| Greetings!
Here is today's summary of economic development news, presented by the Economic Development Partnership of Alabama.
Please note, this is a RE-SEND of the earlier e-mail, which features the correct top links. I apologize for the confusion. (Thank you to those who pointed it out...I'm glad you're reading it closely!) |
Missile defense conference roars into Huntsville
Published: Monday, August 16, 2010, 8:27 AM Updated: Monday, August 16, 2010, 8:30 AM
Budd McLaughlin, The Huntsville Times
Huntsville's life blood is on display this week at the Von Braun Center.
That's right. It's time for the annual Space and Missile Defense Conference & Exhibition.
And visitors may need to use some state-of-the-art missile guidance systems to get around. In fact, some of the ongoing construction has made the nearly-40 year-old facility look like it's been the target for missile tests.
But, in general terms, there is a powerful lineup of speakers for the conference themed "Enabling Regional Warfighters."
In its 13th year, the event has drawn thousands of visitors, exhibitors and some of the most distinguished and decorated speakers.
Organizers are expecting about 7,000 people to venture among some 500 booths and catching discussions on such topics as "A Regional Perspective on Missile Defense," "Operational Perspective of Space and Missile Defense," "Space - Enabling the Warfighter," "Cyber Innovation to Preserve our Decisive Advantage" and "Space, High Altitude and Cyberspace."
There will be panels on next generation missile defense and a space technology series.
The conference is also a showcase for Huntsville with most of the exhibitors having plants, facilities and offices here.
more...
|
|
Teledyne Brown Engineering acquisition expected to increase manufacturing capabilities
Published: Sunday, August 15, 2010, 4:26 PM Updated: Sunday, August 15, 2010, 4:37 PM
Marian Accardi, The Huntsville Times
Teledyne Brown EngineeringTeledyne CML Group will open a composite manufacturing facility near Liverpool in the fall.
HUNTSVILLE, AL -- Huntsville-based Teledyne Brown Engineering has acquired a British-based company in a move to significantly increase its manufacturing capabilities.
TBE has had a strategy to grow its manufacturing business for at least the last three years, said Rex D. Geveden, TBE's president. "Acquisition of this business just reinforces our strategy to grow our manufacturing."
"It gives us more scale, more depth to our manufacturing capabilities," he said.
CML Group, based near Liverpool, was part of Intelek, which was acquired by California-based Teledyne Technologies in July. The total value of that transaction is about $52 million, including Intelek's stock options, net debt and pension deficit.
TBE is a subsidiary of Teledyne Technologies.
The new company operates under the name Teledyne CML Group, and its operations are integrated with TBE in Huntsville.
CML manufactures composite structures and high-precision metal components for commercial and military aircraft, primarily in Europe.
more...
|
TV's Mike Rowe, of "Dirty Jobs," lends name to push for skilled workers in Alabama
Published: Sunday, August 15, 2010, 7:00 AM
Dawn Kent -- The Birmingham News
Alabama's ranks of welders, electricians, carpenters and other skilled tradesmen are set to shrink as workers age and fewer young people step in to replace them, but a new campaign aims to reverse that trend, using a national TV star to lead the rallying cry.
Mike Rowe, host of the hit Discovery Channel show, "Dirty Jobs," is the face of the statewide effort crafted by Birmingham ad agency Big Communications on behalf of organizations that want to boost job recruitment in commercial and industrial construction.
But Rowe's involvement goes beyond delivering lines. He helped draft scripts for TV spots he appears in, and he used his contacts among international manufacturing firms to drum up support for the Alabama campaign, called Go Build.
The issue is a personal passion for Rowe, who two years ago launched mikeroweWORKS, an initiative that seeks to highlight the dearth of skilled tradesmen across the country.
As he hops from state to state for "Dirty Jobs," an assignment that requires him to take on the grittiest, grimiest professions, Rowe sees a labor market in distress, and not just because of high jobless rates.
more... |
Gulf businesses stop waiting for help, start helping one another
Published: Sunday, August 15, 2010, 5:23 AM Updated: Sunday, August 15, 2010, 7:21 AM
K.A. Turner, Press-Register
Linda Whitlock has a list: four retailers, two restaurants, a quick-serve food place and a beach rental business.
All of them, an accountant has told her, may not make it to Aug. 23. That's the day claims czar Kenneth Feinberg said he'll begin virtually immediate payouts from a $20 billion fund that BP PLC set aside to mitigate damage from an unprecedented oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.
In its wake, tourists left Alabama beaches nearly as fast as the oil flowed from the well.
The situation is dire for businesses on the list, said Whitlock, president and chief executive officer of the Alabama Gulf Coast Chamber of Commerce. Then she added, "There isn't a business in Gulf Shores, Orange Beach or Fort Morgan that hasn't been affected."
The impact extends to the north, added Donna Watts, president and CEO of the South Baldwin Chamber of Commerce. She knows, for instance, of a Foley beauty shop that is preparing a claim.
"Folks lose jobs, there's less money, and they're not going to spend on the luxuries of going to the dentist, getting a haircut or dry-cleaning," she said. And yes, there was sarcasm in the use of the word "luxuries."
