Other Manufacturing

Drum Country has a strong and growing manufacturing base - in fact, manufacturing comprises 6.6 percent of Drum Country’s industry, compared with only 5.7 percent average for New York State.

Geography and Location:

Major Market Access Means Major Benefits

Located in North Central New York State and about 70 miles north of Syracuse, Drum Country is bordered to the west by Lake Ontario, to the north by the St. Lawrence River and to the east by the majestic Adirondack Mountains. Connected by national and international air, rail and highway systems as well as the Port of Ogdensburg on the St. Lawrence River, Drum Country has the infrastructure to help your business succeed.

With today’s higher energy costs, Drum Country’s competitive electric, water and natural gas costs and capacity alone make a compelling case for the region. A Drum Country location strategically positions you within a day’s drive of New York, New Jersey, Boston, Toronto and Montreal.

Water and Wastewater:

Grow with the Flow

The Development Authority of the North Country (DANC) provides water and wastewater service to Fort Drum and water to Western Jefferson County while providing contract operations and maintenance services to municipalities in Drum Country. In eastern Jefferson County, the principal source of water and wastewater services is the City of Watertown Municipal System. The City’s Water Plant is rated at 15 million gallons per day--the kind of capacity favorable to manufacturing companies.

In St. Lawrence County, surface water supplies are readily available and ground water supplies also sufficiently accommodate the needs of municipal systems, private systems and industry. There are 22 municipal wastewater treatment facilities in St. Lawrence County.

Lewis County also offers excess waste water capacity in Lowville and an abundant supply of water for expansion in most communities.

Business Incentives: Helping Manufacturers Profit

Whether you are a start up or expanding business, Drum Country can help you access the following types of incentives:

• Workforce training programs
• Real property tax and investment incentives
• Energy and power discount programs
• Grants and low interest loan programs

Electricity:

Reliable, Safe Power

National Grid delivers electricity to most of Drum Country, and customers can purchase electricity commodity through third party marketers or brokers.

The New York Power Authority, the largest state public power utility in the US, is a not-for-profit, public benefit authority that produces some of North America’s least expensive electricity. It also operates a transmission system to public and private customers.

The Massena Electric Department is a not-for profit electric utility owned by the Town of Massena. Their service reliability is ranked among the highest nationally by leading indicators and electricity rates for businesses and residents are in the lowest 10% nationally.

Telecommunications: Connectivity with Reliability

The Open Access Telecom Network (OATN), completed in 2003, is a carrier-class telecommunications network serving Drum Country and connecting the region to co-location facilities in Syracuse. The OATN is comprised of about 750 miles of fiber optic cable and 14 central offices which contain the electrical and optical equipment that power the network. System characteristics include:

• Carrier class network reliability
• TDM based DS1, DS3 and OC-X
• 10 Mbps, 100 Mbps and Gigabit Ethernet connection speeds, as well as virtual local area networks
• 24x7 network monitoring and support
• Redundant connectivity
• Point-to-point or ring configurations
• Fast provisioning

The OATN is managed by the Development Authority of the North Country.

Major carriers including Verizon and TimeWarner Cable also have fiber optic networks throughout Drum Country. Several wireless broadband providers offer services to more remote areas of the region; to view a list of all providers click here.

Representative Manufacturing Employers
Company	Description	Employees
Alcoa	Manufactures aluminum	1,367
Car-Freshner Group	Manufactures air fresheners	300
New York Air Brake	Manufactures braking systems for rail cars	300
LCO Destiny	Manufactures picture frames	220
Fibermark	Manufactures specialty fiber-based materials	190
Climax Manufacturing	Manufactures coated paper products	190
Corning, Inc.	Manufactures specialty glass and ceramics	145
Otis Technology	Manufactures gun cleaning kits	140
Interface Solutions	Manufactures gasket sealing systems	110
Source: Drum Country 2010