Erie 2016 section l

SUNDAY

February 14, 2016

Annual economic report for the Erie region

ERIE 2016

SECTION

L

JACK HANRAHAN/Erie Times-News

Donald Wensel prepares copper gaskets to be plated in gold at Klein Plating Works. The 100-year-old business overcame several rough years, Chief Executive Joe Dudenhoeffer says, but is now “doing very well” and looking to the future.

Testing their

METAL Klein Plating Works overcomes hurdles, emerges strong to celebrate 100 years

INDUSTRY: Grass pellets a boon for farmers, drillers and company. 8L

WINE BUSINESS: Man who led effort in state still active as a grower, vintner, mentor. 10L

By RON LEONARDI ron.leonardi@timesnews.com Klein Plating Works is a familyowned business that quietly celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2015.

Joe Dudenhoeffer, 38, the company’s chief executive, is a fourth-generation owner whose career at the Erie-based business began with mowing and weed-trimming duties when he was 8.

“We’ve never been a company that seeks fanfare and publicity,’’ Dudenhoeffer said. “What we want is to continue to be here in the community giving good-paying jobs that are stable and to be a good community player.”

Klein Plating Works produces and supplies precious metal finishing,

➤ Please see KLEIN, 4L

ALSO INSIDE THIS SECTION:

• GE: Layoffs leave future uncertain. 2L • MANUFACTURING: Making our mark. 5L • TOP 50: Workforce is shifting. 9L

ERIE 2016

2L | Erie Times-News | GoErie.com | Sunday, February 14, 2016

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Brad Kopp, left, and Mike Anderson leave GE Transportation in Lawrence Park Township after their work shifts on Nov. 6, the day officials announced plans to cut 1,500 jobs.

Plant’s future hard to track

By JIM MARTIN jim.martin@timesnews.com

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On Nov. 6, the day GE Transportationannounced a plan to cut 1,500 jobs in Erie, a key company official expressed hope that some of those layoffs would be temporary.

Today, more than three months later, the Erie community continues to hope that’s the case.

But as employees continue to leave their jobs at Erie County’s largest employer, it seems as if the answer won’t be apparent anytime soon.

It was Richard Simpson, vice president of the company’s global supply chain, who said the company has a strong record of calling workers back following a layoff.

Simpson, who outlined the rationale for the company’s layoff, said there weren’t enough orders in the company’s production schedule to provide work for the 3,200 hourly workers the company had locally in November.

But history suggests that could change.

Past layoffs at the company’s Lawrence Park Township plant have sometimes been shortlived. And in some cases, planned layoffs were never fully implemented.

In 2013, for instance, the company announced plans to cut 950 union jobs and 100 salaried positions in Erie. A year later, by which time less than half of the layoffs had taken place, the company began calling workers back to help tackle a growing book of orders.

Simpson didn’t rule out the possibility that something similar could happen in this case.

“I think we have an excellent history when it involves recalls,” he said.

“I’m optimistic.”

But a good track record for recalling workers doesn’t mean the company will call them back before they are needed.

The plan to downsize

3,200

That’s how many hourly workers GE Transportation had at its local plant, before it announced plans to lay off 1,500 of them.

I can’t say that I would ever see a full callback. My hope would be that both labor and management look at new lines of business and new lines of opportunity for GE in Erie.” — BARBARA

CHAFFEE, PRESIDENT OF THE ERIE REGIONAL CHAMBER AND GROWTH PARTNERSHIP the Erie workforce was based on a light production schedule in 2016.

That reality didn’t change a few days later, when India Railways confirmed that it had agreed to buy 1,000 diesel locomotives for $2.6 billion.

That should, by all rights, be good news for GE Transportation workers in Erie, which has been designated as the primary build site for building locomotives for export.

But it will take time for those orders to move into the production pipeline.

Simpson has said that there is design work to be done, and that those locomotives won’t likely be built until 2017.

And even then, there’s no guarantee that the majority of the work will be done in Erie.

Scott Slawson, president of Local 506 of the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America at GE Transportation, has said he’s hopeful but is taking nothing for granted.

“Before, we weren’t competing with ourselves with a plant in Texas,” he said, referring to the company’s nonunion plant in Fort Worth, Texas.

There is little need to speculate on the importance of this layoff.

In the short term, the lost wages of 1,500 workers for one year, at an average

wage of $34 an hour, works out to be $106 million.

