Logistics booth hits the road

The recently completed logistics booth, a 10 ft by 20 ft trade show exhibit, will be the centerpiece of the visit to the NBAA Convention in Atlanta by a contingent from Richland County on the 25th, 26th and 27th of this month. The dramatic display was designed by Kevin Haring of Haring Design and constructed by Sign Graphix, both of Mansfield. Denis Mingallon of Praxis Communications also played a big role in the project and Dave Carto of Snow Trails Ski Resort donated the skeletal framework on which the display panels hang.

The trip to the NBAA convention is the first major outreach of the logistics initiative which began about 18 months ago as a combined effort by the economic development committee of the Mansfield Richland Area Chamber of Commerce and REDeC. The goal is to brand Richland County as a great place from which to distribute product and, by extension, to manufacture those products. We are attempting to use the location advantages we have from a transportation standpoint here in north central Ohio. We are within a days drive of a large percentage of this country's manufacturing base, not to mention the overall population.

Richland County can boast an outstanding highway network now that I-71 and US Rt. 30 have been improved to 6 and 4 lanes respectively. Our rail network consists of the Ashland Railway short line as well as Norfolk and Southern and CSX; both class one carriers. And then there is Mansfield Lahm Regional Airport! For years you, like the rest of us, have probably heard area people ask why our airport has not grown more than it has. It's been called a "hidden treasure" or aviation gem, mainly because it has not expanded as most thought or hoped that it would. We will be spreading the good news about Lahm at the NBAA.

NBAA stands for the National Business Aviation Association and they are expecting some 33,000 attendees at the upcoming convention in Atlanta. We will have a group of about 8 to 10 people working the Richland County booth over the three days. Included will be Kevin Nestor of the Chamber; Tim Bowersock who handles economic development for Mansfield; Richland County Commissioner Gary Utt; Hal Maxfield of Hal Maxfield Realty; Glenn McClelland of First Merit Bank who also serves as REDeC's board chairman, Vickie DaVanzo of Ohio Edison and me, Mike Greene of REDeC.

Our goal will be to talk to as many convention visitors as possible and show them how Mansfield Lahm Airport can enhance and/or drive their business. We'll have an opportunity to get in front of business people from the air cargo industry, an area that has been targeted in the past by those working to grow Lahm. As you might imagine there will also be those companies that build and sell airplanes as well as those companies which supply components to the manufacturers. The advantages to having access to a general aviation facility that can serve anything that flies is the story we have to tell and I think will be well received.

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REDeC Newsletter, 2006, 1st_edition

REDeC Newsletter, 2007, 1st edition