I decided to start this thread to create a collection of stories on news about the US economy as well as more local stories on new plants, expansions, hirings as well as layoffs. Since the national media tends to mostly give stories on layoffs and other bad news but rarely reports news on local hirings, etc., I thought this might be a good place to collect a variety of articles to give a more balanced perspective. Feel free to add your own articles and news. A few of the ones I've going to add immediately here aren't totally new news, but I haven't seen them anywhere so I doubt most people have heard about them.

So here goes. This first one is BIG!!

http://www.railjobs.com/railroadjobnews/news2.html

The Indianapolis Star
July 04, 2004.
Railroad companies anticipate hiring boom

Jul. 4--Marcos Zavala drives a screeching locomotive up and down a track in Downtown Indianapolis by flipping a few switches on a black remote control box hanging from his dirt-clad overalls.

Zavala, 56, has worked on railroads since 1980, from the Missouri Pacific Railroad Co. in Texas to The Indiana Rail Road Co., where he's worked for 16 years.

In about six years, he'll build his last freight train. That's when Zavala will be eligible for full retirement after 30 years in the industry. He is one of the thousands of aging baby boomers who are expected to retire from the railroad industry in the next few years -- which means more vacancies to fill.

U.S. railroads expect to hire 80,000 workers nationwide over the next six years, according to the Association of American Railroads. At the end of 2003, they employed 221,000. Two other reasons account for the projected job spurt: an improving economy and an increase in business.

Industry officials say this growth dispels myths that the rail freight industry is dying.

"They think we're an age-old dinosaur," said Sue Ferverda, vice president of human resources at The Indiana Rail Road Co., based in Indianapolis. "Working in the industry, I know that railroads will be moving more and more products over the next 20 years. It is a very exciting time."

Tom White, spokesman for the association, said intermodal freight has been booming.

Rail intermodal service moves truck trailers or containers by rail and another type of transportation. These containers transport lots of consumer goods, from toys to bottled water.

Intermodal traffic surged from 3 million units in 1980 to more than 10 million this year, White said. The industry is almost up 9 percent compared to last year, he said. Railroad companies nationwide have seen greater customer demand, as well.

For Canadian Pacific Railway, which operates about 90 route miles between Terre Haute and Bedford, a rise in grain traffic and freight traveling to and from China are driving demand, said Laura Baenan, communications manager for the company's Midwest region. Railroads are also taking some business from the trucking industry, said Tony Hatch, an independent transportation analyst. It's cheaper to use railroads for longer-haul freight compared to trucks. As business rises, officials also expect retirements to accelerate, in part thanks to a 2002 change in the federally operated railroad retirement program.

The change in the Railroad Retirement Act lowered the age that workers with 30 years of experience can receive full benefits from 62 to 60. "More workers (are) leaving at a time when demand is at an all-time high," Hatch said.

Now, railroad companies are anticipating hiring more field personnel.

CSX Transportation and Norfolk Southern Corp. project thousands of hirings in upcoming years. These railroad companies are the main freight train companies running in Indiana, operating more than 3,000 miles of track in the state -- about 91 percent of Indiana's route miles.

Florida-based CSX estimates it will hire nearly 4,500 workers through 2005, while Virginia-based Norfolk Southern expects to hire about 2,000 people a year over five years.

Company officials said they do not know how many people might be hired in Indiana. The Indiana Rail Road Co. operates about 140 miles of rail in the state with 99 workers. Ferverda plans to create six new railroad operating positions within six months.

That's positive news for recent hires like Billy Alumbaugh. He's training to be a train operator. "It looks good for the future of new employees like me," said Alumbaugh, 36. "It looks good for the future of railroad business."

He's spending three months in training and said every day is different -- he may end up working on a coal train, riding a locomotive as a third man, or switching cars at the company's Palestine yard.

Indiana fares well in the freight business. As of 2002, Indiana was ranked ninth in the nation for the number of total rail miles running through the state -- with 4,623 miles, according to the Association of American Railroads. The No. 1 state, Texas, had 10,347 rail miles.

Historically, railroad employment has been on the decline.

Railroad employment peaked in 1944 with 1.7 million workers.

The railroad industry went through a 20-year period of no significant hiring, White said. "Technology allowed the railroads to eliminate a lot of jobs to improve efficiency," he said.

The number of Class I employees decreased by about 50 percent from 1980 to 1990. These include employees working in line-haul freight railroads that earn an annual operating revenue of $272 million, as determined by the federal government.

Even with the projected thousands of new workers, though, the number of total railroad workers will continue to decrease, according to a June report by the U.S. Railroad Retirement Board.

"What it will boil down to (is) 110,000 will leave, 80,000 will replace them," said Jim Metlicka, public affairs specialist for the board. Despite such declines, railroads are searching for new talent.

AMDG Inc., an Atlanta-based recruiting and training company, will hold a testing and interview session for CSX in Indianapolis on July 15. The test costs $25.

Individuals who are hired through AMDG will complete three training phases: five weeks of classroom training, one week in a controlled environment and 12 weeks of on-the-job training.

Norfolk Southern held hiring sessions in at least four Indiana cities in June as part of its multicity search for workers. More than 25 railroad hopefuls strolled into the Best Western hotel lobby in Lafayette, eager to see their future as a conductor trainee.

Rudy Husband, Norfolk Southern's director of public relations, said the company looks for employees with good attitudes and experience. "We want to make sure that the people we hire understand the need to be safe, not reckless in their duties," Husband said. "Any experience in heavy machinery setting is helpful." Industry officials say train engineers -- conductors and locomotive engineers -- are the most in demand.

Conductors earn an annual average salary of $67,128, according to the railroad association. Personnel who maintain locomotives and freight cars earn $48,853, while locomotive engineers earn an average of $75,162, peaking at $110,000.

http://www.siteselection.com/

GM Investing $175 Million, Adding 200 Jobs at Indiana Plant

by JACK LYNE, Site Selection
Executive Editor of Interactive Publishing

FORT WAYNE, Ind. — General Motors' decision to invest US$175 million ensures the future — at least for the near term — for the automaker's 2,900-employee pickup truck plant in Fort Wayne, Ind. The expansion will add 200 new jobs at the facility that will pay an average of more than $70,000 a year, GM officials said in announcing the project on Jan. 28th. The company's sizable capital outlay will primarily go into new manufacturing equipment, the company said.

"GM's $175-million investment in Fort Wayne is further proof that the community remains an important part of GM's manufacturing plan," GM Vice President and General Manager of Manufacturing Joe Spielman said while announcing the expansion at the Fort Wayne plant. "This truck project is key in our efforts to strengthen our core manufacturing capabilities in the United States and Indiana." First opened in 1986, the automaker's Fort Wayne plant currently builds the Chevrolet Silverado and GMC Sierra full-size pickup trucks. Those models are two of the automaker's most popular offerings. Of the nearly 2.6 million full-size pickups sold in the U.S. in 2004, the Sierra and the Silverado collectively accounted for about 895,000 — slightly more than a third of the year's total sales.

Other Existing GM Plants Vied for 'Spectacular Project'

State and local officials had been waiting anxiously for more than three months for GM's decision.

On Oct. 19th of last year, the automaker received the local-area incentives that it had previously requested. The Allen County Council unanimously approved a 10-year tax abatement on the new equipment that would be installed in the Fort Wayne plant — at least if the Indiana operation won the expansion. County Councilwoman Paula Hughes said that the prospect of adding up-to-date manufacturing equipment and creating new jobs "makes this a spectacular project."

GM officials applauded the subsidies' approval. They added, though, that financial support would be only one of the factors that would go into GM's final expansion decision.

Four other GM plants were also under consideration for a similar investment, according to officials with the United Auto Workers. Two of the operations rumored to be among the competing sites were in the Michigan cities of Oshawa and Pontiac; both facilities also make the Sierra and the Silverado. Another GM truck assembly plant that makes those two models in Flint, Mich., was tapped by the automaker on Dec. 15th of last year for a $150-million retooling. (For more on that project, see the SiteNet/IAMC Insider's January 2005 Incentives Deal of the Month, "Ford, GM Expansions Ensure Future for 7,500 Michigan Jobs.")

"This $175-million commitment by GM is a solid vote of confidence in the UAW members in the Fort Wayne plant and in the Fort Wayne community," said UAW vice president Richard Shoemaker, director of the UAW's GM Department. "This welcomed investment will enable the plant and UAW Local 2209 members to play a key role in assembling new GM products for many years to come."

For GM, the next 10 years to come will see a savings of more than $4 million from the county's tax abatement, local government officials estimated. Even with that abatement, though, the 2.5-million-sq.-ft. (225,000-sq.-m.) plant will still rank far and away as the county's largest taxpayer. In 2004, the GM facility paid a reported $3.7 million in county property taxes.

Officials with the world's largest automobile manufacturer didn't mention any contending locations in making the expansion announcement.

Expanded Plant Will Manufacture Next-Generation Sierras, Silverados

GM's investment will largely center on adding new equipment in the plant's general assembly area and in its body shop, said GM officials. The new equipment will prepare the plant to manufacture next-generation Sierra and Silverado models. Citing competitive concerns, GM officials declined to discuss the changes that will be made in the two pickups.

The $175-million investment will be the second-largest that GM has made in the Fort Wayne plant since the facility first went online in late 1986. The largest outlay since the plant's opening came in 1995, when GM earmarked about $220 million for a body-shop upgrade.

The Fort Wayne plant last year produced almost 250,000 pickups. Adding the new equipment won't increase the facility's manufacturing capacity, GM officials explained. It will, however, enable the plant to make the latest versions of two widely popular models. And the new equipment will enable the Fort Wayne plant to more quickly and cost-effectively make product variations and enhancements, GM officials added.

But ironclad long-term security, as GM's Spielman cautioned in a press conference after the announcement, isn't really a reasonable expectation for any corporate operation.

"There are no guarantees in this business," he said.

Added UAW Local 2209 President Don Swegman, "It's as good a guarantee as we're going to get."

http://www.conway.com/ssinsider/images/pw050131b.jpg
Opened in 1986, the 2.5-million-sq.-ft. (225,000-sq.-m.) Fort Wayne plant (pictured) now employs some 2,900 workers.

http://www.intlsteel.com/Press/66.pdf

International Steel Group to Restart 110-Inch Plate Mill at Burns Harbor, Indiana Plant

Richfield, Ohio, Dec. 20, 2004 – In response to increasing customer needs, International Steel Group Inc. (NYSE: ISG) today announced plans to restart its idled 110-inch plate mill located at the company’s Burns Harbor facility in Burns Harbor, Indiana. The mill is expected to begin production early in the second quarter of 2005 and to employ an additional 80 employees at the Burns Harbor facility, ISG’s largest plant.

“Restarting our 110-inch plate mill is another exciting advancement in the growth of our business,” said Rodney B. Mott, president and chief executive officer. “Our decision to return this mill to operation is driven by increasing customer demand and our desire to quickly respond to the needs of our valued customers. This restart will provide ISG additional flexibility to better meet our customers’ growth and project opportunities.”

The 110-inch plate mill, one of the most modern in North America, is capable of producing carbon, high-strength low-alloy and alloy plate. Markets for these products represent a wide range of industries, including rail, construction, shipbuilding, oil and gas exploration and production, and machinery, all of which are currently served by ISG. The ISG Plate Division also is a major supplier of armored plate products that are used to protect the U.S. Armed Forces serving in Iraq and elsewhere.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2002101964_steelworkers27.html

Seattle Times
Saturday, November 27, 2004
Steelmaker fires up once-shuttered Cleveland mills

By Connie Mabin
The Associated Press

CLEVELAND — Workers at an International Steel Group mill don't seem to mind machines that roar like jets or temperatures that soar to near 1,400 degrees.

The sweat pouring from their brows, the coal-black grime under their fingernails are good things for a group who thought their steelmaking careers were over when bankrupt LTV closed, the latest in two decades of mills shuttered across the United States.

Workers like Eddie Reust, 50, of Cleveland, have experienced the rarity of being hired by a U.S. steelmaker even as the industry is shrinking. Some 12,000 ISG employees got their jobs after the company bought bankrupt steelmakers, shed retiree costs and consolidated several expensive operations into a few cost-effective ones.

Some 55,000 steelworkers nationwide lost jobs following the industry collapse of the 1980s and the influx of cheaper foreign steel in the 1990s.

"I didn't think we would ever make steel here again," said Reust, who had 29-1/2 years in when the LTV pink slip came three years ago.

Donald Jenkins of South Highland, Ill., recalled the day he lost his LTV job: "I was devastated. I had worked 30-some years of my life and all the sudden, the doors were closed."

Six months later, ISG restarted the East Chicago, Ind., plant just across the state line from where Jenkins lived, and the company wanted him back.

"It was the best call I ever took in my life," said Jenkins, who repairs machines used in the Indiana mill that makes steel for agricultural equipment, appliances, construction, automobiles and other products.

Gary Grimes was more than three decades into his career and six months from a pension when LTV shut down in Cleveland in 2001. The next year, he was called back to work at ISG's Cleveland hot strip mill, the part of the plant where freshly rolled steel is run through a bath of molten coating.

"They reopened with less people," Grimes said. "But there were zero people when it was shut down."

Grimes now does several jobs at the mill where technology has changed much of the way steel is made and perfected. But the work is still physical with a lot of heavy lifting and welding.

The mill, though cleaner, is loud and hot as orange-glowing slabs constantly pass on giant rollers to get steam baths of sorts.

Richfield, Ohio-based ISG bought LTV in 2002 and rose to become the nation's largest integrated steelmaker by buying and revamping operations in Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, West Virginia and Pennsylvania. It shed the costs associated with more than 82,000 retirees and came up with a strategy to make steel cheaper with fewer workers, with whom profits are shared.

In late October, ISG found itself on the other end of a takeover bid when Dutch steelmaker Ispat International and LNM Holdings proposed a $4.5 billion merger. The combined group would be one of the largest steel companies in the world, operating under the name Mittal Steel. Owner Lakshmi Mittal said he does not plan layoffs.

Analysts say the deal would increase job protection for U.S. workers who have already seen the benefits of consolidation.

The United Steelworkers of America, which represents most ISG workers, also endorsed the proposal.

ISG says its growth will continue. In September, the company restarted a second blast furnace at its newly acquired plant in West Virginia, recalling nearly 100 steelworkers from the former Weirton Steel and raising employment to 1,900. In May, ISG reopened some of its west side Cleveland Works mill, bringing back 140 people.

ISG's more efficient model has been copied by some of the company's largest competitors, including Pittsburgh's U.S. Steel, which has worked with the union to cut 20 percent of its workforce. But only ISG has been able to recall so many workers because it has restarted long-cold operations.

"It's not like the steel industry is suddenly hiring people. We only replace through attrition," said U.S. Steel spokesman John Armstrong.

Today, ISG employs about 1,500 of the 3,100 laid off by LTV in Cleveland. They have a combined 35,000 years of steelmaking experience, said Bill Brake, general manager of Cleveland Works.

"The fact that we were able to have an experienced work force come in and get behind the wheel again — that's just made all the difference," he said.

St. Louis Post-Dispatch
October 10, 2004
Steel boom rekindles Metro East plants
By Mary Jo Feldstein

For generations, the fires of steel mills helped to fuel the economy of southwestern Illinois.

Just a few years ago, it seemed as if the fires were dying out. But new investments, changes in national trade policy and China's rapid growth sparked new life at steel mills in Granite City and Alton, preserving thousands of jobs.

"Your region is experiencing part of a very dynamic period for the American steel industry, and the experts and the analysts that are looking at the American steel sector are predicting that this will continue through 2005 and beyond," said Nancy Gravatt, a spokeswoman for the American Iron and Steel Institute in Washington.

Experts say the revival stemmed from a combination of changes within the steel industry and a string of favorable market forces.

President George W. Bush put tariffs on imports in March 2002 after domestic makers complained that the cheap steel was making it impossible for the U.S. industry to compete.

While the tariffs were in place for 20 months, the industry consolidated. It merged most resources into three large players and several smaller companies, all burdened by less debt and fewer obligations to retired workers.

"In essence, the industry strengthened itself from within to become more globally competitive," Gravatt said. "What was really interesting was this wave of global demand really began to take off right around the time the tariffs were removed."

The domestic steel industry had been struggling since the early 1990s.

Dozens of U.S. steel companies declared bankruptcy. Two of those were National Steel Corp., which owned a plant in Granite City, and Laclede Steel Co., which operated a plant at the southern end of Alton.

National Steel's plant continued to operate, but the Laclede Steel plant closed in 2001, eliminating 550 jobs.

Then, in 2003, the plants found new life.

U.S. Steel Corp. bought the assets of National Steel, including the plant in Granite City, known today as Granite City Works. It employs about 2,500 people.

Led by Madison County lawyer John Simmons, a group of local investors, including some former workers, bought the remnants of the Laclede Steel plant and reopened the facility as Alton Steel Inc.

"Nobody thought we were going to make it," said Ray Stillwell, legal counsel for Alton Steel and one of the owners. "A lot of the folks who really had nothing to lose and committed to the project are the ones benefiting here today."

In the last year, U.S. Steel and Alton Steel have forged labor agreements with their work forces that offer more flexibility and compensation for higher production rates and bigger profits.

Also, the companies made capital improvements to the plants, which were neglected during the difficult times.

U.S. Steel has realigned its blast furnace and has added machinery that will enable the mill to improve quality and speed of production.

"Longer term, what happens here at Granite City is going to depend on how competitive we can get ... in the domestic and in the world steel market," said Merle Stein, general manager of Granite City Works.

Improvements are taking place at Alton Steel, too. Before the plant reopened, former workers spent months as volunteers doing much of the cleanup.

The owners have put a new roof on the melt shop. They're rebuilding offices and making other changes.

The total investment at the plant is about $25 million, and the investors expect to spend millions more in coming years. They credit their bank, FB Commercial Finance Inc. of St. Louis, for taking a risk when nobody else would.

But they intend to make additional improvements mostly "with profits as opposed to investors' pockets," Stillwell said.

Alton employs about 210 workers. It expects to expand to 300 by early next year.

At both plants, flexible labor contracts with fewer job classifications have allowed workers to perform tasks as needed, improving efficiency.

The expanded responsibilities required workers to get additional training, some provided through government grants.

Both contracts include profit-sharing, so workers will benefit when the company performs well.

Accepting the contract changes "was kind of a way of survival" for the workers, said Leo Mushill, a United Steelworkers of America training coordinator at Granite City Works.

But he and others worry that the climbing prices of raw materials might deter steel's rise in the future.

"The No. 1 threat is rapidly rising raw-material costs," said Thomas A. Danjczek, president of the Steel Manufacturers Association. For example, the price of scrap steel has more than tripled recently.

Danjczek is concerned, too, that declines in U.S. manufacturing will hurt demand for steel in the long term.

"Though steel is more competitive today than it was a year ago, you still need to have a customer to supply it to," Danjczek said. "With that said, there is reason for some pretty good optimism between now and 2008."

Jim Claes, controller at Alton Steel, is thankful for the boost, no matter how long it lasts.

"We plan in the future for more normal times," Claes said. "The bottom line is that we got into this knowing that if we ever got this thing going, everything was good about it."

http://www.bizjournals.com/industries/manufacturing/general/2005/01/31/boston_story5.html

Boston Business Journal
From the January 31, 2005 print edition

Hyaluron plans hiring, new manufacturing plant
Mark Hollmer
Journal Staff

BURLINGTON -- Hyaluron Inc. is planning a big party for Feb. 10 to celebrate expected hiring, some new state-of-the art assembly-line equipment and the opening of its pharmaceutical/biotechnology contract-manufacturing facility 10 months ago.

But a bigger bash will likely come next year, hosted by the state that wins Hyaluron's commitment to build a commercial manufacturing plant.

Founder and President Shawn Kinney said he'll consider Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Rhode Island as possible sites for a planned 60,000-square-foot manufacturing facility to house a planned manufacturing expansion.

Hyaluron employs 30 people and has more than three-dozen current or former customers who outsource drug manufacturing for clinical trials or need syringe products that inject everything from dental or fertility treatments to orthopedic surgery drugs.

Kinney says Hyaluron took in $3.4 million in revenue for 2004 and is projected to double that to nearly $8 million in 2005. In addition, the company plans to add 20 new employees over the next year and another 25 in 2006 if growth continues. The new manufacturing facility would create as many as 150 additional jobs on top of that.

Hyaluron, which isn't venture funded, was bootstrapped through operations and founder cash until 2003. The company also negotiated undisclosed funding from poultry-processor William Crider, owner of Crider Inc. in Stillmore, Ga.

The substance hyaluronic acid brought the company and the poultry processor together. The acid, which can be derived from cells contained in the red "rooster comb" on a chicken's head, is used in eye surgery and to treat joint pain and infertility.

Hyaluron initially produced the raw material hyaluronate to sell for medical purposes. It expanded to manufacturing, however, because it developed a more efficient way to place the viscous gel-like hyaluronic acid into a syringe, which lured a growing contract manufacturing customer base.

Kinney said Hyaluron's goal is to become a larger-scale, so-called sterile contract manufacturer. The company has local rivals, he said, such as MicroTest Laboratories Inc. in Agawam and Formatech Inc. in Andover.

Michael Hickey, an attorney with Boston law firm Kirkpatrick & Lockhart Nicholson Graham LLP, said contract medical-device manufacturing will continue to grow because of the efficiencies it represents for the clients.

And Massachusetts hopes to keep companies like Hyaluron here as they expand their manufacturing, said Tanya Shnaydman, an industry development analyst with the Massachusetts Biotechnology Council.

"The MBC and the state will do everything possible to keep Hyaluron's expansion in Massachusetts," she said.
Reply With Quote

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2002144005_microcampus07.html

The Seattle Times
Friday, January 07, 2005
Microsoft planning major Redmond project
By Brier Dudley
Seattle Times technology reporter

Microsoft is filing plans Monday for a redevelopment of its Redmond campus to accommodate the 10,000 to 12,000 new employees it expects to add locally over the next 10 to 20 years, cementing its commitment to the Puget Sound region.

The company will start construction on the first of several new buildings in 2006 and build others as needed on both sides of Highway 520.

Although the growth is roughly on pace with Microsoft's expansion in recent years, the company has never before publicly disclosed details of its long-range hiring plans in the region. The information could ease recurring concerns that Microsoft may someday move its headquarters, as Boeing did in March 2001.

Technically, the company is filing for a development agreement that would serve as a blueprint for campus expansion, but it would not commit the company to specific building goals or hiring projections. Jobs will be added as needed, Chris Owens, director of campus development said today.

"We are making a commitment to focus our development in Redmond with the development agreement," he said. "We're trying to send a message to the region, to the city, that we're committed."

To offset the effects of the growth, the company will provide $30 million for infrastructure improvements and help the city lobby for regional transportation improvements, such as the second phase of Sound Transit.

Included in the $30 million is most of the funding for a new overpass that will extend Northeast 36th Street over 520, easing congestion on the Northeast 40th Street and 148th Avenue Northeast overpasses.

The development agreement would undergo public hearings and Redmond City Council review. Microsoft will host an open house to discuss its plans with the community on Jan. 27; a time and place have not been chosen yet.

"They've been exploring that with us for several months," Redmond Mayor Rosemarie Ives said last night.

Although Chief Executive Steve Ballmer and Chairman Bill Gates have repeatedly said the company will remain concentrated in Redmond, Microsoft has also been expanding in India and other foreign technology hubs, raising concerns about how much more it will grow in the region.

At the same time, Microsoft has been acquiring land around its main campus in Redmond. Jose Oncina, the company's real-estate director, said in 2003 the company would prefer to grow at its main campus, rather than build isolated facilities. He said one option was to redevelop the older buildings on the main campus, replacing them with larger facilities.

Microsoft moved to the Redmond campus in 1986. About 28,000 of its 57,000 employees work in the Puget Sound area, mostly on the main campus along Highway 520.

It owns 7.5 million square feet of building space and leases 1.7 million square feet in the region.

Concerns about Microsoft's regional growth were exacerbated last fall when the company gave up about half the land it was holding for a new campus in Issaquah. It still has enough land there to build a campus for around 5,000 employees but it's now focusing its development work in Redmond, Owens said.

The company bought the Issaquah land partly because Redmond, under Ives' direction, had placed a moratorium on new commercial construction until the city's infrastructure was improved.

That moratorium has ended, and Ives said the city and Microsoft are discussing ways to plan the company's growth in Redmond, especially since it has bought adjacent land such as the woodsy Eddie Bauer campus.

Relations between the city and its largest employer have also improved since the company hired a city building official, Jim Stanton, to help manage its local development projects.

Ives said cooperation on improving the 520 corridor is one area of interest when large development projects are undertaken in Redmond.

With Microsoft, a development agreement would address the city's concerns about development impacts and give the company certainty about what it can build.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/ABPub/2005/01/27/2002163075.gif

http://www.skyscraperpage.com/forum/showthread.php?threadid=67003

Cabinetmaker picks Utah
$100 million West Jordan plant to hire up to 1,300
By Brice Wallace
Deseret Morning News

An Ohio cabinetmaking company will build a $100 million manufacturing plant in West Jordan that will employ 600 people initially and about 1,300 when at full capacity. KraftMaid Cabinetry Inc., based in Middlefield, Ohio, east of Cleveland, will join state and local officials today in announcing details, but Kim Boos, KraftMaid's marketing manager, said Wednesday that the company will build a 700,000-square-foot plant to serve customers in the company's western and central markets.

"It will be primarily a manufacturing facility, and once the plant is at full capacity, it will employ approximately 1,300 people," Boos said. "They won't all be added next year, when the plant opens, but as capacity of the plant grows, so will the employment level."

The company plans to break ground for construction late in the second quarter of 2005 and have production begin in the second quarter of 2006.

An incentives package approved by Utah officials last year aims to make the new jobs high-paying. Boos said she did not have details about wages at the Utah plant, but "in northeast Ohio, KraftMaid has always provided a very competitive salary range and a very comprehensive benefits package."

"We probably won't be able to begin hiring until later this year, after construction is well under way and we begin to install machinery," she said.