In a broader sense, the company detailed its impact on the local economy in a 2011 study conducted by the Pittsburgh-based consulting firm Tripp Umbach.

Among other highlights, the study found that $1 of every $130 in the state’s economy is generated by GE Transportation, which helps to pump $2.7 billion a year into the Erie County economy.

Barbara Chaffee, president of the Erie Regional Chamber and Growth Partnership, is hopeful that Erie County’s largest employer will rebound after this layoff and maintain its position as a key driver of the local economy.

“I tend to be an optimistic person. However, the marketplacehaschanged,” she said, explaining that low energy prices could depress locomotive orders for some time.

But the order from India Railways presents an opportunity, she said.

“The challenge is that now we have two plants that build locomotives,” she said.

And with Caterpillar Inc. expected to introduce a new locomotive in the next year or so, competition is likely to increase.

“I can’t say that I would ever see a full callback,” she said. “My hope would be that both labor and management look at new lines of business and new lines of opportunity for GE in Erie.”

Chaffee, however, expects GE Transportation to remain a force in Erie, where the company that would become GE Transportation was launched more than 100 years ago.

“My belief is they have continually shown their commitment to this community,” she said.

J I M M A R T I N can be reached at 870-1668 or by e-mail. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/ ETNmartin.

$106M $2.7B That’s about how much spending power will be taken out of the local economy with the loss of those 1,500 jobs.

That’s about how much GE Transportation helps pump into Erie County’s economy each year, according to a study.

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Sunday, February 14, 2016 | Erie Times-News | GoErie.com | 3L

4L | Erie Times-News | GoErie.com | Sunday, February 14, 2016

WHAT THEY MAKE

ERIE 2016

Klein: 100 years Continued from 1L

Aluminum poles plated with copper and silver by Klein Plating Works will be used in the electrical power industry.

Gold-plated trigger parts will be used

by Remington.

Klein Plating Works also provides products to a variety of industries, including aerospace, automotive, telecom, connector, military, medical, semiconductor, microwave/ radio frequency technology.

primarily gold and silver, to numerous industries and employs about 50 people at its 32,000-square-foot plating facility at 2020 Greengarden Road.

Founded in 1915 by German immigrant Frank Klein — Dudenhoeffer’s great-grandfather — the company was originally known as Erie Gold & Silver Co. and was located at West 25th and Poplar streets.

Dudenhoeffer’s father, Larrie Dudenhoeffer, bought Klein Plating Works in 1982 from Dick Klein, a son of Frank Klein.

When the elder Dudenhoeffer retired in 2006, he handed the reins to his son.

Joe Dudenhoeffer, then 28, remembers taking command of the business under trying circumstances.

In 2006, Dudenhoeffer said, Klein Plating and the finishing industry were still feeling the impact of the tech bubble burst that led to the 2000 stock market crash.

“When that bubble broke, everything went down,’’ Dudenhoeffer said. “It was quite a struggle.’’

But not the last one.

A devastating fire in a shop area at Klein Plating Works on May 11, 2003, forced the business to close for three months. Damages totaled more than $1 million, Dudenhoeffer said.

At that time, the economy was soft, and that same year, Klein Plating had a major customer declare bankruptcy.

“I was kind of baptized in fire here,’’ Dudenhoeffer said. “When I took over, we were struggling through the fire. I had a business degree and an MBA, but they don’t teach the life lessons. We had to get back on our feet, but I would pray to God at night that we could meet payroll in 2006.

“That kind of steeled me to the fact that we have to do everything better here,’’ Dudenhoeffer said.

“We have to be more efficient. We

JACK HANRAHAN/Erie Times-News

Employee Paul Webber plates aluminum cylinders in copper and silver at Klein Plating Works, 2020 Greengarden Road. The business, which recently celebrated its 100th anniversary, is now run by its founder’s great-grandson.

I was kind of baptized in fire here. When I took over, we were struggling through the fire. I had a business degree and an MBA, but they don’t teach the life lessons.” — JOE DUDENHOEFFER have to be more conservative.’’

That first year as president was difficult.

“I had ulcers then,’’ Dudenhoeffer said. “It was not fun. All my friends at the time were still going to the bars and were still the same old guys. Here I was, basically a nervous wreck. I look back now and think, ‘How did I make it through that?’’’

Dudenhoeffer said his top priori-

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ties in 2006 were meeting weekly payroll and making sure Klein Plating could survive “day by day.”

