By LAURIE HUFFMANBy LAURIE HUFFMANThe Alliance ReviewThe Alliance Review

Economic growth is pro-jected to exceed 3 percent in 2011, meaning those who still have jobs may actually be able to stop holding their breath.

For those who are without jobs, or are underemployed due to forced changes in occupa-tion, there may not seem to be much of an improvement yet.

While some industries are shrinking — such as construc-tion, real estate and lower-end computer programming, which is being outsourced to emerg-ing high-tech Meccas like India — other industries have never experienced much of a reces-sion.

These include health care, which seems to be a path many unemployed workers and stu-dents are turning toward. Energy and mechanical, electri-cal and chemical engineering also are fields of study that can ensure secure employment now and in the future, according to officials at Stark State College.

In Stark County, a focus on alternative energy taking place at Stark State College is creat-ing new areas of study, as well as bringing jobs to the area.

Rolls-Royce has developed a fuel cell prototyping center at Stark State College, and the col-lege has begun offering fuel cell technology study programs.

According to Susan Shearer, director of fuel cell and alterna-tive energy technologies at the college, a number of fuel cell technology students have been offered internships at Rolls-Royce and have ended up gain-ing permanent positions with the company.

“Stark State is the fuel cell hub in Stark County, and Rolls-

Royce will be one of the first companies in Ohio to commer-cialize one megawatt fuel cells, if they choose to commercialize in Ohio,” said Shearer. “That decision is in process now. Ohio has a good chance at being cho-sen, because the state contains many companies that are sup-porting fuel cell production worldwide through component manufacturing. This is a mar-

ket that is already established, and it’s growing.”

Companies involved in com-ponent manufacturing and fuel cell technology are clustered in Cleveland, Columbus, Cincin-nati and a few cities in between. In Northestern Ohio, AvMatt LLC, Energy Technologies Inc., Gormann-Rupp Industries, Innis Maggiore Group, Kent State University, Stark State

College, Refractory Specialties Inc. and Defense Metals Tech-nology Center are just a few companies listed on the fuel cell corridor map, which can be accessed at www.fuelcellcorri-dor.com.

Stark State College is actu-ally a testing and training site for two different types of fuel cell technology.

The partnership with Rolls-Royce, which brought about the construction of a new fuel cell laboratory last summer, involves research and develop-ment of fuel cells that will be used as a power source in hos-pitals, universities and shop-ping malls. These fuel cells also are capable of being developed for various marine, military and transportation applications.

Stark State College is also involved in the testing of PEM fuel cells. These fuel cells, by design and function, are more appropriate for the automobile industry, and fuel-cell-powered vehicles are already being man-ufactured by Honda and GM.

Shearer also reported the batteries GM uses in some of its advanced-technology vehi-cles are currently sent back to the plant to be repaired. As the demand grows for these vehicles, more people will be needed locally to repair them,

and Stark State is looking now to create a partnership with GM to supply a local training component.

As part of a Fuel Cell Cor-ridor in Ohio, also called the global center of the fuel cell industry, which was established by the Ohio Fuel Cell Coalition, a number of companies have received Ohio Third Frontier Fuel Cell Program Awards in 2011.

Among these job-creating companies are Rolls-Royce Fuel Cells Systems, which is receiv-ing $999,875 in collaboration with RoviSys Co. to use toward automation and manufacturing of megawatt fuel cells.

Lockeed Martin MS2, in Summit County, is receiving $1 million in collaboration with six companies to further develop a fuel-based generator set critical for supplying electrical power for military missions and to sol-diers in the field.

Companies in Allen and Franklin counties also received awards this year. For more information, visit www.fuelcell-corridor.com.

For information on fuel cell and alternative energy study programs at Stark State Col-lege, call 330-494-6170 or visit online at www.starkstate.edu.

New jobs, training emerge in fuel cell technology“Stark State is the fuel cell hub in Stark County, and Rolls-Royce will be one of the first companies in Ohio to commercialize one megawatt fuel cells, if they choose to commer-cialize in Ohio.”

Susan Shearerdirector of fuel cell and alternative energy

technologies at Stark State College

Photos courtesy of Stark State College of Technology

Stark State College instructor Vern Sproat works with a student on fuel cell technology.