The West Jordan facility will be KraftMaid's fourth. The Hoover's Web site said Middlefield is "in the heart of Amish country" and that KraftMaid operates two plants there — one specializing in cabinetry parts milling, cabinet assembly and shipping, and the other specializing in frame construction and finishing and specialty part finishing. A plant in Orwell, Ohio, finishes cabinetry doors and drawer fronts, it said.

The company was founded in 1969 and was purchased by Masco Corp., based in Taylor, Mich., in 1990.

KraftMaid's speciality is "semicustom" cabinetry, between the "stock" and "custom" segments of the industry and aimed at providing built-to-order cabinets without the custom price or lead time.

State officials said in October that Utah was competing with New Mexico for the new facility but did not name the company at that time. Boos said five states were initially evaluated.

"We selected Utah and Salt Lake City/West Jordan for a number of reasons — it's quality of labor, an abundance of the labor base, as well as the central location to service our customers in the West and central states," she said. "Additionally, it has good proximity of support functions in this general region, a number of potential suppliers and logistical support."

Boos declined to say how many employees KraftMaid has, but a $25 million capital expenditure and expansion project last year added about 150,000 square feet of manufacturing space at its three plants. The company has added about 500 employees since the expansion was announced and plans to add 300 to 500 more "over the next five years or so," Boos said.

State and local government leaders were mum on the topic Wednesday, announcing the news conference but not naming the company. The administration of Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. did not release details when contacted Wednesday afternoon. A spokesman for the Economic Development Corp. of Utah declined to comment on the matter. West Jordan officials referred questions to the city's Web site, which did not mention the company's name.

"This company will be a significant employer for West Jordan and will be an important part of Utah's growing economy," the site said. "It is anticipated that this facility will employ in excess of 1,300. This will be one of the largest manufacturing plants built in the United States in the past several years. Several cities in the western United States were considered before West Jordan was ultimately selected as the location."

Utah put out a strong lure to bring KraftMaid to the state. In October 2004, the state Board of Business and Economic Development approved a $2.25 million incentive to entice the company to put operations in Utah.

The incentive calls for the following amounts if the company keeps operations in Utah at least five years:

- $2,500 per new job with a salary that is 125 percent to 200 percent of the county median wage.
- $4,000 per new job with a salary paying 200 percent or more of the county median.
- $200,000 upon breaking ground for construction.
- Up to $150,000 for pre-startup job training cost reimbursement occurring in Utah.
- Up to $706,000 for post-startup job training cost reimbursement occurring in Utah.

Up to $375,000 for a job transfer program to facilitate the transfer of "corporate culture and values" to the Utah facility — a rarity among incentives offered by the state.

"KraftMaid is a fabulous company to work for," Boos said. The corporate culture encourages innovation and supports mutual respect for all employees, she said, noting that ideas from the shop floor often are implemented in the manufacturing process. "There is an open line of communication across all levels of the company, from management to all the employees in the facility," she said. "It's just really a wonderful company to work for."

Masco's Web site describes KraftMaid as the "world's largest build-to-order cabinet manufacturer."

Well this one is pretty well-known from back in December, but I'll put it here anyway. . .

http://www1.us.dell.com/content/topics/global.aspx/corp/pressoffice/en/2004/2004_12_22_rr_000?c=us&l=en&s=corp

Dell Selects Winston-Salem Site for New North Carolina Manufacturing Facility
Round Rock, Texas, December 22, 2004

Dell today announced plans to build its North Carolina manufacturing facility on a 189-acre Winston-Salem site in the Piedmont Triad, pending completion of final due diligence. Construction of a 500,000 square-foot facility in Alliance Park will begin in January, with completion expected in fall 2005.

Dell in November announced the selection of North Carolina, specifically a location to be determined in the Triad, for a manufacturing facility that is expected to employ about 700 people in its first year of operation and up to 1,500 employees within five years.

Since then, Dell has been reviewing Triad-area site proposals. The Winston-Salem site best met all the criteria for the company's long-term operations, including proximity to employees, development readiness, topography and highway access—all of which were prime factors in the company's selection.

Dell officials also acknowledged the quality of the proposals submitted by other Triad area communities.

"We thank the leaders of Greensboro, Guilford County, High Point and Davidson County for providing a range of attractive site proposals that were responsive to our needs," said Ro Parra, senior vice president and general manager of Dell Americas. "Winston-Salem's Alliance Park location is best suited to bringing our new operation online in time to meet growing customer needs, providing good proximity to an available workforce and supporting our logistics objectives."

"We also appreciate the community's continued support in helping us complete our project on time and we are looking forward to getting to work on the new facility so we can begin to put Triad area residents to work before the end of next year."

Dell's North Carolina plant is the company's third facility in the United States announced this year. Others include a customer-contact center in Oklahoma serving the company's home and small-business customers and a distribution center in Ohio for Dell's growing printing and computer-peripherals business. The company in July also announced a customer contact center in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.

The North Carolina location will add to Dell U.S. manufacturing operations in Austin, Texas, and Lebanon, Tenn., where the company produces its PowerEdge servers, PowerVault and Dell/EMC storage products, and OptiPlex and Dimension desktop computers primarily for customers in North America. Globally, Dell has manufacturing facilities in Limerick, Ireland; Penang, Malaysia; Xiamen, China; and Eldorado do Sul, Brazil.

Recruitment for the new facility is expected to begin in April 2005. People interested in working for Dell can go to www.workatDell.com .

This was sorta well-publicized too, but I feel like putting it here anyway. :D

http://www.detnews.com/2004/autosinsider/0411/10/C01-1289.htm

The Detroit News
Wednesday, November 10, 2004

Honda to build 13th factory in North America
New Georgia plant comes as part of the automaker's $270 million expansion plan.

By Christine Tierney / The Detroit News

Honda Motor Co. confirmed Tuesday that it would build a transmission plant in Georgia -- its 13th factory in North America -- as part of a $270 million expansion of its U.S. operations that will create 600 jobs.

"This strategy represents the continuation of Honda's 25-year commitment to localize our operations close to the customer here in the United States," Koichi Kondo, president of American Honda Motor Co., said at a news conference in Atlanta.

Honda sold 1.53 million vehicles in North America last year under the Honda and Acura brands -- and 80 percent of those were produced at its five assembly plants in the region.

Honda's announcement marks the latest in a string of new investments across North America by Japan's leading automakers, which are boosting production to match their growing share of the market. Toyota Motor Co.p. recently announced plans to build another North American assembly plant, in addition to a truck plant in San Antonio, Texas, now under construction.

Honda will invest $100 million to construct a transmission plant in Tallapoosa, Ga., across the state line from its assembly plant in Lincoln, Ala., that turns out Odyssey minivans and Pilot sport utility vehicles.

The new transmission factory, which will employ 400 people when it reaches full production, will free up capacity at its transmission plant in Russells Point, Ohio. The Georgia factory will still manufacture transmissions for the Honda's assembly plants in Ohio and in Alliston, Ontario. But Honda is investing another $100 million at the Ohio factory to begin production of high-precision gears, currently built only in Japan. "Assigning production of the high-precision gears to Ohio is the ultimate compliment to the technical competence of our facility," said Larry Jutte, general manager for Honda's parts and purchasing in North America.

The investment will create 100 additional jobs in Ohio, where Honda established its first North American production facilities 25 years ago. In addition to the transmission plant, Honda operates a motorcycle factory, two assembly and one engine plant in Ohio. Honda will also invest $70 million for additional machining of engine components at its Lincoln plant in Alabama, creating 100 jobs.

Casey Selecman, an analyst with Farmington Hills consulting firm CSM Worldwide, said the new Georgia plant will take some of the manufacturing burden off the Ohio plant. "It appears to be an overflow facility."

The projects will boost Honda's investment to more than $8.5 billion in North America, where it employs 30,000 people. Honda is also expanding production in other regions, including China. It will build a third assembly plant in Guangzhou.

Someone posted this in the Midwest section of this forum, but might as well stick it here as well . . .

http://www.rrstar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050204/BUSINESS05/50203043

Rockford Register Star
February 4, 2005
Chrysler deal to bring 500 jobs
A parts sorting center will be built next to the Belvidere plant.

By HEATH HIXSON, Rockford Register Star

BELVIDERE — DaimlerChrysler announced Thursday a new parts sorting center will be built next to the company’s Belvidere assembly plant and will employ 500 people through another company.

DaimlerChrysler awarded a $200 million, multiyear automotive parts sequencing contract to TDS/US, a Brownstown, Mich.-based company. It is a minority-owned joint venture with TDS Automotive, based in London, Ontario. TDS has about 4,500 employees in 10 nations.

DaimlerChrysler is expected to begin construction on the 500,000-square-foot building, roughly the size of Machesney Park Mall, within the year and will retain ownership of the structure.

The announcement comes on the heels of DaimlerChrysler’s Jan. 26 news that the company would add 1,000 jobs and a second shift as part of a $419 million expansion and retooling of the Belvidere plant, which employs 1,700, to accommodate production of up to four new vehicles. The company received $36.7 million in state and local tax incentives.

Thursday’s announcement was the fifth major jobs addition tied to the Chrysler expansion. Four other parts suppliers have begun operations or are constructing warehouses in what is becoming a supplier belt around the 2.6 million-square-foot plant.

“We anticipate more announcements to be forthcoming ... such as additional suppliers, additional jobs and investment,” said Mark Williams, executive director of Growth Dimensions, Boone County’s economic development group. “I anticipate more announcements that could eventually reach a level of 3,000 or more.”

All this is part of a national trend in automotive manufacturing. Components have traditionally been manufactured inside large assembly plants. Companies now are moving toward contracting with outside companies to deliver the parts just in time for final assembly.

More than 2,300 automotive parts will be sorted and managed in the TDS/US warehouse and then be supplied to the plant for final assembly, said Ed Saenz, a DaimlerChrysler spokesman.

Saenz said sequencing jobs inside the Belvidere plant would be phased out but the company will "assimilate" the sequencing employees into other positions at the plant. Officials would not give details. Workers inside the sequencing plant would be TDS/US employees.

The company expects to save 12 percent annually in Belvidere by farming out the process to TDS/US, rather than doing it in-house.

"It is an expertise of theirs," Saenz said. "We have been, for a few years now, focusing on our core competencies," such as design, marketing, selling, and final assembly and trim.

DaimlerChrysler officials declined to comment on the wages expected for TDS/US employees. United Auto Workers Local 1268, which represents DaimlerChrysler employees, did not return phone calls Thursday from the Rockford Register Star. TDS/US officials did not return calls.

The news excited local officials. Since January 1998, the region has lost 14,700 factory jobs.

"I don't know if it could be much better," Belvidere Mayor Fred Brereton said.

Brereton said he expected a "domino effect" of jobs and spending to ripple across the entire region. And he said the investment in the area could drum up interest in other companies outside the automotive industry.

"Clearly, when you look at what's going on in the Chrysler plant, it doesn't stop at the Belvidere borders," he said. "You begin to realize the impact of this. You're going to see more retail sales, which creates jobs. There's a great trickle-down effect. It bodes well for the future."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6946304/

U.S. trade gap hit all-time high in 2004
Deficit narrowed in December as oil import prices slid
The Associated Press
Updated: 9:32 a.m. ET Feb. 10, 2005

WASHINGTON - The U.S. trade deficit soared to a record of $617.7 billion last year as Americans’ appetite for all things foreign from crude oil to imported cars hit all-time highs. The United States even rang up a deficit in farm goods as imports of wine, cheese and other food products hit a record.

The Commerce Department reported that the deficit for all of last year was 24.4 percent above the previous record, an imbalance of $496.5 billion in 2003. The U.S. deficit with China also set a record of $162 billion, up 30.5 percent from last year and the largest imbalance ever recorded with a single country.

The sharp worsening of America’s performance in trade was certain to spark new political criticism of President Bush’s economic policies. Democrats contend that the administration has not done enough to crack down on unfair foreign trade practices. These include China’s currency policy, which U.S. manufacturers believe has deliberately undervalued the yuan by as much as 40 percent, giving Chinese companies a huge competitive advantage over U.S. firms.

The trade deficit in December declined 4.9 percent to $56.4 billion. That compared to a revised November shortfall of $59.3 billion, which was still the all-time monthly high but down from a previously reported $60.3 billion.

The administration has argued that the U.S. deficits reflect the fact that America is growing at faster rates than the rest of the world, providing more demand for imported goods. But private economists worry that the deficit has reached such stratospheric levels that foreigners may decide they do not want to hold as much in dollar-denominated assets.

For all of 2004, U.S. exports of goods and services rose 12.3 percent to $1.15 trillion. But imports rose at an even faster clip of 16.3 percent, setting a new record of $1.76 trillion.

The demand for foreign goods was led by a 35.7 percent surge in foreign petroleum imports, which climbed to a record high of $180.7 billion, an increase that reflected not only increased demand but also surging petroleum prices, as global markets pushed oil prices to record levels. For the whole year, the average per barrel price for imported crude was $34.47, up from $26.98 in 2003.

Imports of foreign autos, industrial supplies and consumer goods all set records as did imports of food products, which climbed to $62.17 billion. U.S. exports of food products were also a record at $56.3 billion. But since U.S. shipments abroad were lower than imports, the country recorded a deficit in food categories of $5.8 trillion. It was the third straight year the United States has run a deficit in food, which long had been one of the few areas where the country could depend on surpluses.

U.S. exports did climb to an all-time high, helped in part by a 15 percent decline in the value of the dollar against other major currencies over the past three years. A weaker dollar makes U.S. products cheaper and thus more competitive on overseas markets.

For 2004, exports of food, autos and auto parts and consumer goods climbed to a record and the export of capital goods was at the highest level in four years.

The deficit with China was up 30.5 percent from the previous record for any country, a deficit of $124.1 billion with China set in 2003. The United States also saw large increases in the deficits with Japan, at $75.2 billion, Canada at $65.8 billion and the 25-nation European Union, where the deficit rose to $110 billion.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/6913196/

U.S. economy added 146,000 jobs in January
Data miss economists’ expectations; U.S. jobless rate slides to 5.2 percent
The Associated Press
Updated: 4:19 p.m. ET Feb. 4, 2005

WASHINGTON - America’s employers added 146,000 jobs in January — a pickup from the previous month, but still a somewhat lackluster pace that underscores the slow recovery as the nation’s labor market tries to get back to full throttle.

The latest snapshot of labor market activity, released by the Labor Department on Friday, also showed that the overall civilian unemployment rate dropped to 5.2 percent in January from 5.4 percent in December as people left the job market for any number of reasons. January’s jobless rate was the lowest since September 2001.

The 146,000 gain in payrolls in January — while the most since October — still fell short of economists’ forecasts for a more robust gain of around 200,000 for the month. Jobs gains for December came in at 133,000, down from an initial estimate of 157,000 just a month ago.

“There’s still a level of frustration. The economy is producing a moderate amount of job growth, but not a satisfying amount of job growth. That means there are a limited number of new opportunities for workers,” said economist Ken Mayland, president of ClearView Economics.

President Bush’s first term in office ended up showing a net gains in payroll jobs. From January 2001 to January 2005, the economy generated a net gain of 119,000 jobs. That allows Bush to escape being what Democrats and other critics had projected as the first president since Herbert Hoover to have a net loss of jobs on his watch.

Speaking in Omaha, Neb., Friday to plug his Social Security plans, Bush said he was pleased with the new report.

“That’s a good sign. More people are going to work around our country,” he said. “But we shouldn’t be content. I’m looking forward to working with the members of Congress to create the conditions for continued economic expansion.”

Questions about the health of the nation’s jobs market dogged Bush throughout his first term and was a hot-button issue in the presidential campaign. Ultimately, the jobs situation and the economy wasn’t enough of a concern to deny Bush a second term.

The Federal Reserve, encouraged by the economy’s performance, boosted a key short-term interest rate Wednesday by one-quarter percentage point to 2.50 percent, its sixth increase since June. The Fed also stuck with a measured approach to raising rates in the months ahead.

On the jobs front, Fed policy-makers said: “labor market conditions continue to improve gradually.” For all of 2004, the economy added 2.2 million jobs.

Friday’s employment report contained revisions to data going back to January 2000.

Last year, the economy clocked a 4.4 percent increase in growth, its best performance in five years. Looking ahead, analysts predict that the economy will expand by 3.5 percent or more in 2005. That would be sufficient to spur modest job growth in the months ahead, analysts say.

The administration is predicting the payrolls will grow by 2.1 million this year, a figure that private economists would be respectable.

Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan, speaking in London on Friday, stuck a somewhat encouraging note on a possible improvement to the United State’s yawning trade deficits. Greenspan said a variety of factors from a weaker dollar to tougher budget discipline in Congress may finally start to restrain the deficit’s explosive growth. Greenspan didn’t talk about the future course of interest rate policy in his speech.

In Friday’s report, there were employment gains in January in a wide variety of service sectors, including retail. These were partially offset by job losses at factories and in construction

Manufacturers, which were hardest hit by the 2001 recession and have struggled the most to get back on firm footing, lost 25,000 jobs in January, after shedding 7,000 in December. It marked the fifth straight month that the factory sector lost jobs.

Construction companies cut 9,000 positions in January, probably related to wintry weather. That came after 14,000 positions were added in December.

The service sector, the engine of job creation, showed hiring gains in January. Retailers added 19,200 jobs, an improvement from a loss of 8,100 in December. Job gains also were reported for education and health services, in the financial sector and in transportation.

http://money.cnn.com/2005/02/11/news/fortune500/citigroup.reut/index.htm

Citigroup to cut up to 1,000 jobs?
World's largest financial services company to trim corporate, investment banking force by 2-3%.
February 11, 2005: 12:51 PM EST

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Citigroup Inc. is trimming its corporate and investment banking work force by 2 percent to 3 percent, which could result in the loss of more than 1,000 jobs, a person familiar with the matter said Friday.

The cuts are expected at all levels within the unit, which employs about 48,000 people, the source said. New York-based Citigroup is the world's largest financial services company.

"We are making limited staff reductions, consistent with two fundamental objectives: keeping expenses low while continuing to invest in areas where we see growth opportunities," Citigroup spokeswoman Christina Pretto said. She declined to say how many jobs are being cut.

The corporate and investment bank last quarter reported a profit of $1.69 billion, up 32 percent from a year earlier. Revenue rose 15 percent to $5.46 billion, but expenses rose 25 percent to $3.3 billion. The latter included a 48 percent increase in compensation and benefits costs.

Citigroup (up $0.51 to $49.49, Research) shares were up more than 1 percent in midday New York Stock Exchange trading.

The company announced earlier in the day that it will simplify its business structure and streamline its capital markets activities, saying it plans to merge its Citigroup Holdings Co. and Citicorp intermediate bank holding companies into the parent company.

Pending regulatory approval, the deal should go through by the end of the third quarter, and Citigroup will assume Citicorp's existing debt and guarantees.

Citigroup also said it will consolidate capital markets funding activities into two legal entities. Citigroup Inc. will continue to issue long-term debt, preferred securities and common stock, while Citigroup Funding Inc., a new unit, will issue commercial paper and medium-term notes. This consolidation will begin in the second quarter.

The company did not immediately return a call seeking comment on why it is making the changes.

Here's an interesting article pondering whether or not the current housing boom is sustainable or not . . .

http://money.cnn.com/2005/02/08/real_estate/bubble_debate/index.htm

Will housing prices pop?
Experts debate whether the housing market is an overinflated bubble or a strong seller's market.
February 9, 2005: 8:06 AM EST
By Chris Isidore, CNN/Money senior writer

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Is the real estate market a dangerously overvalued bubble that needs to pop sooner than later, or is the market for homes strong enough that prices can and will keep rising?

Both answers were argued at a forum on the state of the real estate market Tuesday, along with the middle ground that the market is more or less valued just right in its current form.

The forum was sponsored by Demos, a public advocacy group that concentrates on questions of economic opportunity, among other issues. While the group has put out its own papers posing worries about the current debt levels among the middle class, its panel presented a wide range of views on the state of the real estate market.

Arguing that the real estate market is a bubble certain to pop, probably sooner than later, was Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic Policy Research, a Washington think tank. He presented data showing that while housing prices generally tracked close to the overall inflation rate for nearly 40 years starting in the mid-1950s, home values have grown about 40 percent in real terms since 1995.

He said that's the kind of rapid rise that is not justified by the fundamentals. He compared it to the late-1990s stock market bubble and in the Japanese real estate market in the 1980s before prices there collapsed.

"There's a speculative mentality of people thinking housing prices will only go up," he said. "That's not the real world."

Baker's position was challenged by Jonathan McCarthy, a senior economist with the Federal Reserve of New York, as well as Barbara Corcoran, founder of the Corcoran Group, a leading New York real estate firm.

McCarthy argued that issues such as home improvements and income growth have helped support some of the basic fundamentals of the market. The home improvements have increased the underlying value of the homes more than simple home price data would not capture, he said, and the combination of income growth and low interest rates have increased the affordability of homes even faster than home prices have climbed.

"If there's a bubble, prices have been bid up beyond the underlying fundamentals, and buyers have done so in the expectation that prices will continue to rise," he said. "Rapid price increases are not sufficient to say that there is a bubble out there."

McCarthy did not dispute that there were some markets where housing prices have outstripped fundamentals, but he said that they are mostly along the eastern seaboard north from Washington D.C., as well as along the West Coast. "These areas will always tend to be more volatile," he said. "But on a national scope there's probably no housing bubble."

Corcoran challenged McCarthy's view that places like New York may be in a housing bubble. She confessed that as a real estate agent her view is biased. "I can't afford to be open minded," she admitted to laughter of the crowd.

She pointed to a few key numbers she sees that suggest even a supposed bubble market like New York City is in much stronger shape than before housing prices collapsed here, with the 1987 stock market crash.

"Today, seven out of 10 listings here are selling at or above the asking price," she said. "In 1987, before the stock market crash, it was three out of 10. When I compare the number of listings over the last year, it's down 40 percent from the previous year. This is a hell of a seller's market."

"I would not be the least surprised if prices go up 25 percent in the next year, even if people out there think I'm smoking dope," she added. "There's too short a supply, too many buyers." Top of page

Okay....

http://www.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/stories/2005/02/21/focus3.html

Spanish wind company to build plant in region
Facility will bring part-time, full-time jobs
Jennifer Curry

Pennsylvania is set to see the amount of wind power that it produces almost double in the next year.

A few weeks after Gov. Ed Rendell signed a renewable energy bill in December that requires 18 percent of the electricity sold in the state to come from renewable and advanced energy sources in 15 years, the Spanish wind-energy company Gamesa Corp. announced it will base a manufacturing facility for wind turbine generator blades at the South Park Industrial Complex in Ebensburg, Cambria County. In addition, at least three other wind projects are in the works, including Stonycreek Windpower, a proposed 64.8 megawatt wind project near Somerset.

"It (Gamesa's announcement) shows that it is a strong energy market and is one that will tap an untapped potential," said Christine Real de Azua, spokeswoman for the American Wind Energy Association.

According to Ms. Real de Azua, Pennsylvania currently generates about 129 megawatts of wind power, and close to 100 new megawatts of wind power could be installed in 2005. In 2004, the United States wind energy industry added 389 megawatts of new wind generation nationwide, increasing the total amount of nationwide wind energy to 6,740 megawatts, which is enough to serve more than 1.6 million households. Much of this growth can be attributed to federal and state policies promoting wind energy.

The Washington, D.C.-based AWEA predicts that more than 2,000 megawatts of new wind power capacity will be added during the coming year nationwide. And, although less than 1 percent of current energy comes from wind, by 2020, it will grow to 6 percent.

Proponents have said this increase will provide an economic boost to the region in addition to helping the environment. Yet, others have said that wind energy will be unreliable, drive up the cost of electricity for consumers and fail to create many permanent jobs for the region.

Job Creation
Gamesa had previously announced in September that it would base its U.S. headquarters and East Coast development offices in Philadelphia. With the opening of the new facility in Ebensburg, the company's Pennsylvania development plans will total about $40 million in investments.

The opening of Gamesa's manufacturing facility is expected to create as many as 500 part-time construction and operations jobs and 236 permanent manufacturing jobs. The construction, operation and maintenance of Gamesa's wind farms, along with its two Philadelphia offices and manufacturing plant, are expected to create as many as 1,000 jobs in the state over the next five years.

However, Glenn Schleede, a retired energy expert who spent more than 30 years working on energy matters in the federal government and private sector, said that frequently, many of the construction jobs come from outside of the region, and wind farms usually need only a few permanent people to keep them running. He pointed to the Top of Iowa Wind Farm, an 80-megawatt wind farm that was built in 2001 in Worth County, Iowa, as an example. There are currently only six permanent jobs there, and although there were 200 construction jobs, only 20 of these jobs were from the local area.

Karen Ervin, president of the Rockwood-based Friends of the Appalachian Highlands, Fayette County, said most of the jobs created will be short term through the construction of the wind turbine facility. While this may provide temporary short-term employment, it will not create substantial long-term employment.

"Any industry that creates substantial long-term employment is an asset to Pa.," Ms. Ervin said. "However, any industry that does provide temporary short-term employment is welcome to any economically depressed area -- provided it employs local trades and those within the area."

Getting Going
Still others question whether, even with the new bill that was passed, wind energy will really take off in Pennsylvania and help the economy.

David Hughes, executive director of Citizen Power, a Pittsburgh utility watchdog organization, said that, although he hopes new wind farms will be built, he is not sure the bill the governor passed will lead to more wind development in Pennsylvania. More than half of the 18 percent of clean-energy sources are required to come from energy-saving measures on traditional power generators and new technology that reuses coal waste rather than just renewable sources, such as wind and solar power.

"We ended up with a bill that promotes dirty energy sources more than clean and renewable sources," Mr. Hughes said.

Ms. Ervin, however, said that assisting in keeping the coal plants clean is one renewable energy technology that should be invested in.

"Coal facilities are strictly regulated and create long-term employment for local trades and individuals, plus have a one-to- five job spin-off," Ms. Ervin said.

