Table 21. Number of manufacturing establishments in each county in 1970 and 

 1978 (Florida Department of Commerce 1980). 



Number of establishments Numerical change 



County 1970 1978 1970-78 



Bay 82 85 3 



Escambia 129 145 16 



Franklin 19 25 6 



Gulf 16 11 -5 



Okaloosa 38 61 23 



Santa Rosa 14 22 8 



Walton 15 14 -1 



Northwest Florida 313 363 50 



Type of Manufacturing Plants 



An inventory of the types of products manufactured in Northwest Florida 

 is basic for determining which establishments may have the greatest potential 

 for supporting OCS oil and gas recovery. The types of products produced in 

 each county by the manufacturing industries and of employment are discussed in 

 the following subsections. 



Bay County . In 1979, only one industrial firm in Bay County employed 

 over 500 persons; that was a firm producing linderboard and pulp. The next 

 largest employers were four firms which produced building materials, conden- 

 sors and packaged boilers, hair barrets and rollers, and oil, fatty acids, 

 rosin, and terpenes. 



Several new industries have located and expanded in Bay County in 1977- 

 80. They include manufacturing firms producing products such as industrial 

 cranes and earth-moving equipment, fabricated steel, custom textile products, 

 executive furniture, steel pipe, and other items. With the exception of the 

 new coal conveyor components plant, which located in Lynn Haven in 1978, all 

 new industries are in Panama City. 



Escambia County . Major employment in Escambia County is in the manufac- 

 ture of wood products and chemicals. The nine largest manufacturing firms, in 

 regard to number of employees in 1979, produced fiber ceiling systems, nuclear 

 power reactor parts, nylon yarn and industrial organic chemicals, paper bags 

 and roll print, wrapping, paperboard, paper, chemical materials, newspaper, 

 steel and wood doors, and naval stores, pine oil, and rosin. 



In 1977-80 two new manufacturing plants were constructed in Escambia 

 County, and three plants were expanded, all in Pensacola. One of these was an 

 expansion of a paper products company and another was a new chemical plant. 



80 