2 JUNE 2011 EMERGING OPPORTUNITIESEMERGING OPPORTUNITIES Dix Communications

By LINDA HALLBy LINDA HALLWooster Daily RecordWooster Daily Record

WOOSTER — A nursing career is readily available to area students who may climb the ladder from state tested nursing assistant or licensed practical nurse to a master’s in nursing — afford-ably and step-by-step, stopping at any point along the way.

Offering various entry and ending points, the nursing programs available at Wayne County Schools Career Cen-ter, in conjunction with Stark State Col-lege and the University of Akron’s main and Wayne College campuses, facilitate the career path.

Beginning in high school, the route available is a seamless avenue, featuring flexibility and allowing nursing students the ability to make money in their field as they reach each rung of the ladder.

At the Career Center, students may study to become a state tested nursing assistant, the first rung on the ladder, and then, if they choose, a licensed prac-tical nurse.

“We have a whole high school pro-gram dedicated to (STNA training),” said Andrew Cerniglia, the Career Cen-ter’s nursing supervisor, clarifying the LPN and STNA programs are two sepa-rate learning tracks.

The adult education LPN program incorporates STNA training, Cerniglia said.

A student already in possession of STNA licensing is eligible for reduced tuition for that part of the program.

“Instead of making it a prerequisite, wrapping it into the whole program,”

makes it more financially feasible, according to Cerniglia.

A student who is already an LPN may obtain advanced standing at Stark State College in a two-year associate degree nursing program (ADM) to become a registered nurse, Gloria Kline, an asso-ciate professor, said.

Students in the program must also take non-nursing courses, which are part of the curriculum, she said, but once they have met the prerequisites, they can complete the RN program in less than a year.

They may take prerequisites in “a number of places” within the collabora-tion, Lynn Moomaw, the Career Center’s director of operations, pointed out.

“Including online,” Kline said.To earn their associate’s degree in

nursing, they must also pass an RN licensing exam.

At Wayne College through the Uni-versity of Akron, students may parlay their two-year associate’s degree as an RN into a bachelor of science in nursing by taking some of the general education courses available.

“We provide them with the tools (to do it),” said Charles Kelades, director of the nursing outreach program at the Uni-versity of Akron, noting the advantages of a BSN over an associate’s degree.

First of all, he said, those with a BSN stand a greater chance of being employed in a hospital setting, particu-

larly in acute care.It also is widely acknowledged the

higher level of education involved in the BSN “produces a more well-rounded individual,” Kelades said, because relat-ed classes give them “a different angle (and) broaden their horizons.”

For many people, earning a BSN makes them “able to move up the ladder more quickly,” Kelades said, and creates “potential for higher earnings.”

For a nurse to move onto a master’s of science in nursing, he or she must have earned a BSN, he said.

A key point in the process provided by collaboration among schools, Cerni-glia said, is “multiple entrance points.”

Using the path provided by the enti-ties involved — Stark State, Wayne Col-lege, the University of Akron and The Career Center — a student may save at least $27,000, Kelades and Cerniglia agreed, in comparison to seeking a reg-istered nursing degree through a tradi-tional four-year college.

There has been high demand for a career path in nursing, according to Garth Schoffman, director of instruction and development for Wayne College, noting, “We’ve been trying to put this together for years.”

“We’ve been collaborating for awhile,” agreed Moomaw, who highlighted the Career Center’s LPN program as one of only three high school LPN programs in the state.

The career route offered by the col-laboration becomes more affordable, “breaking down (the financial commit-ment),” Moomaw said, and giving stu-dents the opportunity to “take a little time and make some money (at different steps along the way).”

Schools’ collaboration helps nursing degree path

Mike Schenk/The Daily Record photo

Jackie Shrock, practical nursing coordinator at the Wayne County Schools Career Center in Smithville, teaches in front of a large sum-mer nursing class.

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Dix Communications EMERGING OPPORTUNITIESEMERGING OPPORTUNITIES JUNE 2011 3

By ANDREW SCHUNKBy ANDREW SCHUNKTwinsburg BulletinTwinsburg Bulletin

TWINSBURG — Northeast Ohio has long been considered a Mecca for the health care industry, from hospitals to allied businesses. No more so is this illustrated than through the expand-ing hospitals and medical businesses in Twinsburg, which serves as an indus-try hub for the surrounding suburbs of Solon, Streetsboro, Hudson and Mace-donia.

As 2008’s economic collapse devas-tated a majority of industries and small businesses, hospital systems in this area have grown — even thrived — in spite of the recession, thanks to technologi-cal advances and a generation of baby boomers living longer and consuming more health care services.