According to a study released in October 2004 by the Renewable Energy Policy Project, Pennsylvania ranked seventh in terms of states most likely to benefit from wind investment. The study found that Pennsylvania has the potential to create 7,622 jobs, with an average investment of $2.54 billion.

And Pennsylvania has been one of the leaders in terms of wind energy growth.

"Among the Eastern states, Pennsylvania has developed the most at this point," said Ms. Real de Azua. "Its policies continue to be forward looking."

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&ncid=1203&e=10&u=/nm/20050217/bs_nm/economy_jobless_dc&sid=95609869

Jobless Claims Dip Unexpectedly Last Week

Thu Feb 17, 8:37 AM ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The number of Americans claiming initial jobless benefits fell unexpectedly by 2,000 last week to the lowest level in more than four years as the U.S. labor market continued to strengthen, a government report showed on Thursday.

First-time claims for state unemployment insurance aid dropped for the third consecutive time, to 302,000, in the week ended Feb. 12 from 304,000 in the previous week, the Labor Department (news - web sites) said. It said there were no special factors to account for the drop in claims.

Last week's decline marks the lowest level since October 2000, before the economy tipped into recession.

Wall Street economists had expected a rise in claims to 315,000. The surprise fall is likely to boost analyst expectations for February's broader payroll report, which surveys employers at the same time of the month as last week's jobless claims report.

The payrolls report, due out in March, is compiled in the pay period which contains the 12th day of the month.

The closely watched four-week moving average, which smooths weekly volatility in claims, also fell, to 311,750, down 4,000 from the previous week.

Continued claims, a measure of the number of people receiving benefits after an initial week of assistance, fell 14,000 to 2.72 million in the week ended Feb. 5, the latest period for which the data is available.

i'll sticky this...

^Thanks!

The Wall Street Journal
Tuesday, February 22, 2005

Toyota to Expand in North America
Two New Plants Are Likely In Aggressive Market Push; Aiming for GM's No. 1 Spot

By Norihiko Shirouzu

DETROIT – Toyota Motor Corp. will likely add two more assembly plants in North America by the end of the decade as part of its broader strategy to take a bigger chunk of the world's richest auto market and challenge General Motors Corp. as the world's No. 1 auto maker.

Toyota will likely announce a site for a No. 7 assembly plant in North America by the end of this year and begin a search for a No. 8 plant soon thereafter, according to senior company executives. The new facilities would follow the opening this month of a plant in Mexico that will make small pickups and truck beds. Toyota is also finishing a big new factory in Texas that will start next year building a new line of large pickups aimed at the heart of the American market.

Though details have yet to be determined, the new plants would represent a sizeable investment. Toyota's assembly plants each employ an average of about 4,000 to 5,000 employees and represent an investment of $1 billion or more. For example, Toyota says it has invested $2.5 billion in its truck factory in southern Indiana, which now employs about 4,800 people building about 300,000 vehicles a year.

Toyota's aggressive expansion in the face of chronic overcapacity in the North American vehicle market promises to accelerate a painful shift of power and jobs in the U.S. auto industry. With growth in overall U.S. vehicle sales stuck in neutral, the industry appears to be headed for a period in which strong players use their financial and market power to hammer weaker ones into surrendering market share.

The unionized operations of Detroit's Big Three are at risk, in large part because over the years management has agreed to rich pension and health-care packages that now saddle them with $1,000 to $2,000 per vehicle more in costs than Toyota's new North American operations, according to industry analysts. DaimlerChrysler AG's Chrysler Group already underwent a painful downsizing earlier in the decade, but now appears to be the better for it as some well-received new models are boosting profits.

GM and Ford Motor Co. also have closed several factories and squeezed out thousands of white-collar jobs. But the two Detroit giants have continued to lose market share despite a variety of new models. GM put its North American capacity utilization at 86% for 2004, suggesting it has about five plants too many. But estimates of overcapacity can vary widely. Morgan Stanley analyst Stephen Girsky says that GM may have as many as 15 factories more than it needs to satisfy true retail demand for its North American models, not counting low-margin sales to employees and suppliers and bulk sales to big fleets.

Investor worries that GM and Ford have more to lose in the coming U.S. industry shakeout are reflected in their beaten up share prices and their downtrodden debt ratings. GM and Ford's debt securities are rated one notch above junk by Standard & Poor's Corp. Moody's Investors Service last week said it now has a negative outlook for its GM debt rating, which is two notches above junk grade.

Other auto makers, such as Japan's Mitsubishi Motors Corp., could get damaged as the industry's titans battle for share. Mitsubishi suffered a 37% collapse in U.S. sales last year. Isuzu Motors, Ltd., partly owned by GM, suffered a 9% sales drop last year to just 27,608 vehicles – fewer than Toyota sold in an average week last year.

Despite relatively flat sales volumes and declining inflation-adjusted prices for many vehicles, industry leaders say the U.S. market remains the world's largest.

From the point of view of Japan's Big Three auto makers –Toyota, Honda Motor Co. and Nissan Motor Co. – there remains enormous, untapped profit potential in the U.S. market. Honda, for example, just launched its first entry into the pickup truck market, the Honda Ridgeline, in a bid to take a slice of the outsize profits in that segment. Nissan Chief Executive Officer Charles Ghosn said earlier this year in Detroit that his company's strategy is to compete in every significant market segment in the U.S. – one reason why Nissan built a factory in Mississippi, which came online in 2003, to produce large pickup and sport-utility vehicles.

Driving Toyota's capacity expansion plans is a long-term goal of capturing 15% of the total U.S. passenger-vehicle market, up from 12.2% last year. The U.S. share goal matches a global 15% share target. If Toyota hits that 15% global share, it would be as big as No. 1 auto maker GM is now. One sign of Toyota's seriousness: The Japanese auto maker says its capital spending in 2004 totaled about $8.5 billion – about 15% more than GM's $7.3 billion in capital spending for the year.

Last year, Toyota sold a total of 2.06 million cars and trucks in the U.S., up 10.4% from a year earlier. Growth is likely to slow somewhat, but by 2010 Toyota aims to control 15% of the U.S. auto market. In 2004, that would have translated to sales of more than 2.5 million vehicles, or about 100,000 vehicles more than current No. 3 U.S. auto maker DaimlerChrysler. By 2006, Toyota is expected to have capacity to manufacture more than 1.6 million vehicles a year in North America. Toyota's five current factories in the U.S. employ approximately 22,230 people. The Texas plant, which is still under construction, is expected to eventually employ 2,000.

The Toyota executives said its No. 7 and No. 8 plants are likely to be picked from locations the company considered in the recent site-search that that zeroed in on San Antonio. Sites examined in that search included locations in northern Mississippi, western Arkansas, an area near Memphis, and the Canadian province of Ontario, they said.

Toyota executives said the No. 7 plant may be devoted to production of small cars – most likely the Scion tC sports coupe and others from Toyota's new youth-oriented brand, as well as the compact Toyota Rav4 car-SUV crossover. One executive noted, however, a definitive direction hasn't emerged on the question of what models to produce at the new plant. It wasn't immediately clear what product the No. 8 plant would produce.

Dennis Cuneo, a senior Toyota executive who is often involved in manufacturing-site selection in North America, declined to elaborate on specific plans. "If we continue to grow in North America, we will have to add capacity to meet the demand," he said. "We haven't made any decisions on the timing or place of the capacity expansions."

As sales expand, some Toyota executives express concern that the company's growth may provoke a backlash from the Detroit auto makers. To quell such criticism, Toyota President Fujio Cho has said he wants Toyota to build an increasing number of vehicles it sells in the U.S. in North America and create more jobs there.

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=businessNews&storyID=7733245

U.S. Data Shows Economy on Solid Ground
Thu Feb 24, 2005 05:40 PM ET

By Tim Ahmann

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - New orders for long-lasting U.S. made goods slipped in January and initial claims for jobless benefits rose last week, but rising business demand for capital goods showed the economy still on solid ground.

Durable goods orders tumbled 0.9 percent in January as demand for autos and civilian aircraft fell, but the drop followed an upwardly revised 1.4 percent December gain, the Commerce Department said on Thursday.

Separately, the Labor Department said first-time claims for state unemployment aid rose by 9,000 to 312,000 last week.

Wall Street had looked for claims around 305,000 and had expected orders for durable goods, pricey items meant to last three years or more, to post a slight rise.

The details of the reports, however, were mostly upbeat, showing businesses poised to spend and the number of people on the jobless benefit rolls dropping.

"Both releases indicate that the economy has significant momentum starting 2005," said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Economy.com in West Chester, Pennsylvania.

The dollar rose and prices for U.S. government bonds slipped on the data, the details of which were seen as bolstering the case for further interest-rate hikes from the Federal Reserve. Stocks were dogged by high oil prices but managed to post gains.

CARS AND PLANES

A 5.3 percent plunge in demand for transportation equipment lay behind the drop in durable goods orders, which was the first since October. Motor vehicle demand slipped 3.8 percent and orders for civilian aircraft plummeted 27.1 percent.

However, excluding the often-volatile transport category, durable goods orders climbed 0.8 percent, ahead of expectations for a 0.4 percent rise.

Economists said future transport figures would get a boost from an order for Boeing Co. (BA.N: Quote, Profile, Research) planes valued at more than $4 billion announced by Ryanair (RYA.I: Quote, Profile, Research) on Thursday.

The report also offered upbeat news on the outlook for business investment spending. Civilian capital goods orders, excluding aircraft -- a figure economists see as a proxy for future business spending plans -- grew a healthy 2.9 percent.

Analysts said the figures were especially heartening since a temporary tax break meant to boost investment spending expired at the end of last year.

In addition, shipments of durable goods rose 1.5 percent, building on a 2.8 percent December advance -- suggesting spending on durable goods could help underpin economic growth at the start of the year.

HIRING PICKUP?

Economists looked past the blip up in jobless claims at a trend they said reflected a strengthening job market.

A closely watched four-week moving average of initial claims, which smooths weekly volatility, fell for the second straight week to reach 308,750 -- its lowest level since November 2000, before the economy tipped into recession.

"The overall trend is still quite encouraging," said Alan Ruskin, research director at 4Cast Ltd. in New York. "This is consistent with improvement in labor market conditions."

While the low level of claims suggests layoffs have slowed, the report also contained a sign hiring -- the other side of the job-creation equation -- may have picked up.

The number of people still on state benefit rolls after claiming one week of insurance fell for the second week in a row, dropping 62,000 to 2.65 million in the week ended Feb. 12, the latest period for which the figures are available.

In a further suggestion of hiring gains, the private-sector Conference Board's index measuring the volume of help wanted advertising in newspapers rose in January to its highest level in nearly two years.

A survey of chief executives from some of the world's top companies also found optimism on the U.S. economy's prospects.

Around 85 percent of the CEOs surveyed by the Business Council and the Conference Board said U.S. economic conditions were the same or better than six months ago, and 40 percent expect further improvement in the next six months.

http://www.reuters.com/newsArticle.jhtml?type=businessNews&storyID=7700297&section=news

Acuity Brands to Cut Jobs, Take Charge
Tue Feb 22, 2005 09:12 AM ET

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Acuity Brands Inc. (AYI.N: Quote, Profile, Research) said on Tuesday it would slash 1,1000 jobs worldwide, or about 15 percent of its salaried work force, and take a $17 million pretax charge in its fiscal second quarter ending Feb. 28.

The Atlanta-based maker of lighting and specialty chemicals said it expects the job cuts will reduce operating costs by at least $13 million in the second half of fiscal 2005 and about $50 million annually by the end of calendar year 2005.

http://www.expansionmanagement.com/smo/newsviewer/default.asp?cmd=articledetail&articleid=16350&st=3

Infineon Technologies Expanding its Richmond, Virginia Facility
Chip-maker's $1 billion expansion will double the production capacity at Richmond metro plant.
By: Roy Harryman

Infineon Technologies is in the midst of a $1 billion, 550,000 square foot expansion of its complex in the Richmond, Va., metro that will ultimately result in about 1,200 new jobs and double the plant’s production capacity.

Since much of the news in the chip-making industry has been about offshoring, the Richmond expansion is notable, said Henry Becker, managing director of Infineon Richmond.

“You hear in the U.S. so much discussion about outsourcing,” he said. “We are an example of just the opposite.

“That speaks volumes for the work force. We’re competing with suppliers who have facilities all over the world,” Becker added. “The Richmond plant has consistently ranked as one of the industry’s most productive factories, based on our own analysis and global benchmarks across the chip-making sector.”

The expansion project qualified for incentives including $3 million for site preparation from the Governor’s Opportunity Fund and a matching grant from Henrico County, $1.1 million in training from Virginia’s Workforce Services Program and as much as $1.1 million from the Major Business Facility Job Tax Credit. In addition, Infineon could be eligible for $55 million in performance grants if the company meets investment and job creation goals.

Companies are also relocating their operations to the Richmond metro.

In September, Tredegar Film Products announced it would move its R&D and technical centers from Indiana and Illinois to Richmond, which is already home to its parent company. The moves are expected to reduce operating costs by $2 million annually.

The firm, a subsidiary of Richmond-based Tredegar Corp., is a supplier of materials for use in personal and household products and films for packaging and niche uses.

Earlier in 2004, Standex International announced it would make the Richmond metro the headquarters, R&D center and manufacturing site for its Standex Engraving Division, moving operations from a plant in Rochester, N.Y.

“The Richmond facility is larger, has space available, is better located geographically and houses additional capabilities,” said Karl Shaw, president of Standex Engraving.

Financial Services Firms Capitalize on Metro

Financial service companies have been rapidly expanding in Richmond. The city became home to a new Fortune 500 company in May when an IPO resulted in Genworth Financial Inc., the former GE Financial Assurance Co.

Mortgage lender Saxon Capital announced a 115,000 square foot expansion of its headquarters in September. The $17 million investment will result in 234 new jobs, and Virginia Credit and Finance chose Richmond for its debt collection and call center operations in May. A $1 million facility will be the home of 150 new employees for Virginia Credit.

Both companies’ employees will receive training through the Virginia Workforce Services Program.

In addition, the merger of Wachovia Securities and Prudential Securities is expected to create 1,000 jobs in the Richmond metro, where it is investing $8.3 million in area facilities.

“The Richmond area’s sense of community, large and affordable housing stock and natural attractions are very important to our ability to attract individuals whose energy and ideas will drive Wachovia Securities’ growth,” said Danny Ludemen, president and CEO, of the company.

The merger resulted in some Prudential employees transferring from New York City.

This is an addendum to my earlier story about Toyota's new plant in San Antonio . . .

http://www.expansionmanagement.com/smo/articleviewer/default.asp?cmd=articledetail&articleid=16330&st=1

Toyota Suppliers Continue to Locate in San Antonio
Employment and investment resulting from Toyota’s new assembly plant are 50 percent greater than originally anticipated.
1/12/2005
By: Bill King

Eighteen suppliers to be located on the site of Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Texas (TMMTX) will employ 1,500 and invest about $150 million, Gov. Rick Perry said in a news conference late last year. Employment and investment are 50 percent greater than earlier estimates.

TMMTX will employ about 2,000 team members and invest $800 million in a plant that will produce 150,000 Tundra pickup trucks annually. When production begins late next year, on-site suppliers will provide a myriad of parts, materials and logistics services.

“The advantages of locating these suppliers on-site include holding down logistics costs, as well as the ability to work closely with Toyota in assuring quality,” said T.J. Tajima, president of TMMTX. “The suppliers appreciate the support provided by the city, county and state to help them create these jobs.”

Among the 18 suppliers are several joint ventures involving business partners from San Antonio.

“Toyota’s expansion in Texas is having a huge impact on the Texas economy,” Perry said. “Not only will Toyota’s $800 million new plant eventually create 2,000 direct jobs, it is already attracting parts and service suppliers who will add thousands of additional jobs to that total. In addition to the direct jobs created by Toyota, 18 Toyota suppliers will soon open shop on the grounds of the Toyota plant, creating 1,500 new jobs and making an additional capital investment of $150 million.”

Valero Energy Chooses San Antonio to Supply Retail Stores

Valero Energy Corp., a Fortune 500 company based in San Antonio with about 20,000 employees and expected annual revenues of around $500 billion, announced in October its intention to develop its own distribution center in the San Antonio area to supply the majority of its U.S.-based convenience stores with retail merchandise. Valero operates 4,500 retail outlets in the U.S., Canada and the Caribbean under various brand names, including Diamond Shamrock, Shamrock, Ultamar, Valero and Beacon.

“With the new center, we will have more flexibility and control over the supply chain supporting our retail business,” said Bill Greehey, CEO of Valero. “As a result, we’ll be able to supply our stores with the right products at the right time, more quickly and more often.”

Valero is in final negotiations to lease a 130,000 square foot distribution warehouse in Northeast San Antonio and is planning to invest more than $7 million in the facility, which is expected to generate 200 new jobs. Core-Mark International will manage the facility, which is expected to be operational in April.

After capital improvements are completed, the warehouse will include offices; frozen, refrigerated and dry-storage space; and a chilled dock for receiving and shipping perishable products. The plan also calls for the construction of additional freezer space in the center’s second year of operation to accommodate product-line expansions.

A fleet of more than 30 tractor-trailers will deliver merchandise to the stores throughout Texas, and will be outfitted with global positioning systems to track deliveries and optimize scheduling.

San Antonio’s Hispanic Heritage Attracts Company

Last year, Meximerica Media decided to establish its headquarters in San Antonio. The company is the creator of Rumbo (pronounced room-bo), a new network of Spanish-language daily newspapers distributed in select Texas locations, including Houston, San Antonio, Austin and the Lower Rio Grand Valley.

“While San Antonio provides exceptional facilities and infrastructure, its commitment to maintaining its Hispanic heritage and the significant number of first-generation Hispanics in the city convinced us this was the place to grow our business,” said Edward Schumacher Matos, CEO and editorial director of Meximerica Media. “San Antonio residents understand and live the Hispanic traditions, language and lifestyle. That, coupled with its rich history, places our company in a setting where we will be able to attract professionals from various parts of the world who are media experts in developing publications targeted toward the Hispanic reader.”

Schumacher Matos said that the growing economic and cultural force of Hispanics in the United States is influencing everything from retail marketing to food selections. He believes San Antonio is well-positioned in the marketplace to launch a venture aimed at a Spanish-speaking public.

Mario Hernandez, president of the San Antonio Economic Development Foundation, said Meximerica Media’s interest in San Antonio stemmed from the city’s well-known roots in the Hispanic culture but also was swayed by the city’s ability to provide a distinctive insight into its target market and greater access to other markets throughout the United States.

“San Antonio has always been known as a bicultural city, and new corporations such as Meximerica confirm that the city is well-positioned to take advantage of its heritage,” Hernandez said.

http://www.expansionmanagement.com/smo/articleviewer/default.asp?cmd=articledetail&articleid=16070&st=1

Kokomo, Ind., Leads U.S. Cities in European Expansions
The expansion of Daimler-Chrysler’s automotive complex in Kokomo, Ind., has propelled that city to the top of Expansion Management’s fifth annual survey of European capital investment in the U.S. manufacturing sector. The automaker began production in a new $378 million transmission plant in December.

7/18/2004
By: Ken Krizner and Rachael Hedgcoth

Daimler-Chrysler operates two transmission plants totaling 1.8 million square feet in Kokomo. The facilities employ about 2,000 workers and have the capacity to produce 710,000 units annually. (The automaker also operates two other facilities in Kokomo that predate the merger between Daimler-Benz AG and Chrysler Corp. in 1998.)

The state of Indiana has provided numerous incentives to DaimlerChrysler for the Kokomo complex. The latest incentive is $2 million in work force training funds.

The majority of the funding, more than $1.3 million, comes in the form of grants from the state’s Skills Enhancement Fund. The grants help the company train existing workers.

The Indiana Department of Workforce Development is providing additional support through its Incumbent Worker Training Fund.

The funds can be used to train the 8,000 employees at all four DaimlerChrysler facilities.

“The DaimlerChrysler expansion is more evidence that the state’s economic development initiative is having a positive impact on our economy,” said Tim Monger, executive director of the Indiana Department of Commerce. “Advanced manufacturing operations like DaimlerChrysler are a core component of Indiana’s economy, and we are pleased with the investment it has made in Kokomo.”

DaimlerChrysler is also eligible for tax abatements on real property, and machinery and equipment in the new facility.

“I believe DaimlerChrysler’s selection of Kokomo for its capital investment is because of our community’s support, work force and the incentives provided,” said Greg Aaron, president of the Kokomo/Howard County Development Corp. “Kokomo is recognized as a world class manufacturing community with a highly productive work force.”

Detroit Metro Shares in Euro Expansions

Nearly 30 European companies have invested in the Detroit-Warren-Livonia, Mich., metro during the past two years, making it No. 2 on this year’s list. Many of the expansions are related to the automobile industry. Germany-based Karmann Manufacturing received a single business tax credit valued at more than $2.9 million to build its first U.S. manufacturing facility in Plymouth Township. The project is expected to create more than 250 jobs.

The automotive supplier plans will $13 million to build a plant near its existing technical center for the manufacture of convertible roof systems for two automakers.

Another company based in Germany, ZF Lemforder, plans to expand its operations in Lapeer. The company will invest nearly $35 million in the project, creating 219 new jobs.

ZF Lemforder is the car chassis division of ZF Friedrichshafen AG, a worldwide supplier of driveline and chassis technology. Based in Friedrichshafen, Germany, ZF is among the 15 largest automotive suppliers in the world.

The company considered North Carolina, Kentucky and South Carolina as potential sites for the expansion. A single business tax credit worth $1.1 million during the next 10 years helped convince ZF Lemforder to expand in Lapeer.

L’Oreal USA Expands in Ohio

Other industries have seen their share of expansions in the United States.

Beauty care products company L’Oreal USA Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Paris-based L’Oreal SA, is expanding its operations in Streetsboro, Ohio, in the Akron metro (No. 25). The beauty icon is expanding its distribution center capacity in support of its professional products division.

The company looked at sites in Kentucky and Ohio but ultimately chose Streetsboro for the 650,000 square foot warehouse and distribution facility. L’Oreal plans to consolidate operations from its Hebron, Ky., and Solon, Ohio, facilities at the new site.

The $9.5 million project is expected to create close to 70 jobs and retain about 190 positions.

The state of Ohio provided the company with a $50,000 Business Development grant to help offset the costs associated with acquiring and installing new machinery and equipment for the project.

One state over, more than 285 companies in the Pittsburgh metro (No. 35) are based in Europe or owned by a European entity.

The Pittsburgh Regional Alliance (PRA) maintains bilateral partnerships with economic development organizations in France, Germany and the United Kingdom.

If one of its European partner organizations is working with a local company seeking to enter the United States, PRA will create a “soft landing” for that company in the Pittsburgh region by assisting with introductions to peer companies, identifying real estate options and professional service providers, and seeking funding assistance and work force training services, said Ronnie L. Bryant, president and chief operating officer of PRA.

One of those companies, medical device manufacturer Medrad Inc., has expanded its operations in the Pittsburgh metro.

Medrad, a subsidiary of Germany-based Schering A.G., has invested $2.8 million to further automate production of one of its core products, disposable syringes that are used to inject patients with contrast media needed to produce diagnostic images.

The company employs more than 1,000 workers at a 154,000 square foot manufacturing facility in O’Hara Township.

http://www.expansionmanagement.com/smo/articleviewer/default.asp?cmd=articledetail&articleid=16359&st=1

Manufacturer To Site New Plant in Cullman, Alabama
Highly educated work force helps attract North Vernon Industry to Alabama metro.
2/14/2005
By: Tricia Hyland

North Vernon Industry Corp. (NVIC) will build a 350,000 square foot manufacturing plant in Cullman, Ala., to produce gray iron castings for heavy industrial applications.

NVIC will invest $60 million in the new facility, which will be located on a 32-acre industrial site in south Cullman.

The company will be incorporated in Alabama as Cullman Casting Corp. The plant will produce castings for off-road vehicles, forklifts and other applications.


NVIC is establishing operations in Cullman to serve the needs of existing customers and to offer the company the potential to capture a larger share of the Southeast U.S. market.

Site work began last month, and the facility is expected to start production in December with about 300 employees.

Cullman Casting will employ the latest technology in casting apparatus and will feature state-of-the-art pollution control devices that guarantee the company will be environmentally friendly, said Jack Bodi, vice president of the North Vernon, Ind.,-based company.

The plant will purchase fine iron shavings and borings generated by manufacturing facilities producing parts used in the assembly of drivetrain components.

NVIC considered sites in five communities in northern and central Alabama, along with sites in Georgia and southern Indiana, before deciding on Cullman.

Between three and five employees may relocate to Cullman from Indiana, said Bodi, who will relocate himself and become vice president of operations for the facility. The remaining work force, including management and factory employees, will be recruited from the Cullman metro area.

“Our impressions of the local community college, technical educational programs and the strong public school system all played an important role in determining whether qualified individuals would be available,” Bodi pointed out. “We believe in hiring local people.”

The Cullman Economic Development Agency worked with the city of Cullman, the Cullman County Commission, the Cullman Electric Cooperative and local industry to convince NVIC to site the facility in the metro.

On the state level, officials in the Alabama Development Office played a role in coordinating the effort to attract the project, Bodi noted.

“They did a great job of bringing in all of the state agencies and the Tennessee Valley Authority to address our concerns and convince us that Alabama was the right state for our new operation,” he said.

Topre, Axsys Open Facilities in Cullman

Cullman’s location midway between Huntsville and Birmingham puts it right in the middle of one of the fastest-growing automotive regions in the world.

A decade ago, no automobiles were manufactured in Alabama. In 2004, automakers around the state produced 800,000 vehicles and that figure will only increase in the coming years.

Honda continues to expand its operation in Huntsville and Hyundai will begin vehicle production in Birmingham early this year and gradually increase production until full capacity is achieved in 2007.

This makes Cullman a good location for automotive suppliers.

Topre America, a subsidiary of Tokyo-based Topre, opened a 250,000 square foot facility in the metro last year to produce metal stamping components for Honda, Nissan, Toyota and other automakers.

