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Brown: Ohio's aerospace history may spur growth |
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Thursday, 29 October 2009 |
By WILLIAM LANEY
Managing Editor
Ohio’s aerospace history hopefully encourages U.S. and foreign businesses to invest in the state, a U.S. Congressman says.
A local business leader says he hopes some of those investment dollars spur growth along Interstate 75 and, in particular, in Wapakoneta.
U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, announced the formalization of a partnership between Airbus and Ohio suppliers aimed at growing Ohio’s aerospace industry. Two procurement conferences are to be held in Ohio — one this fall in the Cleveland area and a second in the spring in southern Ohio.
“Ohio, as we know, is the birthplace of aviation and we have a long history of manufacturing and that is why our commitment to the aerospace supply chain is so important as our auto supply chain is so important,” Brown said Wednesday during a media teleconference. “We are working on job training and workforce investment and development and transition to a different kind of economy.
“This is about connecting universities and businesses and local governments to make the right investment to attract new businesses and expand what we have in the state,” he said. “It is that commitment to aerospace that paves the way for companies like Airbus to do so much business in the Ohio.”
Brown explained approximately 600 companies and 186,000 workers in Ohio are directly tied to the aerospace industry, with another 1,200 companies doing business with aerospace com-
panies, according to the Ohio Aerospace Institute.
Airbus North America Chair Allan McArtor noted Ohio ranks first of the 40 states where Airbus spends procurement dollars.
“In 2008 alone, Airbus spent $3.96 billion with Ohio direct suppliers who help build our aircraft,” McArtor said during the media teleconference. “I have been in discussions with Sen. Brown since his first days in office on ways to grow that relationship, and I’m excited about the partnership we are announcing today.”
Brown helped organize the two conferences centered on matching Airbus and other aerospace companies with suppliers. The first expo is to be held Dec. 7 at the Ohio Aerospace institute, with the second expo to be held in southern Ohio during the first quarter of next year. No date or location has yet been determined.
Area companies having contracts with Airbus or with the aerospace industry include nine from Allen County, three from Shelby County and one from Auglaize County.
Wapakoneta Area Economic Development Council (WAEDC) Executive Director Greg Myers said the two conferences that Brown is involved in organizing are similar to expos being planned for at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. The expos aim is to build relationships between contractors and suppliers.
The first conference that Wapakoneta will take part in through the Dayton Development Coalition is for Wright-Patterson Air Force Base and other contractors to promote what they do and what they need, while the second conference permits suppliers to show what they can offer.
“We hope to be able to share that information with our members in the region and to say that if you are interested in doing this then we are willing to help facilitate that,” Myers told the Wapakoneta Daily News on Wednesday. “I think we are moving forward in trying to be more engaged with the aerospace industry and this region is driven by Wright-Patterson Air Force Base.”
Myers also lauded Brown’s efforts to try and to bring more aerospace industries and work to Ohio.
The WAEDC executive director echoed Brown’s sentiments about Ohio and its history with air and space flight.
“We have the tradition — the whole aerospace industry and aviation industry in America started in Ohio, even to the point of the Apollo 11 mission,” Myers said, noting the Wright brothers did most of their work in Dayton and only did their test flights in North Carolina. “We are often reminded of the number of suppliers and vendors for the Apollo spacecraft that the product was made in Ohio.”
He also pointed to other advantages Ohio has to meet the needs of the aerospace industry.
“We definitely have the skilled work force and we also have the research universities and companies like Battelle, which have the know-how to commercialize the technology into the aerospace industry — these are pluses for Ohio,” Myers said. “I think anybody — whether it is our senators, our governor, our state representatives — who want to join in the effort to say, ‘Ohio is the place to do this and has the skill set to do this,’ is great.
“I just want to make sure that people know west-central Ohio and Wapakoneta, in particular, wants to be a part of this process and can meet this challenge,” he said.
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Last Updated ( Friday, 30 October 2009 )
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