Business Development Manager Michael Bergeron takes a look at an emerging trend in southern New Hampshire. – Ed.
Michael Bergeron
When you think of New Hampshire, you may think of the First-in-the-Nation primary, or the time you went hiking in the White Mountains, or our bold state motto – Live Free or Die.
Logistics may not a first thought, but given the trends we’re seeing, it will be.
For those who have a warehouse requirement for the Boston metro market, finding high bay space between 500,000 and 1 million square feet is difficult. Like most New England states, New Hampshire doesn’t have a lot of inventory in this category, so there is significant investment in new construction to meet the increasing demand for it in southern New Hampshire.
Recent New Hampshire Projects
Logistic companies are focusing on southern New Hampshire because it’s close to the Manchester/Boston Regional Airport and only 45 minutes from downtown Boston by way of Interstates 93, 95, 495; US Route 3 and Massachusetts Route 128. New construction projects have developed about 2.5 million square feet of logistics space including: Milton Cat, FedEx, UPS/Pratt & Whitney, FW Webb, New Hampshire liquor warehouse, US Foods and Gourmet Gift Baskets.
Three companies with logistics facilities on Pettengill Road in Londonderry.
Who’s moving into this space? U.S. Foods, which relocated from Peabody, Mass, to Seabrook, where it invested $40 million in 500,000 square feet. Gourmet Gift Baskets plans to occupy 106,000 square feet in Exeter in early next year. In Londonderry, 800 acres next to the Manchester/ Boston Regional Airport now supports about 2.1 million square feet of logistics space along Pettengill Road. When FW Webb moves to Pettengill Road in 2018, it will occupy approximately 1 million square feet.
How High Can It Go?
As new facilities are built, the question of ceiling height, cube utilization, and local zoning become important factors. The trend in the logistics industry require at least 40 feet clear, although many companies are submitting designs for up to 50 feet. This likely requires a special exception from local zoning boards of adjustment for that height request. The path of least resistance for companies in need of this kind of space is to look at options that are shovel ready.
Robotics
Companies are looking for ways to use robots to pick product at four or five levels from high bay racking, spiral down to pack stations, and convey to the shipping with little or no human help. Robotic operations can be easily modified, making it easier for managers to switch from one product to another reducing set up times.
About 10 years ago I worked with Ikea, at the time the company was looking for a home for its planned 500,000 square-foot warehouse and assembly operation with only 70 employees. Its raw materials would be stored in rail cars, rolled into the plant when the orders were received, robots would assemble the product and it would be shipped out by truck.
UPS/Pratt & Whitney in Londonderry employs only about 100 employees in 610,000 square feet, using the latest technology to assemble and ship.
Logistics Land Sites
So where are these additional sites in southern New Hampshire? There are 43 acres along Route 3 in Merrimack at the Audley gravel site; 39 acres east along Route 101 at Granite Meadows in Raymond, and 75 acres in Seabrook, along Interstate 95 at the former race track.
Michael Bergeron
Business Development Manager
Division of Economic Development
New Hampshire front and center at the MD&M East trade show in New York City.
The annual Medical Design & Manufacturing East (MD&M East) expo opened a few minutes ago at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City and for the first of the expected 11,000 people expected to visit the trade show over the next two days, this banner greeted them.
New Hampshire. A Healthy Place to Grow Your Business.
Life sciences, including medical device manufacturing and a range of other capabilities, is one of our key industries.
Why?
Cindy Harrington Michael Bergeron
In 2015, there were 6,992 jobs in 272 establishments here in this state, in this sector; 15 percent above the national average. Between now and 2020, New Hampshire is projected to see about 8 percent growth, compared to 6.2 percent nationwide.
New Hampshire has a lot to offer companies in the business of life sciences, so our business development team – Cindy Harrington and Michael Bergeron – is at MD&M East to tell people about it and our business friendly climate.
If you are attending, drop by Booth 757 and visit with them.
Lorna Colquhoun
Communications Director
Division of Economic Development
The office will be awfully quiet next week, as our team heads out in two directions, but with the same mission of telling the world about why New Hampshire, with our industries, our business-friendly climate, our skilled and educated workforce, is a great place for companies abroad to consider partnerships, expansion or relocation.