The company currently employs more than 100 workers at the plant.

The company already has expansion plans on the drawing boards and will eventually have 700,000 square feet. The facility will employ up to 300 workers when fully operational.

“We planted our American roots in Cullman,” said Shiro Uchigasaki, president of Topre America.

Alabama also has roots in the exploration of space, and Cullman is part of that quest.

Cullman-based Axsys Technologies is building a portion of a $1.9 billion telescope in a 20,000 square foot facility that became operational last year.

Axsys is manufacturing the mirrors that will be used on the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), which is scheduled for launch in 2011 and will explore deep space.

The project is a joint effort between NASA, the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency.

Using beryllium, Axsys will construct 18 4-foot hexagonal segments that will comprise the mirrors.

The company employs nearly 250 workers in Cullman, and it is looking to add another 20 employees in 2005.

The telescope will allow scientists to gather information about the formation of stars and galaxies, the evolution of galaxies and how planetary systems were formed.

“JWST is an epic project, and we are proud that our company’s capabilities are fundamental in the ongoing challenge to develop increasingly advanced optical solutions,” said Stephen Bershad, chairman and CEO of Axsys.

And here's some more follow-up to the San Antonio Toyota plant, as well as news related to a new plant in Alabama that Hyundai is building. I'll only highlight the items in this article that haven't been mentioned in any of my previous ones . . .

http://www.expansionmanagement.com/smo/articleviewer/default.asp?cmd=articledetail&articleid=16056&st=1

Toyota, Hyundai Building New Manufacturing Plants in U.S.
Boosted by increasing sales, foreign automobile manufacturers continue to expand their presence in the United States.
6/9/2004
By: Ken Krizner

This expansion mode will increase during the next several years as Hyundai and Toyota launch operations at new manufacturing plants.

When an automobile manufacturing facility is sited, the trickle-down effect of suppliers wanting to gravitate to the region means thousands of additional jobs to those already slated for the plant itself. That’s happening at the anticipated facilities for Toyota and Hyundai.

At least 10 parts suppliers, plus several service companies, will locate at the site of Toyota’s new manufacturing plant in San Antonio, Texas.

Supplier companies will add at least 1,000 jobs to the metro, on top of the 2,000 jobs at the automaker’s plant, which is expected to begin operations in 2006. Supplier investment will be at least $100 million for buildings and equipment.

Construction began in May on a 100,000 square foot facility in Georgetown, Texas, for TASUS Corp., a tier-two supplier to Toyota. The supplier will create 150 jobs within five years.

The Bloomington, Ind.,-based company produces plastic injection-molded parts that will be used in the assembly of the Tundra. The company will also supply other existing customers in the region.

TASUS expects to be operating in the new plant in January.

Toyota broke ground earlier this year on the 2000-acre site, where it will build 150,000 Tundra full size trucks annually. The new plant will represent an $800 million investment.

“Toyota considers its suppliers true business partners who are equally responsible for providing quality to our customers,” said Hidehiko Tajima, president of Toyota Motor Manufacturing, Texas.

The automaker will receive $133 million in incentives, including funds for work force training and to build a utility infrastructure. In addition, the state of Texas will create a rail district, which will connect the plant site with existing rail lines about 7 miles away.

Toyota is expanding elsewhere. The automaker announced that it will expand its plant in Buffalo, W.Va., by 184,000 square feet. The expansion means an additional $80 million investment in the facility, plus 50 new jobs, pushing employment to more than 1,000.

Toyota Motor Manufacturing North America and its subsidiary, Bodine Aluminum Inc., began construction in for a new engine block casting plant in Jackson, Tenn.

The facility will eventually employ 200 and produce 1 million units annually. Production is expected to begin next year.

Suppliers Gear Up for Hyundai Plant
At least 23 suppliers are building facilities to be near Hyundai’s new manufacturing plant in Montgomery, Ala., which is expected to fully operational next June. These suppliers are expected to create more than 4,000 new jobs.

At full capacity, the $1 billion plant will produce 300,000 vehicles per year, including the next-generation Sonata mid-sized sedan and the Santa Fe sport utility vehicle (SUV). Hyundai expects to employ more than 2,000 in Alabama.

Several suppliers from South Korea are building facilities in Alabama.

Mobis will employ 430 workers at its plant near Montgomery. Mobis will supply completed cockpits, front- and rear-chassis modules and instrument clusters to Hyundai.

Shin Young Metal Industries Co. will employ 300 workers in Luverne, Ala., to provide metal stampings.

Also in Alabama, Honda dedicated the production startup of its new assembly line in Lincoln and the production of the first Alabama-built Honda Pilot SUV.

Demand for Honda’s light truck products is strong, which led the company to begin production of the Pilot in April, just 17 months after Honda began construction of the 1.3 million square foot expansion of the facility.

Both Hyundai and Honda are receiving customized work force training from Alabama Industrial Development Training.

Nissan Expands Mississippi Plant
In October, Nissan began production on its first full-sized pickup truck, the Titan, at its manufacturing site in Canton, Miss. By the end of this year, production on the Altima and the Infiniti SUV will begin.

The plant had previously began manufacturing the Quest minivan and Pathfinder Armanda.

The original 2.5 million square foot facility was expanded by 1 million square feet, and Nissan increased its $930 million investment in Mississippi by $500 million.

The facility was expanded to accommodate an increase in sales in North America.

By 2010, more than 26,000 additional high-wage jobs will be created, including those directly employed by the facility, suppliers, retailers, and service and support operations.

The state of Mississippi announced in April that its junior colleges will receive $2.48 million in federal funding for the Mississippi Automotive Training and Skills Enhancement Program. Money from the grant will train workers for Nissan and its suppliers. The funding should provide training for about 1,500 workers.

What a change of pace from the usually downbeat news that we keep getting. Good job Bond James Bond!

^Thank you. :)

I posted this in a thread about Milwaukee a few days ago, but in case some people didn't see it, I'll put it here, too. It's a good example of how China's growing economy, even indirectly, can benefit companies in the US.

The Wall Street Journal
Tuesday, January 25, 2005
Investors Love the Big Machines

In the commodity boom like the one that gripped the world over the past year, many investors see a gold mine in . . . equipment makers.

It's a far cry from Internet highflyers, but digging gold, iron ore or copper out of the ground takes huge amounts of expensive machinery, which is why the share prices of companies such as Caterpillar Inc., Terex Corp. and Japan's Komatsu Ltd. Have risen over the past year.

But among this group are two lesser-known names that are even more specific to this niche; they have the distinction of being strickly mining-machine companies. One is Bucyrus International Inc., which has soared 97% from the offering price of the company's initial public offering of stock last summer. Bucyrus makes mining drills, shovels and most of the world's "draglines," humongous machines used to move soil in open-pit mines. The other is Joy Global Inc., Bucyrus' main competitor, which has seen its stock rise 60% since the start of 2004.

The question for investors is how long the current good times will last and whether it is too late to jump into these stocks. The answer to that hinges almost entirely on what happens to commodities, which are prone to roller-coaster ups and downs. Recent attempts by China to slow its booming economy and signs of moderating prices for certain commodities have made some investors cautious.

"These stocks all across the board have had a tremendous run, so we've pulled back," says Steve Allen, portfolio manager at Preservation Capital Management LLC in Frankfort, Ill. His company doesn't hold any shares in mining-equipment makers, though they have owned them in the past. Similarly, Mark Keeley, vice president of research and marketing at Keeley Asset Management Corp. in Chicago, says his company isn't looking to add to its position in these stocks. Keeley owns shares in Joy, Bucyrus and Terex.

Headquartered only a few miles apart in greater Milwaukee, Bucyrus and Joy Global were considered industrial-age dinosaurs only a few years ago, when unprofitable mines were being closed all over the globe. Both went through bankruptcy-court procedings in the past decade but are riding high now as the revival of the world's industrial economies and the emergence of China as a major importer of raw materials have fueled a surge in commodity prices.

Joy specializes in equipment for underground mining, with roughly 70% of sales going to the coal industry world-wide. James Margard, principle at Rainier Investment Management Inc. in Seattle, says that as long as the prices of oil and natural gas stay high, there will be heavy demand for coal. And even if China's economy slows, he adds, that country is is short of power it will continue to consume vast amounts of coal even through a broader economic slowdown.

Few people see the machines made by these companies, but their work helps make possible huge gains in productivity in mines, which in turn, helps contain some of the inflationary pressures at that end of the production chain. At Bayrus, for instance, the company has developed computer systems that allow technicians on the sixth floor of the company's South Milwaukee headquarters to monitor machines anywhere in the world and help them become more efficient.

"Customers use this like film in the NFL," says Tim Sullivan, the company's president and chief executive, pointing to a computer screen showing real-time movements of a dragline in northern Canada. Mine operators can use this to pinpoint bottlenecks or help machine operators deal with problems that slow production.

But it is in the cavernous factory halls nearby the companies like this see the most obvious impact of the boom. Bucyrus, which shuttered large portions of its plant during the slump, continues to reopen buildings and said last week it plans to lease a plant nearby to handle further expansion. Outside one factory building one recent winter day stood a 65-foot-tall rotary blast-hole drill, a machine used to drill into rock and set explosives. The machine, which was going through final inspection, is destined for an iron-ore mine in Mauritania.

Across town at Joy's headquarters, Chief Financial Officer Donald Roof says his company does well when his customers do well. "U.S. coal in Appalachia is selling for $62 a ton, a year ago it was $30 or $35," he says.

Joy and Bucyrus produce a relatively small number of large machines each year, but each sells for millions of dollars. For instance, Bucyrus last year sold a dragline to Ensham Resources for use in its Australian coal-mining operation that analysts expect will generate $70 million in revenue for the equipment maker and take two years to complete. [My note: For comparison, in the Seattle paper today I read that a 737 costs about $65 million each. So, one of those big mining machines costs more than a jet airplane!!]

There is a crop of investors who are convinced that there is still upward potential. Rainier Investment's Mr. Margard is one. "What's going on in the world in terms of energy demand appears to us to have a long tail and will likely mean a lengthy cycle," he says. Joy is the largest single holding in Margard's Small/Mid-Cap Equity Portfolio mutual fund.

In 4 p.m. composite trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market, Bucyrus's stock eased 11 cents to $35.51, giving the company a market value of about $711 million. Shares of Joy Global, which has a market capitalization of $2.18 billion, were at $27.87, up 60 cents or 2.2% each, as its 3-for-2 stock split took effect.

To be sure, nobody expects commodity prices to keep soaring. The question is whether they will simply moderate – or plunge. Eventually, enough new mining capacity will open or global demand will slump and prices will come down, and with it the stock of equipment makers. But some analysts believe the world economy has entered an extended period in which commodity prices will have higher highs as well as higher lows.

Barry Bannister, an analyst at Legg Mason Wood Walker in Baltimore, says he expects the emergence of a vast new middle class in China and other developing regions – and the growing demand for manufactured goods that comes with it – to help bolster commodity prices until about 2015. He also sees the possibility of hoarding of commodities by users worried about shortages. Mr. Bannister has a "buy" rating on Bucyrus and Caterpillar, a "hold" rating on Joy. His company provides investment-banking services to Bucyrus. Legg Mason says it doesn't hold more than 1% in any of these three stocks.

Frank Husic, chief investment officer of Husic Capital Management in San Francisco, own shares in both Bucyrus and Joy and says he believes equipment makers have "begun a major secular bull market." He likens these investments to owning companies that make machines to make semiconductors duing the technology rally. "When semiconductors boomed in the late 1990's," he said, "you did even better in the semiconductor capital-equipment companies."

--------------------------------------------------------------------

Here's some pics of the machines - really cool, giant monster machines!!!!

Some of Bucyrus' machines . . .

http://www.bucyrus.com/680W.jpg

And here's some from P&H Mining, which is a subsidiary of Joy Global . . .

http://www.phmining.com/photos/images/9020.jpg

http://www.phmining.com/photos/images/4100xpb-1.jpg

Here's what it looks like inside of one of Joy Global's factories that makes smaller equipment:
http://www.joy.com/photo_gallery/photos/12CM12.jpg

http://www.internetnews.com/bus-news/article.php/3394241

August 12, 2004
IBM Hiring Forecast Brightens
By Roy Mark

Driven by growing demand for its global business consulting services, IBM said today it would almost double the number of new hires it originally projected for 2004.

The tech bellwether said it plans to add an additional 8,800 workers to its previous forecast of 10,000 new jobs. The majority of the jobs will be in Linux services, grid computing and business transformation services, according to IBM spokesperson Clint Roswell, who added that about two-thirds of the jobs would be in business consulting.

"The number one hire is a consultant at the intersection of IT and different industries," Roswell said. "The hiring pace has accelerated. In the month of July, we added about 3,000 new jobs."

About one-third of the jobs will be based in North America with another third each in Europe and Asia.

The hiring projections do not include employees gained through acquisitions or jobs outsourced to IBM. The company currently projects to employ approximately 330,000 employees by the end of the year, its highest total since 1991.

Most of the new hires will be experienced IT professionals with only a third focused on recent college and university graduates.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2001968535_paccar30.html


The Seattle Times
Wednesday, June 30, 2004
New shift rolls at Paccar

By Tricia Duryee
Times Eastside business reporter

For the first time in six years, Bellevue-based Paccar has added a night shift at its Renton plant, where heavy-duty Kenworth trucks are built.

The second shift started the week of June 14. Paccar hired 225 people, for a total of about 800 employees at the plant, company Treasurer Andy Wold said.

Increased truck production is a sign that the economy is rebounding.

When demand for consumer goods — from toilet paper to toothpaste — is strong, companies need more trucks to ship their products around the country.

Rising Kenworth production also means more jobs in Renton, where Boeing has cut 9,000 jobs since Sept. 11, 2001.

"There aren't many stories of job increases like this," said Alex Pietsch, economic-development administrator for Renton. "It's obviously great news for the city."

Paccar, the world's third-largest truck maker, is Renton's second-largest private employer — behind Boeing — with 1,210 employees in the city, Pietsch said. Paccar also has a Kenworth engineering-research center, a parts plant and offices in Renton.

Denis Sullivan, who represents the plant's painters, said the hiring spree has had a huge effect on the number of painters, which has nearly doubled from 50 to about 100.

"If Kenworth is hiring, it's like Christmas morning," Sullivan said. "This is huge."

When the growth is put into perspective, it's still off from the plant's peak in 1998, Sullivan said. At the time, there were three shifts and around 300 painters.

Last year, the company said it was installing automated painting machines at its truck plants, including Renton.

"We are closing the gap — we are making it up — but it hasn't been an overnight deal by far," Sullivan said.

The company has hired more than 180 Machinists for the second shift, giving the plant's largest union about 450 members, said Bernie Philips, a business representative with Machinists Local 79.

With the additional shift, Philips said, the plant is making about 30 trucks a day — roughly twice what it was making at the height of the recession.

The company declined to comment on how many trucks the plant builds a day.

The production increase in Renton is similar to those seen by manufacturers across the country, said Bob Costello, chief economist for the American Trucking Association.

In the first five months of this year, freight tonnage being hauled by trucks in the U.S. has increased 6.4 percent compared with a year ago, Costello said.

Truck orders are rising because more goods are being moved by truck and because companies postponed buying new trucks during the recession, Costello said.

That is in line with what Mark Pigott, Paccar's chief executive, said during the company's year-end earnings phone call in February.

He had said he expected a 10 to 15 percent increase in demand this year for heavy-duty trucks in North America.

In March, Paccar announced it had received what might be the largest order in its 98-year history.

The order for 3,000 Kenworths by Phoenix-based Interstate Equipment Leasing is to be filled in the next three years.

Most of the trucks would be built in Renton, a Kenworth spokesman said earlier this year, but some could be built at the Kenworth plant in Chillicothe, Ohio.

That large order was uncommon for Paccar, which is known for dealing with much smaller companies that need only a few trucks at a time.

Orders of all sizes are continuing to be made, Wold said.

Paccar has had to increase production at other facilities across the country and it will continue to monitor assembly rates, he said.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/ABPub/2004/06/29/2001968321.jpg
Workers put all the pieces on a Kenworth truck at the assembly line at Paccar's manufacturing plant in Renton. This month, Paccar added a new shift at the factory, the first night shift there in six years.

why is this thread stickied?

^jmancuso stickied it

OK, here's one I frequently hear complaints about from Lou Dobbs and others . . .

In 2003, Maytag announced it was closing a plant in Illinois and also opening a plant in Mexico. So everyone started complaining that this was a case of "jobs going overseas," blah blah blah.

But the reality was more complex: The plant in Illinois that Maytag closed was actually a old one. Most of the production from there was being transferred to another plant in Iowa. They simply decided to add some extra capacity in Mexico as well.

Here's an article about the Iowa plant expansion:

http://www.ukwhitegoods.co.uk/modules.php?name=News&file=print&sid=370

Maytag to hire 200 workers in Amana
Wednesday, December 10, 2003

MIDDLE AMANA - Maytag Corp. plans to hire about 200 additional production workers at its eastern Iowa refrigerator plant.

The announcement follows job increases at the Middle Amana plant earlier this year. The new employment could benefit workers who have lost jobs in recent eastern Iowa plant closings.

"We're hiring people for a production team," said Lynne Dragomier, Maytag's senior director of corporate communications. The hiring process was brought about by increased production schedules from increased demand on refrigeration products, she said.

The Middle Amana plant, at 2800 220th Trail, will have an on-site job fair from 4 to 8 p.m. Tuesday. Due to company policy, Dragomier could not specify how many positions the company would fill, but said the hiring process must be completed by February.

The starting wage for the jobs at the plan is $11.82 per hour, while the average production wage in the plan is $15.33 per hour.

Maytag is scheduled to close its other existing refrigerator plant in Galesburg, Ill., which had 1,900 employees, in the second half of 2004.

Last month, the Iowa County Board of Supervisors offered Maytag Corp. a tax break if they choose to build a $15 million distribution center on land owned by the Amana Society. The center would create about 125 jobs.

Iowa County officials see the project as an important economic opportunity that would come at no cost to tax payers, supervisor Charles Montross said. The county is willing to set up a Tax Increment Financing District, hold off taxing Maytag for 10 years and rebate any property taxes generated by the warehouse project, he said. In exchange Maytag will pay for the bonds on the project and the cost to improve a portion of Iowa County road V Avenue, from Highway 6/151 to the warehouse site, he said.

"There's a chance North Liberty or us might get it," Montross said of the distribution center.

While Dragomier said Maytag acknowledges a need for a Midwest distribution center, she said Tuesday's hiring process was strictly for the refrigeration plant.

-----------------------------------

Note: I also encountered a more recent article about the opening of the distribution facility in Iowa, indicating that they did go ahead with the new warehouse mentioned in this article.

BJB > nice thread!:)

http://money.cnn.com/2005/02/25/news/economy/gdp.reut/index.htm?cnn=yes

GDP growth revised up
Report puts fourth-quarter growth rate at 3.8 percent, up sharply from prior 3.1 percent estimate.
February 25, 2005: 10:12 AM EST

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. economy grew at a 3.8 percent annual rate in the fourth quarter, the government reported Friday, much stronger than previously estimated due to a stronger trade and investment performance.

The Commerce Department said gross domestic product, the broadest measure of the nation's economy, grew at the revised rate rather than the 3.1 percent reported a month ago. That was slightly stronger than the 3.7 percent rate that Wall Street economists had forecast and only a small decline from the third quarter's 4 percent pace.

Nearly half the revision stemmed from a stronger trade performance, reflecting more robust exports than previously thought.

Statistics Canada corrected a $1.4 billion error in underestimating U.S. exports to Canada during November, and later data also showed the U.S. trade deficit for December narrowed more than had been anticipated.

Despite the fourth-quarter revision, there was no change in the government's calculation that GDP grew 4.4 percent in 2004, much stronger than the 3 percent increase in 2003 and the strongest for any year since 1999, when it expanded 4.5 percent.

Inflation showed signs of perking up in the fourth quarter. A price index favored by Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan -- personal spending minus food and energy costs -- increased at a 1.6 percent annual rate that was close to twice the 0.9 percent gain recorded in the third quarter.

Businesses kept up a brisk pace of new investment. Nonresidential investment climbed at a revised 14 percent rate instead of 10.3 percent reported a month ago and was ahead of the third quarter's 13 percent.

Spending on new equipment and computer software increased 18 percent after growing 17.5 percent in the third quarter.

But growth in consumer spending was revised down modestly to 4.2 percent from a previously reported 4.6 percent rise in the fourth quarter and was less vigorous than the third quarter's 5.1 percent gain.

Most analysts believe the economy has enough strength to keep expanding at around a 4 percent annual rate in the first half of 2005. The Federal Reserve has been gradually ratcheting interest rates up, aiming to bring them to more normal levels as the economic expansion following the 2001 recession is extended.

The Fed's trend setting federal funds rate currently is at 2.5 percent, relatively low by historical standards, and recent minutes from Fed policy-setting meetings have indicated some concern that prices are on the rise.

Economist David Resler of Nomura Securities International in New York said the only surprise was the downward revision in consumer spending strength but he discounted its impact.

"More important are the developments for the first quarter -- with durable goods being strong yesterday we could be looking at first quarter GDP of about 4 percent," Resler predicted. The Commerce Department said Thursday that new orders for costly durable goods excluding transportation were up by 0.8 percent in January.

Investor reaction to the GDP report was muted.

On Wall Street, stocks were little changed in the early going.

Bond prices were flat and the dollar rose versus the euro but fell against the yen.

Well, I'm unsticking it. This is totally off topic, and isn't even being participated in. There's no discussion, only articles.

^Other sections of the forum (India, Germany, South Africa, others) have their own economy threads, so I thought I'd create one for the US, too. Most of them are largely collections of articles, too.

I don't care if it's stickied or not.

Also, not a single post in this thread is anything about highrises or urban spaces, etc... This forum is really going downhill lately, after steadily getting better for quite a while.

^There are a zillion threads in this forum that aren't about highrises or urban spaces.

There are also a zillion threads in this forum about economic stuff.

Many of the articles in this thread are about new factories and factory expansions. Therefore it deals with the built environment.

Crap, there's even a whole section of SSC dedicated to transportation, including a section on airlines and airplanes as well as martime stuff. Now, why are airplanes and ships more related to urban development than factories?

Here are several other threads in SSC where I got this idea from:

Western Australia Business and Economic News (http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=112475)

India Economy Thread - Part II (http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=162541)

India Economy Thread (http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=141671)

The Economy of South Africa (http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=143175) - they even made that one sticky

The German Economy Thread (http://www.skyscrapercity.com/showthread.php?t=173582)

Those are just a few that I know of offhand. I'm sure other sections have them in languages I can't read.

This thread is not that old, only a couple weeks or so. If anyone else is interested in economic news they can post stuff here, or start arguments if they want. Give it time.

I like this thread...

Hey, guess what? The US actually has a non-military shipbuilding industry!!!

http://philadelphia.bizjournals.com/philadelphia/stories/2005/02/21/daily34.html

Philadelphia Business Journal
Friday, February 25, 2005
Kvaerner shipyard gets deal to sell two ships

The Kvaerner Philadelphia Shipyard Inc. said Thursday it finalized a deal to sell two container ships to Matson Navigation Co. Inc. for $290 million.

The contracts provide a boost to the South Philadelphia shipyard, which had been building the two ships without a buyer lined up.

David Meehan, president of the shipyard, said in a prepared statement a deal to sell the ships to a start-up company, OceanBlue Express, did not materialize and so the shipyard "escalated our sales efforts" to find another buyer.

Kvaerner Philadelphia has already sold the first two ships it built to Matson, which is based in the San Francisco area.

The shipyard is a former Navy facility that was transformed into a commercial shipyard with $429 million in public funding and a partnership with Kvaerner ASA, a Norwegian shipbuilding company.

The first ship under these new contracts is due in July, and the second should be ready in June 2005.

There could be other ships to follow. Matson has been granted right of first refusal for up to four additional container vessels before June 2010.

In a statement, Matson said the ships will be used for new service between the West Coast, Hawaii, Guam and China.

--------------------------------------------------

Here's the company's website - it's largely owned by a Norwegian shipbuilding company:
http://www.phillyshipyard.com/

Here's a pic of the old Philly shipyard as it was being converted to civilian use:
http://www.phillyshipyard.com/images/slideshows/aerial/aerial01.jpg

And here's a pic of it now, with a ship under construction:
http://www.phillyshipyard.com/images/photos/aerialyard.jpg

Also, not a single post in this thread is anything about highrises or urban spaces, etc... This forum is really going downhill lately, after steadily getting better for quite a while.


i stickied this thread becuase i felt it did contribute to an intelligible discussion.

and saying this forum is going downhill is pretty much an indirect way of critisizng the way i have been modding section.

No it isn't bro.. You're doing GREAT, believe me. It's about the over abundance of off-topic content.

^There are a zillion threads in this forum that aren't about highrises or urban spaces.

There are also a zillion threads in this forum about economic stuff.

Many of the articles in this thread are about new factories and factory expansions. Therefore it deals with the built environment.

Crap, there's even a whole section of SSC dedicated to transportation, including a section on airlines and airplanes as well as martime stuff. Now, why are airplanes and ships more related to urban development than factories?

And believe me, those off-topic threads in the US discussion forum will steadily find their way to the dumpster.

Also, I don't agree with the existence of a single one of the threads or forums you mentioned. In fact, I was typically the guy fighting to block their creation. The reason this forum is so huge and unwieldly and costly to run, is becuase of all of this off-topic stuff. It makes for great discussion yes, but this isn't the place for it.

^Well, then don't just complain about my thread, complain about all of them.

If you're gonna dump my thread, then dump ALL of the threads in the whole forum that are off-topic.

Sans that, it would be unfair to deny me from doing in this section what people in most other sections are doing.

Frankly, I don't see why threads on the economy are "off-topic" anyway. Since this forum is about the built environment, why not also discuss the forces which cause all those skyscrapers and roads and housing and other development to be built?

^

Frankly, I don't see why threads on the economy are "off-topic" anyway. Since this forum is about the built environment, why not also discuss the forces which cause all those skyscrapers and roads and housing and other development to be built?

