Manufacturing is alive and well in SGV

Pasadena Star News
By: Cynthia Kurtz
Posted: 9/24/2014

Friday, October 3, 2014 is National Manufacturing Day. You might think that this isn't particularly important to California. There is a perception that manufacturing has left California and the San Gabriel Valley.

Off-shore production, strict environmental regulations, and automation have taken a toll on the number of manufacturing jobs. But these good paying positions are far from gone. The SGV can still boast of 58,900 jobs in manufacturing having added over 700 new jobs in 2013.

There are significant shifts in the types of manufacturers that choose to locate here. Based largely on our incredible research and educational institutions, Southern California and the SGV are enjoying a resurgence in aerospace and bio-science manufacturing.

A great example of these emerging new companies is Prolacta Bioscience. Founded in 1999, Prolacta screens, collects, tests, pasteurizes and fortifies lifesaving products for use in neonatal intensive care units. 

As demand increased the company outgrew its first home - a 10,000 square foot facility in Monrovia. In 2013 the company moved to a new $18 million 67,000 sq. foot pharmaceutical grade processing plant in the City of Industry.

According to the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention, 1 in 8 babies in the United States are born prematurely. These fragile infants - often weighing between 1 and 2 pounds - face a variety of risks with many related to feeding and getting enough nutrition.

Ample evidence exists to show that a mother's own milk reduces the risk of illness in her infant but mother's milk may not be available or may not contain enough calories for premature infants. Milk and concentrations made with cow or other animal milks can cause other complications.

The answer was to develop products that could be used when a mother had insufficient milk or when there was a need to boost the nutritional intake of human milk for premature babies.

Prolacta Bioscience has created specialty formulations specifically for the needs of premature infants. The City of Industry facility is the first large scale human milk processing facility in the world and Prolacta is the only company to offer products made with 100% human milk.

Healthcare experts have praised the company for its innovative products. Studies show that premature babies who are fed a 100% human milk diet have a better chance of survival and a better quality of life.

The company intends to grow here. Scott Elster, Prolacta's Chief Executive Officer said, "The opening of this (City of Industry) facility means that Prolacta can meet the nutritional needs of every extremely premature born infant in the country."

So make your plans for National Manufacturing Day. We definitely have something to celebrate.

Foothill Transit, an environmental leader

Pasadena Star News

By: Cynthia Kurtz

Posted: 9/17/2014 

Keeping the San Gabriel Valley healthy and protecting the environment are important to residents and businesses alike. The region has seen much improvement in recent years. The air is cleaner and the mountains are no longer hidden in gray "haze". 

One company in particular stands out as a leader in environmental stewardship - Foothill Transit.

Since 1988 Foothill Transit has been transporting people around the San Gabriel Valley. It all began when the Los Angeles County transit system announced that it would cut service and raise fares. Knowing these changes would hurt the San Gabriel Valley, a group of cities formed a joint powers authority and assumed 14 lines of service that had previously been provided by the county-wide transportation authority.

Twenty-six years later, Foothill operates 331 buses on 33 fixed-routes, covers 327 square miles, and serves 14 million customers per year. 

In addition to providing on-time, quality transit service, Foothill Transit is committed to environmental protection and sustainability. In 2002, the agency began its conversion to a compressed natural gas or CNG fleet. Since then, Foothill has put 316 CNG buses into service and retired its diesel fleet in December 2013.

In 2011 the agency became the first transit agency in the United States to embrace zero-emission bus technology by purchasing the first of its kind all-electric Ecoliner. The Ecoliner is the first electric bus to utilize in-route fast charging capability. Everything on the bus including the air conditioning is powered by electricity.

The Ecoliner incorporates elements borrowed from Formula-1 race cars and naval and tank technologies designed to reduce vehicle weight without compromising safety. 

Using the rapid charger located on its roof, the Ecoliner can dock at charger stations along its route and recharge from 20% to 90% in less than 10 minutes. The rapid charge technology allows the Ecoliner to remain in service throughout the day.

And Foothill Transit was the first California transit agency to order the next generation of electric buses called the Proterra Solution.

It's not just their green fleet and the automobiles that are being supplanted from our roads that make Foothill Transit "green".

In 2012 Foothill even began producing its own green power with solar panels on the roofs of the Arcadia and Pomona Operation and Maintenance Yards. The combined facilities generate over 420,000 kilowatt hours of energy, thereby reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 218 tons per year.

Day after day Foothill Transit continues to make the San Gabriel Valley a better place to live and grow a business.

Cal Poly Pomona fuels local economy

Pasadena Star News

By: Cynthia Kurtz

Posted: 9/10/2014 

Nothing impacts a region’s economy more than the quality of the educational systems that can satisfy a region’s need for workers, interns and researchers. When it comes to education, the San Gabriel Valley has an abundance of riches.

