{"id":75449,"date":"2017-10-04T09:31:15","date_gmt":"2017-10-04T15:31:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/manufacturing-hits-16-year-high-in-la-plata-county\/"},"modified":"2017-10-04T15:31:15","modified_gmt":"2017-10-04T15:31:15","slug":"manufacturing-hits-16-year-high-in-la-plata-county","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/manufacturing-hits-16-year-high-in-la-plata-county\/","title":{"rendered":"Manufacturing hits 16-year high in La Plata County"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Manufacturing
Manufacturing is a small but growing sector in La Plata County. StoneAge Waterblast Tools plans to host an event Friday to highlight careers in manufacturing. \u201cThe more people understand how companies like ours give back to the community, the more likely they are to rally behind the growth and expansion of key businesses in the area,\u201d StoneAge CEO Kerry Siggins said.<\/span>Durango Herald file<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Manufacturing is a small piece of Durango\u2019s economy, but it is growing at such a healthy pace that employment for manufacturing jobs hit a 16-year high in 2016 in La Plata County.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere is a post-recession story to manufacturing that is very, very positive,\u201d said Roger Zalneraitis, executive director of La Plata County Economic Development Alliance.<\/p>\n

The sector employs more than 750 people representing about 3 percent of all jobs in the county, but it is outperforming the private sector.<\/p>\n

Since 2010, manufacturing in the county has grown three times faster than the private sector overall, he said.<\/p>\n

In the last seven years, manufacturing wages have grown 20 percent, while wages in the private sector are up 9 percent, Zalneraitis said.<\/p>\n

Manufacturers in the area are poised to keep growing and hiring, despite challenges such as Durango\u2019s isolation and lack of interstate highways and rail lines that help to provide cheaper shipping.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t see any threats looming on the horizon for the local manufacturers and what they are doing,\u201d Zalneraitis said.<\/p>\n

Artisans working out of their garages gave rise to many manufacturers in this area. Many businesses still fall into this category, he said.<\/p>\n

Others, such as StoneAge Waterblast Tools, grew to be major employers and to distribute internationally.<\/p>\n

StoneAge employs 150 people, and 115 of them work in Durango, CEO Kerry Siggins said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were very lucky to get involved in water-blast cleaning when it was in its infancy,\u201d founder Jerry Zink said.<\/p>\n

The company has grown with the industry and is currently talking to La Plata County and Durango Fire Protection District about expanding its facility, he said.<\/p>\n

StoneAge\u2019s largest market is the petroleum-refining industry, but the water-blasting tools are used to clean many different types of equipment, he said.<\/p>\n

\"Siggins\"
Siggins<\/span>du1-i-syn<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Expanding into the Middle East and China and producing more semi-automatic equipment has also helped drive growth, Siggins said. StoneAge produces semi-automatic systems that help to remove a hose from an operator\u2019s hands, which prevents accidents, she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cDue to safety concerns, chemical plants, refineries and other types of industrial facilities around the world are demanding that contractors performing high-pressure water blasting use more automated systems,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

The manufacturer has also been able to overcome the high cost of transporting goods by shipping small, high-value items, she said.<\/p>\n

But it is becoming more of a challenge because the company is starting to sell larger systems, she said.<\/p>\n

One way to address transportation costs for manufacturers could be a rail line though Farmington, Zalneraitis said.<\/p>\n

One issue the manufacturing industry is facing is a shortage of light manufacturing building and high infrastructure costs to develop new space.<\/p>\n

In addition to traditional infrastructure, such as water, sewer and roads, a fiber-optic internet connection is key for businesses, Zink said.<\/p>\n

Fiber optics and a water line were installed in Animas Air Park at the same time. The infrastructure helped StoneAge\u2019s business because it had been hauling water and had been relying heavily on a microwave internet connection because it provided the most stable conduit for the company\u2019s software.<\/p>\n

\u201cGetting that in the Air Park was a huge leap forward from where we were,\u201d said Chester Brandt, information technology manager for StoneAge.<\/p>\n

mshinn@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

\n

Manufacturing day Schedule<\/h4>\n

The La Plata County Economic Development Alliance will host a Manufacturing Day from 4 to 6 p.m. Friday at StoneAge, 466 S. Skyline Drive.
\n Those interested in working in manufacturing or learning more about the sector are encouraged to attend.
\n Representatives from StoneAge, Tailwind and Alpacka Raft will share the stories of their companies.
\n After the speakers, there will be tours of StoneAge and the Southwest Colorado Community College Electrical Systems Mobile Lounge Lab.
\n RSVP with Heather Otter at programmgr@yeslpc.com<\/a> or 759-9686.
\n This information has been updated to correct the phone number to RSVP to the event.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

growth, higher wages since 2010<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":75450,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[1255,13,28,357,445,1634],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-75449","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-employment","tag-frontpage-lead","tag-headlines","tag-manufacturing-and-engineering","tag-newsletter-lead","tag-wage-and-pension"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75449","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=75449"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/75449\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/75450"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=75449"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=75449"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=75449"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=75449"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}