Monday, January 9, 2006
MiBiz West
Karen Gentry, MiBiz Network

MUSKEGON — Although a few Muskegon area manufacturers announcing large layoffs garner the most headlines, there is a solid group of area firms steadily adding jobs and creating a much brighter manufacturing picture here than most imagine.

After Muskegon Area First President Jim Edmonson presented employment statistics at the Muskegon Area Chamber of Commerce annual planning retreat, chamber leaders were pleasantly surprised to see how well Muskegon is doing.

"There's lot of job gains people don't hear about. Dana, Brunswick and Sappi are no longer the barometer of the economy," Edmonson said, referring to three large corporations that accounted for 730 jobs lost in the area in 2005.

Offsetting those lost jobs, seven Muskegon area manufacturers added 880 jobs in 2005. Growth has been strong in the aerospace, commercial and defense sectors. Howmet Corp. in Whitehall leads the pack with 650 new jobs added. Other companies that boosted their payrolls included Johnson Technology (60), L-3 Communications Combat Propulsions Systems (50), Cannon Muskegon/Argueso (50), Michigan Spring Company (25), ADAC Plastics (20) and Nicholas Paper & Supply Co. (25). Eleven of Muskegon County's top 20 employers fall in the manufacturing realm.

L-3 Communications Combat Propulsions Systems continues adding jobs and plans to hire approximately 20 more employees in early 2006. L-3 Communications Vice President of Production and Delivery Bruce Weinberg said his company has added 104 employees since February 2005. Business is up 12 percent primarily due to the Iraq war. L-3 makes transmissions and turret drives for the Bradley infantry fighting vehicle, an engine for the Hercules, and 19 different component parts such as gun mounts and sprockets for the Abrams main battle tanks.

"Our expansion is based on a very diverse product line," Weinberg told MiBiz. "We're pleased o be a part of the Muskegon community and feel like we're very fortunate to be in the current environment we're in."

Weinberg noted that L-3's parent company based in New York has expanded each year since its inception in 1997.

Manufacturing strength helped lower the area's unemployment to under six percent for the first time in almost three years. Edmonson said the area fares well in manufacturing because Muskegon manufacturers have less dependence on the furniture industry, and fewer companies tied to struggling automotive firms like General Motors Corp. and Delphi Corp.

"We have a good mix. More and more manufacturers are making parts for medical devices, which is another growing industry," Edmonson said. He also cited industry innovation and a lot of money spent by manufacturers on research and development.

"A lot of products we produce here are very high value-added — not commodity products that can be knocked off easily in other countries," said Edmonson.

Muskegon manufacturing competes head-on with other areas in Michigan because of slightly lower taxes, somewhat cheaper health care costs and land costs, as well as accommodating industrial parks with easy access, according to Edmonson.

Chamber leaders were also impressed by the number and cross section of help wanted ads in Sunday listings in the Muskegon Chronicle. A graph of job openings advertised in the paper on Nov. 13 and Nov. 27 included 50 jobs.

"The raw numbers shocked them. It's (the job openings) not all retail. Retail was one of the smaller ones," said Edmonson.

Another head-turner for chamber leaders — a good number of the advertised jobs were high-paying jobs.

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This article appeared in the January 9, 2006 issue of MiBiz, read by upper management executives in West and Southwest Michigan. Print subscriptions are free to qualified individuals who do business in West and Southwest Michigan. For further information about MiBiz Network, visit www.mibiz.com.