Alliance, Muncie, Indiana. Spring 2014

spring/SUMMER 2014

the magazine of the

the premiere edition

ALLIANCE INSIDE:

MAKING PROGRESS

Why one of Muncie’s LARGEST employers chose Delaware County

The No. 1 feature every site selector wants A DEVICE TO CHANGE HYBRID VEHICLES

How getting involved influences decisions

Your local First Merchants team here to support your business: (front row, from left) Steve Moore, Denby Turner, Jeff Parsons, Jamie Matthews, Elizabeth Bradburn, Jane Smith, Kevin Eckerty, Kelly Hampton (middle row, from left) Lisa Jennings, Brent Webster, Jay Oliver, John Parker, Karen Karmolinski, Curt Stephenson, Patty Hudson, Eva Kreps, Jonathon Thornburg, Tanya Hensley (back row, from left) John Teshima, Erin McLaughlin, Megan Jeffers, Josh Baker, Debbie Spencer, Gayle Williams, Thomas Carroll, Dana Connell

First Merchants Bank Serving over 1200 local businesses

“We have a team located right here to meet your Banking, Trust, and Insurance needs!�

Scott McKee Manager of Commercial Banking Division

Local Decisions Local Service

With a proud tradition of serving East Central Indiana businesses, the local First Merchants team supports you and your business with local decisions, and local service by bankers who live, work and are invested in this community.

We understand that we have ownership in strengthening our community through the investment of our time and dollars, as well as the investments we make as a bank through loans and other financial commitments.

Local Bank

Delivering expertise in:

We welcome the opportunity to work with you and your business.

INVESTMENT PRODUCTS ARE NOT DEPOSITS

NOT FDIC INSURED

NOT INSURED BY ANY FEDERAL GOVERNMENT AGENCY

NOT GUARANTEED BY THE BANK MAY LOSE VALUE

Funds are not insured by the FDIC, and are not deposits of, or guaranteed by, First Merchants Bank N.A. or any of its affiliates. Funds are subject to investment risk if the insurance has a cash value, including possible loss of the principal amount invested. Insurance products are made available through First Merchants Insurance Services, Inc., a licensed insurance agency affiliate of First Merchants Bank, N.A. Insurance products are underwritten by, and are the obligations of, the insurance companies that issue the insurance policies; these insurance companies are not affiliated with First Merchants Bank, N.A.

1.800.205.3464 BIZBNK-ADPR-AllianceMagazine-0314

|

w w w. f i r s t m e r c h a n t s . c o m

Business Lending Cash Management Trust Services

Fiduciary and Custody

Insurance

Commercial & Consumer Property, Employee Benefits

A A WORD FROM THE PUBLISHER

COLUMN

Growing Delaware County

PO Box 842, 401 S. High St., Muncie, IN 47308 765-288-6681 | 800-336-1373

Alliance offers insight into the backstory

PROFESSIONAL STAFF Jay Julian President/CEO (765) 288-6681 jjulian@muncie.com Terry Murphy, CEcD Vice President, Economic Development (765) 751-9104 tmurphy@muncie.com Traci Lutton Project Manager (765) 751-9126 tlutton@muncie.com Ashley Surpas Economic Development Coordinator (765) 751-9126 asurpas@muncie.com REDEVELOPMENT STAFF Brad Bookout Delaware County Redevelopment Commission (765) 751-9133 bbookout@muncie.com Todd Donati Muncie Redevelopment Commission (765) 751-9106 tdonati@muncie.com

W

elcome to Alliance!

This magazine is designed especially to give you the insider’s perspective of economic development in Muncie and Delaware County. If you’ve ever wondered how a company came to our community or why another stayed, this is where you’ll read the backstory.

The Muncie-Delaware County Economic Development Alliance is a uniquely positioned organization, partnering with the Muncie Redevelopment Commission and the Delaware County Redevelopment Commission to bring new jobs to our community and, of course, to retain what we have. We work equally close with government and private industry.

Alliance will be your source for updates on our 2016 Economic Development Plan. Our report card JAY JULIAN will include metrics like payroll growth and capital Chief economic investments, key indicators of how we’re meeting our objectives. development In our premiere issue, you’ll read about Todd officer, Murray and Mursix Corp., a company that has president/ceo its roots in Delaware County. This homegrown manufacturer has ballooned from 82 employees just four years ago to 300 today. In fact, you probably have a Mursix component part in either your home or automobile. And they continue to innovate. Read why Mursix is heavily involved in exploring alternative power sources.

This is exactly the kind of company that any number of cities in the U.S. and abroad would love to have in their community. And yes, competing communities have tugged at Mursix, and like any smart business, they’ve considered all their options. I’m proud to say we’ve kept them local because we understand their business and their needs. More importantly, they value the cooperative nature of business and government in this community, something that you read too little about.

In Alliance, we’ll share the details of what we do and why your support through tax dollars and business contributions is so critical.

The other end of the economic development spectrum is drawing new employers to town. Progress Rail operates three locomotive assembly plants in the world: One in Mexico, one in Brazil and one in Muncie, Indiana.

The backstory of how Progress Rail came to occupy the former Westinghouse facility speaks to the value of a community maintaining its commercial assets. And patience.

Today, Progress Rail occupies the nearly 750,000-square-foot facility on Muncie’s south side, just minutes from Interstate 69. The epic factory, constructed in the 1960s for Westinghouse Corp. to build large transformers, suits locomotive manufacturing very well, including putting to use the 99foot tower in the center of the plant.

These are the realities of community economic development work. Now you know the backstory.

Please enjoy this premiere issue of Alliance! A 4

Alliance | 2014 Premiere Issue

ALLIANCE the magazine of the PUBLISHER Jay Julian, Muncie-Delaware County, Indiana Economic Development Alliance www.muncie.com EDITOR Traci Lutton, Muncie-Delaware County, Indiana Economic Development Alliance www.muncie.com DESIGN AND EDITORIAL DIRECTION The JMetzger Group specializes in branded content, custom publishing and social media solutions.

Learn more: www.thejmetzgergroup.com CONTRIBUTORS Writing: Doug Gruse, Darrel Radford, Martha Strauss Photography: Adam Sturm Design, editorial, and production oversight: Juli Metzger, Tammy Kingery, John Metzger Alliance Magazine: The voice of the Muncie-Delaware County, Indiana Economic Development Alliance. These materials are the sole and exclusive property of the MuncieDelaware County, Indiana Economic Development Alliance and may not be used without written consent.

Copyright 2014 The Muncie-Delaware County, Indiana Economic Development Alliance.

A PREMIERE EDITION S /S 2014 pring

ON THE COVER

ALLIANCE

ummer

12 6

HOMEGROWN

Progress

The state-of-the-art locomotive maker is the largest automated manufacturing cell in North America and is building a new high-speed passenger locomotive.

Mursix. $7 million investment The hybrid vehicle industry is turning into a primary niche for this homegrown company. Mursix is expanding, adding more jobs, 75,000 square feet and investing $7 million.

GOALS

OVERVIEW

EXPORTS

GLOSSARY

The impressive reach of local companies that export or partner with locations around the world.

Learn the unique language of the world of business and economic development.

Made in Delaware County

Vision Scorecard

Number Snapshot

11

The strategies, goals and progress behind the Economic Development Alliance scorecard for Muncie and Delaware County.

17

A numerical overview of life and business across the Delaware County community.

A sampling of products important to today’s business and industry that are made in the Muncie area.

18 22 25

rail. A new era

24

Global Reach

29

Terms

to know

30

Sallie Mae. Growing again At its Muncie office Sallie Mae is adding 21,000 square feet and 200 jobs with an average guaranteed wage of $37,000 annually.

Q & A. Site selection Jay Garner, who has been working in the area of economic development for 30 years, offers an inside look at the positive community features site selectors want.

