Private/public partnerships have been all the rage in economic development circles for decades. Nearly every locale points to the cooperation between business and civic leaders in their community as a great reason for a company to locate and grow there.

Public/private relationships exist in some format in many places; it’s much rarer to find those cities where it’s actually working ¾ with real-life businesses making real business decisions.

While companies of all industries succeed with regularity in Texas, firms in three particular industries ¾ plastics, biotechnology and automotive ¾ have especially compelling stories to tell.

One example exists in eastern Texas, where Eastman Chemical is actively seeking business partners at its vast acreage near Longview. Eastman Chemical, headquartered in Tennessee, has been part of the Texas business landscape for more than 50 years, first as a part of Kodak, and now as its own chemical and plastics entity.

Eastman manufactures more than 60 chemicals and plastics at the site, with a work force of 1,700 churning out 3.6 billion pounds of product in a year.

“Over a year ago, we realized we had quite a cluster of companies here,” said Mike Childress, manager of communications and public affairs for Eastman Chemical. “We had companies like Hunstman, AEP, Air Liquide and others, and we thought that we should start thinking about the clustering of companies.

“So, we started aggressively promoting this site to ED people and contractors,” he added. “We’ve had state representatives and U.S. congressmen in here. We’re really trying to attract other businesses that make sense to us ¾ businesses that dovetail with our interests and have a business plan that fit in with our goals.”

Taking Advantage of Resources

The situation at Eastman Chemical draws on the strengths of the organizations in the area, according to Childress.

“It’s really a marriage of good elements — its [Longview EDC] business sense and our experience in the community,” he said. “LEDCO understands that we’re [concentrating] on a narrow focus of business partners, and we offer a lot to a company that fits into those parameters.”

There are different types of land available on the more than 6,000 acres under Eastman Chemical control. “Greyfield” sites are those where businesses have already existed.

“There may even still be a building there,” Childress said. “But the real advantage is that all of the services are already in place there ¾ electricity, wastewater, you name it, it’s already there.”

Traditional greenfield sites are also readily available if a company is interested, Childress said.

And while land is certainly important, it isn’t the only resource for companies looking to grow at the site.

“We have nearly 20 folks here on our staff working full-time on permitting with the state of Texas and the Environmental Protection Agency,” Childress said. “We know that process in and out. We can offer environmental, permitting, engineering services, a wide array of services beyond the making of products.”

Longevity in Longview

While Eastman Chemical is looking to form partnerships into the future, the company has a rich history in Texas. The company has done business in Texas for 50 years. In that time the company has found what it needed in the state to prosper and change with the times.

Eastman has a state-of-the-art training facility on its campus, and the company has also developed training programs in conjunction with some of the area educational institutions.

“We partner with Texas State Technical College in Marshall in the training of chemical operators and mechanics,” Childress said. “As a matter of fact, one of our retirees teaches a chemical out-rigging class. All of the community colleges in the area, along with the University of Texas at Tyler, do a good job of turning out people with the skills we need.”

Long-term success for plastics companies in Texas isn’t unique to Longview. In Wharton, Nan Ya Plastics recently marked 20 years in business. Nan Ya, based in Taiwan, provides technology for customers in the manufacture of PVC film. The plastic from Nan Ya is used in artificial Christmas trees, credit cards, videocassette box liners and other packaging material.

Orange Plastics Gets Green in Abilene

Later this fall, Orange Plastics, a maker of polyethylene packaging products, will open a manufacturing facility in Abilene. The company expects to create 239 full-time jobs during the next three years.

“The Abilene location will allow Orange to expand its customer base and add new markets,” said Salim Bana, president of the company. “Abilene’s central location for product distribution and receipt of inventory supplies made Abilene a major contender. In the end, Abilene was chosen because of the speculative building, which could be finished out to meet our needs in a reasonable time frame.”

The Development Corporation of Abilene constructed the speculative building in 2001. The 100,000 square foot facility is located in the Five Points Business Park.

Biotech Thrives on Partnerships

The commitment to partnership in Texas isn’t limited to the plastics industry. The biotech industry in Texas is one gigantic story of partnerships.

In 1997, BioCrest/Stratagene was just another start-up technology company. Back then, the company built a 30,000 square foot facility to house it office and laboratory operations to make products for research labs, universities, medical researchers and others.

At the time, Joe Sorge, president and CEO of BioCrest/Stratagene, said, “We’re looking forward to becoming a part of the greater Austin community. The combination of reasonable land and development costs, a favorable incentive package and a thriving region with nice people made Bastrop County an obvious choice.”

Fast-forward to 2003, and 130 people now work in the Bastrop County facility.