I agree with Bond. From a macro viewpoint, economic growth is the engine of the development industry and, at a lower level, the growth of individual corporations lead to specific development projects. I think they are inextricably linked and, therefore, are pertinent to the forum.

Great thread Bond, I have a lot of respect for those that choose to look outside the box and find that we *really* aren't off that bad. And I have a ton of respect for the amount of time you've put into this. Thank you for the read.

^Thanks, FI.

Now, just to quell Jasonhouse's complaints, start posting some articles. ;)

This should be a big boost to the Denver-area economy . . .

http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/business/article/0,1299,DRMN_4_3577815,00.html

Coal conundrum
Western Slope mines churning out clean fuel, but railroad can't ship it all

By Gargi Chakrabarty, Rocky Mountain News
February 26, 2005

SOMERSET - With 30 pounds of tools strapped to his waist, Randy Litwiller walks toward a dark pit and switches on the light from his helmet.

The light illuminates a maze of tunnels about 1,000 feet underground, the rugged walls and low ceilings coated in white lime dust. Litwiller gently scrapes a nearby wall with his fingers and breaks away a chunk of it.

Black, shiny coal.

"This is super-compliant coal," said Litwiller, who manages the Elk Creek mine in Somerset, a 13,000-acre underground mine that straddles the Gunnison-Delta county line. The soft, bituminous coal is rich in heat energy but has little sulfur - making it a relatively clean-burning fuel.

And Somerset, located in the North Fork of the Gunnison River Valley, has hundreds of millions of tons of it. In fact, the valley's three mines - Elk Creek, West Elk and Bowie - together account for more than half the coal produced in Colorado.

Buoyed by the resurgence of coal use among power utilities, Colorado has emerged as one of the fastest-growing coal producers in the nation, with 40.1 million tons in 2004 - up 12 percent from the previous year - for a value of $1.08 billion.

But Colorado's production could have been even higher if the mines had been able to transport more coal out to buyers, mostly power companies in the Midwest and Southern states.

The three North Fork valley mines produced a total of 18.2 million tons of coal last year, yet the railroads that carry it could only ship 17.3 million tons.

The rebounding economy in the past couple of years has put a greater burden on railroads, and coal transportation is suffering as a result.

"The additional demand for railcars by the coal mines conflicted with the generally improving economy," said Andy Roberts, director of coal forecasting at Platts, a research division of New York-based McGraw-Hill Co. "Railcars were required to move grain, equipment, oil tankers and commodities. This put a squeeze on coal transportation."

John Bromley, a spokesman for Union Pacific Corp. - which owns 1,702 miles of track in Colorado - said that after years of stagnation, rail traffic jumped 8 percent from 2000 to 2004.

This pressure on the railroads affects not only the mines, many of which had to cut back production shifts last year, but also the utilities, which complain that railroads are charging more for delivering coal than in the past.

So railroads are investing hundreds of millions of dollars to buy more railcars and locomotives and to rebuild tracks to meet the growing demand.

"It is a changing time for railroad companies, and change is difficult," Bromley said. "For generations railroads had excess capacity, but that is gone now. We have to earn enough to invest and meet those capacity demands."

Union Pacific, which owns the tracks linking the Somerset mines to the distribution point in Grand Junction, has written to mine managers, assuring them of the steps the railroad is taking to restore service levels. The company has promised to haul 19.2 million tons of coal out of Somerset this year. But the miners are skeptical.

"Last year, (Union Pacific) could not meet their plan," said James Cooper, executive vice president of Oxbow Mining LLC, which owns the Elk Creek mine, adding that he is willing to ramp up production if the railroad keeps its end of the bargain. "Do I accept (the promise)?" Cooper said. "I gotta see them do it first. We will load any train that comes in here."

Longwall mining

One thousand feet below the surface at the Elk Creek mine, a steel-toothed grinder - called a "continuous miner" - gnaws huge holes in the coal seam. Once a hole, or gate, is developed, a longwall system is installed that does most of the mining work.

Costing nearly $46 million, a longwall is a giant shear machine that goes back and forth across a panel of coal about 800 feet in width and up to 7,000 feet in length and slices off the coal. The cut coal falls onto a conveyor belt and is carried out of the mine for cleaning and sizing.

As the longwall moves forward slicing the coal, it leaves in its wake an empty chamber without anything to hold it up. Within minutes, the void causes the roof to collapse behind the longwall. But the miners are protected by a series of hydraulic roof supports, a sort of giant umbrella pressed up against the roof that advances as the seam is cut.

Longwall mining, one of the safest techniques, now accounts for about 31 percent of underground coal production. There are about 100 longwall operations in the United States, according to the United Mine Workers of America.

Elk Creek ranked as the No. 2 most productive longwall mine in the U.S. during the first six months of 2004, just behind the Sufco mine in Utah owned by St. Louis-based Arch Coal, Inc., according to Weir International Mining Consultants. The full-year statistics have yet to be published.

At the Elk Creek mine, four miles of 60-inch-thick conveyor belts pick up the coal and carry it to the preparation plant, where the coal is washed of impurities, cut into smaller pieces and delivered to a loading station, where, night and day, it is loaded into long lines of railcars headed northwest to Grand Junction.

The mine produced a robust 6.5 million tons in 2004, and plans to produce about 7 million tons this year - but only if the railroads can haul it all.

"It doesn't make a lot of common sense to hurry up and produce a lot of coal when you slow down on the railroad," Cooper said. "You wear out people by doing that."

Also, stockpiling coal leads to safety issues such as spontaneous combustion where the coal, under certain conditions, ignites itself. So the stockpiles must be moved from one place to another - at a cost of 20 cents per ton. To avoid these problems and expense, Elk Creek cut back production by about 500,000 tons in 2004.

Other problems

In addition to transportation problems, mines also must worry about the lack of experienced miners and the cost to train them.

The mine's 292 workers do not carry shovels and pick axes. Instead, they use computers and electronic control panels to operate the various pieces of equipment. They work eight-hour shifts and take breaks in a lunchroom that has a microwave.

"We just don't have a 7-Eleven here," quipped Litwiller.

Litwiller, however, conceded it is becoming harder and harder to recruit experienced miners these days although mining, on average, pays $81,000 in annual salary plus benefits. Of the eight people Litwiller recruited a week ago, only one person had previous mining experience. The others were mostly ranch workers who will have to be trained.

"I'd say a coal miner has more responsibility than the president of a bank," Litwiller said. "A miner has to be educated in safety procedures, application of first aid in case he has to treat a fellow miner. He also has to understand the mechanisms of the job, a highly technical process."

The Elk Creek mine spent about $100 million in 2004 to operate the mine, including intensive training of workers - a far cry from the $40 million it spent annually some five years ago.

New boom for coal

Coal mining is not new to Somerset. It began in the 1890s when geologist Ira Quimby Sanborn discovered coal in the upper North Fork. Sanborn staked the first claims and set up a small mine to supply blacksmiths.

John Edward Hanson bought the mines from Sanborn and subsequently sold them to Utah Fuel and Iron Co. around 1899 for a healthy profit. In 1902, tracks were laid to haul the coal from the mines.

Since then, mining has been an integral part of the local economy through several booms and busts. The industry suffered a prolonged downturn in the 1980s and 1990s as declining prices forced nearly a dozen Colorado mines to shut down operations.

About a dozen mines are active now. Four Colorado mines, including the three in Somerset and the Twentymile Mine near Steamboat Springs, are among the top 10 underground coal mines in the nation.

The state has nearly 16.5 billion tons in reserves that, if mined at current levels of production, will last another 400 years.

The recent boom really came two years ago when skyrocketing prices of natural gas sent utilities scrambling for cheaper fuel sources to fire their power plants. And there's no energy source cheaper than coal, if one discounts the federal subsidy enjoyed by wind power.

Nationwide, more than 100 coal-fired power plants, including five in Colorado, are either under construction or on the drawing board, according to Platts. Colorado's soft coal - which is low in sulfur and mercury but high in heat content - is much in demand.

The spot price of Colorado coal has jumped to nearly $29 a ton since late last year, up from $11 a ton a few years ago. However, most Colorado mines have not been able to realize higher prices since a big chunk of their production is tied up in long-term contracts at about $15 to $18 a ton. In addition, power companies in the Midwest and South must haul the Colorado coal hundreds of miles.

"Colorado mines of course want to supply coal at higher prices, but they can't because of transportation issues," said Chris Carroll of the Colorado Geological Survey.

Choking at Moffat

The pinch is felt even more by mines in the North Fork valley, which are entirely dependent on a single railroad track to haul the coal from the valley to Grand Junction for further distribution across the country.

The tracks were first laid more than 100 years ago, although they have been upgraded over the years.

Mining companies say a choking point is Moffat Tunnel. One of the country's longest railroad tunnels, it was built between 1922 and 1928 at an elevation of 9,094 feet. The 6.2-mile tunnel, boring through the Continental Divide, provides a link between the state and the rest of the nation's rail system.

The altitude and the steep grade slow the trains, especially the bulky coal trains that take 11 to 15 minutes to clear the tunnel. Once a train passes through, a huge fan inside the tunnel circulates clean air as an exhaust system sucks out the fumes left by the locomotive. It takes between 11 and 16 minutes to clear the Moffat Tunnel before another train can run, said Union Pacific's Bromley.

The company runs 18 trains a day through the tunnel.

"The Moffat Tunnel clearly is a bottleneck," said Deck Slone, vice president of investor relations and public affairs at Arch Coal, which owns the West Elk mine in Somerset. "It is difficult getting trains through it, and we are aware of those issues."

"It always has been challenging getting railcars up to the mines through the mountains, but it has become even more problematic of late," Slone added. "The railroad has informed us it is working to rectify those issues."

New cars, new tracks

Bromley said Union Pacific is planning to acquire 525 new railcars, each costing about $60,000, to haul coal, and 315 locomotives, each costing $2 million, many of which would pull coal trains.

The company is spending $4 million to build a new siding outside Grand Junction. A siding is a side track where a train can sit to allow another train to pass through on the main track. Bromley said this new siding would allow more trains to run on the single track running from Grand Junction to Somerset.

The company also completed the $40 million Denver bypass in December 2004, running from about the I-76 bridge between Federal Boulevard and Pecos Street east to Broadway, to ease the flow of eastbound trains going toward Kansas City.

It rebuilt the lines between Grand Junction and Somerset a few years ago, an investment of $25 million. And the main line from Denver going toward Kansas City, used primarily by the coal trains, was rebuilt in 1998 at a cost of $660 million.

What lies ahead

Even if the railroad keeps its promise and coal prices remain at current levels, coal production in Colorado isn't likely to jump dramatically.

"If we don't get additional environmental regulations that affect how coal is burned or the cost of burning coal, I'd say Colorado is likely to have flat production for the next two to three years," said Andy Roberts of Platts. "There is extra interest in coal because of high prices of natural gas, but there also is a lot of uncertainty around coal in the absence of any clear-cut decision on how to regulate emissions."

"In this big regulatory uncertainty, there is one certainty for Colorado coal: It is high in energy content and low in sulfur dioxide content," Roberts added. "Given these two things, Colorado coal production should fare well in the next 10 to 15 years."

Colorado coal facts As of 2004
• Active mines: 12
• Average life of mines: 27 years
• Number of miners employed: 1,905
• Total production: 40.1 million tons
• Value of coal produced: $1.08 billion
• Coal reserves: 16.5 billion tonsSource: Colorado Geological Survey

Manufacturing will recover, but 1.2 percent gain in construction, in December? With 0.7 in January too, I'll take it!

http://www.indystar.com/articles/7/226093-6257-223.html

Manufacturing slowdown doesn't dismay economists

By Brad Foss
Associated Press
March 2, 2005

The manufacturing sector grew at a slower pace for the third consecutive month in February, though after 21 consecutive months of expansion economists remain confident that the broader trend will continue.

The Institute for Supply Management, a private research group, said Tuesday that its index measuring manufacturing activity declined to 55.3 in February from a reading of 56.4 in January. The February figure was below the reading of 57 anticipated by analysts and it was the index's lowest level since September 2003.

A reading of 50 or above in the index means the manufacturing sector is expanding, while a figure below 50 represents a contraction. The manufacturing data from ISM is watched closely by economists and investors because it offers the first comprehensive look at factory activity for the prior month.

Oscar Gonzalez, an economist at John Hancock Financial Services in Boston, said U.S. manufacturing is not growing as fast as he would like, but he predicted that the weak dollar and the strength of the rest of the economy would help the sector continue to expand in the months ahead.

Even though it has been one of the slowest recovering sectors since the recession, particularly in terms of employment, Gonzalez described himself "quite optimistic" about the country's manufacturing base.

Douglas Porter, deputy chief economist at BMO Nesbitt Burns, said "the strongest growth is behind us" but that he does not consider the loss of momentum to augur contraction in the manufacturing sector.

While most indexes in the February report grew at a slower pace, including those for employment and production, the index measuring exports showed faster growth. Mark Vitner, a senior economist at Wachovia Corp. in Charlotte, N.C., said this reflects the impact of the weaker dollar, which makes U.S. exports more competitive around the globe and which has led some manufacturers in Canada and Europe to shift production to America.

"Exports are likely to become more important this year," Vitner said.

In other economic news, the government reported Tuesday that construction spending rose a strong 0.7 percent in January as low mortgage rates continued to bolster home building and nonresidential construction climbed to the highest level in more than two years.

The increase, reported by the Commerce Department, pushed total construction activity to a record high of $1.05 trillion at a seasonally adjusted annual rate and followed an even larger 1.2 percent rise in December. Analysts had been forecasting a slightly smaller increase given the huge gain in December.

^I see my formatting style is catching on, too. ;) :D

^ LOL red is a good color to highlight. And the article I posted should be at the bottom, if SSC wasn't so damn complicated it would be where it's supposed to be!

A great column on bloomberg.com

http://quote.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000039&refer=columnist_baum&sid=avOl9gPVlHYM

Every Problem Is an Opportunity for U.S. Economy: Caroline Baum

March 2 (Bloomberg) -- Everything that could go wrong did go wrong, yet the U.S. economy sailed right on through.

If you consider the litany of negatives buffeting the economy since the bursting of the stock market bubble in 2000 and the 2001 recession, it's something of a miracle that it managed to grow 2.3 percent in 2002, 4.4 percent in 2003 and 3.9 percent in 2004 (all on a fourth-quarter over fourth-quarter basis).

The economy expanded in 2001 as well, albeit at a miniscule 0.2 percent rate.

And the March-to-November 2001 recession, the shallowest on record, no longer includes two back-to-back quarters of declining gross domestic product, which is the conventional definition of recession. (The National Bureau of Economic Research's Business Cycle Dating Committee, the official arbiter of expansions and contractions, doesn't use the level of GDP to designate the cycle's peaks and troughs.)

Herewith is a short list of hurdles the economy confronted, in no particular order of importance or chronology and freely adapted from various prognostications over the years:

-- a 40 percent drop in the broad U.S. stock market;

-- a 78 percent plunge in the technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index;

-- the biggest decline in capital spending since 1974-75;

-- a terrorist attack;

-- corporate accounting scandals;

-- two wars;

-- too much debt;

-- too little saving;

-- more than enough uncertainty;

-- a contested presidential election (2000);

-- a divisive presidential election (2004), the outcome of which held drastically different implications for business;

-- a record budget deficit;

-- a record current-account deficit;

-- no jobs;

-- no good jobs;

-- good jobs going overseas;

-- good companies going overseas;

-- $50 oil, which is a tax on the consumer;

-- an over-leveraged consumer;

-- a tapped-out consumer;

-- no pent-up demand;

-- no help from the world's No. 2 economy, Japan;

-- an end of the stimulus from tax cuts;

-- an end of the stimulus from mortgage refinancings;

-- a housing bubble;

-- a bubble in high-yield and emerging bond markets;

-- a Federal Reserve pushing on a string;

-- a liquidity trap (see string theory above).

While many of these notions were misplaced to begin with --tax cuts designed to increase incentives don't fade, and a demand- driven rise in oil prices isn't anything like a tax, which reduces output -- it's still an impressive list of obstacles.

What are we to make of the solid and increasingly broad-based growth in the face of all this adversity?

The first lesson is that an economy's natural tendency is to grow. Really it is. Unless you throw some nasty stuff at it -- higher taxes, excessive regulation, unnecessarily high real rates, a curtailment of individual freedoms -- people want to produce. They produce to profit, to have the means to buy whatever it is they want.

Supply creates its own demand (Jean-Baptiste Say). The Fed creates demand as well by increasing the money supply, which is a forgotten tool now expressed in terms of the level of interest rates (they aren't always proxies for one another).

Imprudent Bears

No two business cycles are exactly the same. Sometimes it takes longer for growth to ignite, but eventually the process works.

``Here we are, back on course,'' says Jim Glassman, senior U.S. economist at JPMorgan Chase & Co. ``We owe much of it to the reform -- increased trade, deregulation, lighter taxes -- of the last two decades.''

A second lesson to be learned is to avoid spending too much time hanging out on the Prudent Bear Web site.

Bearishness is a way of life for some folks, an end in itself. Many economists and analysts, not to mention an odd mix of physicians and college professors who write to me (when they're not buying up gold), maintain an Armageddon forecast, month after month, year after year. All that changes is the reason for the looming disaster, once the previous excuse fails to pan out.

A third lesson: Don't get mesmerized by one statistic, says Jim Bianco, president of Bianco Research in Chicago.

``When I talk to overseas clients, they're totally focused on the over-indebted consumer,'' Bianco says. ``What I say to them is: The Nasdaq lost 80 percent of its value, $5 trillion of stock market wealth disappeared, and two planes slammed into the World Trade Center. And the credit card bill is supposed to do us in?''

Live and Learn

Underestimating the adaptability and flexibility of the U.S. economy hasn't been a good bet over the last two decades. Recessions have become rare, inconvenient intermezzos, painful for those who lose their job or their business but of little lasting effect on the overall economy.

True, today's cures can become tomorrow's disease, which is why the Fed has embarked on a mission to normalize short-term rates before easy money leads to a misallocation of capital into housing, in the same way it chased higher prices of tech stocks and dot-com companies in the late 1990s.

To be sure, imbalances can arise, and they may even act as tipping points. However, there's a strong internal corrective mechanism in free-market economies. Prices serve as signals, telling businesses to produce more and consumers to buy less.

The real problems arise when government, always under the guise of making things better, interferes and exacerbates the problem. In so doing, the economy doesn't get a chance to correct - - and learn -- from its own mistakes.

^ LOL red is a good color to highlight. And the article I posted should be at the bottom, if SSC wasn't so damn complicated it would be where it's supposed to be!


Complicated how?

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&ncid=1203&e=2&u=/ap/20050304/ap_on_bi_go_ec_fi/economy&sid=95609868

http://us.news2.yimg.com/us.yimg.com/p/ap/20050304/capt.nyet26003041538.economy_nyet260.jpg

Employers Add Most Jobs in Four Months

By JEANNINE AVERSA, AP Economics Writer

WASHINGTON - America's employers added a sizable 262,000 jobs in February — the most in four months. The new hiring, however, wasn't sufficiently brisk to accommodate a wave of job seekers, and the overall unemployment rate rose to 5.4 percent.

The latest snapshot of the country's employment climate, released by the Labor Department (news - web sites) on Friday, showed job gains across a range of industries — from manufacturing and construction to retail and business services.

The report suggested that the labor market continues to be on the mend, but it still hasn't reached full health, analysts said.

"Indicators are showing some improvement in the labor market situation but we are nowhere near where we need to be," said Ken Mayland, president of ClearView Economics.

The gain of 262,000 jobs in February was stronger than the increase of 225,000 positions that economists were forecasting before the release of the employment report. Payroll growth in February was up from January's sluggish gain of 132,000, which was less than the 146,000 increase initially reported.

The rise in the overall civilian unemployment rate to 5.4 percent in February was up from 5.2 percent in January. The increase last month came in part as more jobseekers streamed back into the market.

The unemployment rate is calculated from a separate statistical survey than the payroll figures. Thus, they can offer somewhat different pictures of what is happening in the labor market.

In other economic news, U.S. factories saw orders for goods rise by 0.2 percent in January, following a 0.5 percent rise in December. Gains in January reflected stronger demand for "nondurable" goods, such as food, leather products and chemicals.

On Wall Street, the employment report helped lift stocks. The Dow Jones industrials gained 78 points and the Nasdaq index was up 15 points in morning trading.

Economists believe the economy in the January-to-March quarter is growing at a rate of around 4 percent, which would be a sufficient pace to spur solid job creation.

President Bush (news - web sites) — who was plagued with questions about the health of the job market throughout his first term in office — wants to see the job market and the economy on a firmer footing. He especially needs that as he tries to sell the American public and Congress on his overhaul of Social Security (news - web sites) and of the nation's tax code.

Wanting to keep the economy and inflation on an even keel, the Federal Reserve (news - web sites) has boosted interest rates six times since June 2004. Another rate increase is expected on March 22.

For workers and jobseekers, it's still a somewhat difficult employment climate, analysts said.

Workers' average weekly earnings held steady in February at $535.83, unchanged from January's figure. There were 8 million people unemployed in February with the average duration of 19.1 weeks without work, down slightly from 19.3 weeks in January.

Meanwhile, the share of the working-age population working or actively seeking a job in February was 65.8 percent, unchanged from January when this figure sank to a nearly 17-year low.

In February, the nation's manufacturers added 20,000 positions. Employment growth in factories came after five previous months of job losses. Employment gains in the manufacturing of motor vehicles and parts accounted for about half of the gain, the government said.

The manufacturing sector was hardest hit by the 2001 recession and had struggled to get back to full throttle. While factory production has improved, the job situation has remained fairly weak.

The construction sector added 30,000 positions in February, after being flat in January as bad weather took its toll on employment.

Retailers also boosted payrolls by 30,000 last month, up from a gain of around 6,000 in the previous month. Professional and businesses services increased employment by 81,000 in February, up from an increase of 24,000 in January.

Excellent Thread: Here is a list I gathered on Skycraperpage.

US GDP 1929-2005

GDP (http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?threadid=69306)



Now: I have a question about the economy. What would be the best way to increase our savings rate?

Wow, great find Pluto. I'll repeat the stats here . . . .

The US economy has doubled in size since 1991 in unadjusted terms, or doubled since 1983 taking into account inflation. Who woulda thunk?

Current-Dollar and "Real" Gross Domestic Product
(Seasonally adjusted annual rates)

First Column is Date

Second Column is GDP in Billions of that Year's current dollars

Third Column is GDP in Billions of chained yr. 2000 dollars

1929 103.6 865.2
1930 91.2 790.7
1931 76.5 739.9
1932 58.7 643.7
1933 56.4 635.5
1934 66.0 704.2
1935 73.3 766.9
1936 83.8 866.6
1937 91.9 911.1
1938 86.1 879.7
1939 92.2 950.7
1940 101.4 1,034.1
1941 126.7 1,211.1
1942 161.9 1,435.4
1943 198.6 1,670.9
1944 219.8 1,806.5
1945 223.1 1,786.3
1946 222.3 1,589.4
1947 244.2 1,574.5
1948 269.2 1,643.2
1949 267.3 1,634.6
1950 293.8 1,777.3
1951 339.3 1,915.0
1952 358.3 1,988.3
1953 379.4 2,079.5
1954 380.4 2,065.4
1955 414.8 2,212.8
1956 437.5 2,255.8
1957 461.1 2,301.1
1958 467.2 2,279.2
1959 506.6 2,441.3
1960 526.4 2,501.8
1961 544.7 2,560.0
1962 585.6 2,715.2
1963 617.7 2,834.0
1964 663.6 2,998.6
1965 719.1 3,191.1
1966 787.8 3,399.1
1967 832.6 3,484.6
1968 910.0 3,652.7
1969 984.6 3,765.4
1970 1,038.5 3,771.9
1971 1,127.1 3,898.6
1972 1,238.3 4,105.0
1973 1,382.7 4,341.5
1974 1,500.0 4,319.6
1975 1,638.3 4,311.2
1976 1,825.3 4,540.9
1977 2,030.9 4,750.5
1978 2,294.7 5,015.0
1979 2,563.3 5,173.4
1980 2,789.5 5,161.7
1981 3,128.4 5,291.7
1982 3,255.0 5,189.3
1983 3,536.7 5,423.8
1984 3,933.2 5,813.6
1985 4,220.3 6,053.7
1986 4,462.8 6,263.6
1987 4,739.5 6,475.1
1988 5,103.8 6,742.7
1989 5,484.4 6,981.4
1990 5,803.1 7,112.5
1991 5,995.9 7,100.5
1992 6,337.7 7,336.6
1993 6,657.4 7,532.7
1994 7,072.2 7,835.5
1995 7,397.7 8,031.7
1996 7,816.9 8,328.9
1997 8,304.3 8,703.5
1998 8,747.0 9,066.9
1999 9,268.4 9,470.3
2000 9,817.0 9,817.0
2001 10,128.0 9,890.7
2002 10,487.0 10,074.8
2003 11,004.0 10,381.3
2004 11,733.5 10,841.6

End of 2004 Real GDP: 11.9889 Trillion Dollars

End of 2004 GDP per capita: $40,420

BEA (http://www.bea.gov/)

RE: Savings rate: I read an article recently (in Business Week?? Or was it Barrons?) that when you consider the large amount the US spends on education - especially higher education - that more than makes up for a low savings rate. The reason why a high savings rate is desireable is because it gives the economy a lot of capital to spend in productive sectors of the economy . . . basically it's a pool of investment money. But instead, we "invest" large amounts of money on education.

Of course there's also the problems of defining what constitutes "savings."

At any rate, low savings rates are a fairly typical feature of developed economies - though some European nations still have high savings rates. Even the Japanese, who were once famous for their high savings rates, now have a savings rate little different from the US.

I had no idea that Japan's savings rate had fallen so low. I always assumed they all were sitting on a pile of cash, afraid to spend it until they lost their jobs (which has become a reality since the 1990s).

