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Here is today's summary of economic development news, presented by the Economic Development Partnership of Alabama.
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Jefferson County's second industrial park ready to take tenantsPublished: Wednesday, July 28, 2010, 8:00 AM Michael Tomberlin -- The Birmingham News
Jefferson County has a second industrial park deemed ready for a high-dollar economic development project such as a plant, data center or warehouse operation.The Economic Development Partnership of Alabama and its partners have certified Jefferson Metropolitan Park Lakeshore as an AdvantageSite. Sister park JeffMet McCalla was certified last year as an AdvantageSite.
Both parks are operated by the Jefferson County Economic and Industrial Development Authority. AdvantageSite certification essentially puts the stamp of approval on a property, letting site consultants and companies know there are no issues with site ownership, development or infrastructure that would delay development.
"Having obtained the AdvantageSite designation on both parks means that consultants working to find locations for a range of projects -- from manufacturing and distribution facilities to office and data center facilities -- can find sites designated as ready to support those facilities in Jefferson County," said Carma Jude, executive director of the county's industrial development authority.
Greg Knighton, the EDPA's director of business information, said there are now 21 buildings, sites or parks in Alabama certified as AdvantageSites. The goal is to have 30 certified before the end of the year.
"The JeffMet Lakeshore Park has strong infrastructure and we are glad that it has earned the AdvantageSite designation," Knighton said. "AdvantageSite was created to make the state more competitive for companies considering a location in Alabama."
Even in the slow economy, Advantage Site seems to have its advantages. Officials in Jackson County, for instance, believe the certification helped them win a TVA nuclear training facility in its speculative building in the Jackson County Industrial Park.
more...
Birmingham News link
Editor's Note: For more information on the AdvantageSite program, please see:
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Report: Hyundai aims to boost Elantra sales with Alabama movePublished: Wednesday, July 28, 2010, 11:48 AM Dawn Kent -- The Birmingham News
Hyundai plans to sell the Avante, as it's called in South Korea, in the U.S. under the name Elantra. Reports say it will be made in Montgomery. (Bloomberg News)
South Korea's Hyundai Motor Co. is aiming to sell 170,000 revamped Elantra cars a year in the U.S., mostly built at the company's Alabama plant, Bloomberg News says, citing a report in the Korean-language online newspaper Edaily.
Robert Burns, a spokesman at the company's Montgomery auto assembly plant, said there has been no official word on production changes. Workers there continue to build Sonata sedans and Santa Fe SUVs, although there have been numerous reports on future changes.
In addition to previous reports about the Elantra moving in, there also have been reports about the Santa Fe moving to a new plant operated by Hyundai's sister company, Kia, in West Point, Ga.
The idea, the reports say, is to consolidate sedan production in Montgomery and SUV production in West Point, where Kia currently builds the Sorento SUV.
The new Elantra, called the Avante in South Korea, will start selling in the U.S. in November. Edaily cited the company in its report.
The automaker sold about 100,000 units a year of a previous version of the car in the U.S. market, according to the report.
more...
Birmingham News link
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Birmingham's Alabama Power names new chief financial officer
Published: Wednesday, July 28, 2010, 9:21 AM Updated: Wednesday, July 28, 2010, 9:26 AM
Jerry Underwood -- The Birmingham News
Alabama Power Co. has picked a new finance chief and promoted a top economic developer.
The Birmingham-based utility said Phil Raymond will become chief financial officer and treasurer, effective Aug. 13. He replaces Art Beattie, who was named chief financial officer for Southern Co., Alabama Power's parent company in Atlanta.
Raymond was most recently the chief financial officer for Gulf Power in Pensacola. He joined Southern in 1991 and has worked in financial management positions with Alabama Power, Georgia Power, Gulf Power, Mississippi Power and Southern Co. Services.
"He is an outstanding leader with broad experience and unquestionable integrity," Alabama Power CEO Charles McCrary said in a statement.
Alabama Power also said that Greg Barker has been named senior vice president with responsibility for marketing and economic development. Barker previously
Greg Barker, top economic developer, was given expanded duties for the utility. held the title of vice president of economic and community development and has worked in economic development for the company since 2002.
"Throughout his career, Greg has been instrumental in the economic development success of our state," McCrary said. "In this new position, his innovative thinking, collaborative leadership style and vast experience will provide great benefit to our customers, our communities and our state."
more... Birmingham News link |
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ThyssenKrupp AG says no decision yet on stainless melt shop schedule
Published: Tuesday, July 27, 2010, 7:29 AM
Jeff Amy, Press-Register
CALVERT, Alabama -- Some equipment's here, but that doesn't mean ThyssenKrupp AG's stainless steel melt shop has returned to the front burner.
That was the word Monday, as ThyssenKrupp Stainless USA unloaded hulking components that would be used to refine molten steel.
