Sprint Corp.'s plan to consolidate its operations from more than 40 facilities
throughout Kansas City and relocate 10,000 local employees into one giant Sprint
World Headquarters campus by the year 2002 is a ringing affirmation of the strong
business environment here in America's Heartland.
And confidence in Kansas City is something this worldwide telecommunications company
-- which is largely responsible for the metro area's emerging reputation as a center
for high technology and innovation -- doesn't lack.
Pending approval by the city of Overland Park, the Kansas suburb where Sprint's
new headquarters are slated to be, the company will break ground in June to begin
construction of a 17-building campus, featuring 3.9 million square feet of operation
space. The low, red-brick facade buildings will settle into the rolling hills of
the 246 acres of land Sprint purchased from Overland Park in 1990. Walkways and abundant
open space (60 percent of the property will remain "green") will lend to
a comfortable campus-like feel of the headquarters.
The decision to consolidate facilities and grow in Kansas City was simple for
Sprint.
"Kansas City has historically been our home," explains Tom Weigman,
president of the consumer services group for Sprint's long distance division. "We're
a Midwestern company and we like being in the Midwest. We like having that identity."
Like many other Kansas City area companies that emphasize customer service, Sprint
relies on Kansas City employees' reputable work ethic, neutral telephone accent,
and
genuine friendliness.
"A warm, Midwest personality translates well in customer service jobs,"
says Weigman. "We're a customer service company. Perception is everything."
This "perception" has helped Sprint achieve top ranking in customer
satisfaction in long-distance telephone service from such industry analysts as J.D.
Powers and The Yankee Group.
And the city of Overland Park is excited to have been chosen for the expansion.
"The zoning has been in place for six years, and we've been patiently waiting
for this," says Blake Schreck, director of economic development for the Overland
Park Chamber of Commerce. "We're pleased and proud that Sprint has seen fit
to locate its world-class headquarters here."
The Sprint name is on yet another headquarters facility in Kansas City.
Sprint PCS is a joint partnership of Sprint Corp. and the three largest cable
television companies in the United States: Tele-Communications Inc., Comcast Corp.
and Cox Communications. A separate entity from Sprint Corp., Sprint PCS provides
the country's first 100 percent digital, wireless telephone service.
The companies saw the Federal Communications Commission's recent auctioning of
the wireless (radio frequency) spectrum as an opportunity to join together and "get
into wireless," says Tom Murphy, director of media relations for Sprint PCS.
The company's communications service incorporates voice mail, caller identification
and other enhanced features. In the future, PCS will also feature short messaging
services, and wireless data communications.
The PCS network kicked off in Fresno, Calif.; Spokane, Wash.; Portland, Ore.;
and Milwaukee, Wis. It will be available to the rest of the 65 initial markets by
mid-1997, including 35 of the top 50 U.S. metro areas. Murphy says Sprint PCS has
recently received licenses to expand coverage to the rest of the country, and will
be operational nationally within 12 to 18 months.
Besides its headquarters in Kansas City, Mo., Sprint PCS has recently leased 35,000
square feet of space from realtor Zimmer Companies at Southlake Technology Park in
nearby Lenexa, Kan. These facilities house Sprint PCS's network operations and control
center, including a redundant underground network operations center and a technology
center "think tank."
Sprint PCS chose the greater Kansas City area for its headquarters and operations
centers because of the city's central location, lower cost of living and strong work
force. Also, thanks to the presence of Sprint Corp., Southwestern Bell and AT&T,
Kansas City has become known to the rest of the country as a telecommunications hub,
and a logical place to set up shop, says Murphy.
High Stakes in High Tech
Local and regional developers, including the Kansas City Area Development Council,
Southwestern Bell and energy companies like Utilicorp, have collaborated in an effort
to lay the groundwork for attracting and retaining high tech projects. By cutting
much of the red tape ahead of time and tailoring incentives to high-tech firms, these
organizations hope to make Kansas City an easy choice for technology-based companies.
Besides the telecommunications giants, Kansas City has been successful in recruiting
and retaining big names in industries that produce or rely on high-end technology.
Some of the biggest business news in Kansas City this past year has centered on
AlliedSignal, whose Commercial Avionics Systems announced plans to bring 1,100 new
jobs to the area with its new world headquarters and manufacturing facility. The
Commercial Avionics Systems division makes electronics and safety systems for airline,
business, government and owner-flown aircraft. The plant will consolidate operations
from its Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., Prescott, Ariz., Redmond, Wash., and nearby Olathe,
Kan., plants.
A final location in the Kansas City metro area has not yet been decided upon.