Ambassadors. It takes a village How the people within a community respond to economic development inquiries can have long-lasting effects. Heavy equipment manufacturer DD Dannar is one example.

2014 Premiere Issue | Alliance 5

How a company’s loyalty and a community’s tenacity helped

Mursix stay local & profitable

Economic Development Alliance plays key role in keeping innovative partsmaker’s roots firmly in Delaware County

6

Alliance | 2014 Premiere Issue

The

Mursix legacy

IN THE BEGINNING: Family

INNOVATION: Proven,

TODAY: Expanding &

vision

&

persistence

consistent leadership

thriving company

2014 Premiere Issue | Alliance 7

P

Todd Murray, Mursix Corp. President

“It's important for us to be here.”

What Mursix makes

1

MADE

Delaware County, Indiana Mursix products are made in Delaware County, Indiana, and are components many East Central Indiana residents use every day.

8

Alliance | 2014 Premiere Issue

owered in part by its innovation for a car battery of the future, Mursix Corp. is expanding again – both in terms of facilities and people – helping accelerate economic growth for Delaware County in the process.

While a 25,000 square-foot expansion is just now being completed, another 50,000 square-foot building is planned to begin in April 2014. Just over 100 jobs are expected to be added between now and 2017, bringing total employment to about 400 employees at its Yorktown location.

What few people know is the Mursix expansion could have gone another way were it not for the determination of local officials to keep this home-spun company, well, local.

“Over 60 percent of our customers wanted us to have a facility down south on the border of Texas and Mexico or in Mexico itself,” said company President Todd Murray.

“We’re still receiving lots of pressure there. Many of our products end up down there to be assembled and logistics is such a major concern with our customer base.”

It was the old-fashioned roll-up-your-sleeve energy of Delaware County’s economic development staff that kept the current Mursix expansion and its state-of-the-art hybrid battery plans from taking place in Mexico.

“We had engaged with other economic development entities and had some very attractive offers to relocate but my family has a great sense of loyalty and it’s important for us to be here,” Murray said.

“If it wasn’t for the Muncie-Delaware County Chamber of Commerce, the EDA, the Delaware County Redevelopment Commission, the mayor and so many others – if they weren’t all in the same boat, rowing in the same direction, we wouldn’t have been able to facilitate the sale of our former property to move here,” Murray said.

Mursix had been located on Bethel Avenue in Muncie,

2

MURSIX COMPONENTS

Company

innovations

Here is a list of some items Mursix makes: l Timing devices for washers and dryers (invented by Mursix founder Stephen Murray) l Latches for seatbelts l Air bag devices l Automatic door locks l Cruise control switches l Brake pad clips l Headlight activation switches l Satellite radio components (shown in far left photo)

but there was not enough room for expansion. In 2010, the company moved to Yorktown’s Park One Industrial Park and the former Mursix manufacturing plant was purchased by the Delaware County Redevelopment Commission as a business location asset.

Today, it houses several manufacturers including its latest tenant, DD Dannar, who is investing $4.65 million in real estate improvements, equipment and technology over the next four years. Like Mursix, DD Dannar products create and use alternative cleanenergy sources. It combines battery electric power with hydraulic drivetrain to create first-of-its-kind vehicles that will perform maintenance and provide supplemental off-grid power.

Murray credits the Muncie-Delaware County Economic Alliance with facilitating the sale of that facility so Mursix could move to its more spacious location in northwest Delaware County.

“They got a very valuable asset that they’ve been able to market and attract other businesses to come in and locate in our community,” Murray continued. “It was other incentives and ingredients that really made a lot of sense for us to stay put.”

The

Mursix philosophy

THE COMPANY: Headquartered in Muncie, Indiana, Mursix is a technologydriven company characterized by its use of state-of-the-practice equipment and technologies in the production of value-added product solutions.

CAPABILITIES: Tool design and construction, punch press and multi-slide stamping of both large and small components, precision machining, in-machine processing, injection and insert molding, plating, and sophisticated multi-part assembly.

CLIENT BASE: From its administrative, engineering, and manufacturing facilities in the U.S. and Asia, Mursix serves a diverse customer base in a wide variety of markets.

COMMITMENT TO QUALITY: “We don’t want one bad part to get into your vehicle,” Mursix President Todd Murray said. “We consider ourselves one of the best toolmakers in the industry. “We make about 300 million parts per year and not one can be bad. The old philosophy of having two or three or four thousand bad parts per million is not a bad thing, well that’s just not acceptable in today’s world. We’re dealing with very tight tolerances – three decimal places, maybe four. There’s not many in the industry that can do the things we do.”

Hybrid power and innovation

Mursix’s growth – from 82 employees just four years ago to nearly 300 today – has been driven by innovative thinking. Today, Mursix makes about 300 million items for automobiles and appliances every year. The expansions are a precursor to growth.

“In our business, you’ve got to be able to present to the customer the ability to accept business very quickly and have the space to do it,” said Murray. “You hear so much about capacity and during the recession, so many were forced to reduce their footprint or consolidate Continued on page 10

3

WORKLOAD

Auto

focus

Mursix makes many parts consumers never actually see but routinely rely on in their vehicles – parts that make things turn on and off, go up and down or lock and unlock. The company’s workload is about 70 percent automotivebased, 10 percent securities, 10 percent appliance with the balance a mix of industrial relay componentry.

4

GROWTH

New

equipment The growth of Mursix can be seen with their newest piece of equipment – a 400-ton punch press. “Eight years ago we didn’t have any presses of this size,” Murray said.

“Today we have four.”

2014 Premiere Issue | Alliance 9

Continued from page 9

their operations. As we’re seeing the economy rev up, you read about plants that are at 80 or 90 percent capacity and struggling to accept the growth of the economy. We want to be ready for that growth.”

With gas prices still unstable, Mursix minds have teamed up to develop a battery system that uses power created during normal operation of the vehicle by transferring it to accessories that need it.

It could be as simple as pressing a foot on the brake.

For years, the manufacturer mindset behind automobiles has focused on the power needed to operate them, not the potential power they could generate.

The Mursix team has been exploring ways to use the excess power a vehicle creates as it is being operated and recycling it back into accessories. Among ideas in the Mursix model are converting kinetic energy created from applying the brakes into usable power.

“Let’s face it: a 12-volt battery system in today’s vehicles is just not sufficient anymore. Everybody wants the goodies, the bells and whistles and no manual controls.”

Todd Murray

“Why waste good power that’s generated in the vehicle?”

Murray asked. “We always have. Why not use it to generate more mileage and better features in the vehicle? Whenever we have the opportunity to carry current in a device, we want to do that.”

Murray said such an energy source within the vehicle could help charge the batteries, run the car stereo or power the seat adjustment features, among other things.

“We saw the hybrid industry about eight years ago being a very formidable one,” Murray said. “We started courting customers we thought were going to be very instrumental in dropping the weight on vehicles and improving gas mileage. Let’s face it; a 12-volt battery system in today’s vehicles is just not sufficient anymore.

Everybody wants the goodies, the bells and whistles and no manual controls. Electronics is where it’s at.”

Ultimately, the biggest impact will be less pain at the pump.

“We’re lucky enough to see gas at $3.15 or so today, but we all know it wasn’t long ago that it was at $4 and I think it’s just a matter of time before it escalates back up,” Murray said. “Generating better gas mileage is something this country needs. Whenever we have an opportunity or we carry current in a device and can transfer it, we need to use as much of the energy as we can.”

10

Alliance | 2014 Premiere Issue

Keeping a family-owned business local

The state-of-the-art parts maker operates in a family-style setting, true to the roots of the company.

Started in 1945 by two Fairmount partners named Etchison and Johnson, Twoson Tool was born, using the last three letters of each to help create the name. The partners moved to Muncie in 1954.

Twoson Tool made electrical contact assemblies for Mallory Controls, a company whose president happened to be Stephen Murray, father of Todd Murray.

