Market Access

Market Access

Manufacturing in Northeast Ohio
The manufacturing belt that includes Akron, Cleveland, Mansfield, Youngstown and Pittsburgh represents the fifth largest market in the United States. Half of Ohio's economic base is represented in the northeast corner of the state.

Three major airports within the region provide excellent passenger and cargo services, while its railways and state-of-the-art NEOMODAL truck-rail facility serve domestic and international shipments with efficiency and speed. Low-cost water transportation systems provide access to Gulf ports and Latin America, completing a system that is efficient, cost effective and fast.

Building on Northeast Ohio's location, its efficient transportation systems make it easy to access markets throughout the United States, as well as foreign markets.

Diverse Industrial Base
Ohio's manufacturing base remains solid, with a steady increase of small to medium-sized firms involved in manufacturing. In Youngstown, for example, the metropolitan area has added 21,000 net new jobs since 1992, and 7,000 of those jobs have been in manufacturing. Overall, about 20 percent of workers in Northeast Ohio are employed in manufacturing, compared to the U.S. average of 15 percent.

Northeast Ohio has seen a steady increase in the biomedical industry in recent years, with a 31 percent increase in workers hired in these companies. This, in part, is an outgrowth of major research facilities in the area, including major hospitals like The Cleveland Clinic and University Hospitals Health Systems, and polymer research conducted at area universities, especially The University of Akron and Case Western Reserve University.

Northeast Ohio's diverse industrial base includes these primary industries:

	metalworking
	plastic products & chemicals
	motor vehicles & equipment
	insurance
	biomedical
	instrumentation & controls (mostly industrial equipment)

In addition, Ohio is the nation's eighth largest exporter and Northeast Ohio contributes almost a third of that total — more than $8 billion.

Last modified: November 09, 2006