Kasim
Lorentz
Director Carmen Lorentz and Office of International Commerce Program Manager Tina Kasim head out tomorrow for Hannover Messe 2016, the world’s largest industrial trade fair. More than 200,000 people pass through to visit over 6,500 exhibitors, including New Hampshire. The US is the featured country; President Obama will be there to open the event this weekend. Carmen and Tina have lined up meetings with industry sector and business leaders and we are looking forward to hearing about them throughout the week.
Jewell Instruments of Manchester will also be exhibiting at the show; Brian Ward, director of business development sensor and controls, and Lorentz talked about the event on our monthly New Hampshire Business Matters radio show on WTPL-FM.
On Monday and Tuesday, Michael Bergeron and Beno Lamontagne head over the border to Montreal, where they will attend the Aerospace Innovation Forum. With more than 300 Granite State companies involved in the aerospace and defense industries – which are among our key industries – it makes sense to have a presence and be among companies and leaders of Aero Montreal, one of the largest aerospace clusters in the world.
At the last Aerospace Innovation Forum in 2013, NHADEC signed its first international partnership with Aero Montreal, establishing preferred relations between the organizations collaboration on topics such as training, research, joint trade missions and supplier development initiatives.
We are going to keep up with these two events – and we hope you will, too – via our Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook pages.
Lorna Colquhoun
Communications Director
Division of Economic Development
Michael Bergeron, senior business development manager
Every day, our business development managers, Michael Bergeron and Cynthia Harrington, speak with site selectors and business owners from around the country searching for the right place to expand or relocate their companies. Their reasons are varied – some may have a deep affinity for the Granite State, while others are drawn to our business friendly climate and educated workforce. Michael talks about the process involved in the expansion/relocation of a company.
1. Business recruitment is an important part of economic development, as it facilitates job creation, encourages growth and diversifies the New Hampshire economy. What’s a typical day like in the life of business development?
We are a sales office for the state, so the priority every day is increasing our pipeline of qualified leads and once we have a strong lead on an interested company, we work with it, confidentially helping the company locate or expand in the state. We market each region of the state differently, based on the region’s strength and assets.
Each part of the sales cycle requires different needs, ranging from cold calls, research, writing proposals comparing New Hampshire with other states, making presentations to decision makers, facilitating meetings with other agencies such as the governor’s office, the Department of Environmental Services and the Department of Transportation; working with the University System of New Hampshire; the NH Business Finance Authority, the NH Community Development Finance Authority; contacting municipal officials; providing real estate tours and working on any issues that the company needs help with in ultimately choosing New Hampshire in which to expand or relocate.
We also work closely with local and regional economic development groups that are important in closing the sale. For example, I recently referred a company from Massachusetts to Jack Donovan of the NH Business Finance Authority, who was able to turn around an industrial bond loan within 40 days—a critical factor in landing the company in Hudson.
2. You’ve been a part of hundreds of business relocations and expansions in your tenure here at the Division of Economic Development. What is is about New Hampshire that draws companies here?
Currently in this market, the number one issue is the availability of skilled employees, followed by cost of occupancy and available office or industrial real estate. If any one one of these factors are missing, the transaction dies. If the company is a family-owned business, the decision is often affected by where its president lives, or wants to live.
And that decision by the owner, and his/her spouse, is predicated on a region with excellent schools, low crime, quality healthcare, cultural options, open space, easy access to major metro areas. Sometimes I have seen decision makers expand to New Hampshire because they have a summer home here.
If it’s a large national company looking for a branch location, then management wants to be close to Boston or Quebec and be confident it can hire managers, and lower the cost of occupancy, compared to the higher rents in the Boston market.
3. Earlier this year, the division unveiled its strategic plan, which identified a number of key industries. How is this helping business development?
The key industries’ clusters in New Hampshire can help attract similar companies that want to be part of the same cluster. For example, we have a growing aerospace cluster and bio/medical device cluster in New Hampshire. When we are on the road at trade shows, we show decision makers where these clusters are located, talk about the educational system that supports these clusters, and how we can help them locate employees and real estate. We understand the kinds of buildings needed for these uses and we can show where to find a good match for employees.
4. NH Economy is back on the road and will attend several trade shows this year. Can you tell us why it’s important to have a presence at them?
