THE RIGHT PLACE 2020 ANNUAL REPORT

Perrigo establishes North American Corporate HQ in Grand Rapids

Since 1996, Grand Rapids has been investing in its now world-renowned health industry cluster. Over $2 billion has been invested in the Medical Mile alone over the past two decades. This year Perrigo announced it would be establishing its new North American Corporate Headquarters in downtown Grand Rapids, becoming the latest company to invest in this thriving hub of research and innovation.
 

Founded in 1887 in Allegan, Mich. Perrigo is a leading provider of quality, affordable selfcare products. Global companies like Perrigo have many location options when choosing to expand. The Right Place worked with  state and local partners to ensure Perrigo chose West Michigan over competing locations.
 

As a result, Perrigo will be investing $44.7 million and bringing 170 new jobs to the area as part of its new headquarters, further solidifying West Michigan as a destination for business success.  

Perrigo North American Corporate HQ Rendering

Downtown Grand Rapids

“Perrigo established its roots in West Michigan more than 130 years ago. Since then, we’ve become an industry leader and created thousands of jobs in the region,” said Murray Kessler, President and Chief Executive Officer, Perrigo. “We are thankful for all of those involved in making this project a reality, especially Governor Whitmer, The Right Place and their partners at the MEDC.” 

Gerber Products invests in Fremont

Gerber Products Groundbreaking

Fremont, Michigan

The world’s largest producer of baby-food products has announced it will be expanding its manufacturing facility in Fremont, Michigan. This expansion will create 50 high quality manufacturing jobs and bring $36 million in capital investment to the region.

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Beyond the initial capital investment and new jobs, Gerber will be adding new product lines and programs to the Fremont facility. They also support the region’s agribusiness supply chain via their strong relationships with local growers and suppliers.

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Gerber’s Fremont facility has been a critical component of the regional economy for decades. The Right Place worked closely with its partners to secure this investment in West Michigan, keeping Gerber strong in the region for decades to come.  

Keystone Solutions Group produces COVID-19 Testing Kits

When The Right Place learned the West Michigan healthcare system was experiencing a major shortage of nasal swabs for COVID-19 test kits, the team sprang into action to find a medical device manufacturer in the region who had the needed production capabilities. 

That company turned out to be MiDevice member company Keystone Solutions Group. The Right Place reached out to Keystone’s owner Jim Medsker on a Saturday morning with the request, and he immediately responded. Specifications were complete by the end of the day.  

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Keystone Solutions Group completed the entire supply chain needed to manufacturer the kits and began production. The kits have been and continue to be utilized by West Michigan healthcare systems, a testament to the medical manufacturing strength of the region.  

The Michigan Manufacturing Technology Center-West launches COVID-19 support products

This year has brought unprecedented challenges to West Michigan’s manufacturers. From closures in the spring and a pivot to the production of essential supplies, to restarting operations and adjusting to the “new normal”; local manufacturers are in a state of flux. When facing tumultuous circumstances, many business owners find themselves in survival mode and feel they’re on an island.

This is where The Michigan Manufacturing Technology Center-West (The Center-West) can help. The team has identified several common challenges being faced by manufacturers during this pandemic and created customized solutions to help businesses navigate these challenges successfully. One of those companies was Jireh Metal Products, a local family-owned business who is a direct supplier to OEMs 

and other Tier 1 suppliers.

The pandemic and associated Executive Orders meant Jireh Metal could only fulfill essential business, which resulted in declining sales. They immediately recognized the need for assistance and contacted The Center-West.

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The Center-West introduced Jireh Metal to the PIVOT 2020 Toolkit, which allowed them to outline their industry’s challenges and develop scenarios which impacted how they responded to situations as they became reality. They also relied on their membership in The Right Place | The Center-West Manufacturer’s Council to develop relationships with other manufacturers and share best practices during this time of crisis.

The results speak for themselves: Jireh Metal has done what they needed to do to keep their people safe at work and retain key talent while also growing into new markets. As business is rebounding, they are hiring.  

