Ohio Executive Finds His Perfect Balance: Jim Tennant, Ohio Coatings

As president of Ohio Coatings Company, a $200 million tin plate steel business, Jim Tennant gives credit to Ohio -- for allowing him to have professional success and make a true impact in his community.

Tennant is the latest business leader featured in the "State of Perfect Balance" Wall Street Journal ad campaign. The Ohio Business Development Coalition, the nonprofit organization that markets the state for capital investment, and AEP Ohio sponsor the ongoing ad campaign.

In addition to serving as both president and chief financial officer of the Ohio Coatings Company, Tennant achieves personal balance by lending his professional expertise to help enrich students' educational experience in his community. He currently serves as treasurer of three community school organizations and is helping to build a first-of-its-kind athletic stadium and sports facility at a local high school.

Watch a video of Jim here.

"The opportunity Ohio has given me is really a lifelong dream. To have this job, in this state, is what I've always wanted," Tennant said.

According to Tennant, Ohio's support – through tax abatements, low-interest loans and infrastructure improvement through the Ohio Department of Development – made the decision of locating his business in Ohio a simple one. After more than a decade of calling Ohio home, Ohio Coatings now provides the state with jobs, revenue and a profitable commodity.

Equally important to Ohio Coatings' success is its partnership with AEP Ohio, a company that shares a stake in the state's economic vitality. The preferred energy partner provides affordable and reliable electricity to thousands of Ohio businesses like Ohio Coatings, helping them compete on a national and international scale.

For Tennant, the "State of Perfect Balance" means a fulfilling career and helping today's youth fulfill their potential.

"Ohio has helped me achieve my dreams, but the best part of my success is the opportunity I have to help our kids achieve their dreams. I hope to finish my career here. I love my job, and I love helping my community."

The campaign can be viewed here.

Achieving a Victory for American Heavy Equipment Manufacturing

Butech Bliss, a company based in Salem, Ohio that designs and manufactures processing equipment for the world’s metal processors and producers, has endured decades of a tumultuous industry. With local ties dating back some 150 years, the company’s leadership team is looking to – and effectively utilizing the resources offered by – Enterprise Appalachia to secure a stable, globally competitive position in the industry.

Over the years, despite poor domestic steel sales, Butech Bliss grew from just a few employees to more than 250 employees and even in this economy the company has remained profitable. Nearly all of Butech Bliss’ domestic competitors have been driven out of the industry as a result of the devastating closures and consolidations within the U.S. steel industry. Today, Butech Bliss is one of the last American-owned large steel mill equipment builders in the U.S.

By leveraging the resources offered by Ohio’s Appalachia Region, Butech believes that the company is armed to achieve a victory for American heavy equipment manufacturing. They attribute much of the company’s success thus far to two key advantages provided by Appalachia Ohio – access to a skilled workforce and access to supply chain and markets.

Click here to read the full Butech Bliss story.

Ohio Third Frontier Helps Former Auto Worker Retool Skills for Technology Business

Shannon Swift had planned on working his entire career at General Motors. When he got laid off, he had no idea how he would transition his manufacturing skills into a new line of work to support his wife and five children. Around this time, Ohio Third Frontier, an unprecedented and bipartisan commitment to expand Ohio's technological strengths, was helping Dayton-area Renegade Materials Corporation complete construction of a new facility to bring the next generation of advanced materials for the aerospace and defense industries to market. To recruit labor to handle this new working capacity, Renegade tapped into the pool of displaced workers from the GM plant where Shannon had worked. That’s how he landed a job at Renegade.

After being hired at Renegade, Shannon received on-the-job training to transition his skills to the new technology business. Now, Shannon is working for Renegade’s high temperature polymer business. Essentially, Ohio Third Frontier was the bridge that brought Shannon to work with Renegade. Without Ohio Third Frontier, Shannon says he would still be searching for a career where he could apply the skills that he acquired in the automotive industry. Recently, Shannon spoke to us about his transition into the technology business. Click here to read the complete interview. Click here to read the complete interview.

Ohio’s Export Growth Focus of Global Summit

Today Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland recognized the contributions of 27 Ohio export leaders at the Ohio Global Summit, an event sharing successful strategies for global trade by Ohio-based international business experts, for their contributions to the state’s performance as a leading U.S. export economy.

Ohio's export industry grew by nearly 7 percent in 2008, to $45.5 billion. Global trade supports nearly 300,000 jobs in the state – and more than 11,000 Ohio companies distribute goods to well over 200 countries around the world. Ohio is the seventh-largest exporting state in the country, and the only state in the nation to see export growth for 10 years in a row.

Two companies were recognized as Exporter of the Year: Mansfield pump manufacturer Gorman-Rupp Pumps in the Large Business category and Fremont industrial matting and foam manufacturer Ludlow Composites Corporation of Fremont.

Ohio’s global export prominence speaks to the state’s manufacturing strengths, logistics capabilities, skilled workforce, and competitive business environment. The state has redesigned business climate and world-class transportation infrastructure allows businesses in any industry – including international trade - to be globally successful.

IndustryWeek Features Ohio’s Alternative Energy Supply Chain

The U.S. manufacturing industry is in the midst of a long and sometimes difficult transition from old-line manufacturing processes to emerging technologies. This process is rapidly accelerating in the advanced energy supply chain, lessening U.S. dependence on unstable foreign energy markets and creating a thriving domestic clean-energy industry.

Nowhere is this transition more apparent than in traditional manufacturing states like Ohio. Here, state leaders are leveraging key assets such as Ohio's manufacturing infrastructure, skilled workforce and advantageous location to support a growing advanced energy industry. Ohio-based companies are producing solar panels, wind turbines and component parts, biomass products, fuel cells, hydroelectric components, geothermal parts and storage facilities to promote better utilization of advanced energy resources.

The way Ohio-based manufacturers have successfully reinvented themselves as leading suppliers to the technologies of the future serves as a model for other struggling states and cities with economies reliant upon manufacturing. To find out how Ohio is leading America to energy independence, please check out my guest column in IndustryWeek.