“My father was always mechanically inclined and intrigued by how things function,” Todd Murray said. “He was a mechanical engineer at Purdue and came up with 15 different patented devices, including the synchronous motor that’s still used in washers and dryers today.”

Murray had 100 percent of the appliance mechanical timer business for washers and dryers when he was doing business with Twoson Tool. When the owners of that company decided to sell, they knew exactly who to approach with an offer.

“My father always wanted to have something of his own,” Todd Murray said.

So Murray bought the company on 1990, a leap of faith that had some harrowing moments for the family.

“My mom and dad said it’s either all or nothing,” Murray remembered. “They put every cent they had in the business. In the first year and a half, we lost 45 percent of our sales. My dad was making payroll out of his own account.”

But the situation did not cause panic in a couple that moved to this area from Bedford with just $75 in their pocket after they were married.

“In 1992-93, things just turned and we’ve been a growing business ever since,” Murray said.

Lessons learned from his parents are obvious as Murray leads a tour through the facility his dad did so much for in previous years. As he explains the various operations, machinery and tools, Murray greets each employee warmly by first name.

“I like to reference everybody here as family,” Murray said.

“That’s how we were raised and how my father built the business.

Anytime we can do something for one another, it’s a great thing – whether it’s help an individual move or get through a bad time.”

It’s clear as he says it that people are still the most important “parts” of Mursix and that they will be the ones to maintain the company as a vital cog in the East Central Indiana economy for years to come. A

MADE

delaware county

homegrown

World-famous

products

Perhaps one of the best-known products manufactured in Delaware County is the world-famous Ball canning jar. While the jars are no longer produced in Muncie, Delaware County is home to several other diverse products important to today’s business and industry. Here is a sampling:

Mid-West Metal Products Co., Inc.

Metal

fabrication and powder coating

With a tradition of quality that spans more than 90 years, Mid-West Metal Products produces wire-formed and fabricated, sheet metal fabricated and tubular metal products for customers worldwide. Mid-West also provides powder coating services through their own powder coating facility, MW Powder Coating. The two manufacturing plants and powder coat facility in Muncie, Indiana, produce a wide range of industrial and commercial items including refrigerator and other specialty shelving, grill/cooking racks, store fixtures, fan guards, sheet metal cabinets and wire guards for HVAC, cable trays, and many other OEM components such as ironing board wire parts. Mid-West exemplifies the entrepreneurial spirit of Delaware County and East Central Indiana. Maintaining a small company “job shop” atmosphere guarantees the highest possible quality to customers.

Mid-West Metal Tier Rack

Muncie Power Products

V080

and

V130 Directional

control valves

Muncie Power Products has been serving the mobile equipment market with hydraulic components for more than 75 years. In the last year alone, Muncie has launched an unmatched lineup of new products designed for efficiency and reliability. The latest addition to their product portfolio, directional control valves, enhances their ability to provide system Muncie solutions to truck and mobile equipment manufacturers Power across the globe. Muncie Power Products, with its Products roots in Muncie, Indiana, and a legacy of giving back to the communities they serve, is owned by the Interpump Group, an international company headquartered in Italy. Muncie Power Products joined Interpump Group in 1999, forming a multinational operation that has become a world leader in the mobile hydraulic industry.

Muncie Power Products V080 Directional Control Valve

Ontario Systems

Software

Founded in 1980 by local entrepreneurs Ron Fauquher and Wil Davis, Ontario Systems builds software to recover consumer and business payments in highly regulated industries. Its market-leading solutions offer the broadest set of integrated products to facilitate tens of millions of contacts daily in a safe, secure, compliant manner.

Headquartered in Muncie, Indiana, Ontario Systems staffs more than 250 employees who work within the home office location and from remote locations across the nation. This team, with deep industry knowledge and a full portfolio of software, services and business process expertise, serves more than 55,000 representatives in more than 500 locations.

Ontario Systems customers include nine of the 10 largest collections agencies, and three of the five largest health systems in the U.S. Collectively, OS customers return nearly $20 billion into the U.S. economy each year.

2014 Premiere Issue | Alliance 11

PROGRESS RAIL

A A NEW ERA IN TRANSPORTation

Making Progress Passenger train manufacturer sees good days ahead in Muncie

12

Alliance | 2014 Premiere Issue

By the numbers 1

In 2011, Caterpillar subsidiary Progress Rail Manufacturing Corp. began building locomotives in Muncie.

2

“The F125� train runs on a Caterpillar 20cylinder engine capable of 120 miles per hour.

3

Progress Rail moved into Muncie facility in 2010 and built a 1.2-mile oval test track that banks locomotives at speeds up to 35 miles per hour.

PHOTO PROVIDED BY PROGRESS RAIL.

2014 Premiere Issue | Alliance 13

P

James Shirvinski, Progress Rail Senior Vice President of Engineering

1,262 active locomotives in its portfolio.

1

PURCHASE

$800

million Caterpillar bought Progress Rail in 2006 for about $800 million.

14

Alliance | 2014 Premiere Issue

rogress Rail, the state-of-the-art locomotive maker and the largest automated manufacturing cell in North America that repairs and renovates freight cars and locomotives, is poised to usher in a new era of U.S. passenger trains.

Joining forces with Spain-based rail maker Vossloh, Muncie’s Progress Rail facility is building 20 passenger locomotives for Metrolink, southern California’s regional rail authority. The train will run on a Cat®, 20-cylinder engine, have Vossloh’s high-speed, unibody design and be capable of 120 miles per hour.

It’s just the latest in a series of remarkable events that saved a long-vacant factory and brought hundreds of skilled trade jobs to Muncie and Delaware County.

When details were coming together to land Progress Rail for Delaware County, Terry Murphy, vice president for economic development for Muncie-Delaware County’s Economic Alliance Corp., was in Japan.

“I would be calling on potential clients all day in Japan, and at night – when it was daytime in the states – we’d be negotiating with Progress Rail,” Murphy recalled.

The long nights paid off.

In 2011, Caterpillar subsidiary Progress Rail Manufacturing Corp. began building locomotives in Muncie. In what was a classic “when it rains, it pours” scenario, another suitor became interested in the space at the same time that the Progress Rail talks were underway. The long-vacant, epic 740,000 square foot plant sitting on 300 acres suddenly was in play.

“I remember the (building) owners wanted to go the other direction,” Murphy said. “But we were pushing for Progress Rail believing they presented the best possible scenario for long-term job creation for Delaware County.”

2

THE BUILDING

740,000 sq. ft.

Progress Rail is in a 740,000 sq. ft. building built by Westinghouse that was later home to ABB. Both were makers of large transformer stations. It Is uniquely suited for rail manufacturing because of its size.

3

4

RECYCLING

HISTORY

Progress Rail had its origins in the recycling business and built up a large business repairing and refurbishing a wide variety of rail equipment.

Progress Rail leadership oversaw Caterpillar’s move into production of railroad locomotives via the 2010 acquisition of Electro-Motive Diesel, or EMD, formerly owned by General Motors Co.

Origins

Leadership

In the end, Progress Rail won out, and the company began the building transformation. Progress Rail moved into the sprawling Muncie facility in 2010 and built a 1.2-mile oval test track that banks locomotives at speeds up to 35 miles per hour.

There are actually two test tracks on site. One is for trains built for standard gauge tracks. The other is for international trains, which have different track gauge requirements, are often smaller in size, and have lower clearances to accommodate the narrow tunnels in Europe and around the world.

Not a bad use of the one-time large-power transformer factory built in 1963 by Westinghouse and later occupied by ABB. Many couldn’t fathom how the massive structure on all that acreage could be reused.

“Despite it being vacant for so long,” said James Shirvinski, senior vice president of engineering for Progress Rail, “the building was in remarkably good shape. I’ve built a couple facilities in my day, but they really built one heck of a building here. I was really impressed. They didn’t spare any expense.”

