Situated in Upstate New York, Oswego County is located central to New York City, Boston, Philadelphia, Cleveland, Toronto, and Montreal. A great location, with a skilled workforce, available sites, and modern infrastructure, place Oswego County at the top of the list for manufacturing site selectors.
Skilled Labor Pool
Oswego County has a skilled workforce, with advanced manufacturing and other industrial experience, who are ready to work. The workforce is supported by over thirty institutions of higher learning within fifty miles. These educational institutions work collaboratively with economic development organizations, workforce training centers, and industry to train a skilled labor pool for advanced manufacturing. Recently, these partners developed an advanced manufacturing certificate program which provides a strong base in manufacturing practices including welding, CNC, and CAD.
Cayuga Community College, one of the key local workforce development partners, recently opened their Advanced Manufacturing Institute (AMI). Located adjacent to the College’s primary building on the Fulton Campus, the AMI facility features industrial power and specialized equipment to support training units in pneumatics, hydraulics, motors, piping and industry-grade programmable-logic control stations, plus a classroom for instruction. The facility will support both students and employees looking to start or expand their careers, as well as provide customized training for employers with skilled workers.
Logistics
Oswego County is a truly multi-modal location, with access to ground, rail, air, and water transportation for shipment of goods. The county offers convenient access to Interstates 81 and 90 which provide north/south and east/west movement through the state. Over 25 carriers provide both local and long-distance trucking to and from Oswego County. Connecting lines enable transport to every major US market. Local carriers provide transloading from truck to rail and offer myriad warehouse storage options, including dry and climate controlled.
The Port of Oswego Authority is a deep-water port and certified FTZ on the shores of Lake Ontario. As a hub in the Great Lakes St. Lawrence Seaway System, it is part of over 2,300 miles of water transportation from Duluth, Minnesota to the Atlantic Ocean. The Port of Oswego provides on-dock rail and truck loading, along with storage space for large and heavy items, making for a smooth transition of goods to market.
CSX offers daily rail transportation to Oswego County, with direct access at several sites and industrial parks. With a nearby rail yard, CSX provides access to more than 21,000 miles of track in 23 states and the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec, plus 70 ocean, lake, and river ports. Coupled with nationwide transloading and warehousing, CSX makes rail a very viable transportation option for Oswego County businesses.
Syracuse’s Hancock International Airport is within minutes of Oswego County. In addition to world-wide passenger transport, Hancock has facilities for air freight transport, which includes a 53,000-sf cargo building. Oswego County has its own airport which is ideal for corporate, industry, and private aviation.
Sites & Infrastructure
Oswego County has over 1,000 acres of industrially zoned property across several industrial parks and strategic sites under site control that are available and ready to develop. Within the county’s industrial parks, most development sites have utilities and other necessary infrastructure in place. Select sites within the industrial parks have had comprehensive site profiles performed. These profiles include conceptual layouts based on best and highest use as well as the environmental work and other due diligence expediting the selection process and reducing development costs for any potential user.
With a strong economic base and storied manufacturing history, Oswego County is fully equipped with industrial infrastructure, including heavy power and gas. Known as an energy powerhouse, Oswego County generates over 5,500 MW of electricity, with diverse energy generation from nuclear, gas, hydro, solar, wind and combined heat/power facilities. Coupled with plentiful water and wastewater options, due to near limitless water from Lake Ontario, this infrastructure provides flexibility for light- to heavy-industrial uses.
One of the highlighted available sites is the recently expanded Oswego County Industrial Park in the Town of Schroeppel. The Oswego County Industrial Development Agency recently purchased an additional 185 acres of industrially zoned land to expand locations suitable for advanced manufacturing. The site will feature large lots, with modern infrastructure, as well as excellent highway and rail access, and is conveniently located close to population centers within the Central New York labor market. Plans are underway to bring infrastructure into the site from the adjacent industrial park.
Target Market
Oswego County has a well-established advanced manufacturing cluster with an extensive regional supply chain that includes suppliers, warehousing, logistics, fabrication, engineering, and prototyping. With nearly 40 specialized machine shops and fabricators alone, Oswego County offers a great opportunity to businesses that would benefit from a robust support network. With the recent announcement of Micron and its unprecedented $100 Billion dollar semiconductor fabrication investment in Central New York, Oswego County, with its plentiful power and water, provides a competitive advantage for semiconductor supply chain businesses looking to do business with Micron.
Due to these advantages, many large manufacturers such as Novelis, Huhtamaki, Fulton Companies, Davis Standard and Felix Schoeller already call Oswego County home. They attribute their success to the availability of a skilled and educated workforce in manufacturing, a business-friendly community, and a well-connected multimodal logistics network within hours of every major northeast market, putting them close to customers and suppliers alike.
For more information about how Oswego County could meet your business’s expansion needs, visit us at oswegocounty.org.