However, about 500 Commercial Aviation employees, including transfers from the other
plants, have moved into temporary facilities in Lenexa already.
"We hope to find something ASAP, because the consolidation is already underway,"
says spokesperson Ron Crotty. "We're not going to sit on this."
Frontier Roots
While some Kansas City area businesses have their sights set on the electronic
frontier, others are determined not to forget the city's agricultural past.
"This area has been a mecca for animal health and veterinary drugs since
the turn of the century," explains Wes Remington of Phoenix Scientific, a manufacturer
of generic pharmaceuticals for the animal health industry.
And biotechnology is not exactly low-tech.
"This area sometimes struggles too hard to eliminate its agricultural roots,"
says Elaine Osborn, manager of public relations for the Agricultural Division of
Bayer Corp. "The technology in this industry is mind-boggling."
Expansions at Phoenix, Bayer, and at other local animal health product companies
represent continued growth in a field many Kansas City urbanites tend to overlook
as one of the area's critical economic sectors.
Phoenix Scientific, based in St. Joseph, Mo., is the largest generic animal health
drug manufacturer in the states and the only fully independent manufacturer, says
Remington. Its facilities have expanded several times in the past few years as the
world market has opened up to livestock and pet industries. The company is again
expanding its facilities, which house production, warehouse and office operations,
by 45,000 square feet.
In Shawnee, Kan., Bayer's Agricultural Division announced the $45 million expansion
of its Animal Health facility. The new, 86,000 square foot building will house a
portion of the company's manufacturing functions, and is targeted to begin operations
in 1998. The expansion is part of a long-range plan to globalize the production of
Bayer animal health products, and to meet North American Free Trade Agreement market
demands for these products in the United States, Canada and Mexico.
Other important expansions in the animal health industry include Boehringer-Ingelheim's
facilities in St. Joseph, and Fort Dodge Laboratories in Overland Park. Boehringer-Ingelheim
has doubled its employee base to 532 as this manufacturer of animal health pharmaceuticals
works to meet stringent European Union standards and to move into Asian markets.
In 1995, Iowa's Fort Dodge acquired the animal health care operations of Wayne,
N.J.'s American Cyanamid Co., and established its new world headquarters in Overland
Park.
"Year of the Caterpillar"
To compliment the many expansions on the Kansas side of the state line, the cities
and counties "North of the River," including North Kansas City, Platte
County, Clay County, Buchanan County, St. Joseph and the Kansas City International
Airport (KCI) corridor, experienced record growth in 1996.
"We've been calling it the Year of the Caterpillar because of all the bulldozers
and earth-moving equipment that dot the northern landscape," said Barry Hart
of the Platte-Clay Electric Cooperative.
Quick access to the airport and major interstate highways, as well as a large
land mass available and ready for building, are some of the reasons Hart gives for
the interest in development.
This area of Greater Kansas City has experienced a population increase of more
than 21,000 over the past five years. And with substantial commercial and manufacturing
growth, as represented by the new Harley-Davidson plant construction and the recent
Citicorp expansion, companies are starting to notice "Kansas City's best-kept
secret" -- the Northland -- as a good business location.
Citicorp has completed construction of a $13.6 million, 136,000 square foot office
building in the KCI corridor, and Harley-Davidson last year announced plans to build
a 300,000 square foot manufacturing and assembly plant near the airport, bringing
500 new jobs to Kansas City by the year 2003.
It was Harley-Davidson's decision to expand in Kansas City that, in part, convinced
Fargo Assembly of Pennsylvania, Inc., a manufacturer of electrical wiring assemblies,
electrical components and electro-mechanical assemblies, to come to the area as well.
Fargo, which will construct a $2 million, 40,000 square foot plant in nearby Atchison,
Kan., manufactures all the wiring harnesses for Harley's Sportster and Buell models
... precisely the models Harley will manufacture at their new Kansas City facility.
Fargo wanted to expand in the Midwest because much of its customer base, manufacturers
of heavy-duty, on- and off-road trucks, lawn and garden tools, and motorcycles, is
located here. Atchison made perfect sense, not only because of its proximity to the
new Harley plant, but because it is a rural, outer-lying town.
"We've been very successful in having plants in rural areas," explains
Ron Steingrubey, vice president of manufacturing for Fargo. Steingrubey says the
"culture" and "work ethic" of rural employees is hard to find
in larger cities.
"Rural workers have a way of finding ways to make things happen," he
says. "They see problems as obstacles to overcome, not roadblocks."
