Aviation Parts Cluster—Built By Entrepreneurs

“We’ve got a dozen aviation parts manufacturers here in Sumner County,” Debra Teufel Director of Economic Development told me on my tour of Wellington, KS (population 8,647) earlier this week. The largest of these is BAE Systems, a company that started in Wellington 50 years ago but is now owned out of Great Britain. BAE has 320 out of the 867 manufacturing jobs in the county, most of which are in the aviation cluster. These manufacturing jobs represent 15% of the workforce, but pay over 40% better than the county average.

The airplane parts cluster is an interesting one. It is high tech, high paying and specialized, all factors you would choose if you had your choice as an economic developer. A negative is its dependence upon Wichita, 35 miles to the north. More on my concerns of Wichita in a day or two.

Most of these aviation related companies started up in Sumner County out of local machine shops. There have been some tremendous success stories like Bill Meridith who eventually sold out for almost $100 million and is pouring funds into a new private Christian school in Wellington. He also donated the land for the new high school. Many of these entrepreneurs were born and raised in Argonia (population 534), 20 miles to the west. I hope to return to find out why.

The county bills itself as the “Wheat Capital of the World” because of all of the hard red winter wheat grown there and I was given a license plate that proclaims that fact by Shelley Hansel, Executive Director of the Wellington Area Chamber. Unfortunately, the only flour mill left in the county is going to be closed at the end of the month by Cargill.

Another major employer in the community is the BN train yard where crews are changed on the mainline from LA to Chicago. There are a couple of hundred engineers and conductors who base out of Wellington. When we drove by the yard we saw license plates from as far away as Texas. The problem is that the bulk of the workers are riding trains and don’t live in the community.

When they told me that the UP RR crossed the BN in town, I saw the potential for a shortline railroad like we were able to do in Effingham. Such a combination of the BN/UP would be far superior to our CN/CSX one. I hope that they can do something to capitalize upon their unique railroad location.

Wellington is an interesting community with some tremendous potential. They’ve got some unique assets and a great location but they have to continue moving forward as a community. When you have assets like their aviation parts cluster and proximity to Wichita, there sometimes is a tendency to become complacent. I hope that Wellington doesn’t fall into that trap.