sold to Nichols, a Michigan-based company which plans to expand its service area throughout Ohio, western Pennsylvania and eastern Indiana.
- Betco began construction on a 60,000 square foot addition to the former Cooper Standard building on Van Camp Road, plus a warehouse on the west side of the building. Betco has invested approximately $53 million and brought 170 new jobs to Bowling Green.
- Fastenol moved into its new 6,000 square foot building in the John Quinn Innovative Tech Park.
- Phoenix Technologies retrofitted its East Poe Road building for a new process to wash and grind plastics to supply its Fairview Avenue facility. The company has installed $15 million in new equipment and created 50 new jobs.
- Fairfield Inn is under construction on East Wooster Street.
- Kroger is expanding to create a Kroger Market Place on North Main Street. The 131,000 square foot store will be Kroger’s third largest store in Ohio. Approximately 80 new jobs will be created.
- Victory Inn, which had fallen into disrepair, was demolished.
- Energy Efficiency Loan program continued to aid local businesses, with 12 loans made to businesses that replaced lighting and equipment with higher efficiency units.
- Poggemeyer Design Group studied the East Wooster corridor and made recommendations to improve the area when the I-75 widening is complete.
In other business at the annual meeting, Paul Zito, vice president of International Development for the Regional Growth Partnership, spoke about foreign investments in business in this region. A total of 180 businesses with 30,000 jobs in the region have foreign ownership, with the most from Europe, followed by Japan and Canada. In Bowling Green, foreign owned companies employ 650, according to Zito.
