October 16, 2007

Dale Fallat - Ohio Chamber of Commerce

Maumee Rotarian Dale Fallat addressed the club and shared information regarding his work as the Chairman of the Ohio Chamber of Commerce.  Dale is also a 40 year employee of the Anderson's Inc of Maumee Ohio and shared briefly about the company's endeavors in the production of ethanol

The Ohio Chamber is the largest business advocacy group and has been organized for over 100 years.  Dale was appointed to his post in April of '07 and at the time thought he knew the state.  After spending time at the job and touring the various metropolitan and rural areas, he came to realize how much he was learning in the process. 

Dale shared that Ohio has an advantage by being situated on one of the Great Lakes.  This proximity to Lake Erie has helped in the commercialization of the state since the 1830's.  Major corporations such as Proctor and Gamble, NCR, BF Goodrich,  and Delco have developed and continue to prosper in Ohio and other ventures such as the Cleveland Clinic and NASA add to the mix in the Cleveland area.  Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Dayton is the largest site employer in the state with 22K employees and those employees hold more patents per capita than any other place worldwide.  Ohio is currently home to 274K businesses.

If Ohio were a separate nation, it would have the 26th largest economy in the world.  It holds more urban population centers (>150K) than any other state in the country and at the same time is one of the 4 largest agricultural producing states.  It is ranked #3 in infrastructure (roads, airports, rail, etc) in the country.

Dale opined that although the future opportunities lie in manufacturing of goods, there is great potential in developing advanced manufacturing technologies such as process tools and robotics.

As for the ethanol production, Anderson's brings 60 years of experience in the grain business to the table.  After discussion just 5 short years ago to determine what role they could play in the business of producing ethanol, they adopted a "we can do it" attitude and implemented a fast track program to build plants and bring them on line   They are currently planning to begin production in their 3rd plant which is located in Greenville Ohio with their others located in Michigan and Indiana.

Hosting Rotarian: Jim Coons