(EDITOR’S NOTE: The following article was written by Seymour Mayor Craig Luedeman at the request of the Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) in Chicago and appeared in the organization’s 2015 Winter newsletter and distributed to approximately 2,300 readers).
One of my best friends during my days at Seymour High School in the early 1990s was a Japanese guy, whose father had been transferred here to work with one of the local industries. Little did I know that 20+ years later, we would meet up again in Japan … him now a successful attorney in Tokyo and me serving my 2nd term as Mayor of the City of Seymour, Indiana.
I did not comprehend the importance of business relationships between the U.S. and Japan when I was in high school; I just knew that he was a pretty cool guy and fun to be around. I also was not totally aware of the impact that Japanese companies were having on my hometown, but I was sure glad that my friend was living in Seymour.
I mentioned this is my second term as Mayor of Seymour, and this fall marked my 5th trip to Japan in the past 7 years and, trust me, I now understand the importance of those relationships and the effect Japanese investment has had on Seymour and all of South Central Indiana.
Seymour is located on Interstate 65, one hour south of Indianapolis, Indiana and an hour north of Louisville, Kentucky. It is that location that helped us attract the first U.S. manufacturing operation of Aisin Seiki. That was in 1986, and today, Aisin employs more than 2,000 associates at their 5 locations in Seymour and Jackson County. Aisin U.S.A. Manufacturing has 2 locations in Seymour: Aisin Holdings of America has their corporate office here; and two other Aisin companies, Aisin Drivetrain, Inc. and Aisin Chemical of Indiana, have found homes in the small community of Crothersville, which is located in southern Jackson County.
In addition, Seymour Tubing (whose parent company is Nippon Steel and Sumikin Pipe Co. with support from Mitsui and Co., Ltd.) is located here, as is a joint venture between Cummins and Komatsu (CKEC) to produce engines. O&K American established their 2nd U.S. manufacturing operation in Seymour in 2009.
All together, these companies employ nearly 3,000 of our workers and, as importantly, are excellent corporate citizens that support activities to make Seymour a great place to live and work. We are truly blessed and thankful, and I believe it is very important that we make frequent visits to Tokyo, Nagoya, Osaka and other locales to meet with executives of these companies to build on our relationships.
My latest trip to Japan in October 2014 was as part of our South Central Indiana regional marketing trip. This group includes a 10-county region that extends along I-65, I-64 and I-74. All told, our region is home to more than 50 Japanese companies which employ over 16,000 workers. Total population in our region is more than 480,000 and we have seen continued growth in the manufacturing sector that has lowered our unemployment rate to less than 6%.
Indiana Secretary of Commerce Victor Smith joined our group, as did a number of private companies that do business with our Japanese companies. “Friends of South Central Indiana” receptions were well-attended in Tokyo and Nagoya, and Secretary Smith spoke of the many benefits of doing business in our region. We are confident that additional investment and jobs will result from this trip.
Spearheading the trip was Jim Plump, who has served as Executive Director of the Jackson County Industrial Development Corporation for more than 30 years. During his time in Seymour, Jim has made 25 trips to Japan and has been involved in the recruitment of all of our Japanese companies, as well as the retention and expansion of those companies.
In working with the JETRO office in Chicago, Jim suggested we plan a visit with the JETRO office in Tokyo. We were very pleased to receive an invitation to visit, and they welcomed our mission delegates to learn more about our region and to provide us important data that they have compiled on the Japanese economy. The officials, including Executive Vice President Tsuneyuki Kato and our friend, Tatsuhiro Shindo, who formerly was in the Chicago office of JETRO, were extremely helpful and their hospitality was much appreciated.
I should also point out that helping arrange this meeting was the Japan-America Society of Indiana (JASI), and its long-time Executive Director Theresa Kulczak. She has been a good friend to Seymour-Jackson County over the years and the State of Indiana is fortunate to have someone as talented as Theresa and an organization that is recognized as one of the top Japan-America Societies in the country.