"Through our engagement, we have been able to improve many areas of our operation. With support, we outlined our industry challenges and developed multiple scenarios that would allow us options as we monitored the business and industry. Many of those scenarios then became reality, which we navigated with more confidence and awareness through the focused sessions and discussions within our team.”

- Josh Bischoff, Director of Operations and Strategy, Jireh Metal

New Community Transformation Fund 

Announced

West Michigan has had one of the strongest performing economies in the nation, yet this economic growth has not been shared by all members of the community. 
 

Recognizing this,  leaders at Bank of America, the Consumers Energy Foundation, and The Right Place  announced the development of the New Community Transformation Fund. This is an investment fund based in Grand Rapids, Mich. to support diverse business owners and led by Skot Welch, Managing Partner for the fund.

The fund aims to increase ethnic and racial diversity in business ownership throughout West Michigan. Additionally, it will focus on businesses that intend to provide multi-generational wealth creation within historically disadvantaged groups.
 

The New Community Transformation Fund is currently in the process of raising capital and intends to launch in 2021.  

From Left to Right: Skot Welch, Birgit Klohs, Garrick Rochow, Renee Tabben, Kwame Anku

The Right Place forms partnership with MICHauto to accelerate the West Michigan economy

One of the key foundations of Michigan’s economy is its world-renowned automotive sector. While Detroit may be the automotive capital of the world, the West Michigan region is home to a robust industry of global automotive suppliers. The quality jobs created by these companies provide opportunity to thousands of our region’s residents. 
 

To keep our region’s automotive industry strong and at the forefront, The Right Place has announced a partnership with MICHauto. The two organizations share a vision to promote, retain, and grow the industry statewide and will work together to leverage resources, companies, and talent from both sides of Michigan. This partnership will drive the creation of a statewide mobility ecosystem and strengthen the automotive sector for years to come.  

MICHauto Roundtable Event at The Right Place

Pre-COVID

North Ridge Connection is completed, bringing shovel-ready sites online in Walker

Infrastructure underpins the economic growth of the entire region. Without it, the regional economy cannot thrive. The Right Place team collaboratively works with our local partners to strengthen the region’s infrastructure and drive economic growth. 
 

Oftentimes these projects can take many years, which is why it was exciting to officially announce the opening of the North Ridge Connection in Walker. The Right Place had been working with the City of Walker and Visser Development to complete this project for several years.
 

This connection at the Fruitridge Dr and I-196 interchange has increased access to 300+ shovel ready sites for business in Walker, and already resulted in Amazon locating a major distribution facility in the area.  

Navigating 2020 via virtual events

Any other year, The Right Place would have convened thousands of area business and community leaders to learn about the latest trends and development impacting our economy, via a robust calendar of in-person events. 
 

While COVID-19 put an end to large gatherings in 2020, it couldn’t stop The Right Place from continuing to deliver thought leadership to the community. Our events calendar quickly shifted from in-person events to virtual, and we launched two entirely new webinar series to keep leaders informed: Navigate 2020 and Re-engaging the Rural Economy.
 

The Right Place was designed to guide our region through times of crisis, and these webinars allowed us to bring the latest expertise and share best practices directly  with the business community. Each webinar featured expert speakers focused on discussing the most pressing topics impacting businesses throughout the year.  

The Right Place 2021 Economic Outlook for West Michigan

Recorded live at Chase Creative Unlimited Studios

Delivering emergency assistance to

small businesses

This year, The Right Place administered two rounds of small business relief and restart grant funds to struggling area businesses. Thousands of area businesses have been negatively impacted by the pandemic and many continue to struggle today due to its detrimental economic effects.

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Within an 11-county region in West Michigan, The Right Place was allocated nearly $10 million in funding from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation. The demand for funding far outstripped available funding, with over 6,000 applicants requesting $121M+ in support.

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To make these challenging funding decisions, The Right Place engaged local business and community leaders in counties across the region to make funding determinations. Funding was ultimately able to be awarded to 1,255 small businesses via both the Restart and Relief rounds of funding. Of the Restart funding round, over half the grants were awarded to women, veteran, and minority-owned businesses.  