BioCrest/Stratagene is one of just many biotech companies in the Austin/Bastrop County area. The M.D. Anderson Cancer Research Center and its more than 300 employees are in Bastrop, and the University of Texas Veterinary Science Park ¾ where cancer research is ongoing ¾ is located nearby.

In 1997, BioCrest/Stratagene received an incentive package that included tax abatements and a Freeport exemption. The Bastrop Economic Development Corp. also issued $9.1 million in tax-free industrial revenue bonds for the project.

Some of the same incentives, as well as others, are still offered today in Bastrop County on a project-by-project basis. Criteria include the number and quality of jobs and the amount of investment into the community.

The access to the work force from the University of Texas played a big role in the five-year success of another start-up company. In 1998, Matt Winkler, a UT professor, sought to develop better tools for conducting molecular biology experiments. The result was a company called Ambion. Today, Ambion provides a range of products used in RNA analysis.

“Ambion has a close relationship with the University of Texas and has access to the active biotechnology centers in Houston, Dallas and San Antonio,” said Rigo Vallejo, vice president of finance and operations for Ambion. “The lifestyle Austin offers is well-known to most people we recruit. However, when it’s not, we get a thrill out of seeing their surprise that Austin, with its natural beauty, is unlike any mental image they had of Texas.”

In addition to its close proximity to the skilled and educated work force at the University of Texas, the Austin area offers some other advantages for biotech companies. More than 85 biotech companies are located within the city.

Prospective companies that locate in the 263-acre business and industrial park in Bastrop can receive free land, depending upon the number and types of jobs created.

The park features concrete roads and underground utilities. The park is located in an enterprise zone, and companies are eligible for benefits, including:

· Reduction in franchise taxes;

· Job training credits;

· Double Freeport exemption;

· Tax abatements.

To the west, in Lubbock, an effort is underway to strengthen the growing biotech industry. The Lubbock Regional Bioscience Initiative (LRBI) is made up of volunteers from the Lubbock business community and MarketLubbock, the economic development organization of the city of Lubbock.

The aim of the LRBI is to provide resources to smaller companies just getting started, and to provide networking opportunities for researchers, entrepreneurs, venture capitalists and others.

One company already in Lubbock is Bayer Crop Science. The company researched and developed FiberMax, a strain of cotton that accounted for 11 percent of the cottonseed market last year.

The Lubbock area offers a number of research institutions to foster biotech growth. Texas Tech University, with its Health Sciences Center, School of Medicine and the University Medical Center, provides the health sciences with a host of resources. The Institute of Environmental and Human Health, a joint venture between Texas Tech University and the Health Sciences Center, conducts studies to assess toxic chemical impacts and environmental contamination.

For companies interested in agriculture, there is the U.S. Agriculture Department’s Plant Stress and Water Conservation Laboratory. The facility conducts testing on the genetic makeup of plants.

The internationally respected Texas A&M Agricultural Experimentation Station is also in Lubbock. Research on agriculture, environmental protection, food and fiber systems is conducted at the site.

This fall, Lubbock will host a group of scientists and businesspeople from Poland. Lubbock was one of only four cities in the United States selected for a stop by the international visitors.

Toyota to Open Massive Facility in San Antonio

Foreign biotech companies aren’t the only international firms coming to Texas. In February, Toyota Motor Corp. announced that it would open a new manufacturing plant on a 2,000-acre site in San Antonio in 2006.

Toyota will make 150,000 Tundra trucks per year at the site. The company will employ 2,000 people in the new plant, which is being built at a cost of $800 million.

“Besides being a great place to live and work, San Antonio is a city of the future,” said Fujio Cho, global president of Toyota. “Located in an important corridor for North American trade, it will undoubtedly serve as a vital link tomorrow for businesses all around the world.”

San Antonio’s location played a role in Toyota’s decision. Many of Toyota’s suppliers have operations in nearby Mexico, and many of those suppliers will undoubtedly provide parts for the new Toyota facility.

“Mexico is viewed in a very positive way by the industry,” David Cole, president of the Center for Automotive Research in Ann Arbor, Mich., told The Dallas Morning News. “It has proved to be a very good place to make products that can be sold anywhere.”

But location wasn’t the only factor in Toyota’s decision. The company did receive job training funds and utility infrastructure as part of the deal. The state dipped into the Texas Smart Jobs Fund to provide a 7-mile railroad spur from the new facility to a rail line.

“The rail district was critical,” Dennis Cuneo, senior vice president for Toyota North America, told The Morning News. “We probably couldn’t have come here otherwise.”

Lance Yoder is a freelance business writer from Greenwood, Mo.