The roughly $300 million part of the stainless plant, which would take scrap and turn it into new steel, was delayed last year as Germany's largest steelmaker put off capital spending amid trouble in the broader economy and ThyssenKrupp's own finances.
Officials said Monday that corporate management in Essen, Germany, still hasn't made a decision on when construction of the melt shop will ramp up.
Three argon oxygenated decarburization converters, each with a bowl and a lid weighing a total of 120 metric tons, arrived at ThyssenKrupp's Tombigbee River barge dock Monday, after being transferred to barges in Mobile last week.
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Alabama A&M University partners with Toyota plant, Willbrook Solutions in bioenergy project
Published: Monday, July 26, 2010, 2:17 PM Updated: Monday, July 26, 2010, 3:01 PM
Marian Accardi, The Huntsville Times
HUNTSVILLE, AL -- Two companies in Huntsville are partnering with Alabama A&M University to convert used vegetable oil into biodiesel fuel to help run campus buses.
Under the partnership, Toyota Motor Manufacturing Alabama will donate about 100 gallons of used cooking oil each month from its cafeteria and a small Huntsville business, Willbrook Solutions, has donated a $15,000 prototype biodiesel processing unit to A&M's Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences to produce the fuel.
The biodiesel fuel will be used to operate buses that are part of the university's transportation system.
"Waste vegetable oil is a valuable resource," said Dr. Ernest Cebert, research associate professor of plant breeding/genetics at A&M. "It's not very pretty but, once processed, it can run a diesel engine."
That amount of waste oil will be used to create 80 to 90 gallons of biodiesel fuel, according to Jim Bolte, the president of the Toyota plant in North Huntsville.
more... Huntsville Times link |
Birmingham ranks high for export growth, Brookings Institution says
Published: Monday, July 26, 2010, 10:06 AM Updated: Monday, July 26, 2010, 10:13 AM
Dawn Kent -- The Birmingham News
The Birmingham area ranks No. 13 for annual export growth among the nation's top 100 metros, according to a new report that underscores the importance of exports when it comes to aiding economic recovery.
From 2003 to 2008, metro Birmingham's exports grew 15.1 percent annually, the Brookings Institution study says. Long a steelmaking center, the area's major export industry is primary metal manufacturing.
The value of Birmingham area exports in 2008 was $4.3 billion, ranking the metro at No. 59 nationally. Exports also support 35,665 jobs in the area.
New York ranks No. 1 for the value of 2008 exports, at $85 billion. Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston and Dallas round out the top five.
According to the study released today, metro areas produce nearly two-thirds of the nation's exports, putting them in the best position to drive export growth and create jobs. The report recommends that federal and state governments empower metros for export production and that metros innovate to increase export capacities.
more... Birmingham News link |
Raytheon finds just what it needs in HuntsvillePublished: Monday, July 26, 2010, 8:22 AM Updated: Monday, July 26, 2010, 8:32 AM Budd McLaughlin, The Huntsville Times
HUNTSVILLE, AL -- When he was in Congress, Bud Cramer did a lot to help bring - and keep - high-tech companies and defense and aerospace contractors to this area. So, it was kind of fitting that the latest defense-related job announcement had its origin in a building named for him - Cramer Hall, the National Space Science and Technology Center at the University of Alabama-Huntsville. About a year ago, Raytheon executives met with UAH President Dr. Dave Williams, Dr. Mike Griffin, the former NASA administrator and current eminent scholar at UAH, and Bruce Anderson of the Alabama Development Office to discuss bringing a state-of-the-art weapons facility here. Our area was competing with Tucson, Ariz., and Camden, Ark., for the plant; Raytheon already had missile factories in those two cities. As the assistant director for civil and military aerospace, Anderson has a Huntsville office, which focuses on, naturally, recruiting aerospace, aviation and defense-related jobs to the state. more...
Huntsville Times link |
Austal waiting on 'game-changer' LCS contract
Published: Sunday, July 25, 2010, 8:00 AM Updated: Sunday, July 25, 2010, 10:50 AM
Dan Murtaugh, Press-Register
MOBILE, Ala. -- It's the future of the U.S. Navy, and in the next month or so Mobile will know if the city has a part in making it a reality. The Navy wants to build 55 littoral combat ships, or LCS, over the next decade or so. That would make the high-speed, low-draft warships about one-sixth of the entire fleet. Before the end of the summer, the Navy plans to award the first major contract of the LCS program -- a 10-ship deal worth $5 billion -- to either Mobile's Austal USA shipyard or a Lockheed Martin-led group that would build the vessels in Marinette, Wis.
