Three Thoughts: Food Production A Source of our Proud Ohio Manufacturing Story

 

My great grandfather’s name was Royal.  The family story is that, when he was born, his mother looked up at her kitchen shelf and saw a box.  Royal Baking Powder gave him his name. 

Though I don’t recommend looking at one’s pantry for kids’ names, our shelves hold names for food in Ohio that should be a source of pride for Ohioans.  There’s some lesser known food producers but ones for which we all have reasons to be proud too. 

Every corner of the state helps to tell our state’s significant food manufacturing story. 

First Thought: Well Known Brands Galore.

Jerome Monroe Smucker gave his name to J.M. Smucker headquartered in Orrville.  The multi-billion dollar company got started making apple butter in Wayne County.  Who didn’t grow up with peanut butter and jelly sandwiches? Today, the company’s national facilities produce Smucker’s jelly and Jif peanut butter.  

Teresa Marzetti gave her name to the Columbus company for which various brands are often found on our shelves in more ways than one ranging from salad dressing to fruit dips. 

Campbell soup is a safe bet on Ohioans’ shelves too.  Campbell’s largest soup plant is in Napoleon, Ohio.  There’s an over two million square foot building coupled with a massive tomato soup can replica you can’t miss if you are there. 

Totino’s pizza rolls are made at General Mills facilities in Jackson County. The company is one of southeast Ohio’s largest employers with over 1,000 employees.  You can’t help but personally feel that job impact if you live near there. 

Bud Lite is brewed in Columbus.  Miller Lite comes out of Trenton. 

Another Thought: Bet You Find These Products Too.

There’s more to our food shelves than big brands. 

Heath is home to GB Food.  The food producer doesn’t brand anything, but chances are pretty good that you’ve eaten their soy crisps that end up the top ingredient in popular protein bars. 

Despite the legends about Wisconsin, Ohio is actually a top producer of cheese among states.  In fact, the nation’s number one producer of swiss cheese is located in northeastern Ohio. Brewster Cheese in Brewster isn’t a brand you see often but percentages are pretty high that the swiss cheese you eat comes from there.  

Drivers on I-70 can’t miss Royal Canin’s new place in Preble County.  Another big producer, but, for now, a lesser-known brand. 

It would take a whole other page to tell Ohio’s agricultural story married with our manufacturing one.  

Third Thought: Economic Impact is a Reason to Double the Pride.

So often when we talk about manufacturing and Ohio’s well-earned pride with that sector of our economy, we miss the trees because of the forest.  Food manufacturing, in particular, is a stand out reason for understanding the overall tremendous economic impact of manufacturing in our state. 

In many places in Ohio, our neighbors make their living proudly making products that fill our kitchen shelves every day.   The local economic impact of food manufacturing is often crucial to a whole regional economy. 

You don’t have to live in Napoleon, Brewster, Heath, or Wellston, though, to appreciate the manufacturing story that permeates all of Ohio and is, rightly, a source of pride.

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This column is a regular column in The Columbus Dispatch.

Three Thoughts: Nothing Mundane About Energy Production

Mundane.  An over $4 per gallon price of gasoline aside, stopping to fill your car’s gas tank seems fairly routine.

Learn what goes into making gasoline and producing power, however, and there’s nothing mundane about it.  There’s so much more complexity, and economic impact, than meets the eye. 

Ohio is at the center of it all. 

First Thought: Tour an Oil Refinery. Learn Its Complexity.  Cenovus’ Lima oil refinery is nearly two hours away from Columbus.  Yet, our routine ability to pull up to a gas pump and fill up in Central Ohio is owed to this plant and three others in Ohio. 

I was glad to get a tour recently and learn more.  What an eye opener. 

There’s so much complexity.  Yet, it would be easy to be dismissive about the 140-year-old refinery which is the oldest continually operating refinery in the United States.  Out of sight.  Out of mind. 

It’s not out of mind in Lima.  In fact, facing a possible closure a few years back, the city rallied to find a buyer and keep the jobs and economic impact.  It’s good for all of us they did. 

It takes a lot of STEM-skilled people to keep it operating efficiently and make the jump between refining crude oil into gasoline, diesel, or jet fuel. 

