Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor was recently in Lima to visit a local business and highlight how Ohio is better linking students to real job opportunities and helping them find career paths. The Lima News has more:
As the state continues reforms on workforce development, Lt. Gov. Mary Taylor saw a bit of it in action Thursday at Wannemacher Total Logistics.
Taylor toured the facility and heard about Wannemacher’s employment of high school students and young people, some of whom are taking classes at Apollo Career Center and will move from part-time to full-time after they graduate.
Taylor said she often visits businesses, but had not seen a pure logistics operation.
“It’s good to see this side of industry in Ohio,” Taylor said.
In the Mid-Biennium Review of the state budget, Gov. John Kasich included workforce development reforms, such as making it easier for veterans to receive licensing and education credit for skills learned while serving, and better tracking the results of workforce programs Adult Basic Literacy Education, Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act and the Workforce Investment Act.
State officials are also trying to better align vocational and two-year college training with jobs that are available now, Taylor said.
“It’s great to hear some of the things we’re trying to reinforce in Columbus with vocational training and other technical training, we’re seeing it put in place here,” Taylor said.
For years, Wannemacher Enterprises was known as a trucking and warehousing operation. Today, the business has transformed to providing logistical and packaging services to customers.
The company also offers food-grade liquid fill and spray drying. In 2011, Wannemacher acquired a liquid fill facility in Van Wert and is now filling 22 million pounds of honey each year. In 2012, it acquired a spray-drying facility in Upper Sandusky. The facility is FDA, Agriculture Department and kosher certified. The facility takes liquid flavoring and converts it to powder; think of an orange flavor for a drink mix or savory flavors for a soup base.
Taylor toured the logistics operation and “honey room,” a temperature-controlled room that holds barrels of honey before they are bottled in the Van Wert facility.
“We like to have elected officials in so we can talk with them about the jobs we are creating and investments we are making,” company Vice President Andy Wannemacher said. “We’ve hired 20 to 30 people recently, and we need another five to 10.”
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