“There was a day where I think we had $38 in our checking account,’’ he recalled. “I’ll look at that and just remember where we were and where we came from. ...

It humbles me and gets me going. I never, ever want to go back to those days.’’

Inheriting the presidency of his

company under difficult circumstances would ultimately help spur Dudenhoeffer and his business on to greater success, he said.

“We’ve been very successful. Our most success ever in the history of our company is in the last 10 years.

But that’s the past to me. We’re living in the present, and what’s tomorrow. Our biggest thing is I have 50 people here whose families depend on us. We have to make sure we’re going to be here and to keep providing.’’

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ERIE 2016

Sunday, February 14, 2016 | Erie Times-News | GoErie.com | 5L

Continued from 4L communications.

“It didn’t happen overnight, but we are doing very well now,’’ Dudenhoeffer said. “It’s not something that I want to rest on our laurels with.

We’ve done well, but what are we going to do tomorrow? Even if everything is working right now, we can do it better.”

Dudenhoeffer had dreams of being a doctor or physical therapist, but he instead chose to run the family business.

“I took it upon myself not to see my dad’s legacy, and the people before him, just get sold out or EXTRA: To bought out, or closed doors,’’ get a closer Dudenhoeflook at the Klein plating fer said. “I said I’m goprocess, go ing to try and to GoErie. keep this com/photos thing going, and GoErie. so it kind of com/video. changed my career path.’’

Dudenhoeffer said he and his employees have evolved and developed together in the past decade.

“It was sink or swim,’’ he said. “Either you make this successful, or you’re not going to be here. You roll your sleeves up, get out there, and we were lucky and made it successful. We have a lot of good people here. We all realized the situation. We dug in and made everything count.’’

That mentality has been a hallmark for four generations, he said.

“We’re not an institution, so we’re not so big that we can’t fail,’’ Dudenhoeffer said. “Every generation that came in here had to take the company to the next level and had to keep getting better. If not, we would have been part of the statistics where most second-generation family businesses fail.’’

R O N L E O N A R D I can be reached at 870-1680 or by e-mail.

FILE PHOTOS/Erie Times-News

From left, meters made at FMC Technologies; plastic caps made at Viking Plastics; and French bread pizzas made at Better Baked Foods.

Erie makes its mark

By JIM MARTIN jim.martin@timesnews.com

Erie’s best known product — a 4,400-horsepower GE Transportation locomotive — tips the scale at a hefty 440,000 pounds.

But that’s not all that’s being built behind the walls of Erie’s shops, factories, foundries, plants and mills.

It’s often said that Erie isn’t the manufacturing town it used to be. And there’s no question that the numbers are down.

Manufacturing employment is thought to have peaked here in 1974, a year that saw more than 50,000 people earn a living on Erie’s shop floors.

Today, that number stands at 22,900, according to the state Department of Labor & Industry.

In the short term, it’s expected to fall further as GE Transportation, Erie County’s largest employer, moves ahead with a planned layoff of 1,500 workers.

But Erie’s status as a manufacturing center won’t end, even if those cuts prove to be permanent — and it’s not certain that they will.

Even now, after 40 years of declining manufacturing employment, Erie County residents

There is a corporate trend in America today to suppress wages. ... Until something changes or someone intervenes, we are just going to continue down this path.” — SCOTT SLAWSON, PRESIDENT OF UE LOCAL 506

hold jobs in manufacturing at nearly twice the national rate, according to statistics from the Economic Research Institute of Erie.

And it’s not just giant locomotives that we’re building.

Erie workers build meters that measure oil flow at FMC Measurement Solutions, tiny plastic caps for automotive air conditioners at Viking Plastics, deodorant containers at Plastek Industries, precision parts for medication delivery systems at Plastikos and flight-sensitive anti-vibration parts at Lord Corp.

Maybe you’re more a fan of big, heavy machines.

Folks in Erie build and maintain massive ships at Donjon Shipbuilding and Repair, and they machine the massive drive shafts that propel navy ships at Erie Forge and Steel.

Much of what’s made in Erie is shipped around the world, including a range of sorting

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equipment made at Eriez Manufacturing.

Sometimes manufacturing means food, whether that’s the 425,000 French bread pizzas churned out daily at Better Baked Foods in North East or the truckloads of potato chips and popcorn made 24 hours a day at the former KLN plant, now owned by Shearer’s in Waterford.

