Manufacturing development: Industry leads in collaboration, economic health of Sheridan - The Sheridan Press

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Sheridan remains a location that fosters creativity and artistic charm in more than one industry. The most recent industry gaining popularity is light manufacturing, and although many are involved in the energy sector, innovation and diversification of industry helped weather economic decline seen in other areas of the state.

With the help of shovel-ready land in North Sheridan’s Hi-Tech Business Park, Sheridan Economic and Educational Development Authority Administrator Robert Briggs and a team of motivated developers have successfully brought light manufacturing businesses, those that don’t require smoke stacks, to the area and grown others.

Weatherby made Sheridan home in 2018 and recently asked the SEEDA Joint Powers Board members for permission to expand on its 9-acre property, as the business’ demand for ammunition greatly increased during the election year and pandemic.

VacuTech served as the inaugural light manufacturing business moving into the business park and planned for expansion in 2020 but succumbed to the weight of last year’s trials and postponed the growth.

Kennon, however, raised steel walls for its expansion into North Sheridan in 2020, boasting diversity in its customer base as a saving grace during an energy downturn. Kennon often contracts with the federal government to create products for the U.S. military. With SEEDA as a catalyst to tap into grant funding for expansion, Kennon has been able to continue with its plans for growth.

Kennon Vice President of Strategic Development Mark Weitz said because of Kennon’s relationship with Robert Briggs and SEEDA, as well as federal and state funding to help construction costs, the company was able to raise walls in 2020.

Because of the federal work Kennon completes for the military, the cost structure fit well with the company’s business model.

With about 4.5 acres available for development in the business park, Briggs said it’s time to identify and create opportunity sites for the next Weatherby or Kennon coming into the community.

SEEDA’s influence helped build a solid group of light manufacturers, who instead of directly competing in an aggressive manner, have helped one another.

“There’s benefit to having a collection of competitors — friendly competitors — to be able to share ideas, sometimes share employees, but if you’re the only one, you’re all or nothing. When there’s an assembly of you, that just opens up more opportunities really for all the parties involved,” Weitz said. “Gosh, sometimes we just need to get something made, and being able to go up to Craftco and just get that done instead of saying, ‘Well, we’re the only people around here, we have to send that out to Denver and wait a week,’ it’s really good.

“I think we realized a lot of synergies, and it will get better when COVID is over,” he added, noting the collaboration of light manufacturers through a recently started group. The group, New West Manufacturing Partnership, hasn’t met since COVID-19 arrived, but the they hope to reassemble the partnership soon.

It’s not just manufacturing holding Sheridan high above an economic fallout, though. Diversifying to where a community does not rely on only one industry remains key and something with which the rest of the state currently struggles.

“We’ve seen huge value at Craftco in diversifying our customer base and what we do, and while I don’t think it’s important to make Sheridan a manufacturing-only community, I think the more different industries, the types of manufacturing or other businesses that are around, the more diversification Sheridan has, the more stable we will be,” said Jeff Garrelts Craftco general manager, and co-owner of Cottonwood Kitchen + Home.

Briggs said no one change in the regional or national economy dramatically affects Sheridan’s business sector.

“I think economic diversity is synonymous in my mind with economic health,” Briggs said. “We want to retain people in our community, and particularly young people, people that are going to be that next generation carrying things forward and those that are going to be the next round of innovators and leaders and creators. We need to keep them here, and to do that, we need to have a diverse economy.”

The final element playing positively with Sheridan’s diversified economy and strong industry ties is its education model. Sheridan College’s nursing and machine tool technology programs feed directly into two of Sheridan’s largest industry leaders.

“Our education system, in particular our vocational training that we have out at the college, I think that is an excellent complement to what our manufacturing businesses are looking for, which is a skilled workforce,” Briggs said. “Workforce is one of the biggest challenges for any business, and I think for us to have facilities like Sheridan College in the community and that tech center (helps bring businesses here).”

The fear of Sheridan growing too large may be in the minds of some, but the charm and opportunity that lies in the county proves the kicker for families moving to the area.

“We’re seeing that more and more people are moving into the community that have just fallen in love with Sheridan, and I don’t think that that’s going to change,” Briggs said. “How fast and where we’re going to end up? I don’t know, but I think that we are going to continue to be one of those gems of Wyoming, and I think that we’re going to continue to be a place that people want to live in northern Wyoming.”

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