“Health care is a strength of North-east Ohio in general,” said Twinsburg’s chief city planner Larry Finch. “It’s well-positioned for industrial development.”

In January 2008, Cleveland-based University Hospitals established itself in Twinsburg with a 46,000-square-foot hospital on Commons Boulevard, and in February the hospital system added a helicopter landing area. In May, UH Twinsburg Health Center added a $2.4 million, 3,400-square-foot emergency department, set to employ 25.

The Cleveland Clinic is slated to open

a 300-employee, $97 million facility July 25 at Ohio 91 and Interstate 480. The 197,000-square-foot facility will include an emergency room.

The city’s largest employer remains Edgepark Medical Supplies, with more than 740 employees.

As other related health care busi-nesses in Twinsburg — including Hita-

chi Medical Systems (a manufacturer of medical imaging equipment), Cover My Meds (an insurance provider), Quest Diagnostics Laboratories, Richter and Associates (a provider of medical billing and accounting services specifically for doctors) and Kaiser Permanente — have become as the titans of the industry, the hospital systems, have grown.

“Health care follows demographics,” said James Benedict, president of the UH Ahuja Medical Center in Beach-wood, which oversees the new Twins-burg emergency facility. “Twinsburg is a vibrant, growing community with doc-tors already present and a positive loca-tion.”

“The hospital systems want to main-tain a proximity to the populations they serve,” Finch says. “This has driven them to spread their footprint.”

This burgeoning industry in North-east Ohio has implications for more than just access to efficient health care under one roof.

Growth means jobs, as well as an increased demand for local colleges and universities to offer degrees that prepare students for health care fields.

“There is absolutely a connection to the academic world,” Benedict said. “There is always a need, a high demand, for primary care physicians, as well as nursing jobs.

“There’s a need for technicians in radiology and other laboratory fields; a need for a specific education in these fields. Students coming out of college should also possess good communica-tion skills, as well as the ‘want’ to help people.”

And that is exactly what Kent State University’s Twinsburg Academic Cen-ter does, according to Finch. KSU’s Geauga Campus in Twinsburg will build a $13.7 million, 44,000-square-foot cam-pus on 15 acres off Route 91, just north of I-480, by spring 2012.

“Kent State offers a focus on health care training,” Finch says. “Whether it’s home health aide and an opportunity to provide staffing for those industries, or classes toward coding, billing and other skills.

“As homes continue to sell and the economy grows again in Northeast Ohio, places like University Hospitals and the Cleveland Clinic, supported by KSU, will help stabilize the area — and continue to be a benefit for everyone invested in the city of Twinsburg and surrounding areas.”

Added UH Chief Operating Officer Dr. Achilles Demetriou: “We believe that Cleveland is a strong medical magnet for patients outside of the geographic area … the impact of these projects will rever-berate throughout the community (and) the region … for decades to come.”

Hospital industry growth reverberates throughout area

RPC File Photo

The $97 million Cleveland Clinic slated to open July 25 in Twins-burg at Ohio 91 and Interstate 480 will employ 300 people.

By COURTNEY ALBON By COURTNEY ALBON Ashland Times-GazetteAshland Times-Gazette

Hidden amidst the gloom of the economic down-turn exists a dichotomy with strong economic implica-tions — as millions of people across the United States are looking for work, one of the nation’s few growing career fields, the biosciences, finds itself with a short-age of manpower. The problem in Northeast Ohio and throughout the country is that would-be employees don’t have the necessary skills.

“There are jobs, but the challenge of the jobs that are available is that they require advanced skills,” said Dave Baldwin, one of the founders of the Bioscience Consortium of Northeast Ohio.

The consortium, a network of educators, scientists and business professionals working to make connections and build awareness of opportunities in the biosciences, was created to help bridge the gap between potential employers and their work force. Baldwin said the group is making progress, but still is playing catch-up when it comes to preparing workers for the new industry.

Part of the challenge, Baldwin said, is changing long-held ideas about industry in Ohio and particularly in the Northeast, a region that has long been depen-dent on manufacturing to support its economy.

“It’s an emerging economic opportunity area and a lot of people just aren’t aware of it,” Baldwin said. “While manufacturing is not dead in Ohio, advanced skills are required for new manufacturing. A lot of people still don’t understand that the opportunities are available.”

