Rethinking Your M.O. in Tough Times: Let Your Companies Set the Agenda Provided by EDABC with permission from IEDC. By Gary Skoog, Director of Economic Development, Village of Hoffman Estates About two years ago, it became clear that in Hoffman Estates, Illinois, the economic development mode of operation needed to change. The recession had taken hold, new retail development was dead and office vacancy was in the 15 to 20 percent range. The only glimmer of hope was in the light industrial arena. Hoffman Estates, a community of 52,000 located 25 miles northwest of Chicago, has little manufacturing, but does have a number of companies that supply manufacturers, as well as a number of firms’ North, Central or South American headquarters. This was about the same time that I attended the joint conference of the International Association of Science Parks and IEDC in Raleigh, North Carolina. The biggest take-away from this conference was that regions around the U.S. and the world were making great progress by fostering innovation and collaboration among education, government, and private industry. This was an inspiration: What could our region achieve by innovating and collaborating? Laying the groundwork Communities adjacent to Hoffman Estates liked the idea of collaborating too. Knowing that we first needed a better understanding of our local economy, we used a business library in neighboring Schaumburg to gather data on companies along I-90 from O’Hare International Airport to Elgin (approximately 30 miles, east to west). The Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning also assisted, as it has access to multiple databases on a subscription basis. The results showed that business and financial services was the biggest cluster in terms of jobs, followed by information technology and telecommunications, with advanced materials about fifth or sixth out of the region’s top employment categories. We also learned that advanced materials and allied occupations in machinery manufacturing were projected to decline more dramatically and lose more jobs than other key local industries. This is a place that has always made things; it has been ground zero for manufacturing for decades. We decided that this was the sector where we might be able to make a difference. Working together, four communities decided to convene some precision toolmakers and manufacturers for preliminary meetings. We on the municipal government side had visions of these Class A, worldwide giants in their industry – DMG Mori Seiki, BIG Kaiser, Amada America, Mazak and Sandvik, to name a few – innovating and collaborating to build a better mousetrap, as they do in other parts of the world; perhaps we would eventually create a science park. Identifying a focus for impact After a few meetings, we went around the table and asked the companies to identify their number-one need, and every company said the same thing: They saw a workforce train wreck coming. Their customers – the manufacturers that bought their high-tech precision tools – were not able to hire qualified workers for this advanced brand of manufacturing. The average age for manufacturing workers is 50 years old, and unless we could: recruit more qualified workers, educate high school students about the excitement and value of high tech manufacturing, change parents’ attitudes, and change secondary-school career advisor thinking about the new clean, smart, dynamic environment in manufacturing, The entire region was in peril of losing a major, high-paying employment sector. The world-class precision toolmakers and the manufacturers – at least those in our region, and perhaps the U.S. as well – would cease to exist as we know them today. Consequently, we began meeting with local community colleges to address the training gap. The group chose to call itself the Golden Corridor Manufacturing Group (incorporating the I-90 corridor’s nickname gained from the “gold mine” of corporations housed along the interstate). Implementation has progressed over the past 12 months. Examples of activities we have undertaken include: Sending buses of high school students to the International Manufacturing Technology Show in downtown Chicago. Organizing a manufacturing open house at FANUC Robotics where some 100 students, parents, and school career advisors observed robots in action, heard from the president of Mori Seiki, and visited with area post-secondary schools and manufacturers at the event. Sponsoring a manufacturing career day at Amada America, where students experienced manufacturing hands-on – working with an engineer to design a product on CAD-CAM, sending it to a machine for production, and taking it home with them – and had discussions with area manufacturers and college representatives. Two similar events are scheduled for April and May of this year. (View a video of one of the manufacturing career days here.) How to re-think your M.O. Many of you have adjusted your economic development M.O. over the past couple of years, but if you have not, here are the steps that worked for us: 1. Get a fact-based picture of your local economy, currently and its outlook. 2. Listen to the people (or companies or groups) who you are trying to help. Select a plan of action that will meet their needs and in which you can have an impact. 3. Innovate and collaborate – think creatively and act regionally. 4. Build a level of trust and a track record before you take your collaboration to the next level (with additional or more complex projects). 5. Implement and continually evaluate. You can build metrics such as the number of companies and students involved, surveys of participating students, and community college and university involvement, but don’t get hung up initially on evaluation. Even if the best evidence of impact you can collect initially is anecdotal, pay attention to what your partners and customers say about your efforts. For example, from our work, we have received great feedback from company leaders; high school students, parents and counselors; and representatives of community and four-year colleges. Good luck!
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