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Introduction

Even though the country is suffering through one of the worst recessions in modern history, new companies continue to emerge, prosper, and grow, particularly in the renewable or clean-energy fields. Projections show that domestic investment in clean-energy projects alone will exceed $325 billion by 2018.

One key will be to understand emerging industry growth trends. Where are they locating and why are clusters occurring where they are? The overall numbers of  location/expansions have been steadily declining in recent years primarily due to the recession, however, select emerging businesses are growing and clustering in select regions around the country.

Emerging companies will need workers that will require new skills. Many old skills will simply not be adequate, yet with the right retraining, many will be able to serve the new emerging players. Another key will be to determine whether there is a potential to match the old skills in an area with the new skill needs.

Enter ELFF

Emerging Labor Force Finder (ELFF) is a new site selection and economic development service of Foote Consulting Group, LLC (FCG). ELFF combines the latest clustering and needed skills trends with the best local skills matching and work force consulting.

Here’s how ELFF works:

» ELFF Determines Regional Emerging Industry Clusters
•    Emerging industry clusters based on actual location/expansion data
•    Shows job and size needs of these clusters
•    Discovers the most important occupation needs of emerging industries based on actual interviews of locating/expanding cluster companies
•    Depicts wage and salary data of emerging cluster occupations.

» ELFF Provides Skills Forecasting
•    Determines whether an area’s workers are ready for target jobs
•    Predicts staffing needs of emerging target clusters
•    Explains future industry, occupation, and demographic changes
•    Evaluates the current and projected performance of regional economies.

» ELFF Conducts Skills Matching
•    Compares skill and knowledge requirements of your existing occupations with emerging occupations
•    Predicts a region’s demand for specific types of knowledge and skills
•    Discovers skill gaps and training needs for individual workers
•    Teaches how to better transition dislocated or under-skilled workers into high-demand jobs.

» ELFF Offers Target Industry Analysis & Economic Impacts
•    Discovers which types of new industries would best complement an area’s economy
•    Pinpoints current wages, availability, and quality of the local workforce
•    Determines which emerging clusters are the best potential targets for an area
•    Predicts the multiplier effects of emerging clusters.

In short, ELFF combines the latest demographics with actual location/expansion information to provide a realistic and fresh new approach to site selection and economic development workforce analysis. The result is better decision making.

To learn more, contact Mr. Deane Foote at (480) 399-4854 or deane@footeconsulting.com

We have experienced first-hand the importance of ready to go real estate opportunities in our recent site selection and economic development work in Ohio, Iowa, New Mexico, and here in Arizona. Good “shovel ready” or “certified” sites simply lead to better and faster economic development results.

A number of states and regions around the country have already developed shovel ready or certified sites programs. Although called by different names, all generally offer similar objectives, including:

• To create development standards that will provide well-planned industrial sites/parks that will attract new investment and jobs
• To create development standards that will provide a variety of industrial products (i.e. mega sites, heavy/light industrial sites, R&D sites/parks)
• To provide funding to help operate the programs and design/develop new certified industrial sites/parks.

We have observed both pros and cons of a number of shovel ready programs and have come to the conclusion that there are a number of factors important for a successful program, including:

• Good regional economic development cooperation and participation
• Focused target industries and a good understanding of their site/building needs
• Site selection standards and criteria covering all development aspects
• The right number of diverse sites and a way to replenish the pools of sites as they sell
• A well financed program with an active infrastructure fund to spur development
• Well-planned/defined schedules, timelines, and deadlines
• Professional methods designed to expedite the development process (i.e. permitting); getting projects to market on or ahead of schedule is one of the top site selection priorities of companies today
• Use of a “third-party site selection consultant” to help select and review sites. This will create more success in terms of new location/expansions and in “maintaining an objective location process with minimal political intrusion.”
• Sustainable or “green” practices.

Now that you’re “shovel ready,” enjoy the fruits of all your new locations/expansions! Regards, Deane

I had the opportunity to tour and assess a recently mothballed auto plant in the Midwest recently with associate Jim Colson, President of Site Selection with AngelouEconomics. The mood was a bit somber as we walked through over 4 million square feet of dark and empty manufacturing space — space that just months ago was bustling with activity as SUVs streamed off the assembly line.

In the back of my mind as we walked through the plant, was the future of over 3,000 skilled workers that were put out of work due to this closure. Seemingly unreal, this scenario is being repeated all across the county leaving dozens of facilities empty and tens of thousands of workers in unemployment lines.

Prominent in my thinking as we assessed the facility was how it could be converted into new productive manufacturing space. Careful targeting, planning, retrofitting, and the right cooperative partnering can turn this liability into a new opportunity.

One clear path to capitalizing on this new opportunity will be to target renewable energy projects. The growth projections for renewables are impressive as I pointed out in our recent webinar, Location Trends of Today’s Thriving Industries (check it out in the last FooteNotes entry). Renewable energy capital investment in the U.S. is projected to top $325 billion by 2018!

Wind energy, solar, and biofuels projects could all be good potential targets for large manufacturing buildings. For example here are typical site selection criteria for a wind turbine manufacturing facility:

Wind Turbine Site Criteria
(Nacelle units [gearbox, generator and transformer components] & blade assembly)

• Access to market – wind farms

• Available labor (up to 1000 jobs) – machining and electronics skills with good quality

• Rail (more than one provider preferred)

• Sites (up to 200 acres)/available industrial buildings (up to 500,000 sq.ft./high ceilings)

• Free of earthquake or flood zones

• Training – college offering mechanical and electrical engineering degrees; plus machining and electronics

• Incentives and positive state/local policies.

Renewables and other emerging growth targets represent behemoth opportunities! Good prospecting, Everyone! Deane

Hi All! We just completed a successful webinar series (held on 5/19/09 and 5/21/09) hosted by Economic Development Online as a part of their Executive Webinar Series. The topic was “Site Selection Trends of Today’s Thriving Industries.” You can download slides from the entire Power Point presentation below!

Site Selection Trends of Today’s Thriving Industries

The webinar covered a number of timely topics for economic developers, including:

•    Understanding location/expansion trends — using information from our powerful location/expansion database, we discussed the downward trends of location activity nationally and regionally in recent years, particularly manufacturing projects. The good news here is that even during the recession there are still hundreds of locations that will take place in the near future!

•     The HOT growth sectors of today — including renewable energy; data centers; creative media; software development; healthcare/medical devices; biotech/life sciences, and warehouse distribution (DC).

•    The expected explosion of growth in the renewable energy market — world-wide investment is expected to top $325 billion by 2018. This includes $74 billion in US solar investment ($1 million investment will create 2 new solar jobs; you can do the math…thousands of new jobs!), and $83 billion in wind power investment.

•    The need to focus on transferring traditional manufacturing jobs into new clean energy jobs — this will take careful planning with your economic development and work force leaders working together!

•    Understanding growth sectors regionally — we explored location/expansion trends in two US regions to show that there is still good activity that will continue, including solar and wind power projects.

•    Site selection criteria for both solar and wind power projects — access to market, skilled labor, reliable/cost efficient power, “green-minded communities” and, yes, incentives will all be important in order to compete!

•    Doing the proper due diligence is important — successful economic developers will need to collect all the right information in order to show renewable companies that they are ready and excited about new green investment!

Let us know if we can help you to capture your fair share! Have a great day! Deane