Progress Rail has only three locomotive assembly facilities – one in Mexico, one in Brazil and one in Muncie.

Where they could, Progress Rail has preserved original features of the Muncie building including unique wood paneling that lines what are now meeting rooms. Today’s low-profile furnishings take on the classic mid-century retro feel in this setting. Some 40,000 square feet of office space was most recently renovated and within a year is expected to be full of engineers. Muncie’s facility will become an engineering hub for Progress.

The build-up at Progress has been steady. Within 10 months of taking occupancy, Progress Rail converted

Train transformations

Continued to page 16

5

ENGINE

Nearly completed engines

Welding the frame

6

ASSEMBLY

The Truck.

Truck parts.

The engine sits on top of the equipment shown at left, which is called the “truck”.

These primed trucks arrive in Muncie from suppliers and await assembly.

At left is the truck assembly. Truck components (frames, traction motors, and wheel sets) are manufactured by suppliers and assembled in Muncie.

2014 Premiere Issue | Alliance 15

Paint station.

“It is a fairly large-size community with a dedicated labor pool.”

James Shirvinski

Continued from page 15

the factory into a state-of-the art locomotive assembly plant and the first Muncie-built locomotive debuted in October 2011, almost a year to the day of the groundbreaking ceremony. More than 250 locomotives have come off the Muncie assembly lines since then, destined for service in the United States, Canada and Mexico, as well as Australia, Indonesia, and Saudi Arabia.

Muncie’s Progress Rail was the first locomotive manufacturing plant to open in the U.S. in the last half century. The company had a unique set of requirements when it started looking for real estate.

• Because its product can weigh in excess of 200 tons, it needed plenty of space. The former ABB property is 740,000 square feet and sits on 300 acres.

• Because it ships its product domestically and overseas, it needed easy interstate access and rail service. Just minutes from Interstate 69, the Muncie location already offered a rail spur on the property. ABB used it to transport giant utility transformers.

• Because it deals in very large manufacturing, Progress Rail uses huge cranes to move solid steel. At its highest point in the plant, the ceiling juts to 99 feet, giving ample clearance for maneuvering the mighty engines.

Muncie offered an essential blend of people, place and passion.

“It is a fairly large-size community with an excellent labor pool,” Shirvinski said. “There is easy highway accessibility, a university, a trade school and it’s centrally located in the country, which we need for domestic shipping. And the people involved made it clear they wanted us here.”

Progress Rail continues to invest in the Muncie plant, preparing for what is certain to be a busy decade of rail discovery.

“Looking ahead for this facility, the future is very bright,” said 16

Alliance | 2014 Premiere Issue

Vince Williamson, director of operations at the Muncie plant. “We see this as a growing industry and the work that is produced in Muncie is world-class.”

With nearly 30 passenger rail customers and 1,262 active locomotives in its portfolio, Progress Rail sees potential for replacement of as many as 500 trains in the near term.

Work is steady and growing. Progress Rail protects the precise number of work orders but the open tickets take up two walls at the Muncie plant.

The south Muncie factory is spotless and color-coded signs designate a place for everything, and everything is in its place.

With the heavy equipment and sheer volume of steel, safety here is paramount and visitors are outfitted from head to toe before walking into the plant.

Shirvinski, a 1993 graduate of Purdue University, seems at home in the Indiana plant. He ran the Manufacturing Division of Union Tank Car Company before joining the Muncie operation.

Progress Rail’s engineers are researching and prototyping locomotives with lower emissions. Heightened environmental standards and a broadening supply of natural gas drives the innovation. With all the shales they’re finding in North America, experts predict there will be enough gas to last 75 to 100 years.

That kind of natural resource could save railroads 50 percent of their fuel costs.

The industry sees only good days ahead.

As highways become more and more congested, cities are putting more work into rails, industry experts say. Progress says rail is two to four times more efficient than over-the-road trucks.

As emission standards become more important, Progress experts say communities and businesses will choose rail over truck. And Muncie’s locomotive assembly plant is a big part of that future.

“It’s one of the things that we instill in our workforce,” said Williamson, a native Hoosier with degrees from the University of Evansville and Purdue University. “There are about 313 million people in the United States. And only a relative handful of employees are involved in producing locomotives. We get to do something that is very special.” A

VISION scorecard

new capital investment and

597 new or saved jobs

in first two years of Vision 2016.

2

NEW BUSINESS ATTRACTION

New payroll soars Average wage of jobs at new companies is

$40,813.

A VISIT

www.muncie.com to learn more about the MuncieDelaware County, Indiana Economic Development Alliance.

6

EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION

The Vision 2016 Economic Development Program has six goals, which are supported by government and business partners throughout Delaware County. Among our goals: 2,000 jobs and a total capital investment of $250 million. Below is an explanation of our objectives.

5

IMPROVE THE IMAGE OF MUNCIEDELAWARE COUNTY

EXPANSION & RETENTION OF EXISTING BUSINESSES

$141.2 million in

Vision 2016

3

1

Investing & growing

Six goals

Moving forward The Alliance is working in conjunction with the Chamber of Commerce’s Image Committee to acknowledge and promote the unique philanthropic spirit in the community. For more information on the Committee’s current campaign, “My Muncie,” visit mymuncie.org.

COMMUNITY PLANNING & PREPAREDNESS

Shell building

4

WORKFORCE EDUCATION

Training programs The Alliance worked with the WorkOne office, IVY Tech, City of Muncie, Delaware County Commissioners, Muncie Area Career Center, United Way and area manufacturers to establish the Regional Advanced Manufacturing Program (RAMP).

RAMP is a 4-week, 128-hour training program for entry level manufacturing jobs. This is one of several local workforce initiatives underway.

Raising

The Daleville shell building was completed this year. The 50,000 square foot building (expandable to 215,000 square feet) is located adjacent to I-69 at exit 234 in Daleville.

These buildings are instrumental in generating leads and providing available, modern space for new and expanding businesses.

educational levels

Vision staff continues to have an active role of the B-5 Committee on the five pillars of success: parent and family involvement, quality childcare, communication, preschool curriculum, and the health and wellness factor. A pilot program is now underway. For more information visit muncieb5.org.

2014 Premiere Issue | Alliance 17

Sallie Mae extends its foothold in Muncie

F Kevin Campbell, Senior Director and President of the Student Assistance Corporation, Sallie Mae

“A large company with great name recognition.”

1 2006

700

jobs

In 2006, Sallie Mae opened a customer service center in Muncie's Airpark Industrial Park. The initial plan involved adding 700 jobs. According to initial agreements with the Muncie-Delaware County Economic Development Alliance, the company anticipated filling up to 300 jobs in the first year of operations and an additional 200 jobs in each of the next two years.

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Alliance | 2014 Premiere Issue

ortune 500 Company Sallie Mae is proof that Muncie and Delaware County means business when it comes to attracting major employers.

While some national corporations have scaled back during the recession, Sallie Mae, the country’s top financial services company specializing in education, has committed to bringing hundreds of new jobs to Muncie and extending its foothold in Indiana.

With a recent expansion, Sallie Mae has become Delaware County’s largest employer outside of the health care, government and education sectors.

Representatives from the financial industry titan credit the region’s business leaders with making the growth possible.

“The folks from the Muncie-Delaware County Economic Development Alliance really have their act together,” said Jeff Wilmington, a senior director of Sallie Mae who was pivotal in the negotiations for the Muncie site. “We sat down with them at the table, and they got very creative. They are a well-organized group, and they were very accommodating.”

2 2012

200

jobs

In July 2012, Sallie Mae announced that it would add 200 more jobs to its Muncie site as part of a $4.9 million expansion, which would add 20,200 square feet to its offices in the Airpark Industrial Park. The recently completed expansion brings the facility up to 75,000 square feet.

3 2013

100

more positions

Sallie Mae is currently building its workforce at the Muncie site up to 900 employees, a number it has committed to until at least the end of 2024. At the end of 2013, it was in the process of filling 100 open positions.