In fact, according to research compiled by develop-ment group BioOhio, bioscience employment and out-put is at its highest in Northeast Ohio. The region in 2009 had 719 locations, employed 21,427 people and had a combined payroll of close to $1.5 billion. The aver-age bioscience wage was more than $67,000 a year.

But to sustain that growth, Baldwin said, there need to be solid connections between bioscience firms and the educational institutions that are training their future employees. That’s where a program of the Ashland County-West Holmes Career Center comes in.

Propelled by several members of the consortium, the school has launched two bioscience programs, one geared toward adults and the other toward high school students. In both cases, the goal is to take stu-dents with interests in science and technology, develop their skills and connect them with careers in one of the nation’s fastest growing fields, the biosciences.

The Career Center opened its bioscience lab in Sep-tember 2008, funded largely through a grant from the consortium. Before the lab, students met at other loca-tions throughout Ashland, including Samaritan Hospi-tal and Ashland University,

The adult education program just graduated its third class of students, sending several into jobs at local firms.

The high school program, which has been operating since 2006, will relaunch this year as a two-year associ-ate degree program through North Central State Col-lege. High school juniors and seniors, at no cost, will take two years worth of college level courses and will

leave with an associate’s degree in bioscience. Career Center superintendent Mike McDaniel said

the key to the program’s development has been a rela-tionship of mutual dependency between bioscience firms and educational institutions like the Career Center.

“You can go back and forth on the chicken and egg theories, but really, it’s a mutual need. These compa-nies are coming to us and saying, ‘We need students who are trained in these areas.’ And we’re saying, how can we prepare students to work in this type of envi-ronment? What skills do they need?” McDaniel said.

That’s what happened several years ago when Michelle Hartley, human resources manager at Ashland-based WIL Research, approached Career Cen-ter administrators about the challenges she was having recruiting for entry-level positions.

“Any time you have a specialized industry, I think it narrows your recruiting pool,” Hartley said. “We’re pretty specialized in what we do, so over the years we’ve experienced periods of growth, but without many candidates coming to us locally with backgrounds in biology,” Hartley said.

By communicating directly with McDaniel and assistant director of adult education Melisa Carr, Hart-ley was able to provide them with specific skill sets the company looks for in entry and upper-level employees. Since 2009, WIL has hired 11 Career Center students.

“The responsiveness has been great. The Career Center and North Central State College are geared towards developing programs to meet local needs and that’s just what they’ve done here,” Hartley said.

Growing biosciences career field struggles with shortage of manpower

4 JUNE 2011 EMERGING OPPORTUNITIESEMERGING OPPORTUNITIES Dix Communications

By JIM BREWERBy JIM BREWERLoudonville TimesLoudonville Times

LOUDONVILLE — When you think of Amish craftsmen, you think of local establishments like furniture makers, harness shops, farm auctions and baked goods producers.

Such businesses dot Holmes County, which has the largest Amish community in the world.

But how about elite custom timber frames for upscale homes sold on a nationwide basis? Or log home kits mar-keted internationally, including two sold to be built in the Ukraine?

That is how Hochstetler Milling, and its spinoff, Oakbridge Timber Framing, both in Loudonville, have changed the viewpoint folks have of Amish craftsmen — at least in the Loudonville area.

Starting in 1986, founder Levi Hoch-stetler acquired a milling machine in an Amish neighborhood not far from How-ard in Knox County. In the early ’90s, Johnny Miller, an associate with a Hoch-stetler, amicably branched out from the founder with a second business.

The original Hochstetler Milling now has a manufacturing facility on Ohio 95 near the hamlet of McKay, about 5 miles north of Loudonville. Its product is log home kits, manufacturing kits for about 20 standard home plans along with cus-

tom plans. Working out of a plant that is surprisingly high tech for a firm that started out entirely Amish, the firm now produces about 100 log home packages a year, shipped both across the country and, in the words of Hochstetler, “over the pond.” The firm employs 18 local employees, along with, Hochstetler

added, “several folks in our sales and marketing department with college degrees, far beyond my education in Amish schools.”

OakBridge Timber Framing Ltd., the Hochstetler spinoff, remains very close to the original firm as it produces hand-crafted oak framing materials as a pri-

mary subcontractor for homebuilders. Homes including OakBridge timbers have been built as far away as Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico.

Historically, OakBridge is linked to Hochstetler Milling, about 3 miles northwest in McKay.

“Levi Hochstetler and I started in business together,” Miller said, “but around 1993, because he was so busy in his log home framing business, we split, with me concentrating on developing oak timber frame products.”