The good news, according to a study by the Jefferson Educational Society, is that Erie has more than its share of jobs that can be classified as advanced manufacturing. These are manufacturing jobs that rely on advanced technology and tend to pay better than others.

Scott Slawson, president of Local 506 of the United Electrical Radio and Machine Workers of America at GE Transportation, worries that it won’t last.

It’s not just the layoffs at GE that give him pause.

Like others in Erie, he can’t shake the memories of companies that left, and workers who were forced to start over.

“There is a corporate trend in America today to suppress wages,” he said. “It’s a huge deal.

These companies are passing their social burdens on to the taxpayers. Until something changes or someone intervenes, we are just going to continue down this path.”

Many would argue his point, contending that union wages and benefits have driven jobs south and offshore.

There won’t soon be agreement on that point.

But on another point, the facts leave little room for debate.

The city where Daniel Dobbins built the fleet that Oliver Hazard Perry commanded in the Battle of Lake Erie is still making things today, from the boat oars that move us through the water and the salad dressings that top our lunch to the precision parts and pieces that keep airplanes in the sky.

J I M M A R T I N can be reached at 870-1668 or by e-mail. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/ ETNmartin.

Sunday, February 14, 2016 | Erie Times-News | GoErie.com | 7L

6L | Erie Times-News | GoErie.com | Sunday, February 14, 2016

Saint Vincent Hospital Expanding in our Community

The 44,000 square foot medical pavilion is expected to be completed in Spring of 2016.

Saint Vincent continues to remain a leader in health care in the Erie region.

We have made it our priority to meet patient needs, values, and preferences. So that a patient’s care is delivered in the right place, at the right time, and in the manner that best suits a patient’s needs.

That is why in 2016, we are proud to introduce the Allegheny Health Network, Health + Wellness Pavilion West Side. A new $12 million facility, that will bring Saint Vincent services and providers to Erie’s Westside in one convenient location. Providing state-of-the-art facilities and access to the latest in cutting-edge imagery and diagnostics. The Health + Wellness Pavilion will provide services including: Saint Vincent Urgent Care Saint Vincent Imaging Center Family Medicine Pediatrics

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ERIE 2016

8L | Erie Times-News | GoErie.com | Sunday, February 14, 2016

A growing effort

How IT woRkS

INDUSTRY: Grass

pellets a boon for drillers, farmers, Crawford company

Switchgrass — a hardy, tallgrowing grass — is planted on 4,000 acres.

By VALERIE MYERS valerie.myers@timesnews.com

PHOTOS BY ANDY COLWELL/Erie Times-News

Water vapor rises from the Ernst Biomass facility behind switchgrass growing in a demonstration field at Ernst Conservation Seeds and Ernst Biomass in Union Township, Crawford County. Similar switchgrass grown across 4,000 acres is processed into pellets at the plant.

Six of Ernst’s approximately 80 employees work in the company’s biomass operation, begun nine years ago for ethanol production and heating. Pellets now are sold almost exclusively for absorption, Arnett said.

“The energy content is almost as good as wood, but in absorption, grass is far superior to hardwood,” Arnett said.

The pellets are made from switchgrass grown on 4,000 acres, about 2,000 of which are leased from local farmers.

“Farmers can use land that’s marginal for traditional row crops and make it productive with switchgrass. The business has been a boon to a lot of local landowners with property that they had not been farming,” Arnett said.

The 4,000 acres yield about 10,000 tons of grass for processing annually. Grass is harvested and

bundled into 800-pound bales for storage and transport to Ernst’s $5 million tarp-and-steel processing facility capable of producing 25,000 tons of pellets a year. At the processing plant, grass is ground, dried, formed into pellets and packaged in 1-ton bags for industrial clients in Pennsylvania, Ohio and West Virginia and in smaller, more manageable bags for horse owners as far away as Louisiana.

The plant ships two tractor-trailer loads of pellets daily.

“We’re the only plant that produces fiber on this scale,” Arnett said.

Bedding for animals other than horses could provide new markets for the pellets. Pellets have been tested by the University of Delaware as bedding for broiler chicken operations in the Delmarva Peninsula, and results so far are positive.

“It seems to improve the health

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of the chickens,” Arnett said.

Horse owners report other benefits of pellet bedding, sold as Thorobed.

