Major Industries

The Radius region is home to many businesses. These eight counties are full of diverse work opportunities, from defense hub NSA Crane, to locally owned boutiques. Four key industries are responsible for a majority of the jobs in the region and we work closely to keep them growing and thriving.

Advanced Manufacturing

Southern Indiana possesses a rich history of manufacturing progress, rooted and grounded in Midwestern values of people who embrace integrity, hard work, and opportunity. For decades, manufacturing has represented a secure mainstay of the Southern Indiana economy, with a long proud history and a bright future as a center for specialized manufacturing. With its diversity of industry clusters, positive business climate, and incredible quality of life, this region possesses the assets to bolster the relocation success of manufacturing companies.

By The Numbers:

  • 19,317 regional workers are employed in the manufacturing industry
  • An average of 231 employees are added per year over the past three years.
  • The Radius region’s location quotient for Manufacturing Occupations is 2.63

Defense

The Radius Indiana region is home to Naval Support Activity Crane. NSA Crane is the world’s third-largest naval installation, making defense a huge economic driver for Southern Indiana. With more than 6,000 employees, Crane brings together over 3,000 STEM workers, 1,000 engineers, and dozens of PhDs in a federal research lab setting. Radius Indiana serves as a voice for Crane outside the gates and assists with growing the private defense sector and connecting Crane with community, regional, and state leadership. Through Crane, defense industry companies can connect directly with decision-makers.

 

Major Tenants Included at Crane:

Crane Army Ammunition Activity

Established October 1977, Crane Army Ammunition Activity maintains ordnance professionals and infrastructure in order to receive, store, ship, produce, renovate and demilitarize conventional ammunition, missiles and related components. Crane Army maintains up to one third of the DoD’s conventional ammunition inventory.

Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division

NSWC Crane’s total focus is to support the Warfighter by leveraging its technical capabilities for the rapidly changing combat environment. NSWC Crane’s personnel and preeminent facilities set the standard for excellence in acquisition, engineering and sustainment.  NSWC Crane provides comprehensive support for complex military systems spanning design, development, deployment and sustainment in three focus areas:  Electronic Warfare, Strategic Missions and Expeditionary Warfare.

 

Defense Support:

The Battery Innovation Center (BIC) is a nationally recognized center of excellence designed to incorporate leadership from renowned universities, government agencies, and commercial enterprises to focus on the rapid development, testing, and commercialization of safe, reliable, and lightweight energy storage systems for defense and commercial customers.

WestGate@Crane Technology Park is adjacent to NSWC Crane and partners with a variety of organizations and businesses such as local and state economic development corporations, NSWC-Crane Division, Indiana Office of Defense Development, and WorkOne. The Uplands Science & Technology Foundation provides management and sale of land in the park. Real estate and office space are available at the tech park, as well as EastGate Technology & Business Center (Bedford, IN), offering ideal locations for businesses to grow and thrive.

The recognition of NSWC Crane’s leadership in Microelectronics is creating a growing cluster of microelectronics firms that are bringing $100s of millions in new advanced equipment investment and hundreds of highly skilled jobs to the region.

Companies investing in microelectronics:

Agribusiness

Radius Indiana’s agricultural sector is a state leader in poultry production and grain processing. With abundant farmland and sites for commercial development, our region has a well-established agriculture infrastructure that enables companies to set up operations and get products to market quickly.

Indiana’s top commodities include corn, soybeans, hogs, and poultry, and the state ranks as one of the top ten in the nation for agricultural production.

The Radius region is home to food processors in the fields of turkey production, processed egg products, corn byproducts from wet milling (including alcohol for human consumption), as well as local specialties such as maple syrup and persimmon pulp production.

 

 

Tourism

Tourism is the region’s fifth-largest economic driver, with over $345M in total tourism spending in the Radius Region, according to Rockport Analytics 2021 data.

Tourism spending saw nearly a 10 percent increase from the Rockport Analytics Report in 2019. The tourism industry in the Radius region fully recovered from the effects of the pandemic, having surpassed 2019 visitor expenditures in every category.

Southern Indiana tourism supported 4,228 jobs. Of those, 3,511 were directly employed in a tourism-related job.

The Discover Southern Indiana regional tourism marketing brand is expanding the market for Southern Indiana attractions with new outreach to major Midwestern markets.

 

 

Data Update: Rockport Analytics has released the 2018 Rockport Report Data. The tourism economy continues to grow in the Radius Indiana region. Visitor spending in 2018 increased by $10.9 million from the previous year. Total visitor spending in 2019 had an economic impact of $157.4 million to the region.