“Ohio is within 500 miles of 60 percent of the country’s population, 60 percent of its manufacturing and 60 percent of Canada’s population,” said Wright State University Professor Dwight Smith-Daniels, who developed the school’s supply chain management undergraduate program. He said the school played an integral part in bringing both the Collective Brands and Caterpillar distribution centers to the Miami Valley.
“Wright State is working to become the thought leader in supply chain management,” said Dan Foley, president of the Montgomery County Board of Commissioners. “Not only do we offer the infrastructure needed for distribution, we’re offering the whole intellectual world of logistics.”
Attractive knowledge
Supply chain management integrates logistics into the entire manufacturing process so that workers and resources arrive when necessary and finished products depart with no bottlenecks or wasted time, manpower or other resources. No waste, no bottlenecks equate to money saved that goes directly to a company’s bottom line.
That was important to both Collective Brands and Caterpillar Logistics.
“Our programs were attractive to them, plus the two-year program at Sinclair Community College. We provided a trained workforce,” Smith-Daniels said. “They are really looking at the graduates from our master’s degree program. Those are the people who will be making the decisions on a daily basis.”
Together, Collective Brands and Caterpillar could bring as many as 1,000 jobs to the Miami Valley.
“The area was chosen for its superior site, well-suited geographic location, economic terms, strong support infrastructure and productive workforce,” said David Milton, division senior vice resident of Global Logistics for Collective Brands.
Infrastructure
Job losses have been in the headlines for so long, it’s easy to lose sight of what the region has to offer.
For example, the Interstate 70/75 interchange is one of the busiest in the nation with 154,000 vehicles passing through in a day. Of those, anywhere between 30 percent and 35 percent are trucks hauling goods.
Also, after nearly eight years of construction, the 1950s style cloverleaf has been transformed into a modern interstate interchange.
In addition, the I-75 corridor is home to the busiest north-south rail route east of the Mississippi. And Dayton International Airport is but minutes away from the interchange.
“You can ship by air, by rail or by highway,” Foley said. “With the state, we have invested in our infrastructure. ... Our strategy is growing in momentum.”
The future
Nobody is saying the local job front isn’t challenging. In the most recent monthly jobs report, Dayton had an unemployment rate of 12.4 percent, while Montgomery County’s was 11.4.
But Smith-Daniels believes things are about to break loose. And it has nothing to do with anything done in the Miami Valley, the state or the nation.
“The Panama Canal is expanding. It is expected to see 35 percent more tonnage — most of it from Asia — by 2025. East Coast ports — Baltimore and the Port of Virginia — are expanding. Norfolk Southern is completing its Heartland Corridor from Norfolk to Columbus. The tonnage into the Rickenbacker Intermodel Facility in Columbus is expected to double,” he said.
The implications? Smith-Daniels believes the increased rail tonnage will lead to bottlenecks along Ohio and Indiana interstates. “Manufacturers, suppliers, shippers will need to coordinate on a large scale,” he said.
Part of that coordination could be establishing distribution centers in the Miami Valley that also handle some assembly, overhaul and repair, Smith-Daniels said. Caterpillar already has said its new center will do some light assembly and painting.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2290 or dpage@DaytonDailyNews.com.
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