LOCAL JOBS IMPROVE TRI-COUNTY ECONOMY

Look around you and you’ll notice a lot more business activity in our tri-county area. Parking spots are at a premium and you might have to wait for a table at a local restaurant.

There’s a strong economic vibe taking place in Michigan after years of falling sales, layoffs, foreclosures, etc. “Michigan is making a comeback,” said Doug Rothwell, president/CEO of Business Leaders for Michigan, in a recent report in Crain’s Detroit Business.

We’re feeling the boom here in the tri-county area too, although many businesses owners are taking steps cautiously to grow their staffs back to pre-recession numbers.

“Two years ago we had 17 employees and today we have 26,” said Mike Parker, owner of Epic Machine in Fenton, which specializes in precision machining and custom tooling since 1979.

Parker has committed huge resources to help grow a unique talent pool, not only for himself but also for other Michigan manufacturers. He opened Epic CNC Training Academy on-site one-and-a-half years ago to train potential employees in the very specialized skills of machine tooling.

“Manufacturing today is nothing like manufacturing was in the past,” said Parker. “It’s not about standing at an assembly line and putting something together. It’s much more hi-tech, with tooling tolerances of the thickness of one hair. It’s very precise, and requires a very unique skill set, including math, reading and comprehension. We want to make sure a student will succeed at Epic CNC Training Academy before we take their tuition.”

Parker is already drawing interest from other out-of-state manufacturers in the unique concept of this training academy. “I run my company very differently from other business owners,” said Parker. “I like everyone here to work 10 hours a day. When things slow down, at least they still will get their 40 hours. We still pay full family health coverage 100 percent. If I take care of them, then they’ll take care of me. I can sleep well at night.”

Another local manufacturer, Creative Foam, was following in the failing footsteps of Michigan’s automotive industry just a few years ago. This company designs and manufactures cellular and non-cellular foams and plastics for customers in the automotive, medical and composite markets.

Back in 2007, they had to make the very difficult decision to lay off 70 workers, out of an employee pool of 312.

Today, with nine manufacturing plants in six different states, Creative Foam has grown along with the automotive industry. They now employ 950 people.

With a vision toward future expansion, Creative Foam purchased the former location of Fenton Cinema, and are now leasing that land to a trucking company. They have also rebuilt their engineering plant in Fenton, renaming it the Dr. Peter T. Swallow Engineering Center, after CEO David Swallow’s father, who founded the company in 1969.

“Our growth today is double-digits ahead of the growth of the auto industry,” said Swallow. “Our innovation of processes has allowed us to build a better product.”

Adding dozens of local jobs in the service sector are a number of restaurants in the area that have recently opened or expanded.

Crust, a baking company, spun off of the success of its parent company, The Laundry in Fenton, opening in 2012 with 33 employees. Today, this busy artisan bake shop has a staff of 40, feeding not only the hungry customers of The Laundry, but also the growing customer base of its own breakfast and lunch menu and baked goods and pastries.

“The community really has embraced the retail portion of the bakery,” said Mike Green, head baker at Crust. “Our retail store has really taken off, in addition to our wholesale business.”

Across town on Owen Road, Boston’s Gourmet Pizza opened last summer by the family of Rocky Dedivanaj, the family that owns Mega Coney Island in Fenton and several other locations. Boston’s has a staff of 72 to cover long daily shifts from 11 a.m. to 2 a.m. “Between Boston’s and our Fenton Mega location, we employ about 120,” said Dedivanaj. “About 85 percent of our staff is local, living within 10 miles of the building. That has a strong impact on a lot of other local businesses.”

As a state, in terms of employment, private sector employment in Michigan grew at the sixth-fastest rate in the country between 2011 and 2012. Yet Michigan’s unemployment rate since 2009 is still one percent higher than the national average.