About 8 percent of Ohio’s private sector jobs reportedly linked to exported goods

The Dayton area ranks third among Ohio metros for exporting products, a recent study says.

Christy Shanklin, office manager, and John Tiernan, president of AFS Technology in Tipp City, look at a sample of RDF (refuse derived fuel) that is used in systems engineered by AFS that transport the RDF (instead of a landfill) to cement-making kilns. The company is an example of how businesses are weathering the tough economy by exploring foreign markets. AFS currently sells to countries such as Romania that use RDF more than American manufacturing. The map in the background indicates countries where they conduct business. Staff photo by Jim Witmer

Jim Witmer/Staff Christy Shanklin, office manager, and John Tiernan, president of AFS Technology in Tipp City, look at a sample of RDF (refuse derived fuel) that is used in systems engineered by AFS that transport the RDF (instead of a landfill) to cement-making kilns. The company is an example of how businesses are weathering the tough economy by exploring foreign markets. AFS currently sells to countries such as Romania that use RDF more than American manufacturing. The map in the background indicates countries where they conduct business. Staff photo by Jim Witmer

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Dayton-Cincinnati corridor plays major role in export business

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By Jack Torry, Washington Bureau Updated 8:31 PM Saturday, June 12, 2010

WASHINGTON — Like just about every other business last year during the recession, Rexarc International of West Alexandria saw domestic sales plummet. Twenty-three percent, to be exact.

But the manufacturer of components for natural gas production actually grew throughout the year. How can this be? Because of a 72 percent increase in foreign sales.

All through the corridor stretching from Greater Dayton to metropolitan Cincinnati, small and medium-sized companies such as Rexarc are working to increase their foreign sales.

“I think exporting products for Dayton-area based companies will continue to be a vital part of business plans going forward,’’ said Chris Kershner, vice president of public policy and economic development for the Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce.

Deborah Scherer, director of the global markets division of the Ohio Department of Development, said exporting is “critical because Ohio is an extremely large manufacturing state . . . a significant amount of jobs are tied to exports in the state.’’

Many of these exporters are small companies you may have never heard of before. There is AFS Technology in Huber Heights, a company with 10 employees that sells machinery that powers cement kilns to Romania; the Dupps Co. of Germantown, which sells food processing machinery to Mexico and Russia; and YSI Inc. of Yellow Springs, which exports water-monitoring devices to China, India and Great Britain.

“Without (exports), we wouldn’t be here today,” said Christy Shanklin, the office manager for AFS Technology.

Added Rick Omlor, president and chief executive officer of YSI: “More than 50 percent of our business is outside the United States.’’

The export gains have been obscured in the heated debate over U.S. trade policy. More than 360,000 high-paying manufacturing jobs have disappeared during the past decade, largely because of the dramatic decline of the domestic automotive industry, substantial increases in worker productivity, and stiff competition from abroad.

A study last year by Policy Matters Ohio, a manufacturing research nonprofit organization in Cleveland, showed that the U.S. Department of Labor concluded that nearly 3,000 Delphi Corp. workers in Montgomery County lost their jobs because of international trade.

“To make it seem as if all our manufacturing job losses are a result of trade is an overstatement,’’ said Zach Schiller, research director for the think tank. “(But) in my judgment, the losses exceed the gains,’’ arguing that the U.S. can increase its exports while still insisting that foreign nations increase their labor standards.

The Ohio Department of Development calculates that 362,000 jobs in the state are tied in some way to exports, while the U.S. Department of Commerce reports that 7.9 percent of Ohio’s private sector jobs are linked to exports — well above the 5.9 percent for the rest of the country.

Take Dupps, which manufactures machines that convert the inedible parts of animals into protein for use as feed for animals. Exports account for 50 percent of the company’s annual sales compared to 20 percent a decade ago, allowing the company to maintain its work force of 150 people.

“It was a flat year as far as North American sales,” Hank Dupps, the executive vice president, said of last year. “It was a growth year as far as off-shore sales.’’

AFS, which has been in existence for five years, was finding little domestic demand for its unique machinery that allows cement kilns to power themselves by burning trash, old tires or waste fuel instead of more expensive coal. The answer to their sales’ problems was to look abroad.

“In the last six-to-eight months, our only (sales) were export jobs,’’ Shanklin said.

Then there is Sweet Manufacturing of Springfield, which exported more than $20 million in agricultural processing equipment over the past several years.

Sweet sells equipment to Russia, the Ukraine, South America, Eastern Europe and its website offers its product brochure in the following languages: Russian, Spanish, Portuguese, Italian and Romanian.

Despite the prospect of ready profits, few U.S. companies take advantage of the booming foreign markets. The Commerce Department reports that only 1 percent of 30 million U.S. companies export, while 57 percent of U.S. exporters sell to just one market.

“A lot of companies don’t attempt to export because they think they have to have some big connections,” said Rexarc President Jim Bowman. “But the Department of Commerce does a great job of helping you wade through those waters.”

Graphic?

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