“Champion horse owners have been using the pellets for a number of years now and are telling us things like they no longer have to bathe a horse during fair week.

Their animals are staying dry and clean,” Arnett said.

Ernst Conservation Seeds will continue to study and devise new uses for the organic pellets, Arnett said.

“One of the coolest things is that this could be reproduced in many communities in Pennsylvania, compared to much bigger capital projects that are suited to very few,” he said.

V A L E R I E M Y E R S can be reached at 878-1913 or by e-mail.

Follow her on Twitter at twitter. com/ETNmyers.

The grass is harvested then bundled for transport to the processing plant, where it is dried and made into pellets.

The pellets are packaged, either in 1-ton bags, like the one shown with employee Evan Beatty, or into smaller bags before being shipped out to customers.

EXTRA: See more of Ernst Biomass at GoErie.com/video or GoErie.com/photos

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MEADVILLE — Native grasses grownatErnstConservationSeeds in Union Township and on leased land nearby are mopping up waste from the Marcellus Shale.

The grasses are dried, ground and shaped into pellets inside a multimillion-dollar plant built on the Ernst farm, alongside buildings where more than 400 species of native and naturalized seeds are stored.

Those woodlike pellets, originally envisioned as fuel for heating, are being used primarily to absorb moisture and make it easier to dispose of liquids displaced by drilling.

And despite a slight downturn in Ernst Biomass sales and a slowdown in the oil and gas industry in 2015, Ernst’s market share of pellet sales to the industry grew, said Dan Arnett, the company’s biomass manager.

The pellets are also used as horse bedding.

“We’re working on a few additional markets for 2016,” Arnett said.

Ernst Conservation Seeds has a tradition of anticipating demand.

Founded by Calvin and Marcia Ernst 52 years ago, the farm’s original cash crop was crown vetch sold for planting along the nation’s highways to revegetate and control erosion in medians and rights of way. The company has since reinvented itself as the nation’s largest provider of conservation seeds for plantings to rebuild wetlands; to reclaim land damaged by mining, drilling and pipelines; and to provide animal habitat and native pollination.

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ERIE 2016

Sunday, February 14, 2016 | Erie Times-News | GoErie.com | 9L

WHERE WE WORK: List of Erie’s top employers reflects more diverse group

Workforce shifting?

Working in Erie region Who employs the most in Erie County?

2015 2005 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50

1 2 3 6 5 4 8 7 9 11 10 17 15 21 12 22 30 34 18 38 14 24 42 26 36 28 29 46 33 20 49 35 44

GE Transportation Erie Indemnity Co. UPMC Hamot Pennsylvania state government Wal-Mart Saint Vincent Hospital U.S. government Erie School District Erie County government Dr. Gertrude A. Barber National Institute Presque Isle Downs & Casino Millcreek Township School District Lord Corp.

City of Erie Country Fair Inc. Plastek Group Inc. Pennsylvania State University YMCA of Greater Erie Tamarkin Co. Gannon University Regional Health Services Inc. State System of Higher Education (Edinboro University) Millcreek Community Hospital Mercyhurst University Infinity Resources Inc. Wegmans Lakeshore Community Services Voices for Independence Saint Vincent Medical Education & Research Institute Saint Mary’s Home of Erie Erie Homes for Children and Adults Inc. Barber National Institute McDonald’s restaurants Waldameer Park Inc. Pleasant Ridge Manor Lowes Home Centers Inc. Stairways Behavioral Health Welch Foods Inc. Associated Clinical Laboratories Career Concepts Staffing Services Parker-Hannifin Corp.

Port Erie Plastics Inc. Harbor Creek School District Agility Marketing Group Eriez Manufacturing Co. LECOM Northwest Bancshares Inc. Adeco USA Inc. Parker White Metal Co. Northwest Tri-County Intermediate Unit

By JIM MARTIN jim.martin@timesnews.com

Wal-Mart, the nation’s largest employer, became Erie County’s fifth-largest employer in 2015, displacing Saint Vincent Hospital from the top five.

That news, from the state Department of Labor & Industry, represents a slight shift in what’s been a slow-changing group of Erie’s largest employers.

That list, perpetually led

by GE Transportation, also includes UPMC Hamot, Erie Indemnity Co., state government, and now WalMart, which has pushed Saint Vincent Hospital into the sixth spot.

There is the potential that the next year could bring even more reshuffling of the top five spots.