4 NO. 1

25

million customers

Sallie Mae is the No. 1 financial services company specializing in education. The company serves 25 million customers and has helped 31 million Americans pay for college.

Forming alliances

Sallie Mae has been a significant contributor to Muncie’s economy since 2006, but the student-loan giant almost passed over the community during initial negotiations when it was looking to add two Indiana sites, each employing around 350 people.

“We showed them a lot of locations in Delaware County, but we could never get a perfect match. At one point, we were out of it,” said Terry Murphy, vice president of economic development with the MuncieDelaware County Economic Development Alliance.

But representatives from Muncie were determined to bring the connection to fruition.

“We very much wanted to get them here, and we have a very strong team willing to think outside the box to get things done,” Murphy said.

The Muncie-Delaware County Economic Development Alliance approached the corporation about one of its “spec” buildings in Muncie’s Airpark Industrial Park.

Although the shell structure was bigger than what Sallie Mae initially sought, creative negotiations swayed the corporation to open a single site in Muncie.

“They committed to 700 jobs and one new center in Indiana – and it was here,” Murphy said.

Flash forward six years. Sallie Mae announced in 2012 that it planned to bring an additional 200 jobs to Muncie and increase its local facility to 75,000 square feet 21,000 square feet more than its initial agreement - and a $4.9 million expansion.

Murphy said theEDA was eager to accommodate the corporation’s needs.

“We remained in contact about exploring opportunities,” he said.

Wilmington credits the tenacity of local business leaders with making it possible.

A giant in student assistance

Continued to page 20

Two

companies

In May 2013, Sallie Mae announced a plan to split its banking and student-loan divisions into two separate companies. The education-loan management business and consumer-banking operations will soon operate independently.

A strong work force.

6 3 INDIANA LOCATIONS

8HOME BASE

Sallie Mae employs approximately 2,200 people at three locations in Indiana, including Fishers, Indianapolis and Muncie. The company has about 7,100 employees nationwide, with locations in nine states.

Sallie Mae, known primarily for its student loan division, is headquartered in Newark, Del.

5.7

The company, which is a publicly traded corporation, is listed on both the Fortune 500 and the Forbes 500.

2,200

5 SPLIT

Muncie’s location opened in 2006.

jobs in Indiana

7 SERVICING

million accounts

As of Sept. 20, 2013, Sallie Mae was servicing approximately 5.7 million accounts under the U.S. Department of Education Servicing Contract.

Forbes 500

2014 Premiere Issue | Alliance 19

Inside Sallie Mae.

“Sallie Mae has been very pleased with the quality of the work force.”

Terry Murphy

Continued from page 19

“I think they have their act together when it comes to economic development. They understand what it takes to attract major employers.You can see real progress in Muncie. It’s pretty exciting,” he said.

Reciprocal relationships

Shell buildings and economic alliances, however, aren’t always enough to entice a major corporation to expand its operations in a city. One of the key components in Sallie Mae’s decision to increase the number of jobs in Delaware County is the level of employees the company has been able to hire.

“Sallie Mae has been very pleased with the quality of the workforce,” Murphy said.

The Muncie location, which focuses as a servicing center for student loans, is a productive site.

“I’m not surprised that the company chose to expand here.

This facility ramped up from the very beginning,” said Kevin Campbell, senior director and president of the Student Assistance Corporation at Sallie Mae. “We have a very strong work force here. From the very beginning, the workers performed very well. It really was only a matter of time.”

Campbell, a native of Indiana, took a job at Sallie Mae’s Muncie site almost seven years ago after a career working for J.P. Morgan in Missouri.

“Sallie Mae is a large company with great name recognition.

Knowing that Sallie Mae was going to put up a facility this large, I thought it would be great to be a part of it,” he said.

Since working for Sallie Mae, Campbell said he has been impressed with the job applicants in Delaware County.

“One of the main things I look for when I am hiring is communication skills, and they must have the desire to do the 20

Alliance | 2014 Premiere Issue

job. A computer background, especially soft skills like typing and maneuvering around, also are important,” he said.

The site, which is the main hub for the company’s Student Assistance Corporation in the United States, processes incoming calls from people with questions about their loans and doing outreach for loan guarantors. Multiple shifts cover hours between 8 a.m. and midnight.

Employees, who work as counselors, receive about a month of training before they start working with customers.

“We give them the tools they need to succeed. In the years we have been here, we have found a lot of good talent,” Campbell said.

Sallie Mae’s corporate structure rewards good work, according to Nikki Lavoie, a spokesperson for the company at its Newark, Del., headquarters.

“Our employees are responsible for the success of the company and our customers. We’re pleased to offer valuable, competitive and affordable benefits,” Lavoie said.

The corporation offers competitive compensation, a benefits package that includes health, dental and life insurance, vacation, stock options and a 401k plan.

As part of its recent expansion, the Muncie facility looked to its employees to develop a more conducive work site.

“We took a lot of input on how to make this a better place. We added an on-site cafeteria so employees don’t have to leave, there’s a fully equipped gym with locker rooms and showers and we added more access to the outside, including a large patio with gas grills and a picnic area,” Campbell said.

The Muncie site has an above-average employee retention rate.

“I have been in this type of customer service business for 20 years, and this site has been on the low end of turnover based on my experience,” Campbell said.

Once employees become part of the team, they are given incentives to stay.

“A lot of things have helped keep people here long-term,” Campbell said. “There’s a great deal of employee involvement in the community, and the majority of the management here have been hired at an entry level and then worked their way up.”

A new chapter

Sallie Mae made national headlines in May when it announced that the corporation, originally created in 1972 as a governmentsponsored enterprise, would divide itself into two separate companies by the first half of 2014.

One company will focus on the education-loan management business. The second entity will be a consumer-banking operation.

The move, meant to boost the company’s market valuations, follows a 2010 change in the Federal Family Education Loan Program through the Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act. Part of the legislation eliminated the public-private partnership Federal Family Education Loan Program (FFELP).

Since July 1, 2010, all federal loans have been originated directly by the U.S. Department of Education. “We see ourselves as having two distinct businesses,” Sallie Mae’s CEO John F. Remondi told investors during a May conference call, according to the Wall Street Journal. “These entities can better succeed as distinct and separate entities.”

The businesses will operate under two separate names.

“Sallie Mae is a leading consumer banking business with expertise in helping families save, plan and pay for college through responsible loan, insurance and savings products,” Lavoie said.

“The yet-to-be-named company will be a leading education loan portfolio manager, servicer and collection entity with established portfolio, track record and federal contracts.”

The split will have little effect for local employees, according to Campbell.

ASSET

“At the Muncie location, our employees will still come to work every day to help our customers succeed,” he said, noting that the site already is dedicated to student-loan services.

Wilmington sees it as a new chapter for the Fortune 500 Company. “I think it’s a great thing. We are becoming two publicly traded companies. I’m excited,” he said.

Looking ahead

With its recent expansion in Delaware County, Sallie Mae is in the process of hiring people to fill 100 open positions. The corporation plans to increase its Muncie workforce in the near future to 900 total employees, a number it has committed to until at least the end of 2024.

“We want to be in this community long term. The community views Sallie Mae as a good place to work, and the surrounding counties give us the opportunity to grow – lots of people come from the surrounding counties to work and end up moving into Muncie or Delaware County,” Campbell said.

The United States has about 12,500 economic development organizations, and Murphy admits the competition is tight when it comes to attracting major employers like Sallie Mae to a region.

Sallie Mae is a success story for the Muncie-Delaware County Economic Development Alliance, and Murphy said the corporation’s presence and expansion in Muncie has been a boon to attracting other businesses to the county.

