Bulletin Board

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Bulletin Board

Sponsored by the Portage County Department of Economic Development and area chambers of commerce. This Bulletin Board will be used to post special events and announcements of interest to businesses in Portage County. Sponsor contact information is listed below. Portage County Department of Economic Development is located at: 217 S. Chestnut St., Ravenna.

Events and Announcements

Economic Development Department Moved

The Portage County Department of Economic Development
moved on April 27, 2009 to:

Riddle Block Building
217 S. Chestnut St, Ravenna

Phone and fax numbers remain the same.

Please stop in to check out our new offices!!

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Portage County Commissioners Hire New Economic Development Director

William (Bill) J. Ulik started his new position as Director of the Portage County Department of Economic Development on March 17, 2008. Bill has already been very busy with adjusting to his new position and meeting our partners in and around Portage County.

Bill can be reached at 330-297-3470 or wulik@portageco.com.

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Joint Office of Economic Development Announces
Richland County as New Member

At a ceremonial signing on January 23, Richland County officially became the 10th member county of the Joint Office of Economic Development (JOED) and NEOTEC. Pictured are: (seated, left to right) Richland County Commissioners Gary Utt, Ed Olson and Tim Wert, (standing, left to right) JOED Chairman and Portage County Commissioner Chuck Keiper, Mahoning County Commissioner John McNally, Wayne County Commissioner Cheryl Noah, and Stark County Commissioners Richard Regula and Gayle Jackson.

KENT, OHIO, January 17, 2006 – The Northeast Ohio Joint Office of Economic Development (JOED) has announced the addition of Richland County to its regional economic development partnership. In a ceremonial signing scheduled for January 23 at the Sheraton Suites in Cuyahoga Falls, the commissioners of the nine current member counties will officially welcome Richland County as a member of the JOED and the Northeast Ohio Trade & Economic Consortium (NEOTEC). NEOTEC is the private, nonprofit organization providing regional economic development services on behalf of the JOED.

“The addition of Richland County to the JOED reflects our continued commitment to the spirit of regional cooperation on which this organization is founded,” said Chuck Keiper, JOED Chairman and Portage County Commissioner. “The JOED already has a long and proud association with the City of Mansfield, Richland County’s largest city, which has administered a foreign-trade zone site at the Mansfield-Lahm Airport since 1999. Now we can extend that relationship to the entire county, as all 10 JOED counties unite in the common goal of promoting Northeast Ohio and enhancing our competitive advantages in the global marketplace,” Keiper said.
The JOED and NEOTEC were formed in 1996 by the executive of Summit County and the commissioners of Columbiana, Mahoning, Portage, Stark and Trumbull counties. Ashtabula became the seventh member county in January 2002, and Wayne and Medina counties joined the organization in January 2005.

“We are pleased to be a part of JOED and partner with NEOTEC on regional economic development efforts,” said Richland County Commissioner Tim Wert. “Richland County has made a major commitment in funding and facilities to retrain our workforce in higher technology skills. In order to grow our local businesses and attract new business to the area, we believe a better trained workforce will be pivotal in supporting that growth. Working through NEOTEC, we will have a vehicle to highlight Richland County’s business community and our better trained workforce on a global scale,” Wert said.

Under its contract with the JOED, NEOTEC works as a regional force for the 10 member counties, providing programs that support the efforts of the counties’ local economic development organizations. “The addition of Richland County enables NEOTEC to extend economic development support to a larger regional area and to pool the resources of 10 economically vibrant counties,” said Ron DeBarr, President and CEO of NEOTEC. “We look forward to extending our current association with the City of Mansfield to the entire county of Richland in order to assist in their economic development initiatives,” DeBarr said.

NEOTEC administers three organizations to implement its economic development strategies for the region: Foreign-Trade Zone 181 to promote international commerce, the International Trade Assistance Center (ITAC) to provide export counseling assistance to area businesses, and the Northeast Ohio Logistics Network to help improve regional market access.

For more information, contact Ron DeBarr, President and CEO of NEOTEC, at 330-672-4080 or via e-mail at neotec@kent.edu.

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The Northeast Ohio Trade and Economic Consortium (NEOTEC) is a regional economic development partnership including Ashtabula, Columbiana, Mahoning, Medina, Portage, Richland, Stark, Summit, Trumbull and Wayne counties, built to improve market access through the development of the Northeast Ohio Logistics Network and to promote international commerce through the administration of Foreign Trade Zone 181.

SCORE Offers Free Business Counseling
The Akron Chapter of the SCORE Association is a non-profit organization of retired and active executives and business owners that provides free counseling, mentoring and workshops to entrepreneurs and existing businesses in the four-county area of Portage, Summit, Medina and Wayne.

Celebrating its 40th anniversary in 2005, the chapter has counseled over 16,000 clients since its
inception. The relationship can last for a few sessions or a number of years. Counselors honor a strict code of ethics that ensures client confidentiality and professional conduct.

The collective expertise of SCORE’s men and women counselors covers a multitude of subjects from cash management, advertising, sales and marketing, to engineering, human resources, export/import, production and telecommunications, advises Chapter Chairman Ron Stallings.