Miller calls himself the general man-ager and marketing specialist for the firm, which involves seven employees, all family. His father, 73, and 18-year-old son are primary woodworkers, along with a younger son, while his daughter, 19, handles the bookkeeping, estimating and other office work. He also has two broth-ers and a cousin involved in the work.

“We buy all of our oak timber mate-rial from Hochstetler Milling, which provides us with great service and top-quality structurally graded materials,” Miller said.

The philosophy of OakBridge Tim-ber Framing is to continue a tradition of spaciousness, durability and craftsman-ship with the modern improvement of structural insulated panels at the walls and roof, energy-efficient windows and doors and other conveniences of 21st-century housing.

Area Amish form market on an international scale

Submitted photo

Crewmen from OakBridge Timber Framing, located just east of Loudonville, create a dramatic view in this sunrise photo of them on a worksite.

By RUTH LANGBy RUTH LANGThe Alliance ReviewThe Alliance Review

ALLIANCE — For president Mike Conny and the roughly 450 employees at MAC Trailer, phones ring-ing off the hook are a sign of a better economy coming down the pike — both for the company and the Alli-ance area at large.

With sales staff taking more and more orders for the company’s specialty trucks, increased production means a need for more skilled workers. Corporate human resources manager Dave Wade said earlier this year that MAC was planning to expand by adding another 150 employees to boost the work force to 600.

“We are interested in applicants for all positions due to our recent growth,” he said.

As well, seeing increased success is the recently remodeled parts and sales area that opened to the pub-lic in September 2009. Members of that department are constantly on the phone shipping parts all over the country, Wade said.

Coming off a drastic economic downturn in 2008 and 2009, Conny said 2010 brought some positive indicators, and 2011 looks to be even better.

“2008 and ’09 were the most difficult years we’ve had in 18 years as a manufacturer,” he said, adding the company’s production plummeted from 35,000 trailers in 2006 to 6,000 in 2009.

The business — which consists of manufacturing plants in Salem and Alliance and a service garage in Alliance — also shrank to 350 employees in 2008, with each plant at nearly half its current work force, accord-ing to figures provided by Wade.

“We have to be very happy that we have survived that because a lot of my competition across the coun-try did not survive,” Conny said.

Conny thanked his employees for taking wage and other cuts for the good of the business. “We all stayed together as a team and got through it,” he said.

Even though times were tough, it wasn’t all bad for MAC.

Wade noted that despite the downturn, Conny didn’t let the slowdown get him down.

“Mike Conny didn’t let the slowdown slow us down here. We actually had a lot of activity within the plant of moving departments, expanding departments and being prepared for the increase,” he said, adding that fabrication was moved, a few work stations were moved to improve efficiency and a new showroom was added in the parts department.

And a new product line of pneumatic tank trailers — used to haul flour, sugar, dry cement and fracking sand — was created and introduced during the eco-nomic downturn, a downturn that Conny classified as the worst since the Great Depression.

“2010 has been a decent year. We’ve seen things turn around. One major reason for that is our new product (pneumatic tanks),” Conny said.

“In a down year, we have doubled our market share in the United States. Even though our numbers were way off when you look at title registration, we have doubled our market share in the country.”

MAC Trailer’s increased business in Alliance area adds employees

Dix Communications EMERGING OPPORTUNITIESEMERGING OPPORTUNITIES JUNE 2011 5

By MARC KOVACBy MARC KOVACDix Capital BureauDix Capital Bureau

COLUMBUS — Gov. John Kasich introduced Mark Kvamme to a group of Ohio State University business students in January as the man who would transform the state’s economic development efforts.

The longtime friend of Kasich and Silicon Valley venture capitalist voiced high hopes for the task at hand.

“The potential of Ohio is unbe-lievable ... there’s so many different options,” Kvamme said at the time.

Flash forward about six months. Kvamme moved from serving as direc-tor of Ohio Department of Develop-ment to being Kasich’s top jobs adviser. He was hos-pitalized and had to have surgery on his face after a motocross accident. And he’s still convinced Ohio is ripe for economic growth.

“I think the climate is changing,” Kvamme said, adding, “It takes time. We’re in a massive hole ... We’ve had a big brain drain.”

The “massive hole” he and Kasich cite includes an estimated 600,000 jobs lost in the state during the past decade.