Some Great Charts from the BEA

http://bea.gov/bea/newsrel/gdp_large.gif



http://bea.gov/bea/newsrel/pi_large.gif



http://bea.gov/bea/newsrel/trans_large.gif



http://bea.gov/bea/newsrel/trad_annual_large.gif



http://bea.gov/bea/newsrel/gsp_large.gif



http://bea.gov/bea/newsrel/spi_large.gif

U.S. Savings Rate

http://mwhodges.home.att.net/save_personal.gif


Japan's Dangerous Savings Drought

Put simply, the great Japanese savings machine is running out of gas. The rate of saving is dropping precipitously, which adds a new economic pathology to a country already traumatized by sick banks, deflation, and economic stagnation. "The high savings rate that has long been considered a strength of Japan's economy is in rapid decline," says Morgan Stanley economist Osamu Tanaka.

Consider the figures. Japan's savings rate topped 20% of household income in the mid-1970s and clocked 14% as recently as the start of the 1990s. It is now no higher than 7%, well below that of France, Germany, and Italy. And when final calculations are in for 2002, it may drop as low as 4% -- close to the rate of that revolving credit society, the U.S. (table). So far, the Japanese government shows few signs of concern about the drop.

BW (http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/03_23/b3836159_mz035.htm)

From The Japan Times

Unlike Japan, the United States has long been criticized for its savings shortage. Americans are blamed for spending too much and thus incurring current account deficits -- one major reason behind the dollar's instability -- and have been urged to save more. Japan's current savings ratio is, of course, still higher than the roughly 4 percent observed in the U.S., but substantially lower than France's 12.2 percent and Germany's 10.4 percent.

JPT (http://202.221.217.59/print/business/nb06-2004/nb20040628a1.htm)

I think we tend to compare ourselves with the Japanese and European systems on RAW numbers: which we shouldn't. One reason being that we are not heavily weighed down with Government programs or regulations. Our banks are vibrant and our flexibility second-to-none. We can afford to sustain a low savings rate, because as you put it, we spread the money around as societel investment. However, I do believe we should be creating a rainy-day fund of at least 5% and we should reduce our Debt as a percentage of GDP to at least 50% where it currently stands at 65%. Albeit this is the same debt ratio as in most of Europe and half the 120% ratio of Japan.

Interesting charts Pluto. Thanks.

Well anyway, some more news tidbits . . .

http://www.bizjournals.com/industries/manufacturing/general/2005/03/07/triangle_daily6.html

Triangle Business Journal - 4:52 PM EST Monday
Hospira expansion will create 150 jobs in Clayton

Hospira Inc. is planning a $15 million expansion at its Clayton facility that will add about 150 new jobs there over the next four years, according to an announcement made Monday by the governor's office.

Hospira, which manufactures hospital products, won a 10-year, $1.35 million Job Development Investment Grant from North Carolina as part of the expansion.

Hospira (NYSE: HSP) will renovate the existing Clayton facility as well as install new equipment and technology. Construction on the project will begin immediately and is expected to be complete by 2006. The new positions will be in the areas of manufacturing, engineering, quality and administrative support.

Headquartered in Lake Forest, Ill., Hospira has two manufacturing facilities in North Carolina. The one in Clayton employs more than 50 people, while company's Rocky Mount location employs more than 2,000 workers.

There's so many companies that make totally mundane products that no one gives a second thought about and few people pay attention to, but they're actually a large component of the American economy. Here's a typical example:

http://www.bizjournals.com/industries/manufacturing/general/2005/03/07/memphis_newscolumn1.html

Memphis Business Journal
From the March 7, 2005 print edition
Progressive Foam will hire 75-100 in Conway
Jane Aldinger

CONWAY, Ark. -- Progressive Foam Technologies is opening a new facility in Conway that will employ 75-100 people in the next two years.

The Beach City, Ohio-based company, a manufacturer of insulated vinyl siding, will initially hire 35 people when it opens this month. The company currently has two locations in Ohio and chose Arkansas for its third site.

Progressive Foam will locate in the Covington Commercial Complex, occupying 72,240 square feet of the 400,000-square-foot facility.

It is the former Carrier Refrigeration facility and has been converted for multi-tenant use.

It will manufacture its Fullback Thermal Support in Conway, a patented contoured foam system that adheres to the back of any home siding panel.

That added insulation results in energy savings and resistance to weather, impact, mold, insects, fire and noise.

The company partners with vinyl siding manufacturers, such as Alside, Certain Teed, Norandex/Reynolds and RMC, to install the backing in their products, but the backing can also be added to siding as it is installed.

"The addition of Progressive Foam to our industrial community helps us maintain a healthy economic mix of manufacturing, service-related and financial jobs that Conway enjoys," says Conway Mayor Tab Townsell. "The relocation of Progressive's leadership team and their families is just as valued an investment as the wages the company will pay."

Progressive Foam vice president Ray Kendall says the company was impressed with Conway, specifically the community's focus on education, energy of three colleges and low crime rate.

Progressive Foam was incorporated in 1992, but the company's principals have each been in the expanded polystyrene technology industry for more than 30 years. It operates an 80,000-square-foot manufacturing plant in Beach City and in 2001, moved its lamination operations into a 30,000-square-foot plant in Dover, Ohio.

More on the Jobs Report and its Implications for the economy:

February's "Goldilocks" Jobs Report
The solid but not too powerful rise in the headline number may be "just right" for a Wall Street that lately has the jitters

February's employment report, released Mar. 4, could be described by borrowing a phrase from a famous fairy tale: Not too hot, and not too cold. Indeed, it may have been "just right" for Wall Street, as it was robust enough to warrant optimism on the economy, but no so strong as to significantly alter the Federal Reserve's "measured" policy path.
Advertisement


The headline figure for the report, nonfarm payrolls, easily cleared the already-high hurdle forecasters had set for job growth on the month. The 262,000 rise in nonfarm payrolls exceeded economists' median expectation of a 219,000 increase. But the rest of the report was notably tame and may point to some moderation in other key economic reports for the month.

STALLED WORKWEEK. The gaudy headline number masked some tame data elsewhere. The unemployment rate jumped to 5.4% for the month, vs. the median forecast of 5.2%, matching January's rate. And the average workweek, at 33.7 hours, was below the median forecast of 33.8 and flat with the previous month's downwardly revised figure. Indeed, the workweek has now been stuck at the same 37.7 reading for four consecutive months, and this is the temporary low marked in October, 2001 -- just after the economic impact of 9/11. In total, the workweek data is showing none of the usual cyclical uptrend.

Hourly earnings were flat, vs. a median forecast of a 0.2% rise, following an upward revision for the previous month to 0.3%. The year-over-year rate dropped to 2.2% from 3% in January on a not seasonally adjusted basis, and 2.5% from 2.7% on a seasonally adjusted basis. The February data suggest earnings growth remains relatively lackluster -- especially when adjusting for 2% to 3% inflation. This supports the Fed's view that inflation should not prove a big problem.

Among other highlights: Factory payroll employment rose a solid 20,000. But the factory workweek fell 0.2 hours, and this was only half made up with a bounce in overtime by 0.1 hours. Construction employment surged 30,000, which, combined with the factory payroll gain, provides evidence of a sizable negative impact from bad weather in the January report that was unwound in February.

BOND MARKET RELIEF. We at Action Economicsnow expect industrial production to post a restrained 0.3% gain in February to lock in 3.5% to 4% growth rate for the first quarter overall, with the figure held back by the factory workweek. The February personal income gain is likely to reach only 0.4%, with restraint due to the flat workweek and wage figure, though this follows solid gains over the past two months when effects of the giant Microsoft (MSFT ) dividend are factored out.

The hours-worked index rose by the same 0.2% as in January and is rising at an unimpressive 1.7% rate in the first quarter that's short of the 2% to 2.6% gains of the past five quarters. We nevertheless see this hours-worked gain as consistent with our estimated first-quarter growth rate for gross domestic product of 4.4%, alongside a solid 3% growth pace for productivity.

After the report's release on Mar. 4, relief in the bond market spread after the payrolls number came in below the 300,000 figure that had been "whispered" in the market. Some relief may also have come from the 0.2% bounce in the unemployment rate to 5.4%. U.S. equities also rallied. The dollar attempted to rise on the better-than-expected nonfarm payroll number, but it quickly turned lower again.

CONSISTENT TRAJECTORY. Overall, the data confirm that job growth remains healthy, despite frustration by many economists that the U.S. didn't post a more robust payroll headline gain through 2004. Sustained job growth, with a strong figure for February, bodes well for the economic outlook.

It also suggests that the excessive level of Fed policy accommodation that has been in place for the last few years can continue to be removed. As such, the data support a Fed tightening trajectory that most likely will continue at a "measured" pace well into 2005.

BW (http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/mar2005/nf2005034_5872_db035.htm)

Nearly 800 pts. from ALL-TIME high



Will the Dow retake 11,000?
The Dow is near a level it hasn't hit since before the Sept. 11 attacks. Are the good times back?

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Dow 11,000. It's so close Wall Street can taste it.

The world's most widely watched stock market gauge closed at 10,940.55 Friday and was within about 32 points of the milestone at one point Monday morning. The last time the Dow finished above 11,000 was in June 2001.

Of the three most widely watched U.S. market barometers, the Dow is the only one that's remotely close to its all-time high, trading just 7 percent lower than the 11,722.98 record close from Jan. 14, 2000. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq are about 20 percent and 60 percent below their respective March 2000 peaks.

Still, if the Dow climbs above 11,000 and starts approaching a new high, is that necessarily a cause to rejoice?

"Sometimes these perceived milestones could be a little bit silly," said Liz Ann Sonders, chief investment strategist with Charles Schwab & Co. "There's nothing significant technically about 11,000. The more important number would be the all-time high."

Others, however, say that the psychological boost that Dow 11,000 would provide should not be ignored.

"Normally I'd say it's just a nu[SIZE=5]mber but I think it's relatively important this time around," said David Joy, capital markets strategist with American Express Financial Advisors. "If we break through 11,000, it might be indicative of a general feeling that the economic expansion is more broadly based."


Sam Stovall, chief market strategist with Standard & Poor's, agreed that Dow 11,000 would be a significant milestone. He points out that after the stock market crash in 1929, it took 25 years before the Dow set a new high.

So if the Dow were to approach a new high little more than five years after the bubble burst, that could be a signal that the latest rally is truly part of a new bull market -- and that the broader markets won't have to trade sideways for decades, Stovall said.
"Old" stocks leading the way

Still, the Dow's strength may not necessarily mean that happy times are here again.

In an uncertain environment, many investors have shunned riskier companies in favor of steadier names that also offer healthy dividends. The average dividend yield for the 30 Dow stocks is 2.3 percent.

It hasn't hurt that there's been some merger activity in value-oriented sectors like telecom and consumer durables either, with Dow components SBC (Research) and Verizon (Research) striking deals to buy AT&T (Research) and MCI (Research), respectively, and Procter & Gamble (Research) agreeing to buy Gillette (Research).

The Dow's resurgence has also been boosted by old-line stocks in sectors like oil, basic materials and consumer durables. Exxon Mobil (Research), Caterpillar (Research), Altria (Research) and DuPont (Research) are four of the top five performers in the Dow over the past six months.

"The old school has taken center stage," said Richard Peterson, chief market strategist with Thomson Financial.
Will the rally stall?

But what's truly remarkable about the Dow's surge is that it's come even though so many Dow components are struggling right now.

The spike in oil prices is hurting General Motors (Research) and Alcoa (Research). Concerns about the safety of some high profile drugs have whacked Merck (Research) and Pfizer (Research). American International Group (Research) has come under regulatory fire. Hewlett-Packard (Research) is looking for a new CEO.

Stovall said the rise in the Dow despite the split performance among Dow stocks illustrates why investors need to be widely diversified in their portfolios.

"This is a perfect example of how diversification works. You can still hit all-time highs even though you're holding onto stocks that are struggling. Leaders overcome the laggards," he said.

And Thomson Financial's Peterson said if the pharmaceutical and tech sectors start to perform better, it might not be long before the Dow reached a new high. "If some of the troubled Dow components got into line, the Dow could go to 12,000," he said.

But others aren't that bullish. Joy is predicting only single-digit percentage returns for the Dow in 2005.

"Clearly the trend is upward but I'm not sure we get to a new high this year," he said, adding that increased commodity costs could pressure corporate profit margins while labor costs could begin to creep upward as well. And ongoing concerns about rising interest rates may cap any stock rallies this year.

So the most important thing for the market will not be whether the Dow tops 11,000 but whether it can stay there for an extended period.

"It will be a big emotional lift and jolt for investor confidence after everything people have been through," said John Lynch, chief market analyst with Evergreen Investments. "But if we can hold onto it that would be the real development. Nerves are still raw. 11,700 will be tough to bust through."

CNBC (http://money.cnn.com/2005/03/07/markets/dow11k/index.htm)

Of Course, I doubt the Stock Market can reach that level;

Things holding it back:

1.High Oil Prices
2.Deficit Worries
3.Inflation Concerns
4.Housing Deceleration
5.Falling Dollar

However, much of these things are merely a concern, not a crisis. Especially Oil which is much less of the consumer's budget these days than at any other point. The economy has shrugged it all off... and continues to power ahead with many economists thinking it may just outperform last year. Also, the major thing holding back the market is now not as volatile: that being Iraq. We've seen a dramatic decrease in the shock-headlines since the elections and we now know that the Assembly will meet in mid-May. Marches in Lebanon, potential democratic liberalization in Egypt and Saudi Arabia, and peace talks among the Israelis and Palestinians don't hurt either.

I almost hope it takes a while longer for the Dow to get up to 12,000. When it gets too high too quickly, that sounds to me like another bubble in the making.

BTW, speaking of the stock market, a year or two ago I read something interesting: Stocks and commodities typically alternate boom cycles, usually around 20-year spurts. When the stock market was flat in the 60's and 70's, commodities boomed. When the stock market roared in the 80's and 90's, commodities were flat. There's actually a good reason for that, too. In the 60's and 70's, you had economies like Japan and (early in the cycle) Europe rebuilding from the war. Basically, it's a physical-capital building-up phase of the fastest-growing parts of the world economy. By the 80's those economies had pretty much fully developed (physically), which enabled companies to finally cash in on the improved physical infrastructure, which is why the stock market (and stock markets around the world) boomed.

Now, the last few years, commodities have been doing well (they actually started doing well in the mid-late 90's until the Asian currency devaluations of 97-98 hit). This of course coincides with China and India building tons of real estate, roads, rails, steel plants, factories, etc. All that "physical" stuff requires mucho amounts of commodities, and diverts capital and attention away from stocks. So, if this analysis was right and the trend continues, buy commodities, they should be good for a while. ;)

This was in today's Seattle Post-Intelligencer (aka "the P-I"). It's a great illustration on how the growth of China and India - in this case, India - bodes well for many high-end manufacturing in the US, even if their growth results in the loss of jobs of many lower-end American manufacturing jobs . . .

http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/214770_india07.html

Monday, March 7, 2005

India is 'the market to reckon with' for Boeing and Airbus
By JAMES WALLACE
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER AEROSPACE REPORTER

A billion people and only 125 commercial jetliners with 100 seats or more.

That's India today, where a new middle class has money to burn, the economy is booming, air travel is rapidly expanding, and planes are in short supply. (The United States, with about 300 million people, has more than 6,000 commercial jets.)

No wonder, then, that India has become a major battleground for The Boeing Co. and Airbus, both of which see the world's second-most-populous country as the best market for airplanes after the United States and China over the next two decades.

State-owned Air India could soon announce one of this year's biggest orders -- and the biggest order ever out of India -- for 35 widebody jets from one or both manufacturers. Throw in other orders from Indian Airlines and low-cost carriers that are arriving on the scene, and jet sales to India could top $10 billion this year alone.

"We are focused more sharply on India than ever before," said Dinesh Keskar, Boeing's senior vice president of commercial jetliner sales and its longtime sales chief for India.

"That's the market to reckon with," said Keskar, who was born in Rajkot, India, and has been Boeing's point man for that country since about 1988. "If you don't get your seeds in now, you will be sorry two years from now."

Boeing and Airbus recently increased their sales forecast for India.

Boeing was predicting that India would require about 300 planes worth about $25 billion over the next 20 years. Last month, during an air show in Bangalore, India, Keskar announced that Boeing had revised its forecast to about $35 billion worth of planes. India, according to Boeing, will be the fastest-growing aircraft market after China.

Airbus is forecasting that India will need 570 new jets by 2023. That's 348 more planes than Airbus forecast for India just two years ago.

"The way things are going in India right now, it could overtake China on aircraft demand and in deregulation," said Richard Aboulafia, senior aviation analyst with the Teal group, an industry consulting firm near Washington, D.C.

During a recent trip to India, Aboulafia was amazed by how many airplane flights were canceled because of "fog."

"It was not the weather but a shortage of planes," he said.

Keskar said India's growth is driven by better living standards for the middle class. That's the result in part of the explosion of the information technology industry.

"Young people today are driving fancy cars and buying homes," he said. "That wasn't possible in India in my younger days."

Keskar left India in 1975 for his doctorate in engineering at the University of Cincinnati. Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon, was his thesis adviser.

Domestic airplane traffic increased 23 percent in India last year, Keskar said.

About 15 million people fly each year, and about the same number take trains, Keskar said.

The highest level of service on a train is air-conditioned first class. Today, the cost for that class of service is about 20 percent higher than someone would pay for an advanced booking on a jet.

"So instead of taking 17 1/2 hours to get from Mumbai to Delhi, you are there in an hour and 50 minutes," Keskar said. "And these are people who have not flown many times."

Industry in transition

Meanwhile, India is transforming its aviation industry, with the government introducing reforms.

Aboulafia said India does not make the top 100 list of economically free countries, even though it is a democracy.

"India is unbelievably regulated," Aboulafia said. "Just imagine what it would be like if the market were deregulated. It's a huge growth market."

The government in New Delhi is expected to sign an open skies agreement with the United States soon. Current agreements are a half-century old. This will open up more travel and remove restrictions.

Several new privately owned carriers in India could begin flying this year.

And just as they did in the United States, Europe and eventually Asia, the low-cost carriers see the potential in India.

Air Deccan, the country' first budget carrier, has ordered single-aisle jets from Airbus. So has upstart Kingfisher. Air India Express and SpiceJet are in Boeing's camp. Only Air Deccan is currently in operation, with three leased jets. Air India Express will start flights next month with a fleet of leased planes while it finalizes an order for 18 new 737s.

Budget airline waiting

Keskar believes four or five more budget airlines are waiting in the wings for government permission to start service -- and waiting to find out where they can get new planes and the pilots to fly them.

"Ten years ago, there were more pilots than demand. Today, it's hard to fine even one available pilot." He said he could immediately place 20 next-generation 737s in India today -- "That's how great the demand."

Problem is, those new jets are not immediately available from Boeing's Renton plant. Customers have to wait on delivery positions for Boeing's most popular jet. That's why Air Deccan went with Airbus, according to Keskar. It wanted new jets faster than Boeing could provide them.

To win the recent SpiceJet order for 10 737s plus 10 options, Boeing worked with leasing companies to get three used planes for the new carrier, which plans to begin service in May.

Airbus, meanwhile, is waiting on final government approval for a long-delayed order from Indian Airlines for more than 40 of its single-aisle A320 family of jets. Boeing's hopes are riding with Air India, which is replacing its international fleet of 747-400s.

Although there has been talk of privatization, Air India and Indian Airlines are 100 percent owned by the government. They have interlocking boards.

Boeing submitted its final bid for the $7 billion Air India order on Christmas Day.

In addition to the 35 firm orders, Air India will take 15 options. The firm orders break down like this:

# 10 Boeing 777-300ERs or Airbus A340-600s.

# 20 Boeing 787s (formerly the 7E7) or Airbus A330-200s.

# Five Boeing 777-200LRs or Airbus A340-500s.

Keskar said the 777-200LR would provide Air India with a premium non-stop service to the United States. Air India's 747-400s must stop once on flights to this country.

Boeing is encouraged that, in December, Air India leased a 777-200ER, which it is operating between Mumbai and London. As a result, the airline is gaining experience with that model, Keskar said.

Airline IPO a success

Last week, Jet Airways, the country's biggest airline with more than 40 planes, saw its initial public offering scooped up in minutes. It received more than 13 times as many bids as it had stock shares available. Investors were upbeat. And why not? Domestic airlines in India are expected to have carried about 19 million passengers in the year that ends March 31, up about 28 percent from the previous year.

Much of India's growth could come on domestic routes between secondary cities in India, rather than on the established routes between the main cities, Keskar said.

In 1990, when Keskar began traveling to India a lot on Boeing business, there were only four flights a day between Mumbai (then named Bombay) and New Delhi. Today, Jet Airways alone has 11 daily flights between those cities.

"When things get saturated, and they haven't yet, then carriers that have ordered all these planes will need to fly other than the trunk routes, and they are going to start opening up new city pairs," he said. "India's market is highly, highly untapped."

For Boeing and Airbus, that's a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.

Small business owners bullish
Study points to highest job creation plans in five years, solid capital spending forecasts.

CNN (http://money.cnn.com/2005/03/08/news/economy/small_business.reut/index.htm)




U.S. sees record gas price soon
EIA expects national average to reach $2.15 a gallon this spring.

CNN (http://money.cnn.com/2005/03/08/news/economy/gas_prices.reut/index.htm)

Bond we will buy more Boeings..i promise;) :)

thanks for the article:)

http://news.ft.com/cms/s/119895e0-9196-11d9-8a7a-00000e2511c8,dwp_uuid=d4f2ab60-c98e-11d7-81c6-0820abe49a01.html

EU economy ‘at level of US in 1970s'
By Tobias Buck in Brussels
March 10 2005

The European Union's economy today is where the US economy was in the late 1970s, according to a provocative study. It shows that the employment rate of just over 64 per cent attained by the EU in 2003, the latest year for which comparable data are available, was achieved in the US in 1978. Research and development spending in the EU matches the US level in 1979.

Europe's performance is slightly better in terms of gross domestic product per head, where the 2003 figure of $25,336 (€18,881, £13,176) corresponds to US data for 1985.

Europe's 2003 GDP per worker, meanwhile, was achieved in the US in 1989.

The study, to be presented today by Eurochambres, the pan-European business organisation, underlines the challenge for European Union policymakers as they struggle to improve the competitiveness of the European economy.

EU heads of government will decide this month on proposals to relaunch the Lisbon Agenda, an ambitious set of reforms and targets that aims to boost Europe's competitiveness vis-a-vis the US and other leading economies.

José Manuel Barroso, the European Commission president, has made the relaunch the priority of his five-year tenure.

The Commission wants to focus on improving spending on research and development, reducing the regulatory burden for businesses and making the EU a more attractive place for investment and job creation.

But as today's study suggests, the bloc will have to outperform the US substantially in the years ahead simply to draw level with the American economy.

“It will take the EU until 2056 to reach US productivity rates per [person] employed, and then only if EU productivity growth [exceeds] that of the US by 0.5 per cent per year,” the Eurochambres study says.

It adds that since 1994, US productivity growth has outpaced the EU's.

On R&D investment, the EU would have to wait until 2123 to match US levels and then only if investment were to exceed that in the US by 0.5 per cent every year.

Christoph Leitl, president of Eurochambres, said: “We urge European leaders at the summit [later this month] to focus on the economy because without the economy, Europe does not have a future. It's a question ofsurvival.”

Interesting observations . . .

NY Times
THE WAY WE LIVE NOW
Our Currency, Your Problem
By NIALL FERGUSON

Published: March 13, 2005

Every congressman knows that the United States currently runs large ''twin deficits'' on its budget and current accounts. Deficit 1, as we well know, is just the difference between federal tax revenues and expenditures. Deficit 2 is generally less well understood: it's the difference between all that Americans earn from foreigners (mainly from exports, services and investments abroad) and all that they pay out to foreigners (for imports, services and loans). When a government runs a deficit, it can tap public savings by selling bonds. But when the economy as a whole is running a deficit -- when American households are saving next to nothing of their disposable income -- there is no option but to borrow abroad.

There was a time when foreign investors were ready and willing to finance the U.S. current account deficit by buying large pieces of corporate America. But that's not the case today. Perhaps the most amazing economic fact of our time is that between 70 and 80 percent of the American economy's vast and continuing borrowing requirement is being met by foreign (mainly Asian) central banks.

Let's translate that into political terms. In effect, the Bush administration's combination of tax cuts for the Republican ''base'' and a Global War on Terror is being financed with a multibillion dollar overdraft facility at the People's Bank of China. Without East Asia, your mortgage might well be costing you more. The toys you buy for your kids certainly would.

Why are the Chinese monetary authorities so willing to underwrite American profligacy? Not out of altruism. The principal reason is that if they don't keep on buying dollars and dollar-based securities as fast as the Federal Reserve and the U.S. Treasury can print them, the dollar could slide substantially against the Chinese renminbi, much as it has declined against the euro over the past three years. Knowing the importance of the U.S. market to their export industries, the Chinese authorities dread such a dollar slide. The effect would be to raise the price, and hence reduce the appeal, of Chinese goods to American consumers -- and that includes everything from my snowproof hiking boots to the modem on my desk. A fall in exports would almost certainly translate into job losses in China at a time when millions of migrants from the countryside are pouring into the country's manufacturing sector.

So when Treasury Secretary John Snow insists that the United States has a ''strong dollar'' policy, what he really means is that the People's Republic of China has a ''weak renminbi'' policy. Sure, this is bad news if you happen to be an American toy manufacturer. But there are three good reasons that the administration is tacitly delighted by the Asian central banks' support. Not only is it keeping the lid on the price of American imports from Asia (a potential source of inflationary pressure). It is also propping up the price of U.S. Treasury bonds; this in turns depresses the yield on those bonds, allowing the federal government to borrow at historically very low rates of interest. Reason No. 3 is that low long-term interest rates keep the Bush recovery jogging along.