Emotions are raw this summer in places where tourists drive the economic engine. That much was evident last week when Whitlock, Watts and South Baldwin Chamber Foundation Director Terry Burkle met with the Press-Register's editorial board.
BP PLC, majority owner of the well that gushed for months into the Gulf, is an easy target.
Said Whitlock: BP came in on Day One, figuratively gave people a pat on the head and said, "We'll take care of you."
"They tell you what your heart is longing to hear, and still we wait," Watts added.
more...
|
ThyssenKrupp plant in Calvert processes first coil of steelPublished: Saturday, August 14, 2010, 6:00 AM Updated: Saturday, August 14, 2010, 10:56 AM ThyssenKrupp AG's carbon steel unit has rolled the first coil of steel in Calvert, a significant milestone in the path to full operation for the $5 billion complex. The coil was rolled late on July 31 at the end of a two-day push, but leaders of Germany's largest steelmaker didn't acknowledge it until Friday, when the company released its quarterly earnings report. "We have successfully started up the first key units at our new plants in North and South America. Blast furnace 1 in Brazil was fired up in mid-July and the hot strip mill in Alabama produced its first coil at the end of July," Ekkehard Schulz, chairman of ThyssenKrupp's executive board, said in a statement. The hot strip becomes operational 38 months after ThyssenKrupp chose its Alabama site in 2007. The mill takes slabs made elsewhere, heats them to 2,200 degrees in a furnace, and then rolls each into a flat sheet that is spun into a coil. The startup began with preheating the furnace. Then to test and calibrate machinery, workers put 13 slabs through the furnace and an initial roughing mill, but didn't roll them into coils. On Friday, July 30, the carbon unit was ready to make its first coil. Scott Posey, spokesman for the carbon unit known as ThyssenKrupp Steel USA said the first three attempts didn't work out. Each time, steel became stuck in one of the mills or the coiler, and work had to be restarted. Around 6 p.m. Saturday, on the fourth try, a coil was successfully rolled.
more...
|
UA: BRAC project has brought 5,500 jobs to Alabama
Birmingham Business Journal - by Ben Piper Staff
The Base Realignment and Closure project in Huntsville has brought up to 5,500 jobs to the state, according to a study from the University of Alabama.
The Center for Business and Economic Research at UA said BRAC added 4,600 military and government jobs to state tax rolls through Redstone Arsenal - with employees making an average salary of $80,000. The total income tax impact is estimated to be $19 million, the study said.
Approximately $20 billion in new contracts are also expected to be awarded, creating as many as 5,000 private sector contractor jobs. The gross domestic product impact for the state comes in at $460 million. An earnings impact of more than $450 million was also estimated in the report.
more...
|
|
The Alabama Composites Conference (ACC 2010)
Expanding Avenues - STRUCTURAL COMPOSITES IN DEFENSE,
POWER, ENERGY, TRANSPORTATION, AND INFRASTRUCTURE APPLICATIONS
University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) Campus, Birmingham, Alabama
Mark your calendar for a HIGH TECHNICAL QUALITY conference and workshop focusing on applications development for Structural Composites in transportation, defense, power & energy sector, corrosion prevention and infrastructure.
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE CONFERENCE & EVENTS
· High quality technical sessions, keynotes speakers and panel discussion
· Technical sessions on transportation, defense, power & energy sector and infrastructure applications/technology transitions/commercialization
· Manufacturing, Design, Testing and Quality Inspection
· Composites challenges in Fire Damage & Protection
· Information exchange and network opportunities for practicing composite engineers and managers, small businesses, national laboratories and academic institutions.
· Exhibits featuring composite fabricators, material suppliers, product developers & end-users
· Workshop on Corrosion Prevention featuring structural composites (Sponsored by NACE) - gain CEU credits
· Biocomposites International Research Network (BIRN) workshop to be held August 23rd. Conference attendees may attend BIRN workshop at no extra charge.
· Opportunities for industry to meet potential hires - students who have training in areas of composite materials and manufacturing technologies
· Emerging technologies in structural, nano and biocomposites - STUDENT posters
· CD-ROM proceedings of technical papers and presentations
· A unique and high technical value meeting of its kind in the Southeastern US
PAST HISTORY AND ATTENDANCE
· This conference has been hosted on a 2-yearly cycle (2006 and 2008) and this is the third offering in Birmingham. The response has been overwhelmingly positive.
· The conference attracts industry from all over the United States as well as outside countries. The talks are 'invited talks' from federal and state agencies, small and large industries and national lab personnel with a blend of academic.
- This conference has one of the best technical agendas of the year and you will meet people from different industries and agencies- material suppliers, federal and state agency representatives, composite designers, & fabricators, end-users, student researchers, staffing solutions etc.
Shuttles will be running from the hotels to the conference hall or to the parking lot.
Editor's note: EDPA President Bill Taylor will deliver the keynote address on Aug. 25 |
|
|
|
|
|
Please feel free to forward along to someone who can use it by clicking on the "I'd like to forward this to a contact" link below the green bar.
Note also, that you can now make changes to your e-mail address and contact information through the link at the bottom.
As always, if you have news or suggestions, please forward them along to me.
Enjoy the day,
|
Featured Community Partner:
|
|
|
|
|