“It definitely helps as we go out and try to recruit other companies,” he said. “We always refer to Sallie Mae and others, and they become our best spokesmen.” A

quality of life

Recreation The White River, which runs more than 200 miles, cuts through Delaware County’s cities and towns. The river traveler will enjoy sandbars, islands and wildlife, not to mention great fishing. Visitors and natives in kayaks and canoes meander down the river at a soothing pace.

Walking trails alongside the river provide a calm respite.

2014 Premiere Issue | Alliance 21

What every business wants:

One of the nation’s top site selectors shares the winning features of every community

Q A

What kind of information do you need from a company to start the site selection process?

A company identifies their musts and wants, so they tell us exactly what they need to make their location or expansion profitable. And then we assign each one of those items a ranking so that we can weight them during the location process. We rank those that they say they must have to make that operation successful a higher ranking, and the wants a somewhat lower ranking.

Q A

What are some examples of musts versus wants?

It would be different for each project and company, but obviously for most locations, it’s labor, and the type of labor skills that the company needs will usually be a must.

The kind of site or building they need, whether it’s a greenfield site for them to build on or an existing facility, and the criteria of that building – would be a must.

A want might be where a company says it would be helpful if we were near a four-year institution that provided this kind of curriculum so that they could draw from those graduates. That might be more of a want than a must. A want may also be that they need to be near a commercial airport that provides particular air service to a specific city. That could also be a must depending on the nature of the project and the company. The point being each project and company’s musts and wants are unique and different.

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Alliance | 2014 Premiere Issue

THE EXPERT: Jay Garner has been working in the area of economic development for more than 30 years and is a leading consultant in the field of site selection. As the founder and president of Garner Economics, LLC, he and his firm assist clients with site locations and economic development strategies on three different continents. Garner says he’s a fan of Muncie and Delaware County, which have been on his company’s radar since the mid-2000s.

Q A

What is the No. 1 feature that a business usually looks for in a community?

Consistently, labor availability is key. And when I say labor availability, it means skilled labor within the classifications that the companies are looking for. There’s a magazine called “Area Development” and they do a survey annually, and they ask companies large and small what’s important to them in the site selection process. And they separate them into two categories, the business categories and the quality of life categories. Under quality of life, public safety (lack of crime) is number one and health care facilities is number two. In the business categories, most everything is related to cost – the cost of doing business in Community A versus Community B. So things like tax rates, transportation costs, labor costs and occupancy costs are all key considerations.

Q A

How long does the site selection process usually take?

I’ve been doing this for 33 years. When I started, as a local practitioner, it would normally take about 18 months to two years from start to finish. Now it’s anywhere between six and nine months, sometimes longer, sometimes shorter, because of speed to market and the need for the company to get operational and make a profit. I suspect that there is no average but what I’ve seen is typically it takes about a year from start to the announcement.

Q A

What research tools do you use to narrow down sites to regions, states or communities?

We rely a lot on different communities to provide tools as it relates to available sites and buildings. But I have a full-time economist so we capture all of the economic and labor data ourselves. What we do ask the local community to provide is anything that’s local and unique that we aren’t able to capture from federal or state database sources.

That might be, for example, if there’s a plant closure, we wouldn’t know that unless it came from the community and a plant closure means that there would be employees available with certain skill sets. So a lot of companies would want to try and take advantage of that because a skilled workforce is so important in the selection process.

Q A

How important are incentives to companies in the decision process?

You’ll typically hear people say that incentives are what’s used at the end to make the deal happen. But I disagree. I think that a lot of companies are asking “What kinds of incentives do we expect?” on the upfront side.

They’re asking that when they start the process, because they know what their competition is getting, in many instances, and so they want to be on a level playing field with their competition. If it’s a large capital investment or labor intensive project, then in many instances the incentives are more important than not.

Q A

What assets can a small community typically offer over a large city?

The benefit of a smaller community is you’re dealing with a smaller footprint.

You’re typically dealing with government and business climates that are more conducive to growth rather than bureaucratic. This is not always the case, but it is often, because smaller communities are typically hungrier for economic activity.

But you still have to have the same amenities as large communities. I’m working with one community now in Texas that has no hospital or clinic.

That’s a hindrance to economic opportunity if you don’t have that type of quality of life, quality of place amenity that most take for granted.

Q A

Are there particular assets that Indiana is known for?

Indiana has really come on strong. Ever since you passed right-to-work legislation, it really opened the eyes of a number of people. That was significant.

Your technical school component, Ivy Tech, is really excellent. It’s why companies like Toyota and Nestle expand in Indiana.

So Indiana is really a proactive, aggressive state as it relates to economic development activity. And the local economic development practitioners that represent the counties are really good at what they do.

I have always said that you market yourself regionally and you sell yourself locally. And the local practitioners do a really good job of selling themselves locally.

Q A

What makes the Muncie-Delaware Co. Economic Development Alliance successful in working with site selectors?

They do a good job of keeping me informed of what’s going on in Muncie and they respond to my information requests timely and precisely. A

Now, incentives won’t make a bad site good. So you can’t buy your way into a project if the site just doesn’t work.

2014 Premiere Issue | Alliance 23

METRICS The average commute time in Muncie is

17

minutes which is 34% below the United States average, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.

Ball State University is the

1st

institution to construct a groundsource geothermal system – the largest in the nation – servicing more than 45 buildings on the 660-acre campus.

24

Alliance | 2014 Premiere Issue

by the numbers

Community Snapshot The Muncie and Delaware County region is defined by a number of community metrics.

Here is a numerical snapshot and overview of life and business in Delaware County, Indiana.

Ball State University ranks in the top

10%

nationwide for “Best College for the Money” by College Factual, an online resource that helps students simplify school selection.

Muncie ranks

Muncie-Delaware County has

four

industrial parks, offering hundreds of acres of fully serviceable sites.

5th

in the nation for the most affordable home market by Coldwell-Banker International.

IU Health Ball Memorial Hospital ranked

fifth

258

of

teaching hospitals in the nation for quality care and safety in 2013 by Consumer Reports.

GLOBAL delaware county

global influence

World-wide

About Maxon, A Honeywell Company

Partner locations

Maxon expanded into Europe in the 1960s and continues to operate a factory today in Vilvoorde, Belgium.

In the early 1990s, the company expanded into Asia and operates a factory today based in Shanghai.

Export locations Exports from Muncie ship all over the world, and more than half of the end customers of Maxon brand combustion equipment are located outside the United States.

reach

Companies located in Delaware County have a substantial global reach. Here is a sampling of local companies that export to or partner with locations around the world.

I

n 1916, The Maxon Premix Burner Company was formed by three brothers – John, H.R., and John (“Jack”) Maxon – to supply industrial combustion equipment to a growing manufacturing base in the United States. The company moved into an abandoned piano factory near 18th and Mulberry Streets in Muncie, Indiana, where the factory operations remain to this day.

Through continued emphasis on research and development, new products have been introduced on a regular pace with more than 60 product lines available today.

In 2007, Honeywell Maxon Series 8000 Safety Shut-off Valve and International purchased the controls company. Honeywell is a Fortune 100 company that also operates worldwide.

Maxon OXY-THERM® FHR Burner

NUMBER OF DELAWARE COUNTY EMPLOYEES: Approximately 300 MANUFACTURES: Industrial burners, industrial valves, and complete combustion systems, used in wide ranging manufacturing worldwide.

FACT: Coincidentally, the Honeywell name originates with a company started by Mark Honeywell in 1906. That company was founded right up the road in Wabash, Indiana.

About Keihin

Partner locations

NUMBER OF DELAWARE COUNTY EMPLOYEES: 350

Keihin Aircon North America, Inc. is part of the Keihin Group, which is headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. The Keihin Group is a world leader in integrated systems and has production divisions throughout the world, including China, The United Kingdom, The Phillipines, India, Indonesia, Germany, Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Taiwan and Czechoslovakia.

MANUFACTURES: Keihin Aircon North America, Inc. makes heating and ventilating (HVAC) products for the auto industry. The Muncie, Indiana, plant is engaged in the production of automotive air conditioning and engine cooling components and systems, including condensers and heater cores.