GE Transportation, which has been Erie County’s top employer for decades, announced in November that it planned to reduce its hourly work-

It seems to me that Erie is better at weathering recessions. Partly that is due to the fact that manufacturing ... has become a smaller segment of the local economy.” — JIM KURRE

force by 1,500 people, which would reduce the company’s overall Erie employment from 4,500 to about 3,000.

Those cuts would push employment at GE Transportation closer to the 2,800 who work for Erie Indemnity, the management arm of Erie Insurance.

For now, however, GE Transportation remains on top of the list and one of three manufacturing companies among the top 20 employers.

The small number of manufacturers has been linked to a decline in local wages as compared with the national average.

WhileErie wagescontinue to rise, they aren’t rising at the same rate as wages

nationally, said Jim Kurre, director emeritus at the Economic Institute of Erie at Penn State Behrend’s Black School of Business.

But the news isn’t all bad.

The Erie to which Kurre arrived in the 1970s was heavily dominated by manufacturing and was notoriously susceptible to downturns in the economy.

Recessions that lasted six months nationally would last twice as long in industry-dominated Erie.

A look at Erie County’s top50employers—agroup that includes manufacturers, hospitals, government, social service agencies and local colleges — speaks to the diversity of the local economy.

In some respects, that diversity has served us well.

“It seems to me that Erie is better at weathering recessions,” Kurre said.

“Partly that is due to the fact that manufacturing, which tends to be much more cyclical, has become a smaller segment of the local economy.”

The bad news, he said, is that our current mixture of employers isn’t delivering the growth in wages he would like to see.

The rise of one employer — state government — on the top 50 list gives Kurre no special joy, especially after a budget deadlock that has continued for months.

More broadly, he said, Erie’s growing economic diversity is evening out some of the rough spots.

J I M M A R T I N can be reached at 870-1668 or by e-mail. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/ ETNmartin.

Here’s the plan that employees are choosing more than ever.

Crawford County’s top 5 employers 1 2 3 4 5

1 2 3 7 4

Meadville Medical Center Pennsylvania state government Crawford County government Wal-Mart Crawford Central School District

All top employers are as of the second quarter 2015, the most recent data available, compared to the first quarter of 2005.

Erie County average occupational wages (2014)

Erie County residents make $7,730 less, on average, than their counterparts in the state: Erie County

Pennsylvania

$38,020 $45,750 INDUSTRY AVERAGE WAGE IN ERIE COUNTY Management ...................................................... $93,130 Legal..................................................................... 80,990 Life, physical and social science .......................... 73,620 Architecture and engineering ............................... 67,980 Health-care practitioners and technical ................ 66,150 Computer and mathematical ................................ 59,680 Business and financial.......................................... 57,840 Education, training and library.............................. 49,730 Protective services .............................................. 43,680 Construction and extraction.................................. 42,490 Community and social services ............................ 39,220 Arts, design, entertainment, sports and media ..... 37,640 Installation, maintenance and repair .................... 37,620 Farming, fishing and forestry................................ 34,860 Production ............................................................ 34,800 Sales and related occupations ............................. 31,650 Transportation and material moving ..................... 31,100 Office and administrative support ......................... 31,020 Health-care support .............................................. 24,610 Personal care and service .................................... 22,750 Building, grounds cleaning and maintenance....... 22,170 Food preparation and serving related jobs ........... 19,680

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Erie County jobs, by sector (in November) SERVICE-PROVIDING 105,800 jobs (80% of jobs in county)

Leisure, hospitality: 9.9% Government: 12.1%**

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GOODSPRODUCING 26,200 jobs (20% of jobs in county)

Trade, utilities, transportation: 17.7%

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Mining, logging, construction: 3%

Education, health: 22.3%

Manufacturing: 16.9%

*Includes business services. **Federal, state, and local.

SOURCE: Pennsylvania Department of Labor & Industry

CHRIS SIGMUND/Erie Times-News

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Information: 0.9% Other services: 4.7% Financial activities: 5% Professional services: 7.5%*

10L | Erie Times-News | GoErie.com | Sunday, February 14, 2016

ERIE 2016

‘Father’ of the industry Wine: Man who

by the numbers

led effort in state active as grower, vintner, mentor

About the wine and grape industry in Pennsylvania:

$1.9 billion:

By KARA MURPHY Contributing writer Doug Moorhead is perhaps most comfortable in his family vineyard, coaxing along the European grapes he introduced to Lake Erie in the 1950s. But it is his work on the Pennsylvania Limited Winery Act that might stand as his most far-reaching legacy.