Felisha Rodriguez, Founder, Wear Your Curls

West Michigan Small Business Restart Grant Recipient

Discover Manufacturing goes digital in Newaygo County

Each year The Right Place partners with Michigan Works! to engage students in future manufacturing careers. Normally this involves touring students through the high-tech workspaces of local manufacturers and debunking commonly held misperceptions about manufacturing jobs.
 

With the limits on in-person gatherings posed by the pandemic, The Right Place shifted its Discover Manufacturing events virtual. This included virtual plant tours and live interviews with staff members from Gerber Products and Riveridge Cider.

A record-breaking 15 instructors from five schools participated, with more than 150 students attending virtually. In addition, grant funding for Discovering Manufacturing was diverted to create scholarships for 35 Newaygo County students. 

Hello West Michigan celebrates 10 Year Anniversary

2020 was a landmark year in more ways than one—it marked the 10-year anniversary since the official launch of Hello West Michigan as an organization and hellowestmichigan.com. The organization was the first of its kind in the country and continues to serve as a benchmark and model for similar organizations in other regions and states. 
 

Through its campaigns, programs, and wrap-around services, Hello West Michigan attracts talent to the region and assists people interested in relocating. They are the connection point between candidates, companies, and the community. In 10 years, the organization has served over 55 million ad impressions, reached over 300,000 website users, hosted 2,800 interns at Intern Connect, 2,400 candidates on Thanksgiving eve, and sent over 3,300 resumes. The website, which has over 1,000 linked resources, is the regional hub of information for anyone interested in relocation and covers all 13 counties the West Michigan region.
 

By providing a strategic and long-term approach to talent attraction, Hello West Michigan is moving the needle as the region’s talent attraction and retention organization.  

Hello West Michigan 10 Year Anniversary Meeting

February 2020, Embassy Suites Downtown Grand Rapids

ReThink West Michigan goes virtual with 'Back to Michigan' event

With pandemic-related relocations on the rise and people increasingly leaving large cities in favor of mid-sized cities like Grand Rapids, skipping the typically in-person ReThink West Michigan event was not an option. The international award-winning event, usually held on the night before Thanksgiving, is Hello West Michigan’s signature event. While only a single event, it is the embodiment of what the organization does all year around: attract, educate, and connect candidates to West Michigan.

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In a first-time collaboration with 8 regions from around the state, Hello West Michigan led Back To Michigan, a series of virtual networking events, between November 17-24, where people interested in relocating to Michigan spoke directly with hiring employers.

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The results for West Michigan were record-breaking. The event had over 500 registrants, doubling the highest ever for the ReThink West Michigan event. Hello West Michigan also received over 700 leads of candidates interested in moving to West Michigan, which they’ll be following up with in the months to come. Thanks to the leadership of the Hello West Michigan team and the vision of Back To Michigan, thousands of people are taking a look at living and working in Michigan.   

Connecting West Michigan businesses to in-demand PPE supplies 

While other communities have stagnant or vanished advanced manufacturing sectors, this industry continues to thrive in West Michigan. We are a region who still makes things, and that made us uniquely suited to answer the call for urgent production of PPE supplies in March 2020.

Many of our region’s manufacturers quickly switched their manufacturing lines and began producing all manner of supplies, from gowns and facemasks to thermometers and antiseptic. As The Right Place team assisted companies with setting up supply chains, we also began developing a directory of West Michigan PPE suppliers. 

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By December, this directory had been viewed more than 11,000  times and counting. It features 100+ local companies manufacturing PPE supplies. Organizations can use this directory to quickly source in-demand and limited PPE supplies straight from West Michigan manufacturers.  

Developing a single resource for COVID-19 business news

In the early days of the pandemic, businesses were overloaded with urgent information from multiple sources. Whether it was lock-down orders or new assistance available to companies, the resources were overwhelming and often disparate.
 

The Right Place quickly began working with other local business support organizations to develop a one-stop resource to house all business-related pandemic news and assistance. This website, www.covidwm.org, was launched within several days of the initial shutdown order and immediately began functioning as both a library of resources and news, and  a way to receive one-on-one assistance with pandemic-related questions. The Right Place team continues to update and maintain the site with news and resources as the vaccine is distributed.