Growing Greater Fort Dodge‌
24 North 9th Street, Suite A | Fort Dodge | Iowa 515-955-5500 www.greaterfortdodge.com
For the third consecutive year, the Greater Fort Dodge Region has continued to outpace Iowa, the Midwest and the Nation in product innovation and willingness to expand in our community. It is important to foster an environment to allow our companies to succeed. I want to THANK the companies who have participated in this report and recognize that without this information, it would be more difficult to better our region and remove barriers to success. We are obviously pleased with over $130 million in new capital investment in 2014 from our industries within Webster County. To keep up with our private industry growth, the region has to offer a superior quality of life. Through public and private partnership, our region has experienced the opening of the largest Off Highway Vehicle (OHV) parks in the state, a new dog park, sponsored by NestlĂŠ, and miles of new trails as well as exponential retail growth. We still continue to recognize that workforce quality and availability is a major component to the success of retaining our existing industries and attracting new industries. Several workforce initiatives that have been created over the last two years have definitely increased the awareness of the opportunities as well as offered different avenues of career exploration. This report is good news and we all have to continue to be engaged so that we continue in this direction in the future.
- Dennis Plautz, CEO, Greater Fort Dodge Growth Alliance
Since 2012, the Greater Fort Dodge Growth Alliance has partnered with the City of Fort Dodge, Webster County and MidAmerican Energy to create the Growing Greater Fort Dodge annual report. The interviewing process is extremely important to help the community understand the challenges and plan for growth. Since the interview questions are standardized throughout the country, it allows us to benchmark our region to Iowa, the Midwest and the Nation. This year 33 companies participated in the interviews.
2014 EXISTING INDUSTRY EXPANSIONS C&S Products invested $15.5 million in modernization of their facility, including purchasing new machinery and equipment. Their investment resulted in the addition of 30 new jobs.
Boehringer Ingelheim announced in December of 2014 plans for over $100 million in capital expenditures for three projects. Site improvements and modernizations including new equipment, infrastructure and remodeling of several areas, construction of a Veterinary Research Center (VRC) to support their growth in vaccine production, and a Bio Fill and Freeze facility to add an additional line and a separate high speed fill and freeze dry suite. These strategic investments would further increase productivity, efficiency and competitiveness of the Fort Dodge site.
NEW Cooperative invested just under $22 million dollars (company-wide) into their facilities in 2014. Of that, approximately $10.2 million was in Webster County alone. This includes projects at our Roelyn and Lanyon facilities. The construction of new grain facilities in Lanyon this past year was historic for NEW Cooperative. It was the first time NEW Cooperative has ever built a new grain facility from the ground up. The facility is a very modern, innovative and technologically advanced facility.
Josepheson Manufacturing Company will invest over $6 million to increase their footprint creating efficiencies in their processes as well as add room for modernization of their equipment. Along with their investment, 10 jobs will be created.
WEBSTER COUNTY POPULATION
36,911
MEDIAN HOUSEHOLD INCOME
JUST THE STATS
$41,672
LABOR FORCE
18,900
UNEMPLOYMENT RATE 2014
4.8%
GROSS REGIONAL PRODUCT (GRP)
$1.76 B
WAGE GROWTH
12.8% WAGE
$ 47,812
$ 47,861
$ 46,086
OVER 5 YR PERIOD
$ 43,483 $ 42,046
$ 43,899
$ 42,441
$ 40,141 $ 38,571 $ 37,553
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
SECTOR GROWTH AND CONCENTRATION 2014 LOCATION QUOTIENT
2.50
Transportation and Warehousing
2.00
Construction actual Growth is 127% shown Growth at 45% (for visualization only) Manufacturing
1.50 Health Care
Retail Trade
Crop & Animal Production
Wholesale Trade
1.00
Government Other Services Mgmt. of Companies and Enterprises
Information
Accommodation and Food Services
Educational Services
0.50
Finance and Insurance
Real Estate Professional, Scientific, and Technical Services
Arts, Ent., and Recreation
0.00 (50%)
(30%)
Administrative, Support, Waste Management and Remediation Services
10%
(10%)
Utilities
Mining, Quarrying, and Oil and Gas Extraction
30%
50%
JOB GROWTH
20,610
Take Note: Wages have grown 12.8% over the last five years as well as added 780 jobs.
717
73
Electrolux Closes
977
48 179
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
* Sources: Bureau of Labor Statistics, US Census Bureau, & EMSI
SURVEY RESULTS The data was collected by interviewing 33 members of Greater Fort Dodge’s industry leaders. A company‘s survival in today’s economy depends on keeping pace with the market through innovation and introduction of new products.
WORKFORCE Having an available and productive workforce is the key to supporting a successful and growing business climate. Through our interviews, we found that workforce availability and quality have improved by almost 10%. In 2014, 84% of business leaders ranked workforce availability either good or excellent vs 73% in 2013, and 94% ranked workforce quality as good or excellent vs 86% in 2013.
WORKFORCE AVAILABILITY
FAIR 16%
GOOD 75%
EXCELLENT 9%
WORKFORCE QUALITY
FAIR 6%
GOOD 81%
EXCELLENT 13%
FUTURE WORKFORCE 5,859
2,913
Some College
9th –12th Grade
622
9th Grade or Below
2,812
Associates Degree
8,188
3,343
Bachelor Degree
High School Diploma
1,359
Graduate Degree Above
In 2014, only 162 more people have some college or more education than in 2005. One of the Growth Alliance’s goals is to raise the educational attainment in the region. Iowa Central Community College invested in a Career Academy and partnering with
5 regional high schools to support a hands on learning environment. This year they had 15 students participate and expect to have 120 next year. Other programs, like job shadowing, internships, tours, Career on Wheels, and career fairs have all been developed to create awareness of the careers available in our region.
NATION
IOWA
MIDWEST *
GREATER FORT DODGE
FUNDAMENTALS
QUALITY OF LIFE
Rarely does one get up in the morning thinking about the fundamental services provided by the government or a community. These services are still critical to the day-to-day operations of a business.
EXCELLENT GOOD FAIR
Community College
K-12 Education
INTRODUCTION OF PRODUCTS WITHIN THE PAST 5 YEARS
77%
78%
Healthcare Services
UTILITIES MUNICIPAL SERVICES
81%
75%
Sewer
Electric
Water
Natural
Telecom
89%
NEW PRODUCT/SERVICE ANTICIPATION IN THE NEXT 2 YEARS
76%
72%
Police County Services
81%
PLANS TO EXPAND IN THE NEXT 3 YEARS
Internet Access
Economic Development
Property Tax Assessment
53%
56.6
57%
67%
*MIDWEST: Data collected from the following states: Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio, Wisconsin.
Fire/ Emergency Services
Streets & Roads
Airline Passenger Service
Zoning/ Building Permits
OF THE COMPANIES INTERVIEWED...
68
%
80%
SALES
No barriers to expand within Greater Fort Dodge
24 N. 9th Street, Suite A | Fort Dodge, IA 50501 | T: 515.955.5500
www.greaterfortdodge.com PUBLISHED MARCH 2014