One of Kvamme’s main tasks is to help establish JobsOhio, a new nonprofit that will take control of the economic development and business-boosting pro-grams currently housed in the Ohio Department of Development.

The nonprofit will be responsible for reaching out to existing companies and firms thinking about expanding into Ohio, negotiating economic incentive packages and helping to commercialize research and technologies developed at the state’s universities.

As a private entity, JobsOhio will not be subject to the state’s open meetings and records laws, ethics and conflict of interest rules or other requirements that gen-erally affect state agencies. Instead, it will be required to have four public meetings annually and would have to disclose contract information, employee salaries and other details in an annual report.

Supporters believe the setup will position the state to react more quickly to businesses thinking about expanding.

Kvamme, who is expected to have a role in the new nonprofit, has been working to determine which state programs should be shifted to JobsOhio. He expects the nonprofit to be up and running by July, though lawmakers will have to pass additional legislation for the group to be fully operational, something that’s not

expected to occur until later in the year.Having the nonprofit in place is only one piece of

the economic development puzzle. Another is deter-mining which industries have the greatest potential for growth in Ohio.

Ask Kvamme what people in venture capital circles have said in recent years about Ohio and you’ll get a one-word answer: “Nothing.”

“You just never really talked about it,” he said, not-ing that his firm focused on emerging companies in the Silicon Valley, in New York, maybe Boston or Austin, Texas. But not Ohio.

That could be changing, with six areas where Ohio could offer investment opportunities for venture capi-tal money and company growth.

Those sectors include medical technologies, manu-facturing and engineering, banking and insurance, aeronautics and energy. The latter would include drill-ing and extracting natural gas from Ohio’s Utica and Marcellus shale — a move that oil and gas industry groups say would be an economic boon for the state and that Kvamme said could create 100,000-plus jobs in short order.

“The good news is I believe the tide is heading in the right direction now,” Kvamme said. “But it’s going to take time before it’s fully noticeable.”

Ohio jobs adviser says ‘potential of Ohio is unbelievable’

Kvamme

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By BOB GAETJENSBy BOB GAETJENSStreetsboro GatewayStreetsboro Gateway

AURORA — Rotek Inc. is poised for the wind turbine industry to grow in the next few years.

“All the tools are in place if the wind market just goes gangbusters,” said Laura Hanley, a marketing research administrator with the firm.

In 2008, Rotek announced plans to build an $82 million expansion of its Aurora headquarters, which Hanley said positions the company to receive orders for bearings for wind turbines, which convert kinetic energy from wind for mechanical use.

“We installed a new ring rolling mill and also made an expansion to our bear-ing plant,” said Hanley.

The expansion triples the company’s manufacturing capacity, she added.

For Rotek, expanding into the wind industry is a diversification of its prior business — developing large slewing bearings and seamless forged rings for use in cranes, military applications, con-struction equipment, high power gears and even textile machines.

At 358 employees and growing, Rotek is one cog in a developing supply chain of companies supporting wind turbine manufacturers.

According to the Great Lakes Wind Network, which works to connect wind turbine manufacturers and component suppliers, the wind industry is on the move.

“Wind power is one of the fastest-growing industries in the United States. Across America, tall towers are sprout-ing up and tapping into a clean, renew-able source of electrical energy for our

nation,” states the network’s website.The Great Lakes region is well-posi-

tioned to become a “global supply center for the wind industry” with a ready sup-ply of bearing, casting and gear manu-facturers, forges and fabricators.

The Great Lakes Wind Network is going to present its first Wind Sum-mit July 12-14 in Cleveland, which will include a schedule of speakers, seminars and opportunities for those in the indus-try to rub elbows.

Hanley said she recently attended American Wind Energy Association’s WINDPOWER 2011 Conference and Exhibition in Anaheim, Calif.

“We had many meetings set up with OEMs, which are the turbine manu-facturers,” she said. “We want it to be known that Rotek is an established bear-ing manufacturer.”

Another sign wind power is grow-ing? Nearby Streetsboro recently passed an ordinance regulating wind turbine construction in town after Streetsboro planning and economic development director Jeff Pritchard said several resi-dents asked about building one on their properties.

Rotek playing a large role in wind turbine industry

6 JUNE 2011 EMERGING OPPORTUNITIESEMERGING OPPORTUNITIES Dix Communications

RPC Photo / Bob Gaetjens

Rotek Inc. in Aurora has made $82 million in improvements to its Aurora facility to be in position to accept increased orders for bear-ings for wind turbines.