K

eihin is a Tier 1 supplier to Honda. Keihin Aircon North America Inc. in Muncie, Indiana, was incorporated in 1999 and mass production started in 2000. The facility covers 96,500 square feet of manufacturing floor space on 20 acres of land.

The Muncie facility conducts plastic injection molding and it assembles 4,000 HVAC units per day. The units ship complete and are fully tested before they are shipped.

Keihin North America HVAC Unit 2014 Premiere Issue | Alliance 25

Economic development

Ambassadors

help startup company discover Muncie

I

Dannar Inc. President Gary Danner and Ball Brothers Foundation President Jud Fisher

1 2011

DD Dannar Corporation is formed

by Gary Dannar in North Carolina. DD Dannar will produce the Mobile Power Station, a versatile heavy equipment vehicle powered by clean energy.

2 June 2012 Chance

meeting

Jud Fisher attends a business dinner in Indianapolis at the invitation of long-time friend Ed Marshall, a site selector for DD Dannar. Also in attendance: Gary Dannar.

3 September 2012

More

ambassadors

BSU President Jo Ann Gora and her husband, Roy Budd, then head of Energize-ECI, host Gary Dannar and Ed Marshall at the Ball State football game at Clemson University, where they met many Muncie community leaders.

26

Alliance | 2014 Premiere Issue

t’s a good thing Jud Fisher had his elevator speech ready when Delaware County became a candidate for an innovative startup business from Greenville, S.C. One year later in the summer of 2013, DD Dannar LLC announced it would be investing more than $4.5 million and creating an estimated 288 jobs in Muncie over the next four years for its Mobile PowerStation, a versatile heavy equipment vehicle powered by clean energy and designed to perform infrastructure tasks for the government fleet market.

The story of Dannar’s decision to come to Muncie began with a business dinner in Indianapolis in June of 2012 that Fisher

4 JUNE 2013

Announcement Gary Dannar announces that he will locate his factory in Muncie, roughly a year after his initial meeting with Jud Fisher.

was invited to attend. At that time, Fisher was serving as chair of the Muncie-Delaware Chamber of Commerce and was president of the Noon Rotary Club in addition to his duties as president of the Ball Brothers Foundation. The invitation came from Ed Marshall, a site selector for Dannar, and a friend Fisher had known since his high school days in Leland, Mich. Others at the dinner were Gary Dannar, owner of DD Dannar and John Waters, a technology industry consultant from Anderson.

Fisher explained the three were gathering information about where Dannar should locate his business. “They kept asking me questions about Anderson, and I said ‘I don’t know about Anderson, I know about Muncie’,” recalled Fisher, who then proceeded to lay out Muncie’s positive attributes for them – everything from education to auto industry resources to recreational amenities.

It was, indeed, his conversation with Fisher that evening that “opened the door for Muncie,” says Dannar. “We were looking for sites that were environmentally sensitive, close to recreation and close to residential housing,” he said. “So when I asked Jud Fisher about any of those things, he encouraged me to come to Muncie.”

The very next morning, Dannar decided to start checking out some of the areas in Muncie that Fisher had mentioned.

“I always try to go into situations like that and have your elevator speech for your community down,” said Fisher, “because you never know when it will help.” In this case, it made the difference. One year later in June of 2013, came the Dannar announcement that it would be setting up shop in a 25,000 square foot facility at the Delaware County Business Center on Bethel Avenue in Muncie, space formerly owned and occupied by Mursix, which three years earlier had moved a couple miles where it could expand further itself.

‘Look at my city’

Although he says his business could have been successful just about anywhere, Dannar always thought his assembly plant would end up being in South Carolina where the corporation was formed in 2011 and where he also was serving as chief

5 INVESTMENT

DD Dannar LLC will invest more than $4.5 million in Muncie and Delaware County over the next four years.

More

than

250

Jay Julian

executive officer of Little Roadside Management, a manufacturer of products for the governmental mowing industry. Because of his ties to the governmental fleet industry for the past 28 years in various capacities, Dannar says he became aware of the need for a purpose-built vehicle to do maintenance work and offer supplemental power in the field. Making it a hybrid vehicle that would be the first of its kind to combine batteries with a hydraulic drive train and have an onboard generator for back-up power was a bonus. And so the idea for the Mobile PowerStation was born.

During the product development stage, Dannar found himself traveling around the country to meet with engineering partners and national vendors. In Indiana, he often came to talk with companies like Parker-Hannifin in Noblesville, Ener-Del in Indianapolis and Waters & Associates in Anderson. And then came the meeting with Jud Fisher.

“To my way of thinking, we beat out some of the really cool areas with great research universities because one fellow acted like an ambassador, if you will, and said ‘Come look at my city’,” said Jay Julian, president and CEO of the Muncie-Delaware County Economic Development Alliance.

Fisher was just one of the “economic development ambassadors” who helped convince Gary Dannar of the benefits of locating in Muncie.

When Fisher got an invitation to attend a Ball State football game at Clemson in September of 2012, he had to decline

jobs

Continued to page 28

7 THE BUILDING

8PRODUCTION

Dannar has set up shop in a 25,000 square foot facility at the Delaware County Business Center on Bethel Avenue in Muncie, space formerly owned and occupied by Mursix.

Dannar currently is in the preproduction stage of the Mobile Power Station, making a military version of his product that focuses on the mobile generator. He plans to have around 35 units of the fully assembled vehicle coming off the line during the third quarter of 2014.

25,000 Sq. Ft.

$4.5 Million

6 EMPLOYMENT

“We beat out some of the really cool areas with great research universities because one fellow acted like an ambassador, if you will, and said ‘Come look at my city’.”

35

units in

2014

Dannar plans to create an estimated 288 jobs in Muncie over the next four years for its Mobile Power Station, a versatile heavy equipment vehicle powered by clean energy.

2014 Premiere Issue | Alliance 27

Continued from page 27

but thought it would be the perfect opportunity for Dannar and Marshall to get acquainted with some community leaders from Muncie since Clemson is located less than an hour from Greenville.

“Jo Ann Gora was great. She and Roy Budd heard about these folks and said, ‘Just tell them to come to dinner the night before with us’,” Fisher said of the Ball State University president and her husband, then head of Energize ECI, a regional nonprofit economic development organization. “And so this football weekend turned into a nice relationship-building period of time. Ed Marshall and Gary Dannar went to the game the next day with the Ball State contingent and they got to see a lot of the community leaders that went on that trip from Muncie. Some were banking executives, some were business leaders that knew a lot about the community.”

Fisher also made sure to connect Marshall and Dannar with the Muncie-Delaware County Economic Development Alliance as soon as he realized their level of interest in Muncie. Besides supplying Dannar with all the facts and figures about locating in Delaware County, Julian and Terry Murphy, vice president of economic development, set up face-to-face meetings with local business owners to talk about their experiences in the community.

“It’s a real powerful message to have business peers in central Indiana volunteering their time to sit down with a prospective business owner,” said Dannar. “If we had questions about the skill level, the cost of labor, the cost of facilities, transportation, of shipping in and out, any of those business questions, we were able to get that straight from the business owners so that was very

Jud Fisher and Gary Dannar 28

Alliance | 2014 Premiere Issue

helpful. And they would invariably not only talk about the business side of things, but also about the quality of life here that doesn’t go noticed.”

He also was favorably impressed in his meetings with people from the academic, political and banking communities such as Jo Ann Gora, Muncie Mayor Dennis Tyler and Jack Demaree of First Merchants Bank.

Fertile ground

So what were some of the qualities of Delaware County and central Indiana that eventually won over Dannar?