Moorhead, owner of Presque Isle Wine Cellars, was one of the winemakers who led the drive to get the 1968 act passed, allowing Pennsylvania wineries to sell wine directly to customers and paving the way for the more than 200 wineries in the state today.

“Doug was instrumental in all of that early period,” said Hudson Cattell, a journalist who has covered the eastern U.S. wine markets for decades. Cattell is the author of numerous books about the wine industry, including “Pennsylvania Wine: A History,” in which he writes at length about Moorhead’s involvement in the passage of the Pennsylvania Limited Winery Act. In the book, Cattell documents how Moorhead, along with thenpartner William Konnerth and the three partners who created Penn Shore Winery — George Luke, P. Blair McCord and George Sceiford — overcame hurdle after hurdle put in place by the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board, which was reluctant to allow wineries to sell their own products.

“The emphasis was on the word ‘control,’” Moorhead mused, as he remembered the battles with the PLCB. Now 82, Moorhead is still very active in his winery’s day-to-day

That’s the full economic impact of Pennsylvania wine, wine grapes and juice grapes.

8,629:

That’s the number of full-time equivalent jobs.

$401 million: That’s the wages paid.

$222 million: SARAH CROSBY/Erie Times-News

Doug Moorhead, owner of Presque Isle Wine Cellars, was a leader in getting the state’s Limited Winery Act passed.

Today, he grows grapes and supplies winemaking equipment, as well as making wine — like the 2014 chardonnay here. operations. His wife, Marlene, who took over as his partner when Konnerth retired in 1974, also is a key member of the business.

‘The first person they go to’ Along with growing grapes and making wine, Presque Isle Wine Cellars has a thriving business selling winemaking equipment to both home winemakers and commercial operations.

In fact, selling equipment is how the winery got its start back in 1964, four years before the legislation passed.

The winery still maintains a large catalog selling the equipment needed to make everything from wine and Champagne to beer and hard cider.

Moorhead didn’t stop being a leader in the wine industry after passage of the 1968 legislation.

He has always been willing to take on leadership roles, said Jennifer Eckinger, executive director of the Pennsylvania Winery Association.

Among the important roles cited by the Eastern Winery Exposition when it awarded Moorhead a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2013: He was one of the founding members of the Pennsylvania Wine Association and served as its executive director and on its board; he chaired the industry advisory committee of the Lake Erie Regional Grape Program; he was a longtime director of the National Grape Cooperative, which owns Welch’s Foods; he was an adjunct professor in the culinary department at Mercyhurst College; and he is currently a director of WineAmerica and the Pennsylvania Grape Marketing Board.

But it is simple mentorship

that might be Moorhead’s most important role to local winemakers.

“He’s a great supplier,” said Bob Mazza, owner of Mazza Vineyards Winery in North East, Mazza Chautauqua Cellars in Mayville, N.Y., and the Five & 20 Spirits & Brewing in Westfield, N.Y. “And since he sells supplies, he gets a lot of questions from people with aspirations of being winemakers. He is the first person they go to.”

Eckinger echoed that sentiment.

“He’s always available to answer questions,” she said. “He continues to give for the good of the industry and always looks out for the good of the industry.”

Room for more wineries Moorhead described the relationship between wineries in the

That’s the winerelated tourism expenditures.

SOURCE: 2011 Pennsylvania Winery Association economic impact study, released in 2013

Lake Erie region as “collegial.”

“We’ve realized a rising tide raises all boats,” he said.

He and Mazza said they believe the region, which is now home to 24 wineries, can support many more.

“I think we can get to 50 before we start cannibalizing each other,” Moorhead said. “The potential is there.”

Statewide, there are now more than 200 wineries, the owners of which have all likely toasted Moorhead during their time in business, Eckinger said.

“Doug’s work on the Pennsylvania Limited Winery Act was essential to its success,” she said.

“He is, quite simply, the father of the modern wine industry in Pennsylvania.”

K A R A M U R P H Y is a freelance writer in Erie. Contact her at www.karawrites.com.

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Sunday, February 14, 2016 | Erie Times-News | GoErie.com | 11L

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12L | Erie Times-News | GoErie.com | Sunday, February 14, 2016