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Dix Communications EMERGING OPPORTUNITIESEMERGING OPPORTUNITIES JUNE 2011 7

By BEN WOLFORDBy BEN WOLFORDRecord-Courier (Kent-Ravenna)Record-Courier (Kent-Ravenna)

A reporter from The Washington Post was in Northeast Ohio recently to write a story about a surge of manufac-turing jobs in the Rust Belt.

He visited the Hoover factory in North Canton, where they’re hiring workers to make space heaters, vacu-ums and air purifiers. Then he stopped in Brimfield to see a different side ofmanufacturing. A less rusty one.

“This is someone from the national media, and that’s their term for the region in general,” said Kevin Oswald, communications director at Kent Dis-plays, a Brimfield-based company that’s one of the country’s leading employers in liquid-crystal display manufacturing.

That phrase, Rust Belt, was first used in 1983 to describe a region on the decline. What was once the country’s manufacturing core, the Midwest was shedding the steel and assembly jobs that built Northeast Ohio.

Now the Midwest appears to be recovering, and the country has added 250,000 factory jobs since the begin-ning of 2010. Some are making cars and vacuum cleaners, but others are making high-tech gadgets.

That’s why Oswald wants to lose the Rust Belt moniker.

“There’s no doubt that the stuff we’re doing is very different than the tradi-tional manufacturing that we’ve been doing in the region,” he said.

In 2010, Kent Displays doubled its work force from the previous year on the back of its internationally success-ful product, the Boogie Board. It’s a paperless writing tablet that uses the company’s signature LCD technology that emits no light and uses almost no energy.

Kent Displays employs more than 100, and Oswald said it will be expand-ing and hiring more this year.

Portage County, and Kent in particu-lar, is one of the nation’s hot spots when it comes to the booming, $150 billion liquid crystal industry. It boasts two big players in research, development and application: Kent Displays and AlphaMicron.

AlphaMicron, located in a Kent State University facility on Ohio 59, specializ-es in curved tints for eyewear, like visors and goggles, that shade light automati-cally and can turn from clear to black and anywhere in between.

The company employs about 40 peo-ple, including six in its manufacturing department who build products primar-ily for motorcycle helmets. It also works on military eyewear and tinted windows for building efficiency.

Employees in these high-tech manu-

facturing jobs can range from high school graduates to liquid crystal chem-ists with doctoral degrees.

“One guy was blowing insulation before he came here,” said Roy Miller, director of technical sales and marketing for AlphaMicron.

Both Kent Displays and AlphaMicron were founded by KSU professors from the Liquid Crystal Institute, one of the world’s top liquid crystal research and education facilities.

“Eighty to 90 percent (of our employ-ees) have one degree of separation from the university,” Miller said.

As a sign of the prestige, a Samsung executive traveled to Kent in May from the company’s South Korean headquar-ters for updates on research they com-missioned to a group of KSU scientists.

Samsung, the most prolific LCD maker in the world, is counting on its research to someday produce high-defi-nition, 3-D televisions that don’t require special glasses. The executive predicted that product by 2015.

Others are investing in local liquid crystal technology, too. In 2008 and 2009, U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan secured $2.6 million in federal earmarks for liquid crystal research in Kent.

“There’s no doubt that there’s a con-centration of (LCD research) here,” Oswald said.

Booming liquid-crystal industry offers many jobs

By HOLLY BILYEUBy HOLLY BILYEUCambridge Daily JeffersonianCambridge Daily Jeffersonian

CALDWELL — Although the proj-ect seems to currently be at a stand still, the excitement in the air is still very thick when considering the prom-ise of new jobs when the solar farm comes to Noble County.

The project is under the manage-ment of Turning Point Solar, a prod-uct of New Harvest Ventures, an alter-native energy development company.

Recently, the enterprise zone was expanded to include Brookfield Town-ship, which sits adjacent to the origi-nal base of Noble Township.

The solar farm will be in Noble Local School District, and, as a result, the dis-trict should receive revenue from an in lieu of tax based on kilowatt hours.

All the plans for the solar farm are currently under review with the Pub-lic Utilities Commission of Ohio. This office has 270 days to decide on the final approval from the date the appli-cation was submitted.

The solar farm is expected to hear the final approval in September. Con-struction should begin by early 2012, with solar panels moved onto the loca-tion in September that year.

Solar farm could bring new jobs

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