Page 11 - Baltimore County 2023 Quality of Life Guide & Business Directory

GROWTH Pompeian warehouse at Tradepoint Atlantic INDUSTRY
MANUFACTURING
Location Assets Make County a Manufacturing Hub
Baltimore County’s strategic East Coast location, integrated supply chain, and skilled and
agile workforce make it a boon for manufacturers. In fact, the county accounts for 14% of the state’s manufacturing jobs, driven by major brand names such as McCormick and Stanley Black & Decker.
Manufacturing employers benefit from Baltimore County’s proximity to a major port that makes the import and export of components and finished products easy. The county’s highly qualified workforce supplies a ready talent pool for highly specialized manufacturers like BD (1,810 employees in the county) or companies like McCormick & Company (2,132 employees) and Stanley Black & Decker (1,128 employees).
BD and McCormick both have corporate campuses in the Hunt Valley area. While BD is one of the largest global medical technology companies in the world, working on medical discovery and diagnostics to advance global health, McCormick is a spice and seasoning maker whose red-capped bottles are a familiar sight in supermarkets around the nation. The company has been listed as among the world’s most sustainable corporations by Barron’s and the Corporate Knights Global 100 Sustainability Index. In 2022, McCormick opened its largest-ever global distribution center at Tradepoint Atlantic, a massive shipping and logistics hub in eastern Baltimore County.
Stanley Black & Decker’s Towson campus, which serves as the headquarters of the company’s Global Tools & Storage division, also includes a makerspace that invites all employees to use the space’s equipment to create projects and solve problems.
In addition to these bigger names in the manufacturing world, Baltimore County
is home to a growing base of smaller manufacturers like Michele’s Granola and Clark Machine Corporation. Entrepreneurs trying to get into the business of making things can rely on the county’s incubator spaces to help them get established and grow. (See more on page 15.)
With strong location assets, such as access to one of the nation’s leading ports and miles of rail and major highways, the manufacturing industry is well situated for continued growth.
BY THE NUMBERS: 15,418
MANUFACTURING WORKERS IN THE COUNTY
MORE THAN
500
MANUFACTURING EMPLOYERS
$1.1B
WORKER INCOME GENERATED
‘WE HAVE VERY
GOOD TALENT HERE’
Jim Russell, CFO/COO, North American Millwright Services, Inc.
Sparrows Point-based North American Millwright Services, Inc. has built a reputation as one of the region’s leading providers in machinery installation, rigging, welding, process piping, plant relocation, industrial maintenance and equipment warehousing. Here, CFO and COO Jim Russell talks about what makes Baltimore County a strategic location for the company’s growth.
Can you talk a little about what North American Millwright does, and the kinds of customers you serve?
The model we have is that we work 90, 95%
of the time in manufacturing plants. Through the pandemic, we were essential to keep manufacturing running. We have a master electrician, a master plumber, certified welders and riggers, which is very important in our industry because of safety. Safety is one of our paramount goals.
How is your business connected to the Baltimore County area?
We’re active in the Regional Manufacturing Institute of Maryland, which is an organization that advocates for manufacturers, as well as the Maryland Manufacturing Extension Partnership. We support them when they bring in new manufacturers.
We’re also active in the Dundalk Chamber of Commerce and the Baltimore County Chamber of Commerce. I believe in being active and helping the community. We’ve also established a scholarship at the Community College of Baltimore County.
In general, what makes Baltimore County a good area for a business like yours to
be located?
The fact is there’s major companies like Northrop Grumman — we do a lot of their work. There’s enough manufacturing in the area to support the growth that we’re going through. The logistics are also great because we can go right over the Key Bridge and back through the Fort McHenry Tunnel in a few minutes.
Most of our employees are from Baltimore County, because we have very good talent here. We continue to grow and we’re always encouraging people to come work for us. Welding in particular is a big deal and if we get a good potential employee, we send them to school and we’ll pay for it too.
www.baltcountychamber.com 9