Sadly, according to a growing number of eminent economists, this arrangement simply cannot last. The dollar pessimists argue that the Asian central banks are already dangerously overexposed both to the dollar and the U.S. bond market. Sooner or later, they have to get out -- at which point the dollar could plunge relative to Asian currencies by as much as a third or two-fifths, and U.S. interest rates could leap upward. (When the South Korean central bank recently appeared to indicate that it was shifting out of dollars, there was indeed a brief run on the U.S. currency -- until the Koreans hastily issued a denial.)

Are the pessimists right? The U.S. current account deficit is now within sight of 6 percent of G.D.P., and net external debt stands at around 30 percent. The precipitous economic history of Latin America shows that an external-debt burden in excess of 20 percent of G.D.P. is potentially dangerous.

Yet there is one key difference between the United States and the countries south of the Rio Grande. Latin American economies have trouble with their foreign debts because those debts are denominated in foreign currency. The United States' external liabilities, by contrast, are almost entirely denominated in its own currency.

It therefore makes more sense to compare the United States with other members of that exclusive club of countries that have produced -- and hence been able to borrow -- in international currencies. The most obvious analogy that springs to mind is the United Kingdom 60 years ago.

During the Second World War, Britain financed its wartime deficits partly by borrowing substantial amounts of sterling from the colonies and dominions within her empire. And yet by the mid-1950's, these very substantial debts had largely disappeared. Unfortunately, this was partly because the value of sterling itself fell significantly. Moreover, sterling's decline and fall did not reduce the U.K.'s chronic trade deficit, least of all with respect to manufacturing. On the contrary, British industry declined in tandem with the pound's status as a global currency. And, needless to say, the decline of sterling coincided with Britain's decline as an empire.

From an American perspective, all this might seem to suggest worrying parallels. Could our own obligations to foreigners presage not just devaluation but also industrial and imperial decline?

Possibly. Yet there are some pretty important differences between 2005 and 1945. The United States is not in nearly as bad an economic mess as postwar Britain, which also owed large sums in dollars to the United States. The American empire is also in much better shape than the British empire was back in 1945.

Even the gloomiest pessimists accept that a steep dollar depreciation would inflict more suffering on China and other Asian economies than on the United States. John Snow's counterpart in the Nixon administration once told his European counterparts that ''the dollar is our currency, but your problem.'' Snow could say the same to Asians today. If the dollar fell by a third against the renminbi, according to Nouriel Roubini, an economist at New York University, the People's Bank of China could suffer a capital loss equivalent to 10 percent of China's gross domestic product. For that reason alone, the P.B.O.C. has every reason to carry on printing renminbi in order to buy dollars.

Though neither side wants to admit it, today's Sino-American economic relationship has an imperial character. Empires, remember, traditionally collect ''tributes'' from subject peoples. That is how their costs -- in terms of blood and treasure -- can best be justified to the populace back in the imperial capital. Today's ''tribute'' is effectively paid to the American empire by China and other East Asian economies in the form of underpriced exports and low-interest, high-risk loans.

How long can the Chinese go on financing America's twin deficits? The answer may be a lot longer than the dollar pessimists expect. After all, this form of tribute is much less humiliating than those exacted by the last Anglophone empire, which occupied China's best ports and took over the country's customs system (partly in order to flood the country with Indian opium). There was no obvious upside to that arrangement for the Chinese; the growth rate of per capita G.D.P. was probably negative in that era, compared with 8 or 9 percent a year since 1990.

Meanwhile, the United States may be discovering what the British found in their imperial heyday. If you are a truly powerful empire, you can borrow a lot of money at surprisingly reasonable rates. Today's deficits are in fact dwarfed in relative terms by the amounts the British borrowed to finance their Global War on (French) Terror between 1793 and 1815. Yet British long-term rates in that era averaged just 4.77 percent, and the pound's exchange rate was restored to its prewar level within a few years of peace.

It is only when your power wanes -- as the British learned after 1945 -- that owing a fortune in your own currency becomes a real problem. As opposed, that is, to someone else's problem.

Niall Ferguson is professor of history at Harvard and author of ''Colossus: The Price of America's Empire.''

OMG! A textile plant in the US is actually planning an expansion!! :eek:

http://www.bizjournals.com/industries/manufacturing/general/2005/03/14/triangle_daily8.html

Triangle Business Journal - 2:48 PM EST Monday
Governor doles out $100,000 in incentives for textile plant

Avgol America Inc., a manufacturer of nonwoven textiles, has won $100,000 in One North Carolina Fund incentives as part of its plan to expand its Mocksville manufacturing facility, according to the governor's office.

Avgol says it will shell out $27 million for the expansion, which is supposed to add 40 jobs during the next three years. Those jobs will pay an average salary of $560 per week plus benefits. With the addition of the new jobs, the work force at the Mocksville facility will total 140.

Avgol America Inc. is a subsidiary of Avgol Industries, which is a privately owned company established in 1987. Avgol Industries operates manufacturing plants in Israel, China, Brazil and the United States.

The company makes lightweight, nonwoven materials for use in items such as disposable diapers and crop protection covers. Avgol acquired the Mocksville plant in 2001 from Unifi, which built the nonwoven manufacturing facility in 1999.

This is Avgol's second expansion since that acquisition. The first came in March 2004, when Avgol America added 40 jobs and invested $25 million.

Damn...the United States is a POWERHOUSE!!

^Yeah, but don't tell the Europeans, they might get jealous. ;) :D

U.S. Tourism Grew 6.7 Percent in 2004

WASHINGTON — The U.S. tourism industry (search) grew 6.7 percent in 2004 led by sales of food, airline travel, recreation and entertainment goods, the government said Monday.

The Commerce Department (search) said tourism sales in 2004 rose to $960.7 billion from $900.0 billion in 2003. It marked the third straight annual increase in sales of travel-related good and services.

Hotel accommodations, airfares and souvenirs, or direct tourism sales, accounted for $548.6 billion of the total. Indirect tourism-related sales, which include toiletries for hotel guests, airline meals and the materials used to make souvenirs, provided $412.1 billion of the total.

Food and drink sales rose 9.7 percent in 2004 to $100.4 billion while passenger airline spending surged 6.9 percent to $92.4 billion. Sales at retailers and recreation/entertainment rose 6.3 percent.

In the fourth quarter of 2004, direct-tourism sales rose 6.5 percent to $558.3 billion even though passenger air travel and recreation and entertainment posted small declines.

The travel industry, which has recorded nine straight quarters of growth, has handily exceeded the significant pullback in consumer travel spending after the Sept. 11, 2001 (search), attacks in the United States.

Employment in the tourism industry grew 0.8 percent to 5.445 million in third quarter of 2004, the latest period which figures are available. Direct tourism-related employment grew 11,100, with most of the increase in the food services and drinking industry.

FOX (http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,150387,00.html)
BEA (http://www.bea.doc.gov/bea/newsrelarchive/2005/tour404.htm)

http://louisville.bizjournals.com/louisville/stories/2005/03/14/daily20.html

Business First of Louisville
Louisville loses bid for aircraft plant

Adam Aircraft Industries, a manufacturer in Colorado of business jets, has selected Ogden, Utah, for a new manufacturing plant, passing over Louisville and several possible sites in Texas.

Gov. Ernie Fletcher, along with officials with the Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development and Greater Louisville Inc., the metro chamber of commerce, had talked with Adam Air officials last year in hopes of landing the plant and its expected 300 to 500 jobs. The 100,000-square-foot plant, which will be located at the Kemp Ogden Airport Gateway Center at Ogden-Hinckley Airport, will be used to assemble the company's A500 and A700 aircraft, according to a news release.

The A700 is a six-passenger, twin-engine jet that is still under development. Full production is expected to begin later this year with deliveries beginning in 2006, the release said. The A500 is a turbo-prop aircraft, which also is produced in Colorado.

Utah offered Adam Aircraft about $10 million in tax incentives over 15 years to locate in the state, according to news reports.

In a formal statement, Gene Strong, secretary of the Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development, said he was aware of Adam Aircraft's decision not to locate in Kentucky.

"Obviously, we would have liked the result to be otherwise. They were a great company to work with," he said, adding that "when need arises to expand operations," hopefully they will once again consider Louisville.

Officials with Adam Aircraft could not immediately be reached for comment.

Survey: Managers anticipate hiring surge

Back by popular demand, job creation in the United States is taking an aggressive stance that is expected to carry over into the upcoming quarter.

Leading indicators for market growth are signaling an upward shift in economic performance.

The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported the country has created nearly 400,000 jobs so far this year, rounding up 21 months of consecutive employment gains. This, paired with increased investment in business infrastructure and new products, has U.S. economists raising their forecasts for growth in the first half of 2005.

Morgan Stanley recently revised its estimate for real gross domestic product in the first quarter to 4.4 percent, a jump from the 3.3 percent figure projected earlier.

Businesses are taking the reins in driving the economy forward and instilling greater confidence in the recruitment outlook.

CareerBuilder.com's "Q2 2005 Job Forecast" shows that hiring managers nationwide are anticipating a surge in hiring in the next three months. Of the more than 600 hiring managers primarily operating in service industries that were surveyed:

# 69 percent plan to increase their staffs in the second quarter -- up from the 45 percent who said they would increase staffs in the first quarter.

# One in five expect to add more than 50 workers.

# Seven percent anticipate a decrease in head count

Not only are hiring managers stepping up department expansions, they are doing so quickly. Although three in 10 hiring managers say it is difficult to find good candidates, 62 percent are filling their open positions within one month, and 32 percent are reporting a more accelerated time frame of less than two weeks, the survey found.
Top job markets

The positions being targeted in the second quarter include a mix of industries, functions and titles. Health care continues to be a recession-proof industry, struggling to balance an annual addition of more than 300,000 jobs with a shortage of qualified workers. New corporate governance standards are pushing the need for more accounting and finance employees, as witnessed in the 26 percent increase in this category over the last three months on CareerBuilder.com.

A weaker dollar is boosting demand overseas for U.S. products, resulting in a 20,000 uptick in manufacturing jobs in February. In addition, sales, engineering, retail, hospitality and information technology are also areas to watch.

In terms of job level, recruitment for more advanced positions is picking up. According to ExecuNet's Recruiters Confidence Index, 75 percent of executive recruiters are confident the executive employment market will improve in the next six months.

Hiring managers are in agreement, with one in 10 planning to recruit managers, directors, team leaders and senior executives in the second quarter, according to CareerBuilder.com's survey. Three in 10 are looking for candidates for professional and technical positions.
Hiring by region

Comparing regions, the South is leading in the number of hiring managers expecting to increase their staffs in the second quarter, at 75 percent, with the Midwest tracking behind all regions at 64 percent, the survey said. Seventy-one percent in the Northeast anticipate a bump in staff levels, as do 68 percent in the West.

Of those decreasing staffs, the Northeast is the least likely, at 4 percent, while the Midwest is the mostly likely, at 12 percent.

The South and West fell in between at 7 percent and 8 percent, respectively.
Job changes by region

With more jobs available, unemployed and dissatisfied workers are hitting the pavement in full force. ComScore Media Metrix reported that 94 million unique visitors searched for job information online in January and February, and CareerBuilder.com's latest survey shows that one in 10 workers plan to change jobs as early as the second quarter.

One in five workers say they are unhappy with their jobs overall, with increased dissatisfaction in career advancement, development/learning and work/life balance, the survey found.

In addition to having the highest amount of dissatisfied workers, the Northeast also houses the highest amount of workers planning to change jobs in the second quarter, at 13 percent.

This figure compares with 12 percent in the South and 10 percent in the Midwest. The West is reporting the largest decline in workers expecting to leave their jobs, from 15 percent to 9 percent.
Job changes by field

Comparing select industries and job functions, hospitality workers are the most likely to look for new employment opportunities in the second quarter, and government workers are the least likely, the survey said.

# Hospitality: 20 percent

# Sales: 13 percent

# Accounting/finance: 12 percent

# Information technology: 11 percent

# Retail: 10 percent

# Health care: 9 percent

# Government: 5 percent

CareerBuilder.com's "Q2 2005 Job Forecast" was conducted from February 24 to March 3. Methodology used to collect survey responses of more than 1,700 workers involved selecting a random sample of comScore Networks panel members. These members were approached via e-mail, asking them to participate in an online survey. The results are statistically accurate to within plus or minus 2.36 percentage points (19 times out of 20). The sample included more than 600 hiring managers. The results for the hiring managers alone are statistically accurate to within plus or minus 3.89 percentage points (19 times out of 20).

CNN (http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/Careers/03/15/job.forecast/index.html)

Here is some interesting evidence that manufacturing in the US has been moving more to "high-value-added" goods. Look at the following chart, from the Federal Reserve:

http://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/G17/20040514/ipg2.gif
^
The specific chart of interest is the one at the top-left corner ("Consumer Goods").

"Durable goods" tend to be more "high-value-added" than non-durable goods.

And since the mid-1990's, look how much more durable good production has increased compared to non-durable goods!!!

The full page from the Fed is here:
http://www.federalreserve.gov/releases/G17/20040514/

Similarly . . .
http://www.fxstreet.com/economicindicators/FightingUrbanLegendsSept2004.pdf
^
"Yes indeed, the output of the durable goods manufacturing sector has indeed exceeded that of overall economic growth as measured by GDP. Manufacturing is not dead and not all consumer debt is wasteful spending on credit cards . . . Not all manufacturing is dead and moving offshore to China. Over the last year the growth in industrial production in the durable goods manufacturing sector of 9.0 percent has exceeded the growth of real GDP through the second quarter . . . Within durable goods manufacturing we have witnessed gains of 10.7 percent in primary metals, 12.5 percent in machinery, 18.1 percent in computers and 8.8 percent in electrical equipment, through the latest monthly data reported for August. The gains are widespread and reflect both high-tech and low tech sectors. However, the reality is that many firms are producing low tech capital goods with very high tech inputs and options so that the productivity of many formerly low-tech goods is pretty high today . . . "

Absolutely. In this global economy, we have the most FLEXIBLE and WELL-ROUNDED economy in the world. Without hesitation, our economy has shifted the focus of our manufacturing base towards what we specialize in (electronics, aerospace, etc.) while also firming the old-economy manufacturing because of commodity demand from China. While there are some growing pains, over the long run tens of millions of jobs will be created (many professional). When we let the market do its thing, we often benefit.

Only if the Feds could stay out of it and balance their own books.

Amazing - another textile plant expansion . . . just a few days after the announcement for the other one! With all the textile jobs going overseas, who woulda thunk?

http://www.bizjournals.com/industries/manufacturing/general/2005/03/14/triangle_daily29.html

Triangle Business Journal - 11:32 AM EST Thursday
Cedartown Manufacturing to open Clarkton plant

Sanford-based Cedartown Manufacturing LLC will open a textile facility in Clarkton as part of a $25 million investment designed to create 134 jobs over the next three years, according to the governor's office.

As part of the plan, the company won $175,000 in incentives from the One North Carolina Fund.

Cedartown Manufacturing plans to spin cotton into yarn in a 210,000-square-foot building in Clarkton that has been vacant since former owner Harriet & Henderson Yarns closed in 2003.

The new jobs will pay an average weekly wage of $562, plus benefits. Cederatown Manufacturing is a joint venture between Gidlan Activewear Inc. and Frontier Spinning Mills Inc.

Wall Street Journal
Thursday, March 17, 2005

Trade Shift: Nissan to Sell U.S.-Made Vans in China
By Jathon Sapsford

TOKYO – Nissan Motor Co. next month will begin exporting to China a limited number of its U.S.-made Quest minivans, a move that demonstrates how deeply Japan's auto makers have integrated their operations into the U.S. economy.

Only a few hundred vehicles a month will be shipped to China, but the fact that Nissan is exporting from the U.S. rather than from Japan is a development that underscores the considerable shift in the patterns of trade – and the accompanying tensions – across the Pacific.

Japan long was the target of criticism over its trade policies, and the automobile industry, which fed its growing U.S. sales operations with exports from Japan, was a prime driver of Japan's yawning trade surplus. In recent years, Japan's car makers and their suppliers have invested in a slew of factories across the U.S., employing thousands of workers and buying parts and materials from U.S. suppliers. The Quest minivans, for instance, are made in Nissan's plant in Canton, Miss. [LOL!!! – cars made in "Canton", exported to China :D]

Today, the Japanese increasingly are seen as employers in the U.S., while China's low-cost makers of products from electronics to furniture are seen as the biggest threat to American jobs. Nissan, Japan's second-largest car producer, is also a U.S. producer that is shipping cars to China that have the label "Made in America."

Nissan's few-hundred monthly exports will do little to dent the U.S. trade deficit with China. Nissan is shipping the Quest from the U.S. because it doesn't make the model in Japan, showing how Japan's auto makers are shifting production overseas for an increasing number of products tailored to local markets.

Nissan also is exporting other U.S.-made models, such as its Altima sedan and Infiniti brand QX56 sport-utility vehicle, to markets including the Middle East and Latin America. In all, Nissan estimates that it exports several thousand vehicles from the U.S. each year. The company will disclose details of its plans for China at the Shanghai Auto Show in April, plans likely to include exporting from Japan some models it doesn't make elsewhere.

Toyota Motor Corp. and Honda Motor Co. also export thousands of cars from the U.S. each year. Fuji Heavy Industries Ltd., which produces the Subaru brand, and Mitsubishi Motor Corp., say they have plans to export from the U.S., mostly to Europe. Some of Toyota's and Honda's exports from North America are shipped to Japan. Vehicle exports by Japanese-owned factories in the U.S. have been rising steadily, and in 2003, the most-recent available year for statistics, amounted to 183,000 vehicles, or 13% of all vehicle exports, according to the Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association.

The vast majority of Japanese production in North America is geared to the local market. But the U.S. market is expected to slow this year, and some auto makers are struggling with too much capacity. In the current atmosphere, Mitsubishi is seeking to use exports from the U.S. as a way to better use its plant in Normal, Ill., where it recently cut back shifts amid weak U.S. sales.

Another variable is the dollar. Exports remain attractive now because the U.S. currency is weak, making cars produced in the U.S. more profitable when sold overseas. Should the dollar recover, the economics of exporting from the U.S. could shift. At any rate, the biggest Japanese car makers expect to keep expanding production in the U.S. Toyota, for example, is planning two new plants in the U.S.

Japan's car makers now see the trade friction of earlier decades as a thing of the past and are quick to note their expanding contributions to U.S. jobs.

William C. Duncan, general director of the U.S. arm of the Japanese Automobile Association, noted in a letter to members in January that in 1980, none of the Japanese cars sold in the U.S. were produced in the U.S. In contrast, in 2004, the Japanese produced roughly 3.6 million vehicles in the U.S., or roughly 64% of what the Japanese sold in the U.S.

"Investment dollars and jobs are the two most visible ways that Japanese auto makers have become part of the fabric of the U.S. economy," Mr. Duncan said.

http://http://www.expansionmanagement.com/smo/articleviewer/default.asp?cmd=articledetail&articleid=16376

Dell, DaimlerChrysler Site Projects in Ohio
State incentives help companies to bring jobs to the Buckeye State.
3/14/2005
By: Ken Krizner, Managing Editor

Computer giant Dell Inc. opened a distribution and fulfillment center in West Chester Township, Ohio, in the Cincinnati metro in November. The $15.4 million project will create 250 jobs in the first year and nearly 670 jobs within three years.

Dell, the leading provider of servers, desktop and notebook computers in the country, will utilize the facility to support its printer ink business.

The center will also support distribution and warranty fulfillment on select electronics and accessories orders.

The Ohio Department of Development (ODOD) provided a $500,000 Business Development grant to Dell to purchase machinery and equipment. The state also offered $300,000 in training grants and a 10 year, 70 percent job creation tax credit valued at $3 million.

The state also awarded West Chester Township a $550,000 Roadwork Development grant to make improvements necessary to serve the facility.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

Meanwhile, a first-of-its-kind automotive facility in the United States is receiving financial assistance from the state.

DaimlerChrysler announced last year that three suppliers would build and operate a new plant in Toledo and work with the automaker to manufacture Jeep vehicles.

The on-site supplier park will be built in three buildings next to a DaimlerChrysler assembly plant, which manufactures Jeep Wrangler and Liberty vehicles.

In August, DaimlerChrysler announced that it entered into a 14-year business contract with the three companies.

The project is part of DaimlerChrysler’s $2.1 billion expansion of its Jeep facility and will create more than 600 manufacturing jobs during the next three years.

Production at the supplier park is expected to begin in 2006.

While the concept of a supplier-run plant sharing the same site with an assembly plant has been used in other countries, this is the first time it is being tried in the United States, according to DaimlerChrysler.

As part of the project, the Ohio Tax Credit Authority and the Development Financing Advisory Council approved incentive packages for the three suppliers — Mobis Parts Detroit LLC, KUKA Flexible Production Systems Corp. and Haden Environmental Corp. Each company was awarded a 70 percent job creation tax credit for a seven-year term, and each company must maintain operations at the site for 14 years.

Mobis Parts will operate a modular chassis facility for the Wrangler. The company plans to build a 228,000 square foot facility and is expected to create 254 jobs within the first three years of operation.

KUKA will build and operate a body shop, which will produce unpainted bodies for the Wrangler. The Toledo-Lucas County Port Authority will receive a $4 million direct loan to construct a 275,000 square foot facility that it will lease to KUKA.

The $103 million project is expected to create 210 jobs within the first three years of operation.

Haden provides technical environmental services to automakers and suppliers. The company plans to establish a paint shop facility within the park.

The 212,000 square foot operation will be constructed by Haden’s parent company, Haden Schweitzer Corp. The company will invest nearly $144 million in the project, which will create 173 jobs within the first three years of operation.

A separate $280 million incentive package granted to DaimlerChrysler by the state has been declared unconstitutional by a federal court. The state plans to appeal the ruling.

Not sure this will link correctly but I just got this from the Dept of Commerce:
http://tse.export.gov/NTDChartDisplay.aspx?UniqueURL=3bvyru45avfwnmam0nyernrh-2005-3-19-0-30-28