Another Thought: Supply Chains Are Also Complex. It is shocking how much supply chain impact there is.  It’s a list too long to write down.  

Pipelines push out the fuels across the state.  Terminals miles away on the pipelines fill the trucks that keep our gas stations pumping.  Marathon runs a major terminal in Central Ohio. 

Railroad lines bring critical materials in and out.  Every manufacturer and rail user benefits from spreading the costs of keeping the lines running across a wide industry base. 

MPW, MISTRAS Group, Kokosing Industrial, and AMG Vanadium are among the companies that employ people in the middle of Ohio but with strong ties to the refineries and Ohio’s energy industry. 

Third Thought: Other Forms of Energy Also Not Mundane.  Increased electricity use, coupled with lost electricity production, has made the business of power generation something that used to be out of sight and out of mind, but isn’t anymore.  

However, now there is new power generation capacity planned galore.  The PJM multi-state grid operator just accepted 811 applications for interconnection from generators of all types.  Supply is coming. 

The vast number of PJM applications and ones that hit the agenda at the Ohio Power Siting Board show a growing trend.  A good one.  Power generation is finding its way to where the users are.  

It could still be out of sight and out of mind. For example, The Ohio State University’s Combined Heat and Power Plant is hidden in plain sight.   Power can be generated in a building that’s visible right off State Route 315 on campus.  One could drive by it and never know.  OSU has found a way to make power generation feel, well, mundane. 

We all need to embrace the more visible, complex energy production business.  We all benefit.  After all, there’s nothing mundane about energy production.

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This column is a regular column in The Dispatch.

Three Thoughts: I’m A Son Of A. . .Planner

 

I’m a son of a planner.  When I say it out loud, for dramatic effect, I make a slight pause after the second “a” before delivering the word planner as the punchline. 

It’s true.  My dad was a city planner when urban planning was a new thing.  As the son of a planner, I’ve been attending planning meetings longer than I can literally remember. 

Though my dad and I saw eye-to-eye on most things, we differed when it came to planning.  He was proud, for example, to live his entire life and never set foot in a Walmart.  It must be mandatory as an urban planner to (wrongly) blame Walmart for the demise of America’s downtowns.  

On the contrary, I am a huge fan of Walmart.  I am proud to call a major Walmart investment in Ohio among the most impactful job-creating projects on which I’ve ever had the pleasure to work.  

One thing is apparent on what we would agree.  My dad wouldn’t recognize planning today.  

First Thought: It’s Not My Father’s Planning Anymore.

Planning used to be a positive exercise—zoning made to strategically invite complimentary development and land use. 

It’s shifted.  

I recently found myself observing a planning hearing.  For a change, I was not personally involved.  More than 40 people testified against single family homes being built in Heath that, by some crystal balls, may bring two and half times more school-aged kids than would generally be the case for expensive new homes.  Though the meeting was 90% civil, some things were new to me: booing the other side as well as pandering instead of persuading. 

I fear that the message now part of modern planning and zoning is simply: Keep out. 

Another Thought: Is Civility Lost Forever?

There’s no question that the evolution of planning has brought with it greater negativity. 

According to a recent survey by the Ohio Economic Development Association, almost two out of three economic developers reported negative community sentiment as a challenge over the past year versus that topic not even making the list the year before. 

There’s lots of reasons for the shift.  Filling social media posts and procuring online thumbs up from an audience beyond the room scores points with some.  Unbiased media coverage isn’t even in the room. 

When trends shift one way, it’s easy to assume they will stay that way.  I’ll take the high road and predict civility wins out.  Some day.  

Third Thought: A Positive Plan For Employment.

Chandler, Arizona was 40 years ahead of Central Ohio in winning a semiconductor manufacturing investment from Intel.  Chandler leaders cite the biggest decision their forefathers made that is paying dividends today is planning for future employment. 

They call them employment corridors.  

Chandler didn’t want to be a “company town” dependent on one major employer.  They found a way to plan for future opportunity.  There’s still development land in fast-growing Chandler that brings promises of job creation in the future. 

Chandler is a model for the reasons to return to the strategic and positive side of planning and zoning. 

Local planning and zoning focused on creating employment opportunity is spot on.  That’s the sort of planning on which most people can agree.

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This column is a regular column in The Dispatch.