Town stemming tide of state factory losses
Bennington draws new manufacturers
January 13, 2008
By PATRICK McARDLE
Staff Writer

BENNINGTON – The southwest corner of Vermont is bucking a national trend. As the rest of the nation loses manufacturing jobs, Bennington is actually attracting new factories. Vermont Timber Frames is returning to the town's industrial park and an Israeli company, Plasan USA, recently announced that it will expand into a vacant building there. Vermont Timber Frames, which designs and constructs timber frame building structures, will add 20 jobs to the local economy and Plasan, which manufactures armor plating for vehicles, will create 140 new jobs.
   With the addition of these new positions, Bennington will be cutting last year's job losses in Vermont by almost two-thirds and all of the town's industrial buildings will be occupied in the coming months. These are the latest developments in what is something of a coup for Bennington and its surrounding towns. Just five years ago, manufacturing was in decline here.
   Peter Odierna, executive director of the Bennington County Industrial Corp., said Bennington has made a comeback after a serious downturn six years ago. Two events began to turn things around in Bennington, according to Odierna. In November 2004, Vermont Composites bought the former Bijur automotive lubricating systems plant which was shuttered in 1997. Plasan Sasa later bought the company's automotive division and brought its first American operation to Bennington County. Then in April 2005, New York mannequin manufacturer Bernstein Display purchased the former Stanley Tools plant in Shaftsbury. The sale defied all expectations. (A broker representing the property, for example, claimed the site would never again be used for manufacturing and made a bid to change the zoning designation.)
   “The mood of the community began to change after we had two big buildings occupied in a relatively short period of time,” Odierna said.

A team effort
   Odierna said some of Bennington's success could be attributed to its ability to attract foreign capital from the Israel-based Plasan Sasa, operating here as Plasan USA, and a Japanese partnership with NSK, another manufacturer on Shields Drive.
   Plasan will be moving to a 78,000-square-foot building on Bowen Road that was once the local site for US Tsubaki, a company that makes power transmission and motion control products and roller chains. Plasan is planning to add more than 100 jobs to the Bowen Road site and 40 jobs to their plant on Shields Drive.
   Vermont Timber Frames, which was founded in Bennington in 1993, moved to nearby Cambridge, N.Y., six years later. The business decided to return to the city this year and will occupy the former Miller Structures building in the Morse Industrial Park.
   Bennington officials said several factors contributed to the resurgence of manufacturing in their town. Daniel Maneely, president of the Bennington County Industrial Corp. board of directors, said Vermont is friendlier to business than its reputation sometimes suggests. He said a phone call from Vermont Lt. Gov. Brian Dubie sealed the deal with Vermont Timber Frames. Planning Director and Zoning Administrator Daniel Monks said Bennington's current industrial growth came not from “landing a big fish” and luring a major manufacturer to Bennington but from the continued success of local entrepreneurs.
   Bennington's manufacturers include Energizer, which makes small button batteries; Abacus Automation, which manufactures custom machinery; Sperber Tool Works, which makes pre-fabricated metal buildings and components; and Tansitor Electronics, which makes electronic capacitors. Plasan and NSK, which manufactures parts for automotive steering columns, make parts that improve a vehicle's fuel efficiency, Monks said. He expects these factories will be more likely to thrive as gas prices go up. “These are people looking at things beyond just the bottom line,” Monks said. “They have a real connection with the community, an affinity with the community that goes beyond just what they can get from the state.”
   Scott Murphy, Bennington's economic development director, pointed out that the town is only three hours from Boston and four hours from New York City. “We're far enough to offer a rural lifestyle but close enough to still be in touch with the real world,” he said. While Monks conceded that the town would be hurt if it lost a manufacturer, he said Bennington's diverse manufacturing base is advantageous. Monks said Chittenden County in contrast would be much harder hit if it ever lost IBM.

The state's role as cheerleader
   Mike Quinn, the commissioner of economic development for the state of Vermont, said the Douglas administration is an active partner in attracting businesses like Plasan. Companies are drawn to what Quinn called the “Vermont brand.” He says the state can help match a company's needs for employees, technological infrastructure and transportation with the right municipality. “It's a team effort. The state has an interest in their success and the local officials do as well,” he said.
   Success on a municipal level can boost the state's efforts, Quinn said. When manufacturers thrive in a Vermont town, he said the state becomes more competitive in attracting new employers. “What that gets you is a seat at the table. At least the employer will come by and shop. The next step is to see if your industrial space is sold out. The next thing they want to know is if they can build,” Quinn said.
   Both Bennington and Rutland still have available industrial land. But Gerald M. Keneally, president and CEO of the Bank of Bennington, said he thinks the days are long gone when a Vermont organization like the Bennington County Industrial Corp., of which he's been a board member for 30 years, builds a plant and then looks for a tenant. While that style worked for several years, Keneally said, nowadays all recruitment is local. Bennington provides easy contacts for manufacturers through its chamber of commerce, an industrial development corporation and a downtown promotional agency, the Better Bennington Corp. The three groups work together. “The first key is a team approach. Anyone coming into this community can benefit from the knowledge base we offer. The board members (of the Bennington County Industrial Corp.) know each other. It's very simple for us to pick up the phone and talk to each other. The decision-makers are immediately available and accessible,' he said.
   Bennington's location in the southwest corner of the state is close to Albany, N.Y., and North Adams, Mass., providing a larger population base than any other municipality in Vermont. But there are also quality of life issues that Keneally said employers value. “Bennington is a wonderful town in so many ways. … When I first arrived here (in 1971) the region had a poor self-image that was, to a certain degree, self-defeating. But there's been a turnaround and now people cooperate toward a common vision of Bennington as a good place to be that's growing economically,” he said.
Contact Patrick McArdle at patrick.mcardle@rutlandherald.com.