Group: Specific industries could help lead state out of recession

Kansas can emerge from the world’s recession and prosper if the state can grow select industries, the state’s business leader said.

 Energy, agriculture and advanced manufacturing, which have been top industries for the state, will be joined by animal health, plant sciences and professional and human services as keys to strengthen the state’s economy, Kansas Secretary of Commerce Dave Kerr said Friday. He spoke to more than 70 local business leaders and economic development advocates Friday at the Ottawa Country Club during the Ottawa Franklin County Economic Development organization’s annual Allies Day.

 “We see good signs that maybe the economy has bottomed out, but it is expected to be a slow recovery,” Kerr said.

Aviation and manufacturing industries have been hit the hardest in Kansas, he said.

“Kansas was five to six months behind on the recession, so we can expect to be that far behind on a recovery, too,” Kerr said.

 The state continues to recruit new economic prospects and help others expand.

 He cited examples of success with Home Depot’s new distribution center in Topeka, which will employ 300 people; Black & Veatch, a global engineering, consulting and construction company specializing in infrastructure development, which decided to keep its headquarters in Overland Park along with 2,800 jobs and 400 new jobs at an average pay of $85,000; and the new Siemens wind energy plant to be built in Hutchinson, which will bring 400 new jobs.

 “We’ve been working two to three years to attract a wind energy manufacturer,” Kerr said of the Siemens plant. “This is the next cluster we want to build in Kansas.”

 Franklin County’s unemployment rate, which improved to 7.6 percent last month from the previous rate of 9.3 percent, still is higher than the state’s average of 6.1 percent. While Franklin County has enough employees to satisfy local businesses’ needs, that isn’t true all over the state, Kerr said.

 “There is a labor shortage in 28 of 105 counties in Kansas,” Kerr said. “We won’t have the labor supply to support our economy in the future.”

 Several businesses in southeastern Franklin County are doing just fine despite the soft economy, more than 50 economic development advocates learned during a tour of a portion of the county. Amish furniture, post-frame buildings, airplane parts and agricultural electronic sensors still sell.

The annual tour included stops at Sensor-1 in Princeton, Esh Buildings and Frontier Furniture in Richmond and Dodson Aviation in Rantoul. The tour also included a look at Lane and then onto Ottawa’s industrial park.

 Sensor-1 manufactures and distributes agricultural electronic equipment to enable farmers to know how much seed is being planted as well as many other sensors. It was opened in 1992 by Dale Johnson.

Esh Construction, now in its fifth year, has grown to a $10-million business, focusing on building high quality buildings for homes, day care centers, churches, businesses, garages and more at an affordable price.

 “The economy hasn’t affected us much,” Rob Pearce, of Esh, said. “We’re excited about the growth opportunities.”

 Vernon and Miriam Stoltzfoos said sales of Amish furniture at their business, Frontier Furniture, were pretty good despite the economy. That’s because of some people’s preference for quality  Amish furniture, they said.

 Dodson Aviation has seen highs and lows in its business because of the economy. However, sales tend to be best when the economy is poor because fewer new planes are being purchased, J.R. Dodson said.

 “We’ll be in this for a while longer,” Kerr said.