Faculty Emeritus Senate Testimony Outlines Ohio Manufacturing Successes

Published Date May 22, 2026
News Type College News

At his testimony before the U.S. Senate committee, Faculty Emeritus Ned Hill, second from left, was joined by Glenn College Washington Academic Internship Program students (from left) Tyler Zachry, political science; Sharika Thaploo, international relations and diplomacy; and Sarika Soni, public policy analysis.

Faculty Emeritus Ned Hill testified May 13 in a panel before the U.S. Senate’s Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship hearing, “America 250: Industrialization and the Rise of Small Manufacturers.” 

The economic development expert outlined the role of manufacturing in the nation’s economic development and national policies that supported manufacturing throughout history.

“Ohio is not a manufacturing, farm, or service state,” said Hill, who testified with a panel of other experts from West Virginia and Kentucky. “Instead, Ohio is a portfolio state that competes globally, with goods and services produced across eight regional labor markets and numerous rural communities.”

Top of Mind: Ned Hill

Learn more about Faculty Emeritus Ned Hill’s expertise in economic development and resilience and his role in improving manufacturing policy in Ohio.

He noted President George Washington’s first policy proposal to Congress was to build American industry, leading to the establishment of federal armories. British forces burning of the Capitol and White House in 1814 ignited a 40-year commitment to manufacturing rifles with interchangeable parts, shifting defense policy into industrial policy that was systemized and adapted to the manufacture of other projects.

He noted one statistic particularly relevant to the committee’s purpose: 88 percent of Ohio's 13,307 manufacturing establishments employ fewer than 100 workers. 

“These establishments populate main streets and business parks and sustain rural counties,” he said.

Hill told the committee about Ohio entrepreneurs who are building companies to join the next manufacturing wave:

  • RoadPrintz, headquartered in Cleveland, builds operator-driven, truck-mounted robotic road-marking systems and has paying customers ranging from Missouri’s Department of Transportation to the city of Houston. Its founding and early growth were supported by the National Science Foundation’s Small Business Innovation Research grants.
  • Youngstown’s M-7 Technologies operates one of the world’s largest 3D printers and produces parts with micron-level tolerances for aerospace and defense.

“These companies represent what the next wave of manufacturing looks like: digitally connected production systems that solve problems that matter to American industry and American workers,” Hill said. “RoadPrintz’s product is a digital production system, while M-7 uses one. Both are Ohio-born — a century apart.”

For the testimony, Hill drew on research for an upcoming book he and colleagues are writing on Ohio’s manufacturing economic history and on his experience working with manufacturers through the Ohio Manufacturers’ Association.

Hill has partnered with the Ohio Manufacturers’ Association for more than 25 years, beginning with a 2001 examination of the importance of productivity and tax policy to Ohio’s manufacturing base. He has worked with the OMA and its committees on workforce, energy, manufacturing and economic development policies.

“These companies exist in part because federal investment — through NSF SBIR grants, the Manufacturing Extension Partnership and America Makes — provided the patient capital, technical assistance and professional networks that early-stage private capital would not,” Hill testified. “The federal government shaped Ohio's industrial evolution; entrepreneurs and engineers built the competitive economy. Their descendants are forging the next one.”

Visit the U.S. Senate’s Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship hearing page to read Hill’s full written testimony and watch his oral testimony in the recording beginning at the 00:30:20 mark.