View full size For Austal, which has built one LCS and is working on another, winning the contract would mean more than doubling employment from about 1,500 people now to 3,500. The Press-Register interviewed three Washington D.C.-based naval analysts about the contract. All three said that the Navy has been keeping its cards close to its chest during the decision-making process, but two said they believe Lockheed has the edge because the Navy will be more comfortable with a more conventional ship design. "The Navy is looking for something affordable," said Loren Thompson, of the Lexington Institute. "It's going to be easier to convince the service that the Marinette ship is going to be cheaper in serial production."
more...
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Mercedes plant in Vance lures two German firms Published: Sunday, July 25, 2010, 7:00 AM Michael Tomberlin -- The Birmingham News
The Mercedes-Benz automotive plant in Vance has attracted two more German companies to Alabama -- and both have growth aspirations beyond the automotive sector. They are:
BLG Logistics Inc. is growing from the parts and sequencing operation it now has inside the Mercedes plant to a new logistics center in half of a 120,000-square-foot building now under construction next to the plant.
BLG also has established a Birmingham office in the World Business Center atop Red Mountain with plans to go after distribution and logistics business with other companies -- particularly those in electronics and some consumer products.
BLG's neighbor in the World Business Center is WFB, the German abbreviation of what translates into Bremen Economic Development in English and will likely go by the name Bremen Invest in the U.S. The firm will promote trade and investment between companies in the two countries.
Bremen Invest has tapped Kirk Atkinson as its U.S. director. Atkinson once worked with the Economic Development Partnership of Alabama before moving to Germany.
"The No. 1 reason for our office here is to support Alabama industry to do business internationally and to support German industry here, particularly those with a connection to Bremen, like BLG," Atkinson said.
Steve Markham, president of BLG Logistics' U.S. operations, said the company has 50 employees supporting the Vance plant, which BLG has done since 2004. While applications for incentives say the company will add 30 jobs with the expansion, the real number could be closer to 100 if BLG's growth plans are realized.
more...
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Cash Acme expanding to new plant outside Cullman County
By Trent Moore The Cullman Times
CULLMAN - Due to an unexpected increase in business, valve manufacturer Cash Acme is expanding some operations from its Cullman location to a new plant elsewhere in the state.
Representative Heath Sharp said the Australia-based business is planning to open a second facility in Alabama, though the Cullman plant will continue to be an integral part of the company's future plans.
"Our existing Cullman facility will remain the core manufacturing facility, and we will still distribute a significant amount from here," Sharp said via e-mail. "Our plans for the Cullman facility are not greatly changed from what they were back when we opened the new warehouse in September last year."
Sharp did not say where the new facility will be located, and messages left seeking additional information were not returned by deadline of this article.
It is unknown how many local positions may be transferred to the new facility, though Sharp did say no significant job losses are expected at the Cullman location. Cash Acme employs approximately 125 people, according to the most recent Cullman Economic Development Agency estimates.
"In terms of employee numbers, we fully expect to end the year with higher numbers than when we started, regardless of the additional warehouse and distribution facility mentioned above," Sharp said. "So, the Cullman facility will retain its dominant position within our North American business."
Over the past year, Sharp said Cash Acme has seen a huge increase in product demand - which makes the need for additional space more pressing than ever.
more...
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Alabama economic developers' hopes high at London air show
Published: Thursday, July 22, 2010, 6:30 AM Updated: Friday, July 23, 2010, 11:48 AM
Michael Tomberlin -- The Birmingham News
Local residents watch an Airbus SAS A380 plane fly overhead on the third day of the Farnborough International Airshow in Farnborough, U.K., on Wednesday. Alabama officials are at the show trying to attract business. (Bloomberg / Simon Dawson)
Economic developers from Birmingham and Alabama are renewing their pitches at the Farnborough International Airshow in London to land aviation and aerospace companies and their coveted jobs.
A delegation of about 100 economic developers and government leaders from the state has been at the event since Sunday. Though the air show officially began Monday, representatives of Alabama and neighboring states kicked things off with a Sunday night reception on the grounds of Kensington Palace.
Alabama has hosted a reception at Kensington in recent years, but this year marked the first time it was a joint venture with the other members of the Aerospace Alliance -- Mississippi, Louisiana and Florida.
Neal Wade, executive director of the Alabama Development Office, said the invitation-only event allowed for 400 guests, and it was fully booked.
"Of the years we've been doing this, this year was the best ever," Wade said in a telephone interview Wednesday. "We've been told our Sunday night reception is the toughest ticket in London."
A string quartet serenaded guests on the palace grounds -- just a few yards away from where Princess Diana once lived. Drinks flowed freely, as did hors d'oeuvres on a cool night with clear skies, according to Wade. Many guests remained an hour past the party's official end to learn more about Alabama and the other states, Wade said.
Wade and others are hoping that leads to aviation and aerospace companies landing in Alabama. The timing appears right. Wade said the industry predicts it will need more than 30,000 new airplanes by 2029 to replace old models and keep pace with expected growth.
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