One example is the California State Polytechnic University at Pomona better known as Cal Poly Pomona.

This year Cal Poly is celebrating its 75th Anniversary. The University began as an all-male school on the winter ranch home of cereal entrepreneur W. K. Kellogg. 

Today the 1,438 acre campus is home to a diverse population of 22,000 students who enjoy the benefits of a historic campus, top ranked academic programs, and endless opportunities for involvement in extra-curricular activities.

To give you an idea about what an important and effective educational institution Cal Poly has become for the San Gabriel Valley and California, a few facts:

One out of every 15 engineers in California is a Cal Poly Pomona graduate.

One out of every five architects who pass the California Architects License Exam is a Cal Poly Pomona graduate.

When ranked by the salary potential of it graduates, Cal Poly Pomona ranks 13th among the nation’s universities according to PayScale, a global compensation data leader. The median starting salary of a Cal Poly alumnus is $48,500 and by mid-career that median salary climbs to $93,000.

Cal Poly Pomona’s annual spending generates a total impact of $319 million for our regional economy and contributes nearly $916.5 million to the state’s economy.

Leading this prestigious university since 2003 has been President Michael Ortiz.  President Ortiz is a lifelong educator whose expertise and commitment have launched the university into a new era and generated a multitude of achievements. These include being named:

1.    One of the best universities in the west by U.S. News and World Report in 2014,

2.      One of the 2014 best values in higher education in the United States by Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine; and,

3.      One of the top 100 green campuses in the United States by the Sierra Club.

Under President Ortiz’s leadership the university increased graduation rates, constructed a new College of Business Administration and a Veterans Resource Center, renovated an expanded University library, and secured the largest cash gift awarded within the CSU system - a $42 million donation from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation.

President Ortiz recently announced his retirement. That is Cal Poly Pomona’s loss and the San Gabriel Valley’s loss. The San Gabriel Valley is a better place to live and work because of President Ortiz’s accomplishments at Cal Poly Pomona.

Heat, fires, drought stress SoCal power grid

Pasadena Star News

By: Cynthia Kurtz

Posted: 9/03/2014 

Above average heat, wildfires, and no rain have put extreme pressure on the reliability of the California power grid that moves electricity around the state. That was the message from Dr. Robert Weisenmiller, Chair of the California State Energy Commission, when he addressed a room of San Gabriel Valley business and education leaders a few weeks ago.

The California Energy Commission was created in 1974 to oversee state energy policy and planning. Dr. Robert Weisenmiller was appointed in 2010. Four of the five-member Energy Commission appointees are required by law to have specific professional training and Dr. Weisenmeiller fills the Engineer & Scientist position.

His 30-years of energy experience in electricity, gas markets and California regulatory markets is well suited to the issues the Commission is addressing this year.

It has been a hot summer. Temperatures are higher - 5.7 degrees above average in Southern California. That means more air conditioning and electric power usage. Overall the state has sufficient electric power and a 20 percent reserve. However, power isn’t generated where the demand is located and moving it around isn’t as easy as you may think.

In a typical year California has around 3,150 wildfires. According to the California Office of Emergency Services, as of August the state had already experienced 4,132 wildfires burning over 80,000 acres. And “wildfire season” is just beginning. In the past California could expect to have a “big” fire once a decade. There have been eight in the last 4 1/2 years.

Wildfires have major impacts on the power grid. First, they effect the Commission’s decisions about siting power facilities. Avoiding all the potential wildfire areas isn’t possible with 37 million acres of California at risk and 17 million acres at high risk. Wildfires also effect the movement of power around the state. When a fire interrupts a portion of the transmission system, the Commission has to re-route power around the fire area. Building this type of redundancy into the system is difficult.

Less water means less hydropower. Natural gas and out-of-state hydropower power are making up the difference but at a higher cost. Businesses and residents can expect to see those increased costs materialize in higher electric bills next year.

Not all the challenges are from nature. Some are also man-made. The closure of the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) reduced power generation by 2,100 megawatts (MW) - almost three times the output of a standard 750 MW fossil fuel fired facility. Equally important was the location of SONGS. The transmission system was built based on the assumption that an operating plant would be there. 

A three to four day heat wave, higher demand in the western U.S., an outage at a strategically located plant, or fire damaging the grid could result in unplanned outages before the end of the year. But the biggest threat is one more year of drought. Then, Dr. Weisenmiller says, “All bets are off.”

Businesses and residents alike need to plan accordingly. Conserve energy whenever possible and if the state calls for a flex alert - be ready to reduce power dramatically.