It is a myth that attending trade show provides instant leads; rather, it is a higher form of advertising, where we meet people face to face and develop business relationships over time. Finding the right venues and consistently attending is the key obtaining qualified leads. For example, I may meet site consultants at a show, but I may not work with them for another five years, after I develop trust and when an opportunity arises, they think of New Hampshire.
5. You speak with hundreds of companies every year that are considering relocation or expansion. Why is New Hampshire on their list of possibilities?
If they are companies from Massachusetts, Maine, or Vermont, they are looking to retain their current labor force in those states, and also find new employees, by staying within 30 to 50 miles of their current locations. If they are from outside New England, they are looking at New Hampshire because of our lower taxes, skilled work force, easy access to interstate highways and regional and international airports, and business friendly climate.
If it’s a large company, incentives are usually part of the evaluation. In these circumstances, New Hampshire competes with states like South Carolina, Texas, and Florida.
(NH Division of Economic Development Director Carmen Lorentz takes the reins of today’s blog. –Ed.)
Last week, it was Los Angeles.
This week, it’s Dallas.
Next week, it will be Dubai.
These are the places where the Division of Economic Development is spreading the word about New Hampshire and not just about it being a great place to do business.
In Los Angeles last week, Michael Bergeron, our senior business development manager, attended the CoreNet Global summit, one of the largest events of its kind, bringing together over 2,000 corporate real estate executives and site selectors. Thanks to generous sponsorship by the New Hampshire Commercial Investment Board of Realtors, Michael was able to talk with dozens of people about the benefits of doing business in New Hampshire – our tax climate, our educated workforce, our quality of life and available real estate where it can all begin.
Michael Bergeron, Debra Mattson, Bret Blanchard at CAMX
This week, he’s in Dallas at CAMX, the premier tradeshow for composites and advanced materials. This year, there are over 550 exhibitors and more than 7,000 people are expected to attend. Joining Michael in the New Hampshire booth are Debra Mattson and Bret Blanchard from Great Bay Community College’s advanced composites manufacturing program. They report a brisk business and interest in New Hampshire’s composites industry.
They are eager to get down to business, meeting decision makers right on the trade show floor. As one of the largest aerospace and defense events in the growing Middle East market, this is the ideal place to showcase New Hampshire innovation and solutions in these industries. Participation the Dubai Air Show is made possible through a State Trade Export Promotion grant.
Our participation at CoreNet Global and CAMX are the first domestic trade shows our business development team has participated in more than five years, thanks to funding included for out-of-state business recruitment in the new state budget.
New Hampshire and its business climate has much to offer companies looking to expand or relocate and Los Angeles, Dallas and Dubai are great places to start telling our story.
Carmen Lorentz
Carmen Lorentz
Director
NH Division of Economic Development
High Liner Foods is the largest prepared seafood processing operation in North America. Last year, the company reported $1 billion in annual sales for the first time in its 115-year history and capped a terrific 2014 by moving its US headquarters from Danvers, Mass. to the Pease International Tradeport in Portsmouth.
Keith Decker, president and COO of High Liner Foods, said of moving the business from Massachusetts to New Hampshire, “The relocation and design of the new building will help us serve our customers better and attract and retain the top talent required for continued growth into the future.”
To get some valuable insights into the business relocation process, we interviewed Jim LaBelle, vice president of food service marketing, and Mark Leslie, vice president of business integration and special projects, at High Liner Foods. Both worked directly with Michael Bergeron, senior business development manager at the Division of Economic Development, to facilitate the move.
High Liner Foods invested $1 million in its test kitchen.
Thinking back to the beginning of your relocation process, what were the biggest factors that inspired you to explore the idea of relocating?
The biggest factor for us was we sold our existing facility to a company that needed our production space, which we no longer needed. That necessitated a need to find a new office facility for our US headquarters team.
What were the main reasons New Hampshire came out on top for you?
We wanted to be closer to our production facility, which is in Portsmouth. We wanted a modern but affordable solution that could be a showcase facility for our employees and customers. And we wanted a standalone building. New Hampshire rose to the top with all three of our criteria.
You worked with Michael Bergeron at DED during your relocation project. What were two or three of the most helpful things he did for you?
Michael helped us put together an initial meeting with city officials to discuss a couple of outstanding issues before we selected the site, put us in touch with local health officials to work through permitting issues, and explained potential government economic development incentives available to us in New Hampshire. He was invaluable throughout the process.