Akron SCORE can be contacted by calling 330-379-3163, by email at www.akronscore.org, or by fax at 330-379-3164.
(See the Small Business page for additional resources.)

Lean Manufacturing Emphasized at the Portage Manufacturing Alliance's Networking Luncheon

The Portage Manufacturing Alliance met this past month at Maplewood Career Center to hear Fletcher Birmingham, President of Summit Business-Consulting, Inc. of Hudson. Fletcher is a specialist in operational excellence and workforce development. He has worked in manufacturing for over 20 years for companies such as Hamilton Sundstrand, Lockheed Martin and Scott Fetzer. His consulting clients include both large and small manufacturing and service organizations. In addition to consulting, Fletcher is Director and founder of the Operations and Plant Managers Association, OPMA. Formed in 2001, the OPMA consists of manufacturing and related businesses located in Northeast Ohio. OPMA members share a library of books and videotapes and receive discounts on publications.

Fletcher talked to our area manufacturers about the need to improve productivity above the rising rate of health care costs, which can be as high as 30% per year. He also emphasized the need for those in the industry to focus on a leaner sense of manufacturing in order to maintain the increase. His main message to the group was that “as your company goes through a process of leaner manufacturing, it must encompass more than just your factory/line workers, it must also include your office procedures and administration as well.” He stated that this will assist with employee buy-in.

Pictured: Sy Thompson, Portage County Department of Economic Development; Sam Mishler, Automated Packaging Systems; Fletcher Birmingham; Becky Zuver, Inland Packaging, and Will Wilke, Automation Plastics Corp.

NOTICE: The Ohio Enterprise Zone law changed on June 9, 2004.
The new law permits exemptions up to 15 years with the affected school board approval. The new law also establishes mandatory performance levels for job creation and retention and provides mandatory claw back language that must be included in all enterprise zone agreements. The sample agreement and EZ Application on the Enterprise Zones page includes the new language that must be used.

Portage County's New Foreign Trade Zone Nets 2 New Companies

L'Oreal's new 650,000 sq. ft. distribution center in Streetsboro will add 378 jobs to the county's job base. Recreational Products new manufacturing and distribution center will add 47 new jobs.

Portage County's First Foreign Trade Zones - NEOTEC (Northeast Ohio Trade & Economic Consortium announced that the Foreign-Trade Zones Board in Washington, D.C. has approved its application to establish two foreign-trade zone sites in Portage County, the county's first foreign-trade zone designation.

June 2004 Streetsboro, Ohio The two sites are among 9 new sites approved within Foreign-Trade Zone(FTZ) 181 with the recent application, including sites in Mahoning, Stark, Summit and Trumbull Counties. FTZ 181, which is administered by NEOTEC, now encompasses 32 total sites and nearly 6,000 acres throughout Northeast Ohio, and is among the top 10 of more than 260 Foreign-trade zones in the U.S. in terms of activity. Streetsboro's FTZ sites include the Interstate Commerce Center and the Frost Road Commerce Center.

The main objective of the Foreign-Trade Zone program is the creation and retention of jobs through increased export activity. Companies use foreign trade zones to maintain the cost competitiveness of their U.S. based operations vis-a-vis their foreign-based competitors. Zone status provides an opportunity to reduce certain operating costs associated with a U.S. location that are avoided when operating from a foreign site.

The FTZ 181 program in Northeast Ohio has enjoyed significant growth since 2001, expanding from 9 companies within zone boundaries to a projected 34 companies in 2005. The growth during this time period represents $215 million in new capital investment with the creation and retention of 3,315 jobs - an acceptable performance considering Northeast Ohio and the nation were in the depths of a recession during most of this period.

The growth was a combination of attracting new companies and the expansion of existing companies. With the economy recovering, the FTZ 181 program is positioned to make an even greater impact on job growth in Northeast Ohio. For more information about FTZ 181, contact NEOTEC at 330-672-4080 or neotec@kent.edu.

Portage County Solid Waste District

Business & Industry Recycling Program - The commercial program offers recycling collection services for all businesses in Portage County. We have a monthly container rental program for your convenience. Contact Director at 330-678-8808 Fax: 330-678-9405 E-mail: rportagecounty@neo.rr.com.
Web Site: www.recycle.4t.com

JumpStart, Inc. funds high-growth businesses and ideas, works with their founders to develop the businesses into venture-ready entities and simultaneously celebrates Northeast Ohio's early-stage company successes.

If you have a business that's poised for rapid growth, or an innovation that you'd like to advance, JunpStart might be the right place to go. JumpStart has designed a structured investing process, whether the "investment" sought by a client is an investment of time and resources through JumpStart's Business Development Services, an investment of cash sought through JumpStart Investments, or both.

There is also a pace setters program called JumpStart Pace Setters. They are entrepreneurs who exemplify the leadership, courage, energy and drive necessary to grow a business in Northeast Ohio. Cool Cleveland's Thomas Mulready will interview a JunpStart Pace Setter every month to learn what sets them apart form others.

And there are also a wide variety of JumpStart Exchange Events and networking at which you can meet with other local entrepreneurs, business owners, and community leaders. For more information on JumpStart visit www.jumpstartinc.org or call Thom Ruhe, Chief Marketing Officer at 216-363-3400.