by Kevin Koelling, Managing Editor, Perry County News
The Perry County Development Corp. is celebrating its 20th anniversary this year, and Clay Ewing noted during the agency's annual dinner Feb. 18 those two decades have been marked by significant changes and successes.
"In today's dynamic business environment, and over the years we have always been proud of our ability to adapt and change rapidly in response to external pressures," the chairman of the agency's board of directors said. "State and local politics have changed over the last 20 years, and this organization has prided itself in always acting in a bipartisan way, working with both sides of the aisle for the betterment of our community."
Ewing told other board members and guests the economic environment has featured shifting conditions "from the Internet bubble to the housing bubble, to the stock soaring past 10,000 and some predicting its passing 15,000, to a total financial meltdown" and said despite that, "I hope you'll agree that together, we have played a leading role in the improvement in the quality of life in Perry County."
He provided an overview of the agency's history, which began in 1990 when a group of community leaders assembled to coordinate the efforts of several groups that were working unsuccessfully toward economic development.
"The efforts of these individuals brought the public and private sectors together to for the Perry County Development Corp.," Ewing said. "In 1993, an unknown company from Waupaca, Wisc., became a prospect of this community, looking to build a 250,000-square-foot building, a planned investment of $45 million in building and equipment and anticipated employment of 225 employees."
The company announced in 1995 it would locate here, and a celebration in Tell City's City Hall Park marked the news, he continued. Construction started in 1996, leading to the moving of more than two million cubic yards of dirt. Considering the rolling-hills topography of the area, "that's quite an astonishing feat," Ewing said. In 1997, the scope and size of the project "exploded during the development phase," he continued, and construction of the company's Perry County plant began.
Since then, ThyssenKrupp was added to Waupaca's name, and "today, TKW has invested more than $200 million in Perry County, it has over 550,000 square feet under roof and employs over 800 employees." Addressing the Waupaca representatives in the audience, he said, "for this, Perry County certainly thanks you and owes you a great deal of gratitude. Thank you very much for choosing our community."
He flashed back again, to 1994.
Perfect Fit made its first visit then, proposing to invest $4.9 million in a 94,000-square-foot building and hire 100 people. Production began in February 1995, but in "five very short years" the company announced in June 2000 it was to close the facility.
In August 2000, Ewing said, representatives of a company called Aisin Takaoka made its first visit to Perry County. In October, the company announced its intent to purchase the Perfect Fit building, "and as you can imagine, many individuals worked very hard to turn the potentially devastating news of a plant closing in our community and the losing of a hundred jobs, to announcing a world-class manufacturer would be moving in to take its place, all in three short months," he recalled.
The new company planned to move in by July 2001, invest $66.7 million over 10 years and employ 81 people within five years, Ewing went on. The News reported in March 2002 the company had already hired 72 workers and would make the first of what would become four expansions. Investment had surpassed $50 million by the end of 2004, when company officials announced 55,000 square feet and 15 jobs would be added. A July 2005 News report said another 75 jobs and more than 74,000 square feet of manufacturing space would be added. As of this year, Aisin Takaoka Tell City has expanded four times and employs more than 300 people.
"ATTC, thank you very much for your investment into this community," Ewing told the company representatives in attendance. "It's greatly, greatly appreciated."
The PCDC "worked extensively" to launch the Perry County Port Authority, which Ewing called key to bringing in the Waupaca plant, and helped pave the way for Webb Wheel, Accent Marketing and Stewart-Warner.
The agency "worked very hard to be a part of the formation of the Perry County Learning Partnership," Ewing said, "a collaboration of business and education encouraging lifelong learning and career growth. It's very important that our work force be properly trained to go into these manufacturers and provide the skills they require."