What advice would you give to other companies exploring a move to another state?
It’s important to develop a network of local experts and officials that you can reach out to when issues arise for resolution input. It’s also helpful to understand what economic development opportunities and incentives might be available.
What’s next for High Liner Foods? What big things do you have planned for 2015?
At High Liner Foods, we’re focused on bringing our customers innovative, on-trend seafood products to help them succeed, so that is always our main priority. We’re also excited to now be able to host our customers in a world-class facility in a world-class community.
High Liner Foods cuts the red ribbon on its new corporate headquarters in Portsmouth.
We headed out to Portsmouth on Friday to join the festivities as a company celebrated the opening of its US headquarters at the Pease International Tradeport.
High Liner Foods cut a red ribbon on its brand-new, state-of-the-art building, which will be home to 110 full-time employees, relocated from its former US headquarters in Danvers, Mass.
“The opening of this new facility is an important milestone for High Liner Foods,” said Keith Decker, president and chief operating officer. “The company has grown significantly over the last several years, particularly in the U.S., and the relocation and design of the new building will help us serve our customers better and attract and retain the top talent required for continued growth into the future.”
High Liner Foods are sold around the world and in North America, under brands including under the High Liner, Fisher Boy, Mirabel and Sea Cuisine.
High Liner Foods US Headquarters, Portsmouth
Its new facility features advanced communications technology, a cutting-edge culinary innovation center and research and development facility, an open workspace environment that encourages employees to collaborate and it was designed and built using sustainable building principles.
There is space for future expansion and is located only two miles away from the company’s Portsmouth manufacturing facility at 1 Highliner Ave., bringing management and the culinary team in closer proximity to the manufacturing site.
“With a design that reflects our updated branding, we believe the new building will inspire employees to continue fulfilling our recently formalized mission: to radically simplify selecting, preparing and enjoying seafood at its best,” Decker said.
High Liner Foods worked with the Division of Economic Development as it explored the move to New Hampshire.
“The property was really perfect for the relocation,” said Michael Bergeron, senior business development manager. “It’s close to the manufacturing facility and the cost of establishing the US headquarters was less expensive here than in Massachusetts.”
If you are keeping track, High Liner Foods is the latest company in the past few months to relocate its corportate headquarters from the Bay State to the New Hampshire Seacoast, joining Andover Healthcare and SMC Aerospace.
Lorna Colquhoun
Communications Director
NH Division of Economic Development
Michael Bergeron, senior business development manager with the NH Division of Economic Development, left, joins Bill Bauld, CFO of Andover Healthcare and retail lead Mayra Lemus at the company’s new facility at the Pease International Tradeport.
Andover Healthcare Inc., a leading manufacturer of cohesive bandages and tapes for the healthcare, animal health and sports medicine industries, has purchased space at the Pease International Tradeport and will relocate its corporate headquarters from Salisbury, Mass. in 2015.
The company has hired six new employees and anticipates hiring 20 more, as well as relocating its corporate staff next year.
“‘Live Free and Prosper’ rings true for us,” said Andover Healthcare President Tom Murphy, who lives in New Hampshire. “We are thrilled to open a facility in New Hampshire.”
Murphy founded the company in the 1976, providing athletic tape to the Boston Bruins. A few years later, the New England Patriots’ trainers began using the tape and by the mid-1990s, Andover Health had grown as an industry leader in bandages for healthcare and animal care.
Two years ago the company expanded into the retail market with customers such as Walgreens and CVS.
“We recently received a large contract with Wal-Mart,” said Murphy, “and we needed to be in production quickly – the facility in Portsmouth is the perfect fit.”
The 52,000-square-foot Pease facility will produce elastic bandages for 3,500 Wal-Mart stores across the U.S.
“We are investing $700,000 in new equipment and we will also relocate our corporate offices to New Hampshire in 2015,” said CFO Bill Bauld. “Michael Bergeron of the New Hampshire Division of Economic Development was helpful to us in coordinating tax credits, financing options and job training programs.”
“On behalf of the people of New Hampshire, I am honored to welcome Andover Healthcare to the Granite State,” said Gov. Maggie Hassan. “Andover Healthcare’s relocation reinforces that our low-tax environment, responsive state government and high quality of life make New Hampshire as attractive a state for business as any in the country. Andover Healthcare’s presence in our state will help expand middle class opportunity and will keep our economy moving in the right direction.”
