Most of you know that I live in western Ohio. Draw a circle with a 200 mile radius and you’ll encompass a sizable percentage of manufacturing in the United States. A local “panel shop-plus” held an open house recently to celebrate expansion of its facility, business and workforce.

Electro Controls not only builds control panels and wiring harnesses for its machine-builder customers, it also provides controls and automation engineering services–often serving as the controls department for customers. Its service area is about a 200 mile radius from Sidney with a substantial client base.

This company is one of many examples showing manufacturing as a thriving part of the economy. It’s also a reflection of leadership and vision–and assembling a top leadership team.

While I was chatting with the owner and other executives, we discussed a few companies within their service area. Some have survived and thrived, and some have died.

The consistent factor–leadership. Tim Geise, the owner, told me one story of a company that was a division of a European enterprise whose general manager was not going to let the plant die. He took this vision and worked every angle he could to keep the plant going. And it still is today. On the other hand, there were companies I asked about and his comment was that those managers didn’t really care.

This is a takeaway you can use no matter what level of organization you are leading–even in your non-profit organizations. Care about what you’re doing. Focus on not only surviving, but thriving.

Congratulations to a local company doing it right.