BUSINESS

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A-to-Z Guide to Greater Cincinnati:
"Best Place to Live in North America"

P&G shares roots with other leaders

Everything from automotive parts to industrial uniforms are made by companies that call Cincinnati home.

Though best known as the home of world consumer products giant Procter & Gamble Co., the Tristate's diversified economy hosts companies making products from cradle (Hasbro's US Toy Group in Cincinnati) to grave (Batesville Casket in Batesville, Ind.).

Cincinnati's presence in the auto industry includes two Ford Motor Co. transmission plants, as well as numerous auto parts suppliers. Cintas Corp., in Mason is one of the largest suppliers of business uniforms, outfitting more than 1.6 million workers each day.

As home for nearly 50 publicly traded companies, including half a dozen members of the Fortune 500, Cincinnati's list of corporate citizens ranges from such old-line manufacturers as Eagle-Picher Industries, which traces its roots to 1843, to up-and-coming high-tech concerns like Cintech Tele-Management Systems, a Norwood developer of telephone-management software.

Although the glory days of river and rail traffic have waned, transportation is still a key driver of Cincinnati's economy. Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport is home to Delta Air Lines' second-largest domestic hub and a major cargo center for DHL Worldwide Express. In nearby Wilmington, Ohio, cargo carrier Airborne Express runs planes out its hub.

The airport also has spurred Cincinnati's reputation as a regional corporate center. A list that includes: ResourceNet International in Covington, the paper distributing arm of International Paper Co.; International Paper's packaging technology center in Loveland; and Fidelity Investments, Citicorp, and Heinz Pet Products and Star-Kist Foods in Northern Kentucky.

Besides P&G, which makes one of its oldest products, Ivory soap, and its newest, olestra - the fat substitute - a number of industry leaders operate here:

• Toyota Motor Corp. is establishing the headquarters of its growing North American manufacturing operations near the Cincinnati airport.

• Chiquita Brands is the world's largest distributor of bananas.

• Kroger Co. is the nation's largest grocery chain, with 1,331 supermarkets and 825 convenience stores in 24 states.

• Federated Department Stores is one of the nation's largest department stores chains, including well-known R.H. Macy and upscale Bloomingdale's.

• GE Aircraft Engines, a unit of General Electric Co. and one of the world's largest jet engine makers, is based in Evendale.

• Cincinnati Milacron, founded as Cincinnati Milling Machine, is one of the largest makers of plastics making machinery and industrial consumable products.

• AK Steel Co., in Middletown, formerly Armco Steel, is the nation's sixth-largest integrated steel maker and the industry's most profitable over the last year.

• U.S. Playing Cards in Norwood commands a 65 percent market share of the playing card industry, selling about 100 million decks each year. Its vintage brands include Bee, Bicycle and Aviator playing cards.

• When Jacor Communications completes two pending acquisitions, it will own more radio stations than any other company.

Did you know?

• The corrugated metal ash can was patented in 1899 by George Witt, founder of Cincinnati's Witt Co.

• The first daytime radio drama, The Puddle Family, was created by Procter & Gamble in Cincinnati in 1932. P&G's The Guiding Light, created in 1937 on radio, is the longest-running program in broadcasting.

• The Cincinnati Enquirer, founded in 1841, has published a Sunday edition longer than any other newspaper in the world.

• The first reinforced steel skyscraper was the 15-story Ingalls building at Fourth and Vine streets in 1902.

• The world's most powerful jet engine, the GE90, which produced takeoff thrust of 110,000 pounds, was developed in Evendale by GE Aircraft Engines.