An ideal site for businesses to locate and expand.
Home to 1,400 employers ranging from Transportation and Warehousing to Manufacturing to Agribusinesses and including Professional and Scientific and Technical services, the county has a wide array of opportunities for its population of over 40,000 and the thousands who commute daily.
ON THE MAP
Clinton County’s location on I-71, and within 50 minutes of I-75 and I-70, puts it in the center of enviable infrastructure for logistics. An easy drive allows employees and materials to arrive efficiently into Wilmington, and to be distributed to Cincinnati, Dayton or Columbus, Ohio. Two trucking companies, R+L Carriers and Sewell Motor Express, are headquartered in Clinton County and enable efficient operations for local businesses.
AVIATION POWERHOUSE
Central to the County’s economy is the Wilmington Air Park, a two-runway airport that is the largest volume cargo airport in Ohio and is ranked 25th in the nation. It is within 600 miles of over 60 percent of the U.S business population – that is about one hour’s flight time or a two-day drive. Its location creates excellent opportunities in overnight delivery services and logistics, and it is currently home to an overnight cargo operation.
Equipped with a Category III Instrument Landing System (ILS), staffed tower and a 10,000-foot-plus runway, landing large aircraft and accommodating expansive ramp operations has been part of the operations for decades.
Also making its home at the airport is a large airframe MRO – maintenance repair and overhaul organization. Able to accommodate Boeing 767, 757 and other large airframes, the Airborne Maintenance and Engineering Servicesoperations function out of four large hangars and a 100,000-foot component repair and overhaul shop (CRO).
GA Telesis Engine Services, LLC, is growing an operation that will accommodate disassembly, repair and re-assembly of large-frame aircraft engines. Add to the mix the headquarters of two airlines – ABX Air and ATI – a major airport logistics company, LGSTX Services, and the offices of the largest operator of Boeing 767 aircraft in the world, and the Wilmington Air Park stands alone as a unique and strong aviation asset in the state and region, and a promising environment for aviation businesses to locate and grow.
These operations add to the complement of businesses that makes Ohio the #1 supplier state to Airbus and Boeing in the U.S., and 7th in the U.S. for Aerospace / Defense jobs.
MANUFACTURING – PHARMACEUTICAL – AUTOMOTIVE – AGRIBUSINESS
Embracing a diverse industry base, Clinton County has generations-old manufacturing businesses and new-technology agribusinesses.
Those include manufacturing operations for Ferno-Washington, Inc., a leading global provider of emergency care solutions, and a research and development facility for Alkermes, a fully integrated, global, biopharmaceutical company, focused on developing innovative medicines in the fields of neuroscience and oncology.
Clinton County has a foothold in the auto industry, as well, with three automotive OEMs in the county and others in the surrounding area. Ahresty Wilmington Corporation, Nippon Seiki North America Industries and Hitachi Astemo Americas all draw employees from Clinton County and the surrounding region.
Agriculture is major industry in Clinton County, both in the traditional sense and with newer technologies such as Bright Farms, a hydroponic greenhouse growing mixed greens for distribution locally and nationwide.
WORKFORCE & EDUCATION
All of these employers, and more, are supported by the Clinton County Workforce Collaborative – a joint project of the Clinton County Port Authority, OhioMeansJobs Clinton County, the Southern Ohio Educational Service Center (SOESC) and the Wilmington-Clinton County Chamber of Commerce.
Working with many employers, educators, service providers and economic and community development organizations, this group has surveyed employers and employees on barriers to work in Clinton County, hosted a hands-on, interactive Career Exploration Fair attended by all high school sophomores in the County, and created a strong bond between businesses and education to address the “Why do we have to learn this?” and “How can we better prepare our future workforce?” questions, among others.
Complementing Ohio’s numerous public and private universities, Wilmington College has strong undergraduate program as well as graduate programs in a wide variety of majors, and local high school students benefit from Laurel Oaks Career Campus. Ten high schools feed into this campus (four of which are located in the County), which is part of the larger Great Oaks Career Campus network.
Southern State Community College partners with Laurel Oaks on some programs, as well as offering a complement of two-year study programs. And, reaching beyond the county, 695,077 people within a one-hour drive of Wilmington have post-secondary degrees.
COMMUNITY
The County has its own hometown healthcare provider. Clinton Memorial Hospital offers a full range of inpatient and outpatient specialized services, including emergency services diagnostic and interventional services, and a state-of -the-art cancer treatment center. Additionally, Kettering Health will be opening a new outpatient facility in the county in 2023.
Two state parks, Cowan Lake and Caesar’s Creek, provide opportunities for hiking, boating, fishing and hours of outdoor entertainment. Wilmington Parks and Recreation maintains multiple parks within the city and collaborates with the Clinton County Rails to Trails Coalition to maintain almost 20 miles of trails that extend int the County, with plans for more to connect to existing trails in other counties.
It is not by accident that Clinton County has seen a major manufacturers and large logistics operations locate, thrive and grow. Its strategic location allows for easy, efficient and timely interaction with local and regional population centers and businesses. It is home to a multitude of diverse and successful enterprises and is poised to grow. What are you waiting for?