The Morning Journal (Lorain, OH)
Manufacturing Day celebrated at new plant
Lorain County dignitaries gathered to celebrate Manufacturing Day at Riddell’s new plant in North Ridgeville.
Lorain County dignitaries gathered Oct. 5 to celebrate Manufacturing Day at Riddell’s new plant in North Ridgeville.
This was the fifth year the county celebrated the manufacturing industry, and this year, the focus was on Riddell, with tours of the company’s 347,205-squarefoot facility, 7501 Performance Lane.
Anthony Gallo, president of the Lorain County Chamber of Commerce, started the event by emphasizing the importance of manufacturing to the area.
“Obviously, manufacturing has been, and is still, such a big part of our county,” Gallo said. “In a mayoral summit in Columbus I attended last month, it was highlighted that in the United States, 10.1 percent of our employment is in the manufacturing sector.”
In Ohio, manufacturing makes up 15.5 percent, and in parts of Lorain County, it can be 17.3 percent and as high as 20.5 percent, he said.
“We know this,” Gallo said.
He also highlighted the issues the industry has run into in recent years.
“The simple answer is our workforce,” Gallo said. “An article that appeared in Industry Week this past June, called it the perfect storm for the manufacturing workforce.”
Gallo said the article pointed out three factors: baby boomers retiring from the workforce at a rate of 10,000 per day; American youth not having the sufficient STEM education for shop floor or research and development; and the opioid crisis has seemed to strike manufacturing communities worse than other parts of the country.
Gallo said the first two issues have been in the process of being addressed since the first year manufacturing month was celebrated in the county by reaching out to the youth and exposing them to the opportunities available in the community and pushing for more STEM education.
The opioid epidemic is being addressed by the county’s proposed Recovery One facility, 45999 North Ridge Road in Amherst Township, he said. Proclamation County Commissioner Ted Kalo took the opportunity to present Riddell with a proclamation and to echo many of the points presented by Gallo about the link between the manufacturing industry and the county.
“All the time when I talk about Lorain County, we make stuff,” Kalo said. “That’s what we’re supposed to do.”
He emphasized the need to inform students that a career in manufacturing not only is viable, but also lucrative.
“We’ve got to spend more times teaching these kids that manufacturing is a dynamic career,” Kalo said. “This is where you can make a living, provide for your family and make something that really changes our world.”
North Ridgeville Mayor G. David Gillock highlighted the importance of manufacturing companies like Riddell to the city.
“They not only bring in a lot of jobs and taxes, but they’re good corporate citizens that help us support community care, our other civic groups, hold meetings like this one,” Gillock said. “They’re a really big part of our community.”
Ben Marker, the general manager of the facility, was the keynote speaker.
Marker discussed the history of the company, the many advances in technology and the new facility.
The company moved to North Ridgeville from Elyria because it out grew the former facility, to the point where there weren’t enough parking spots for the employees, he said.
“We were growing so fast that we had to do something, but because we were so restrained as far as square footage, our flow was terrible,” Marker said. “We added onto that building multiple times.”
He said with the move to the new facility, the company expanded and created an additional 60 jobs, mainly in distribution.