The air cargo industry at KCI airport certainly faced no roadblocks in 1996, as
the airport witnessed a record year for air cargo, says Michael Webber of the Kansas
City Aviation Department. 1997 promises to break that record, now that Federal Express
has confirmed its plans to build a $10 million, 85,000 square foot regional hub at
KCI, adding 200 new jobs and tripling its current space. The facility will handle
6,000 packages per hour and consolidate air and truck cargo operations.
In North Kansas City, Joseph T. Ryerson and Son, Inc., the nation's largest distributor
of metals and industrial plastics, invested over $4 million in a 32,000 square foot
expansion project to add processing equipment to its distribution facility, bringing
its operation space to 220,000 square feet. The company purchases raw materials from
producing mills and provides industrial clients and major original equipment manufacturers
with just-in-time materials, processed to specification.
Also in North Kansas City, Cook Composites and Polymers (formerly Cook Paint),
manufacturers of industrial cleaners, industrial coatings and composites, and polymer
resins used in a variety of industries and applications, initiated a $5.5 million
renovation of its facilities in 1996.
"North Kansas City has always been a good business location for CCP,"
says vice president of human resources, Dennis Hercules. "We have a good relationship
with the community, and since parts of the original Cook Paint headquarters were
here, it made sense logistically to continue our expansions here."
Further up 1-29 in St. Joseph, Altec Industries, Inc. announced plans for expansion
of its facilities, where it manufactures aerial lift devices for various utility
companies. Thanks to a grant by the Buchanan County Economic Development Commission,
which provided a $50,000 forgivable loan to Altec, the company will construct a 9,500
square foot product development center to house design engineers and technical staff,
and a 6,580 square foot expansion of an existing building for Altec's "final
assembly" activities.
Being Near the Airport Is a Big Draw
Kansas City's central location, and the fact that KCI is not a hub for any major
commercial passenger airline, keeps travel prices low and flights to either coast
short.
That's just one of the benefits Transamerica Life Companies, which moved its employee
administrative operations from Los Angeles in 1993, and its long-term care insurance
and the life insurance division's traditional annuity operations here in 1996, has
enjoyed.
The company, which now employs about 460 people in Kansas City, sees other benefits
of being in the middle of the country, as well, according to Mary Dinkel, vice president
of sales and marketing for long-term care insurance.
For instance, the time required for mailing materials to customers across the
country-- which from L.A. could take six days to reach the East Coast-- now takes
an average of three days to either coast. Many employees who once lived in expensive
L.A. apartments can now afford homes of their own.
And as for the bottom line, Transamerica has saved about $10 million a year in
business costs since its administrative operations moved here.
Kansas City Contacts
CASS COUNTY
ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
Steve Castaner, P.O. Box 1052, Raymore, MO 64083, (816) 331-0488
CITY OF NORTH KANSAS CITY
Jeff Samborski, 2010 Howell St., North Kansas City, MO 64116, (816) 274-6040
JACKSON COUNTY EDC
Mary Brown, 200 South Main St., Independence, MO 64050, (816) 881-4440
JOHNSON COUNTY PARTNERSHIP
Bruce Fountain, Olathe Area Chamber, P.O. Box 98, Olathe, KS 66051,
(913) 764-1050
KANSAS BOARD
OF PUBLIC UTILITIES
George Powell, 700 Minnesota Ave., Kansas City, KS 66101, (913) 573-915
KANSAS CITY AREA
DEVELOPMENT COUNCIL
Steve Johnson, 2600 Commerce Tower, 911 Main St., Kansas City, MO 64105, (816)
221-2121, or (800) SMART KC
LAWRENCE CHAMBER
OF COMMERCE
Debi Moore, P.O. Box 586, Lawrence, KS 66044, (913) 865-4425
NEW CENTURY AIR CENTER
Lee Metcalfe, AAE, One New Century Pkwy., New Century, KS 66031,
(913) 782-5338
PLATTE COUNTY EDC
Pete Fullerton, 7505 NW Tiffany Springs Pkwy, Suite 210, Kansas City, MO 64153,
(816) 891-8770
SOUTHWESTERN BELL
Brent Larson, 500 E. 8th St., Room 1344, Kansas City, MO 64106, (816) 275-1464
ST. JOSEPH CHAMBER
OF COMMERCE
Kevin Pearson, 3003 Frederick Ave., St. Joseph, MO 64506, (816) 232-4461
UTILICORP UNITED
Greg Foss, 10750 East 350 Hwy., P.O. Box 11739, Kansas City, MO 64138, (816) 467-3749
ZIMMER DEVELOPMENT
Mike Van Buskirk, 1220 Washington, Suite 200, Kansas City, MO 64105,
(816) 221-2000
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