Challenges to a Tool City
Since the late 1990’s a number of local tool and die shops have closed their doors eliminating over 1,000 jobs. CEED’s Green Business Coalition has taken a closer look at the environmental and business practices of this sector because it has been so vital to the eco- nomic health of northwest Pennsylvania.
Assistant Professor of Economics and director of the Sustainable Manufacturing project, Stephen Onyeiwu, with student interns Katie Wheeler and Lauren Destefano, surveyed 50 local tool and die companies. In August 2004, they published “Firm Closures in the Tool and Die Industry in Crawford County of Northwest Pennsylvania,” exposing five main reasons for business’ closings.
- Poor Managerial Skills: Often shop owners did not know how to read a balance sheet and were not able to track costs.
- Lack of Core Competencies: Many closed shops did not have the ability to distinguish themselves from other shops.
- Lack of Strategic Planning: Most failed shops were not prepared for industry changes because they were not looking ahead.
- Inability to Adapt or Diversify: Often the closed companies were not willing to change how they did business, relying on only one or two customers.
- Too Small to Survive: The survey suggested that larger firms tended to do better for a variety of reasons.