“We could have done this anywhere,” said Dannar, “but in the long term – 5, 10, 15 years down the road – you want the best fertile ground to grow a company of this size and opportunity. And central Indiana is the one that really wins out.” Among the qualities that Dannar mentioned were Indiana’s strong manufacturing background, a resilient workforce that can adapt and expand, the expertise of Ivy Tech and Ball State, and a good interstate system to facilitate distribution of goods.

As the manufacturer of a hybrid vehicle that uses clean energy, Dannar also was interested in a brownfield location in need of rehabilitation. “Another thing the economic development community did right ... is they had available space,” Dannar said. “It was just a year ago that we had dinner and we started these discussions. The Muncie-Delaware County Economic Development group made an investment in this building.

There was a landing spot sitting here waiting for a company to come in and the community said, ‘what do you want it to look like

and how can we help you do it?’ It’s pretty amazing how quickly things came together.”

For his initial location in Muncie, Dannar is happy to start with the Bethel Avenue location that had been vacant since 2010 when Mursix relocated to a new site in the Park One Business Park. At that time, the building was purchased by the Delaware County Redevelopment Commission and turned into an incubator facility, giving Dannar a location they could quickly adapt to their needs.

“The building has been renovated and repurposed for our use,” said Dannar. “We were able to come in with Delaware County economic development help and use that facility. At this point, it’s considered a short-term stay for us to establish operations.

And then we are looking at brownfield areas to go to long-term in Muncie.”

Next steps

Dannar currently is in the pre-production stage of the Mobile PowerStation, making a military version of his product that focuses on the mobile generator. He plans to have around 35 units of the fully assembled vehicle coming off the line during the third quarter of 2014. The company expects to hire 26 people in 2014 and grow that number to more than 400 by their fifth year of operation.

For its part, the Indiana Economic Development Corporation is offering $2.6 million in conditional tax credits and up to $25,000 in training grants based on the number of jobs created.

In addition, the Delaware County Redevelopment Commission is considering a package that includes $150,000 in a low interest

ASSET Airpark Shell Building: n n

40,000 sq. ft. expandable to 110,000 sq.ft.

28 ft. ceiling height; 11.33 acres

“Smart companies don’t chase zip codes with incentives. They instead look for communities with good people. And that’s why we’re here.”

Gary Dannar

loan, free rent for three years and $500,000 in improvements.

But while incentives are helpful, it wasn’t the deciding factor to come to Muncie, said Dannar at the time of the announcement in June. “Smart companies don’t chase zip codes with incentives,” he said. “They instead look for communities with good people. And that’s why we’re here.”

How important was the personal touch?

“It was critical in this case because we had already been approached and fallen into some relationships in another location that would have worked well for manufacturing too,” Dannar explained.

“The chance meeting with Jud (Fisher) at a business dinner in Indianapolis got things started. Once Jud got Jay Julian and Terry Murphy and others involved, the community, every time I would come back here for business reasons, engineering reasons, there would always a group of people, whether a private business manufacturer or civic leaders, or financial people, there were always people talking about Muncie, Ivy Tech, Ball State University. Eventually, it became clear there are a lot of resources here. It became clear we were meant to be here.” A

Shell Buildings Delaware County has a successful shell building program, with a strong track record of attracting successful companies. Currently, two shell buildings are completed in well-funded TIF districts, and can be customized to the specific needs of a new or expanding company.

Daleville Shell Building: n n

50,000 sq. ft. expandable to 215,00 sq. ft.

32 ft. ceiling height; 8.33 acres/additional 8.33 acres available 2014 Premiere Issue | Alliance 29

GLOSSARY

language

Terms

to know

An introduction to the unique language commonly used within the economic development world and business sector.

AEDO

[Accredited Economic Development Organization] AEDO is a prestigious designation presented by the International Economic Development Council to indicate that an organization has gone through a thorough, peer-reviewed organizational assessment, and is a leading authority on economic-related issues. The Muncie-Delaware County Economic Development Alliance is one of 36 economic development organizations in the United States and Canada to hold this distinction.

Brownfield A former industrial or commercial site where future use is affected by real or perceived environmental contamination.

BRE [Business Retention and Expansion] Typically a BRE program is implemented to encourage economic development from within the existing businesses in the community.

Clawback A provision in an economic development agreement to allow revocation of performancebased incentive(s) if the company does not meet its hiring and investment commitments.

CReED [Community Revitalization Enhancement District] The CReED incentive program entitles a taxpayer to a 25% credit against the taxpayer’s state income tax liability for a taxable year if the taxpayer makes a qualified investment in that year.

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Alliance | 2014 Premiere Issue

GIS

Shovel ready/certified site

A geographic information system (GIS) integrates hardware, software, and data for capturing, managing, analyzing, and displaying all forms of geographically referenced information.

IEDC The Indiana Economic Development Corporation (IEDC) is the State of Indiana’s lead economic development agency.

LEDO

An acronym used to to describe a Local Economic Development Organization.

Prospect A generic description for a potential business evaluating a location in the community.

Shell building A nearly-completed speculative building that can be finished in 90 to 120 days to suit a company’s specific specifications, thus saving valuable construction and permitting time.

These sites are parcels of land that have been evaluated and have met specific criteria regarding zoning, utility infrastructure, permits, environmental considerations, and site characteristics.

Potential buyers reduce the amount of lead time required for due-diligence and therefore reduce the start-up time and costs.

Site selection Process of choosing the optimal location for a business based on considerations such as tax climate, land and building costs, quality of the available workforce, incentives, and proximity to supply chain.

TIF [Tax Increment Finance] is a method to use future gains in taxes in a specified district to subsidize current improvements, which are projected to create the conditions for said gains.

Cities use TIF to finance public infrastructure, land acquisition, demolition, utilities and planning costs, and other improvements.

Thank you Academy of Model Aeronautics ADM Real Estate, Inc. Allied Enterprises, Inc. Alro Steel Foundation American Lawn Mower Company American United Appraisal Co., Inc. AT&T Ball Brothers Foundation Ball State Federal Credit Union Ball State University Barnes & Thornburg, LLP Bartlett Corporation Beasley & Gilkison, LLP Benson Motorcycles, Inc DBA Harley-Davidson of Muncie Boyce Systems Briner Building, Inc. Cardinal Health Alliance Central Indiana Orthopedics, PC City of Muncie Coldwell Banker Lunsford Community Hospital Anderson Cornelius and Mary Dollison CS Kern Inc. Dairy Dream of Albany, Inc. DeFur Voran LLP Delaware County Commissioners Delaware Glass & Mirror Co., Inc.

Dennis Wenger, & Abrell, P.C. DIY/Group, Inc. Eileen R. Raywood, DDS, PC Estep*Doctor and Company, PC Family Vision Care First Merchants Bank Gannett Foundation Garmong Construction Services George and Frances Ball Foundation Hilltop Group, Inc. IN Title Company Indiana American Water Indiana Michigan Power Indiana University Health Ball Memorial Hospital, Inc. Irving Materials Inc. / E&B Paving, Inc. Ivy Tech Community College Jack’s Camera Shop Jay-Crew Katherine Onieal Investment Services, LLC Keihin Aircon North America, Inc. L.J. Stone Inc. Littler Diecast Corporation Magna Powertrain Meridian Health Services Mid-West Metal Products Miller Financial Management

investors Murray’s Jewelers, Inc. Mursix Corporation MutualBank Charitable Foundation NASG Indiana Normandy Flower Shop, Inc. Ontario Systems, LLC Peter and Franky Voss Pinnacle IT Solutions PrimeTrust Financial Credit Union Printing Creations, Inc. Prudential Indiana Realty Group Raymond James & Associates Scherrer Construction Sherry Holdings, LLC Shideler Grain Co., Inc. Star Finanacial Bank The Community Foundation of Muncie & Delaware County, Inc. The Hagerman Group The Woodlands TomKen Plastic Technologies Town of Daleville Town of Yorktown Toyota of Muncie US Architects, LLC Vectren Energy Delivery Verallia Whitinger & Company, LLC

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