For more information on job openings, visit www.andoverhealthcare.com.
For information on expanding or relocating a business to New Hampshire, contact Michael Bergeron, senior business development manager for the New Hampshire Division of Economic Development, at 603-271-2591.
Welcome to New Hampshire!
Lorna Colquhoun
Communications Director
NH Division of Economic Development
The Radio-Canada film crew at the Le Rendevous Bakery in Colebrook.
A film crew from Canada’s largest network is back at its studio in Montreal this week, after spending two intensive days last week delving into New Hampshire’s tax structure.
Beginning in Concord last Monday, the Radio-Canada team talked with Gov. Hassan and our Beno Lamontagne, business resource specialist for northern New Hampshire. No sales tax? No income tax? How does the state operate?
Then it was back on the road, north to Colebrook, where the group spent the day talking with two businesses with roots in France and Quebec, about doing business here. National reporter Maxime Bertrand conducted the interviews in French and the questions were not softball.
Marie-Josee Vaillant, president of Kheops International, speaks with Radio-Canada reporter Maxime Bertrand, center, and producer Francine Doyon.
The morning was spent filming at Kheops International, a wholesaler of New Age items from the 15,000 square-foot building it opened in 2004. Marie-Josee Vaillant, the company president, spoke at length about the reasons why she, her mother and sister located in Colebrook.
In the afternoon, the crew went downtown to the Le Rendevous Bakery and spoke with owner Verlaine Daeron and her partner, Marc Ounis. On a search through northern New England some years ago, the couple from Paris found their way to Colebrook and never left, setting up their bakery in the old First Colebrook Bank.
In addition to the business questions, there were exchanges about the many things in common New Hampshire has with Canada, especially Quebec, which shares our northern border at Pittsburg. The first immigrants to the Granite State, who came down to work the textile mills in Manchester and in the woods north of Berlin and the mills there that made paper for well over a century left a lasting legacy across the state.
“Between our geography and our culture, there is a real connection,” said Lamontagne.
The exact date when the segment on the Late News isn’t set, but the producer said it will be in late April, coinciding with Quebec’s tax day.
“This interest is a direct result of the Aero-Montreal summit,” said Lamontagne, who was part of the New Hampshire delegation, led by then-Gov. John Lynch, the only governor who attended the event.
Lamontagne and business recruiter Michael Bergeron have made about half a dozen trips to Canada over the past year, which included a dinner for 80 people in Sherbrooke last June to tell them about the benefits of expanding their business to New Hampshire, especially the North Country. In a province that is highly taxed, once business owners get over being incredulous, they are very interested in talking further about opportunities here.
Getting the word out about the business climate here isn’t easy, largely because unlike New York, Vermont and Maine, New Hampshire doesn’t have a television signal that goes over the border, so residents don’t hear a lot about the things that make us unique, very business friendly and eager to welcome our neighbors to north who want to get established in the US markets.
The digital world is a fascinating place, especially for a company like Enterasys Secure Networks, which, by the way, relocated a few months ago to Salem, along with 500 jobs.
Enterasys is about being wired, connected and social. Vala Afshar, as the company’s chief marketing officer and chief customer officer, is the face of all things social and although he started out as an engineer, he’s recognized for driving home the need for an effective and powerful digital footprint.
We chatted with Vala the other day about the search that’s now underway for what he is calling a “social media evangalist.”
But don’t call up your resume and fire up the printer just yet. He’s not interested in, nor will he accept, your paper resume.
“The paper resume is dead,” he said.
What it’s going to take to land the job is a Klout score above 60, a strong Kred, some meat on your PeerIndex.
It’s going to be about the splash you’ve made in the digital pond and the ripples you left behind.
You can follow Vala on Twitter. (You can follow us on Twitter, too …). And click over to our Facebook page, where we’ll have a couple of clips from our visit with Vala.
Enterasys worked with our recruitment manager Michael Bergeron and relocated from Andover, Mass., to 9 Northeast Boulevard in Salem. In addition to the 500 people working there now, the company plans to hire up to 50 more this year.
Lorna Colquhoun
Communications Director
New Hampshire Division of Economic Development
