Earn a Great Living in Licking County!

A team of us have been working on trying to figure out ways to help our employers with the workforce shortage they are facing, especially in manufacturing and skilled trades.

One aspect that we identified is getting more high school students interested in going into the manufacturing and skilled trades fields.  So we created a video for that demographic:




Special thanks to Screen Machine Industries, The Bionetics Corporation and Owens Corning for contributing to this video. And of course, a big kudos to Stand Alone Media House for producing it.

Another group to thank is the Licking County Chamber, Grow Licking County, The Licking County Foundation and AEP Ohio for funding this project.

Walking In My Shoes. . .at the Chamber

I often get asked "What is happening at the Chamber?" or "What does the Chamber do?"  Because my days are never repetitive, it is sometimes hard for me to give a short answer.  I often think if only someone could walk in my shoes for a day. . .

Although I can't "share my shoes" with you, I can give you some insight into my weekly activities at the chamber, or the inside scoop on what I am working on from week to week.  I plan to post weekly updates in hope that you can be more informed about what I do at the chamber, as well as share opportunities for you to get involved.

Hope you enjoy a look into my world. . .

Week of August 25, 2014

Creating Interest in Manufacturing

You may or may not know this, but the manufacturing industry in Licking County is thriving.  We have many companies who are expanding and looking for skilled workers.  That is the good news.  The bad news is that with a large pool of workers retiring, we are having a problem finding skilled workers to fill all of these positions.

The chamber, in partnership with many others, is working on a manufacturing campaign.  The first phase will be implemented at the high school level.  We are currently working on a video that will be shown to juniors and seniors at two high schools to help encourage them to enter the manufacturing field.  Last week we filmed at Screen Machine Industries.  This week we will be filming at Owens Corning and The Bionetics Corporation.  Thanks to Stand Alone Media House for producing this video.  I will be sharing this video on our website once it is completed, which should be in early October.

Endorsement Requests

November 4 will be here before we know it.  In addition to candidates running for office, there are many community issues which will appear on the ballot.  The Chamber has received three endorsement requests for the general election.  This week our Government Affairs Committee will be conducting endorsement interviews with the Licking County Library, Children's Services Levy Committee and the Senior Citizens Levy.  They will be making their recommendations to the Chamber's Board of Directors, who make all endorsement decisions.  Look for an announcement regarding these endorsements in the September/October newsletter.

Welcome Aboard

The Chamber's fiscal year comes to a close at the end of this month.  A special thank-you to those Board Members who have served two, two-year terms and are leaving the Board this month:  Lindsay Englefield with First Federal Savings; Connie Hawk with the Licking County Foundation and Jack Stickle with Henderson, VanAtta, Stickle Funeral and Cremation Services.  In addition to those three, my Chairman, Mike Massaro with Tectum, Inc. will finish his reign as well.  Mike has been a great leader for the chamber this year.  These vacancies will be filled by three new individuals coming aboard beginning September 1.  They are:  Andrew Guanciale with Coldwell Banker King Thompson; Pat Jeffries, consultant; and Ryan West with First Federal Savings.  This week I will be conducting Chamber Board Orientation for the three newcomers.  In addition, I will be welcoming Caroline Fraker with MedBen as my new Chairman.  I am looking forward to working with these outstanding community leaders.

If you have any questions or comments about the information I have shared, please feel free to contact me via this blog, email at chottinger@lickingcountychamber.com or call me at 740.345.9757 x5.  I would love to hear from you.

Have a great week!

Manufacturing Sector Strong in Licking County

At our March meeting of the Manufacturer's Council Executive Committee meeting, hosted by Holophane in Newark, the round table reports were pretty positive for our Licking County Companies represented.

Most of the manufacturing companies reported that they were seeing a strong start to 2014.  Several are hiring or have added new jobs.

Truck One, a local trucking company in downtown Newark,  is looking for truck drivers, which means production is up and products are shipping.

All good news for Licking County.

Momentive Expansion

Congratulations to Momentive today on their ground breaking event.  The planned expansion brings an investment of 5.4 million dollars to Licking County as well as 10 new manufacturing jobs.

Yes, I think I have my eyes closed.  Figures.

We Are The Top Manufacturing Country In The World

Last Friday Jack Schultz, author of Boomtown USA gave a wonderful presentation at our Economic Development Summit about how smaller communities can be successful at economic development.  It was a very inspiring speech.

Afterwards a few of us had the opportunity to sit down with him and ask him numerous questions about initiatives we are doing and what has and hasn't worked for communities such as ours around the country. 

We also discussed what has been happening with manufacturing over the past few years and he shared some great stats with us about how manufacturing in the US is alive and well.

I'm also pleased to be able to share with you a 20 minute webinar that he did for NAIOP.  Here is the summary of it:

U.S. Manufacturing



The top manufacturing country in the world is the USA! And, our share of world manufacturing production is the same as it was 40 years ago!


Now, if you get all of your information from cable news, you're probably wondering what we are doing at Agracel and the Boomtown Institute with statements like that. But, if you want the real story on the USA manufacturing powerhouse, then you'll want to watch this 20 minute free webinar by Jack Schultz.


In it you'll learn:
· That the USA set another new record for output, profits and exports (all inflation adjusted) in 2008.
· That our percentage of world production has remained remarkably steady at from 20 to 25% of the world's total production.
· Why manufacturing continues to have some of the highest paying jobs and is the largest wealth creator on a local basis.
· Why manufacturing employment has increased in 2010, but not at all educational levels.
· What the key drivers will be for continuing growth in manufacturing plants and jobs
· The local economic benefits from having a strong manufacturing base.

Take 20 minutes and watch the presentation.  It is well worth your time.

To watch this webinar, click here.