PCDC helped Stewart-Warner obtain a tax abatement for a $1.3 million expansion, conducted a land-use study and other efforts for "gateways to this community" from Interstate 64, participated in an economic summit in Evansville and initial discussions regarding regional development, Ewing said. It launched efforts toward an industrial park in northern Perry County, aided in the siting of Automated Routing here and directed a business survey to determine ways to diversify the county's economy while assisting its businesses. A contract PCDC helped establish between the learning partnership and state employment officials will help businesses better understand opportunities available to them and to identify current and future needs of employers to collaborate with the educational professionals.
Effects of the PCDC's efforts can be seen in a rise in per capita income from $19,463 in 1987 to $27,709 in 2007, the latest year for which figures are available, he said. More importantly, the average wage per job has climbed to $43,880, which Ewing called "well above our surrounding communities - Dubois County is at approximately $35,000."
As the organization's efforts continue, it remains "very busy, and we hope you will agree it's been a successful 20 years," Ewing told attendees. Looking ahead, he said the PCDC must continue to demonstrate an ability to change in response to external forces.
Chris Kinnett, president and chief executive officer for PCDC, followed Ewing to the podium. A leader's job is to influence people, he noted, and getting other people to change to meet a goal because they want to is his or her challenge.
"People resist change because they resist being controlled," he said, "but they freely choose to make major life changes every day." Decisions to marry, to move to another city or to change jobs were among his examples. To convince people that a change is right for them, "give them control," he urged, explaining if they "own" a decision, they'll be happy with it. "If you try to trick them, they'll know," he cautioned.
If a leader has chosen a path to pursue, the people who need to buy into it should be allowed to select an alternate path as long as it leads to the same destination, he continued.
For 2010, PCDC "will continue to work proactively with our existing businesses, looking for ways to diversify our product mix and help our current employers be more successful and profitable," Kinnett said. The organization will continue efforts to develop 200 acres north of Interstate 64 at Indiana 37, and "we are working to have Perry County identified as the gray- and ductile-iron epicenter for the Midwest. We will recruit new companies that will help develop and market products that will utilize the expertise and quality found only here in Perry County. This will include the development of an innovation center and state-of-the-art data center. The innovation center will be built to ensure success and sustainability."
A concept for a "grand lodge located adjacent to the U.S. Forestry Service remains a dream," Kinnett continued. "However, through the efforts of our Northern Perry County Committee, we continue to seek funding sources for waste-water treatment. Through this committee's efforts, we have cleaned up a former gas station at St. Croix and continue to seek out infrastructure opportunities for this gateway into Perry County."
A quality-of-life committee has met monthly for the last year to discuss the county's future, he said. Its goals are to "identify strengths that make the county a great place to live and work, and sharing that news with others, residents and visitors alike."
PCDC will continue to help in Tell City's efforts "to bring Main Street back to life," to develop greenway walking and biking trails and "take advantage of our waterfront," Kinnett said.
He, too, said the agency will work to foster education-employment connections "to strengthen the local talent pool of workers by coordinating job-placement activities."
Working closely with the Perry County Port Authority, local officials concerned with economic development will look for ways to "leverage local resources and take advantage of our existing businesses." They'll seek ways to extend supply chains and open new markets while reducing costs, he said, asking audience members to contribute ideas and support "not because we say so, but because you freely choose to support these projects and give us your input to make these ideas better. We have suggested a path. Now it is up to you to help us look for alternative routes."
The guest speaker for the dinner was Hideaki "Dean" Ando, president of ATTC Manufacturing. He provided an overview of the company, explaining that it's part of a group of six large companies employing 82,000 people at 166 manufacturing plants. ATTC had 313 employees as of January, he said.
Communication and training are key to the company's success, Ando explained. Communication has been encouraged and facilitated through monthly social activities, he explained, although local effects of the nation's economic troubles have infringed on them. Training takes a hands-on approach, he said, with workers learning how the parts they manufacture enhance the quality of vehicles they'll go into.
Their learning begins with safe use of tools and equipment and proceeds to increasingly difficult concepts in a continuous-improvement hierarchy known as "kaizen."
"We'd like to optimize man, machine, material and method to minimize cost and space," he said, with a goal of becoming the No. 1 machining plant in a global market.