Merchandise exports from the US to the rest of the world, 2004 - in thousands of $USD
Category______________________________________________Amount
NUCLEAR REACTORS, BOILERS, MACHINERY ETC.; PARTS______$149,068,073
ELECTRIC MACHINERY ETC; SOUND EQUIP; TV EQUIP; PTS____ $124,803,540
VEHICLES, EXCEPT RAILWAY OR TRAMWAY, AND PARTS ETC____$73,308,998
OPTIC, PHOTO ETC, MEDIC OR SURGICAL INSTRMENTS ETC_____$51,160,176
AIRCRAFT, SPACECRAFT, AND PARTS THEREOF_______________$42,122,384
PLASTICS AND ARTICLES THEREOF_________________________$33,705,055
ORGANIC CHEMICALS_____________________________________$30,367,713
SPECIAL CLASSIFICATION PROVISIONS, NESOI________________$24,644,628
PHARMACEUTICAL PRODUCTS______________________________$19,506,790
MINERAL FUEL, OIL ETC.; BITUMIN SUBST; MINERAL WAX_______$18,954,856
NAT ETC PEARLS, PREC ETC STONES, PR MET ETC; COIN_______$18,092,726
CEREALS_______________________________________________$13,136,432
MISCELLANEOUS CHEMICAL PRODUCTS______________________$12,553,018
PAPER & PAPERBOARD & ARTICLES (INC PAPR PULP ARTL)_______$11,482,739
ARTICLES OF IRON OR STEEL_______________________________$9,419,097
IRON ANDSTEEL__________________________________________$8,917,444
OIL SEEDS ETC.; MISC GRAIN, SEED, FRUIT, PLANT ETC_________$8,682,108
RUBBER AND ARTICLES THEREOF_____________________________$7,600,858
INORG CHEM; PREC & RARE-EARTH MET & RADIOACT COMPD______$6,846,871
COTTON, INCLUDING YARN AND WOVEN FABRIC THEREOF________$6,371,180
FURNITURE; BEDDING ETC; LAMPS NESOI ETC; PREFAB BD________$6,255,272
ALUMINUM AND ARTICLES THEREOF__________________________$5,977,893
WOOD AND ARTICLES OF WOOD; WOOD CHARCOAL____________$5,867,086
ESSENTIAL OILS ETC; PERFUMERY, COSMETIC ETC PREPS_______$5,516,433
EDIBLE FRUIT & NUTS; CITRUS FRUIT OR MELON PEEL___________$5,368,753
MEAT AND EDIBLE MEAT OFFAL______________________________$4,771,190
TANNING & DYE EXT ETC; DYE, PAINT, PUTTY ETC; INKS________$4,756,548
PRINTED BOOKS, NEWSPAPERS ETC; MANUSCRIPTS ETC_________$4,667,938
WOOD PULP ETC; RECOVD (WASTE & SCRAP) PPR & PPRBD_______$4,621,798
TOYS, GAMES & SPORT EQUIPMENT; PARTS & ACCESSORIES_____$4,225,899
GLASS AND GLASSWARE____________________________________$3,879,154
WORKS OF ART, COLLECTORS' PIECES AND ANTIQUES___________$3,514,577
FOOD INDUSTRY RESIDUES & WASTE; PREP ANIMAL FEED________$3,473,421
COPPER AND ARTICLES THEREOF_____________________________$3,435,914
MISCELLANEOUS EDIBLE PREPARATIONS_______________________$3,428,131
FISH, CRUSTACEANS & AQUATIC INVERTEBRATES_______________$3,307,478
MISCELLANEOUS ARTICLES OF BASE METAL____________________$3,258,373
SOAP ETC; WAXES, POLISH ETC; CANDLES; DENTAL PREPS_______$3,231,441
TOOLS, CUTLERY ETC. OF BASE METAL & PARTS THEREOF_______$3,201,629
PHOTOGRAPHIC OR CINEMATOGRAPHIC GOODS_________________$2,889,897
FERTILIZERS_____________________________________________$2,846,078
RAW HIDES AND SKINS (NO FURSKINS) AND LEATHER____________$2,785,891
APPAREL ARTICLES AND ACCESSORIES, KNIT OR CROCHET________$2,698,879
TOBACCO AND MANUFACTURED TOBACCO SUBSTITUTES_________$2,654,865
ARMS AND AMMUNITION; PARTS AND ACCESSORIES THEREOF_____$2,309,864
BEVERAGES, SPIRITS AND VINEGAR___________________________$2,258,501
PREP VEGETABLES, FRUIT, NUTS OR OTHER PLANT PARTS________$2,202,464
EDIBLE VEGETABLES & CERTAIN ROOTS & TUBERS_______________$2,151,307
ANIMAL OR VEGETABLE FATS, OILS ETC. & WAXES______________$2,023,416
APPAREL ARTICLES AND ACCESSORIES, NOT KNIT ETC.$__________1,877,031
MANMADE FILAMENTS, INCLUDING YARNS & WOVEN FABRICS_____$1,866,493
ORES, SLAG AND ASH______________________________________$1,790,251
SHIPS, BOATS AND FLOATING STRUCTURES____________________$1,784,073
RAILWAY OR TRAMWAY STOCK ETC; TRAFFIC SIGNAL EQUIP______$1,762,987
PREP CEREAL, FLOUR, STARCH OR MILK; BAKERS WARES_________$1,758,481
MANMADE STAPLE FIBERS, INCL YARNS & WOVEN FABRICS_______$1,719,271
SALT; SULFUR; EARTH & STONE; LIME & CEMENT PLASTER_______$1,677,795
ART OF STONE, PLASTER, CEMENT, ASBESTOS, MICA ETC._______$1,659,470
KNITTED OR CROCHETED FABRICS____________________________$1,658,579
ALBUMINOIDAL SUBST; MODIFIED STARCH; GLUE; ENZYMES______$1,653,820
IMPREGNATED ETC TEXT FABRICS; TEX ART FOR INDUSTRY______$1,462,902
WADDING, FELT ETC; SP YARN; TWINE, ROPES ETC.____________$1,430,737
BASE METALS NESOI; CERMETS; ARTICLES THEREOF____________$1,325,320
DAIRY PRODS; BIRDS EGGS; HONEY; ED ANIMAL PR NESOI________$1,181,479
MISCELLANEOUS MANUFACTURED ARTICLES____________________$1,179,260
TEXTILE ART NESOI; NEEDLECRAFT SETS; WORN TEXT ART______$1,052,147
CERAMIC PRODUCTS_________________________________________$982,572
EDIBLE PREPARATIONS OF MEAT, FISH, CRUSTACEANS ETC________$931,432
SPEC WOV FABRICS; TUFTED FAB; LACE; TAPESTRIES ETC________$844,956
LEATHER ART; SADDLERY ETC; HANDBAGS ETC; GUT ART__________$819,736
CARPETS AND OTHER TEXTILE FLOOR COVERINGS________________$806,862
COCOA AND COCOA PREPARATIONS____________________________$790,877
SUGARS AND SUGAR CONFECTIONARY__________________________$733,966
NICKEL AND ARTICLES THEREOF_______________________________$725,392
MILLING PRODUCTS; MALT; STARCH; INULIN; WHT GLUTEN________$685,244
FOOTWEAR, GAITERS ETC. AND PARTS THEREOF_________________$650,867
PRODUCTS OF ANIMAL ORIGIN, NESOI__________________________$565,973
CLOCKS AND WATCHES AND PARTS THEREOF____________________$557,827
MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS; PARTS AND ACCESSORIES THEREOF______$532,967
LIVE ANIMALS______________________________________________$518,768
EXPLOSIVES; PYROTECHNICS; MATCHES; PYRO ALLOYS ETC_______$494,190
COFFEE, TEA, MATE & SPICES________________________________$458,086
LAC; GUMS, RESINS & OTHER VEGETABLE SAP & EXTRACT_________$326,753
LIVE TREES, PLANTS, BULBS ETC.; CUT FLOWERS ETC.____________$312,344
FURSKINS AND ARTIFICIAL FUR; MANUFACTURES THEREOF_________$215,408
ZINC AND ARTICLES THEREOF_________________________________$154,705
HEADGEAR AND PARTS THEREOF_______________________________$128,351
LEAD AND ARTICLES THEREOF_________________________________$109,426
WOOL & ANIMAL HAIR, INCLUDING YARN & WOVEN FABRIC_________$108,348
TIN AND ARTICLES THEREOF___________________________________$85,959
PREP FEATHERS, DOWN ETC; ARTIF FLOWERS; H HAIR ART__________$52,794
CORK AND ARTICLES OF CORK__________________________________$45,143
VEGETABLE PLAITING MATERIALS & PRODUCTS NESOI______________$37,146
SILK, INCLUDING YARNS AND WOVEN FABRIC THEREOF_____________$29,843
VEG TEXT FIB NESOI; VEG FIB & PAPER YNS & WOV FAB_________ __$27,408
MFR OF STRAW, ESPARTO ETC.; BASKETWARE & WICKERWRK_______$25,604
UMBRELLAS, WALKING-STICKS, RIDING-CROPS ETC, PARTS__________$12,031

Fascinating: Machinery, Aerospace, Chemicals, Medical, and Electronics sit at the top... and we even sell umbrellas.

^Yeah, and I bet most of those umbrellas go the the rain-soaked folks in Vancouver. ;)

Another interesting trade comparison I just did . . .

Imports and Exports as a Percentage of GDP for Selected Nations

All data is from the CIA World Factbook (http://www.odci.gov/cia/publications/factbook/index.html)
All figures are for 2003.

United States
GDP: $10.99 trillion
Imports: $1.26 trillion - 11.46% of GDP
Exports: $714.5 billion - 6.5% of GDP
Note: For 2004, both those figures rose to ~15% and ~10% respectively

Japan
GDP: $3.582 trillion
Imports: $346.6 billion - 9.68% of GDP
Exports: $447.1 billion - 12.48% of GDP

China
GDP: $6.449 trillion
Imports: $397.4 billion - 6.16% of GDP
Exports: $436.1 billion - 6.76% of GDP

Germany
GDP: $2.271 trillion
Imports: $585 billion - 25.76% of GDP
Exports: $696.9 billion - 30.69% of GDP
Wow! Now there's a trade-dependant nation!

France
GDP: $1.661 trillion
Imports: $339.9 billion - 20.46% of GDP
Exports: $346.5 billion - 20.86% of GDP
Also quite a trade-dependant nation.
In the case of Germany and France, obviously much of this will be intra-EU trade. But still . . .

Australia
GDP: $571.4 billion
Imports: $82.91 billion - 14.5% of GDP
Exports: $68.67 billion - 12% of GDP

Canada
GDP: $958.7 billion
Imports: $240.4 billion - 25.1% of GDP
Exports: $279.3 billion - 29.13% of GDP
Proportionally similar to Germany.

Argentina
GDP: $435.5 billion
Imports: $13.27 billion - 3.05% of GDP
Exports: $29.57 billion - 6.79% of GDP
Practically the opposite of Germany and Canada.

Spain
GDP: $885.5 billion
Imports: $197.1 billion - 22.3% of GDP
Exports: $159.4 billion - 18% of GDP

So, for all the complaints about the levels of imports into the US, in 2003, imports actually accounted for a smaller proportion of the US economy than in Germany, France, Australia, Canada and Spain. Even if we discount the European nations due to their smaller size and close proximity to each other and closely-intertwined economies, the US still imports less as a percentage of its economy than Australia and Canada. And it's not too far behind Japan, either.

So, the reason why the US always has such big trade deficits is because we export less than most of these other nations in proportion to our economy. But that's most because the great bulk of our production is geared towards internal consumption rather than export markets.

The 2 poorest nations - China and Argentina - also have the smallest proportion of imports and exports in relation to the size of their economies. Coincidence? Perhaps, perhaps not.

Incidentally, if I'm not mistaken, imports are actually counted against GDP calculations (that is, they're subtracted from GDP, or something like that). However, this is still a useful way to look at the proportion of imports in relation to the size of an economy.

Fascinating: Machinery, Aerospace, Chemicals, Medical, and Electronics sit at the top... and we even sell umbrellas.
Yeah, but I also can't help but wonder about those nuclear reactors. ;)

I just found out we import a lot of nuclear reactors as well.

In fact, we import more nuclear reactors than we export!

From here:
http://tse.export.gov/NTDChart.aspx?UniqueURL=jjqgbc55wfl1u1yzfueedc55-2005-3-19-23-2-41

Here's the list of things we have a net deficit of in imports, in thousands of $USD

MINERAL FUEL, OIL ETC.; BITUMIN SUBST; MINERAL WAX______$186,969,413
VEHICLES, EXCEPT RAILWAY OR TRAMWAY, AND PARTS ETC___$117,940,556
ELECTRIC MACHINERY ETC; SOUND EQUIP; TV EQUIP; PTS_____$60,145,224
NUCLEAR REACTORS, BOILERS, MACHINERY ETC.; PARTS______$51,617,584
APPAREL ARTICLES AND ACCESSORIES, NOT KNIT ETC.________$33,410,075
APPAREL ARTICLES AND ACCESSORIES, KNIT OR CROCHET_____$28,883,472
FURNITURE; BEDDING ETC; LAMPS NESOI ETC; PREFAB BD______$27,515,049
TOYS, GAMES & SPORT EQUIPMENT; PARTS & ACCESSORIES____$17,736,255
WOOD AND ARTICLES OF WOOD; WOOD CHARCOAL____________$17,044,399
SPECIAL IMPORT PROVISIONS, NESOI_______________________$16,193,577
FOOTWEAR, GAITERS ETC. AND PARTS THEREOF______________$15,854,471
NAT ETC PEARLS, PREC ETC STONES, PR MET ETC; COIN_______$15,310,323
IRON AND STEEL________________________________________$13,561,121
PHARMACEUTICAL PRODUCTS_____________________________$11,818,962
ARTICLES OF IRON OR STEEL______________________________$10,364,014
BEVERAGES, SPIRITS AND VINEGAR_________________________$9,528,517
SPECIAL CLASSIFICATION PROVISIONS, NESOI_______________$9,291,279
ORGANIC CHEMICALS_____________________________________$7,840,184
LEATHER ART; SADDLERY ETC; HANDBAGS ETC; GUT ART_______$7,411,833
TEXTILE ART NESOI; NEEDLECRAFT SETS; WORN TEXT ART______$6,839,399
ALUMINUM AND ARTICLES THEREOF__________________________$6,629,955
RUBBER AND ARTICLES THEREOF____________________________$5,934,955
FISH, CRUSTACEANS & AQUATIC INVERTEBRATES______________$5,395,055
PAPER & PAPERBOARD & ARTICLES (INC PAPR PULP ARTL)________$5,378,711
CERAMIC PRODUCTS_______________________________________$3,684,092
CLOCKS AND WATCHES AND PARTS THEREOF__________________$3,230,806
ART OF STONE, PLASTER, CEMENT, ASBESTOS, MICA ETC._______$3,211,193
MISCELLANEOUS ARTICLES OF BASE METAL____________________$3,166,121
TOOLS, CUTLERY ETC. OF BASE METAL & PARTS THEREOF_______$2,552,814
COFFEE, TEA, MATE & SPICES_______________________________$2,379,488
EDIBLE PREPARATIONS OF MEAT, FISH, CRUSTACEANS ETC_______$2,150,282
COPPER AND ARTICLES THEREOF_____________________________$2,149,433
MISCELLANEOUS MANUFACTURED ARTICLES____________________$2,066,804
EDIBLE VEGETABLES & CERTAIN ROOTS & TUBERS_______________$1,890,228
INORG CHEM; PREC & RARE-EARTH MET & RADIOACT COMPD______$1,845,034
WORKS OF ART, COLLECTORS' PIECES AND ANTIQUES___________$1,786,625
COCOA AND COCOA PREPARATIONS__________________________$1,705,486
HEADGEAR AND PARTS THEREOF_____________________________$1,398,405
NICKEL AND ARTICLES THEREOF_____________________________$1,342,469
PREP VEGETABLES, FRUIT, NUTS OR OTHER PLANT PARTS________$1,342,299
SUGARS AND SUGAR CONFECTIONARY_________________________$1,255,847
GLASS AND GLASSWARE____________________________________$1,212,830
PREP FEATHERS, DOWN ETC; ARTIF FLOWERS; H HAIR ART_______$1,198,168
LIVE TREES, PLANTS, BULBS ETC.; CUT FLOWERS ETC.__________$1,064,878
CARPETS AND OTHER TEXTILE FLOOR COVERINGS_______________$1,030,693
PREP CEREAL, FLOUR, STARCH OR MILK; BAKERS WARES_________$1,014,455
ZINC AND ARTICLES THEREOF_________________________________$974,351
MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS; PARTS AND ACCESSORIES THEREOF_______$971,941
LIVE ANIMALS______________________________________________$919,786
SALT; SULFUR; EARTH & STONE; LIME & CEMENT PLASTER_________$699,274
TIN AND ARTICLES THEREOF__________________________________$413,486
MFR OF STRAW, ESPARTO ETC.; BASKETWARE & WICKERWRK______$403,944
DAIRY PRODS; BIRDS EGGS; HONEY; ED ANIMAL PR NESOI_________$344,455
ESSENTIAL OILS ETC; PERFUMERY, COSMETIC ETC PREPS_________$344,134
UMBRELLAS, WALKING-STICKS, RIDING-CROPS ETC, PARTS_________$329,625
MEAT AND EDIBLE MEAT OFFAL________________________________$323,968
SHIPS, BOATS AND FLOATING STRUCTURES_____________________$299,972
SILK, INCLUDING YARNS AND WOVEN FABRIC THEREOF____________$261,328
WOOL & ANIMAL HAIR, INCLUDING YARN & WOVEN FABRIC_________$235,354
FURSKINS AND ARTIFICIAL FUR; MANUFACTURES THEREOF________$226,428
ANIMAL OR VEGETABLE FATS, OILS ETC. & WAXES_______________$224,416
LAC; GUMS, RESINS & OTHER VEGETABLE SAP & EXTRACT_________$196,775
CORK AND ARTICLES OF CORK________________________________$168,092
VEG TEXT FIB NESOI; VEG FIB & PAPER YNS & WOV FAB___________$160,516
MANMADE FILAMENTS, INCLUDING YARNS & WOVEN FABRICS_______$103,895
LEAD AND ARTICLES THEREOF_________________________________$83,073
BASE METALS NESOI; CERMETS; ARTICLES THEREOF_______________$79,183
PRODUCTS OF ANIMAL ORIGIN, NESOI___________________________$57,933
ORES, SLAG AND ASH_________________________________________$25,740
VEGETABLE PLAITING MATERIALS & PRODUCTS NESOI______________$12,885

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2002213540_metals20.html

Seattle Times
Sunday, March 20, 2005
Hot metal market
By Drew DeSilver
Seattle Times business reporter

Nearly all of the 215,000 miles of rebar that rolls out of Nucor's West Seattle steel mill each year is used within several hundred miles of the plant, helping support structures ranging from Seattle's Qwest Field to the Tacoma Narrows bridge.

Most of the junked autos, old refrigerators, railcars and other scrap that meet their doom inside Nucor Seattle's 3,200-degree furnace come from the same region.

So, with the Northwest economy firmly in recovery mode and rebar prices almost twice what they were when Nucor bought the plant just over two years ago, these should be gravy days for Doug Jellison, general manager of Nucor Seattle.

And yet, Jellison finds his thoughts turning west — about 5,432 miles west, to Beijing, China. Because no matter how self-sufficient Nucor Seattle may appear, what happens in booming China has a very real impact on how much steel Jellison's mill makes and how profitably he can sell it.

"The market driver is China, no question about it," he said.

Insatiable demand from China, along with the recovering U.S. economy, has boosted prices for raw industrial commodities across the board. As a result, several Pacific Northwest metals industries — steel making, aluminum smelting, hard-rock mining for silver, lead and zinc — have rebounded from their near-comatose state of just a few years ago.

But as other industries have learned, China can be a competitor as well as a customer. In recent months, China has begun exporting spare rebar to the United States, pushing down prices and prompting production cutbacks at producers such as the Nucor Seattle plant. In aluminum, China's production capacity nearly tripled between 1995 and 2003, reshaping the global market.

Prices for many metals remain at or near historic highs, despite some recent slippage. But high prices alone can't guarantee healthy metals industries, in the Northwest or anywhere else. Steel mills and aluminum smelters require lots of cheap electricity, and the Bush administration's recent proposal to raise Bonneville Power Administration rates sent industry and government leaders scrambling to block it. And if U.S. industrial production falters, so will metals demand.

Role in Northwest history
Though largely overshadowed by timber, aerospace and, most recently, high technology, metals — precious and otherwise — have played key roles in Northwest history.

A series of gold rushes in the 1860s lured miners to what would become Idaho; the Panhandle's Silver Valley has produced billions of dollars worth of silver, lead, zinc and other metals.

The West Seattle mill now owned by Nucor will mark its 100th anniversary in May; it was started by William Pigott, who also founded Paccar. After the Columbia River dams were built, aluminum smelters — attracted by rock-bottom electricity — sprouted across the region.

More recently, though, a combination of slack demand, low commodity prices and higher electricity rates combined to dull metals' luster. Mines and smelters shut down; steel was replaced by silicon in the public consciousness.

But the past 18 months have been a boom time for metal producers. On the London Metals Exchange, aluminum futures are up 39.5 percent since October 2003; zinc is up 68.5 percent, lead 74.4 percent and copper a whopping 82 percent.

Manufactured steel products have shared in the boom. According to Purchasing, a Newton, Mass.-based journal for industrial-purchasing managers, the spot price for hot-rolled steel sheet — an industry benchmark — has more than doubled since October 2003, from $295 a ton to $600.

Whatever the metal, the same basic factors are behind the double-digit increases, said Tom Stundza, Purchasing's executive editor: a reviving U.S. economy demanding the same goods that China already had been eagerly snapping up.

"China's economy has been on this insane building boom," Stundza said. "They're trying to electrify the country, so they've been sucking up every bit of copper they can get their hands on.

"They've got an Olympics coming up in 2008, and they're trying to industrialize their country so that when people come to visit they don't see a Third World country."

Metals producers in the Northwest have responded to the higher prices:

• This past December Alcoa resumed production at its Wenatchee aluminum smelter, idle since July 2001. Even though only two of the smelter's four remaining potlines have been restarted, Alcoa's action doubled the number of active smelters in Washington state.

• Oregon Steel Mills is planning to build a new pipe-making facility next to its existing rolling mill in Portland.

• Nucor is considering several locations in the Northwest — including West Seattle — for a new sheet-steel plant.

• Formation Capital of Vancouver, B.C., last month raised $10 million, and said it would use the money to complete permitting and feasibility studies of its huge cobalt property in central Idaho. Cobalt is used to strengthen steel for high-speed cutting tools; the Formation property would be the only cobalt mine in the United States.

Continued demand key
Much of all this activity, though, depends on continued demand to absorb the supplies of new metals and support current price levels.

For example, China is expected to consume about 350 million tons of steel this year, Nucor's Jellison said — more than a third of the world supply. But since last summer, China's leaders also have been trying to rein in the country's galloping economy.

If the consumption forecast is off by less than 10 percent, Jellison noted, "that means another 30 million tons of steel are heading to the United States, and that can make the difference between making money and losing money."

Spot prices for various steel products, which started rising in late 2003, peaked last summer and have been mostly flat to slightly lower since, according to Purchasing data. Aluminum, lead and other industrial metals have followed similar patterns, though zinc is still rising strongly.

And then there's the prospect of competing against the Chinese industrial colossus, rather than merely supplying it.

Over the past several years, China has used a good share of its steel imports to build steel mills of its own; it is now the world's largest steel producer, churning out about 270 million tons last year.

But while China still is buying all the steel sheet and plate it can find, it began exporting other products late last year. In November and December, Purchasing's Stundza said, China exported a million tons of steel — mostly rebar and light structural steel.

The impact was felt quickly: As West Coast supplies rose, rebar prices — which peaked at about $550 a ton in August — began to drop; they run about $470 a ton today. Nucor Seattle cut back output: In the fourth quarter of 2004, the plant's total tonnage was 28 percent below the level set the first nine months of the year.

"A year ago, everything was in short supply and everything was going up in price," Jellison said. "Now it's a lot more variable — some products, like plate, are still in short supply, but less so for rebar. All the capacity they built is catching up with them."

Another issue for minimills such as Nucor's is the rising price of scrap steel.

Two years ago, a ton of scrap cost about $139; today, that ton fetches $305 (though prices have dropped by nearly a third since their peak in November). A big reason: Increased demand from China for the world's junked cars and broken machinery as feedstock for all those new minimills.

Strong aluminum market
Chinese demand — along with an upturn in the aerospace, commercial vehicle and construction industries — has also contributed to the runup in prices of aluminum and alumina, the intermediate product that is smelted into finished aluminum.

As China's construction boom has absorbed much of the world's available aluminum, the country's own production has more than tripled — from 1.26 million metric tons in 1993 to 6.6 million metric tons last year, according to James F. King, a British industrial-metals consultant.

China's imports soar
Over the same period, China's alumina imports have soared from 951,000 metric tons to 6.3 million metric tons.

The stronger aluminum market, along with a new labor contract and guaranteed power from the Chelan County Public Utility District, helped Alcoa decide to restart its Wenatchee smelter. The plant, which employs 400 workers, will produce 85,000 metric tons of aluminum this year.

But the Northwest's aluminum industry — what's left of it, anyway — remains vulnerable to energy prices. Soaring energy costs earlier this decade combined with falling demand during the recession to shut down almost all the region's smelters; only three, in Wenatchee, Ferndale and Columbia Falls, Mont., are operating today, all at reduced capacity.

Alcoa, like Nucor, is watching carefully the Bush administration's proposal for BPA to sell its hydropower at close to market rates. A recent report by the Northwest Power and Conservation Council estimated that such a move would raise electricity bills by 39 percent; Northwest politicians from across the political spectrum have moved to block Bush's plan.

But Alcoa isn't putting all, or even most, of its eggs in BPA's basket. In July the Pittsburgh-based company broke ground on a smelter in Iceland, its first new smelter in two decades. When completed in 2007, the plant will be able to produce 322,000 metric tons of aluminum a year.

Central to the decision to build in Iceland, the company says, was an agreement by the national electricity company to build a hydropower project to supply cheap power to the smelter for the next 40 years.

"When you make aluminum, you need long-term, competitively priced energy," company spokesman Kevin Lowery said. "At the end of the day, aluminum is a commodity, and you need to make it in the lowest cost way possible."

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/ABPub/2005/03/17/2002211151.gif

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/ABPub/2005/03/16/2002209749.jpg
The lid on the electric arc furnace at Nucor steel mill is lifted up so more metal can be dropped into the furnace to be melted. Sixty thousand tons of scrap metal are melted there each month. Demand from China and the economic recovery in the United States have re-energized some Pacific Northwest metal industries.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/ABPub/2005/03/16/2002209756.jpg
After scrap metal is melted down, the molten steel is distributed into four separate streams, which then go into copper molds.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/ABPub/2005/03/17/2002210056.jpg
Most of the junked autos, old refrigerators, railcars and other scrap that meet their doom at Nucor come from the region.

Who says high oil prices are always bad?

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2002213568_oiljobs20.html

Sunday, March 20, 2005 - Page updated at 12:00 a.m.
Workers needed
By Roxana Hegeman
The Associated Press

ZENDA, Kan. — Years after plummeting prices dismantled its infrastructure and decimated its work force, the nation's oil and gas industry is contending with a labor shortage — just as demand and prices are soaring again.

Laid-off oil-field workers long ago found more stable jobs elsewhere, and most are not returning. Especially hard to find are people to fill entry-level jobs as roustabouts, rig hands, pumpers and service personnel.

The severity of the shortage varies from region to region. It is harder to find oil-field workers for natural-resource development in the Rockies and Appalachians than in Texas or the Gulf region, said Fred Lawrence, vice president of economics for the Independent Petroleum Association of America.

The worker deficit results from the domestic energy industry's recovery following years of decline. Now that oil prices have climbed above $50 a barrel, rusty rigs that nobody wanted just a few years ago are being dragged out of equipment yards. New drilling companies are popping up.

In 1981, when oil prices were high, some 91,553 wells were drilled in the United States, Lawrence said. By the time prices bottomed out in 1999, just 18,465 wells were drilled.

But in the first 11 months of 2004, some 31,533 wells were drilled across the country, compared with 23,592 in the same period a year earlier.

Ed Cross, executive vice president of the Kansas Independent Oil and Gas Association, said the lack of workers is dragging down the recovery in the state's oil and gas industry.

"Almost every oil and gas producer I talk to would like to do more," Cross said. "They just can't find enough hired help to do more."

Among those stymied is Mark Shreve, president of Mull Drilling in Wichita. His firm, an exploration and production company, contracts with others to drill its wells. Three years ago, it typically took 30 to 45 days to begin drilling once Shreve had a contract with a driller. Without enough workers, it now takes eight to 12 months.

"Between 1988 and 1999, we were fighting oil prices that were in the $10-a-barrel range," Shreve said. "In 1999, our company drilled six wells. This year, we will drill 30 wells."

Among those who did come back to the booming oil fields of Kansas is David Kerns, who quit a well-paying job as a guard in a jail to work on a rig. Kerns had left the industry in 1996 after oil-field work dried up. Now 58, Kerns was not sure he could still do the hard work on a rig at his age.

But his father and his grandfather were oil workers, as were his older brothers: "Generation after generation — it gets into your blood," he said.

Many workers, though, have decided not to come back. And so the industry has been looking to the nation's changing demographics to recruit workers — and increasingly finding them in Hispanic immigrants.

Among them is Key Energy Services, the nation's largest well-servicing company with locations in 17 states. About 60 percent of its 8,000-plus workers are Hispanic, said Lou Pugliaresi, the company's manager of government affairs.

Driving the trend is the fact that much of the nation's oil patch lies in areas with large Hispanic populations such as New Mexico, Texas, Arizona and Oklahoma.

The company has provided rigs for hands-on training and gotten grants from the Department of Labor for partnerships to open schools in New Mexico, Texas and Oklahoma during the past two years.

There may be a downside to the new wave of workers — AMI Risk Management in Wichita, which writes insurance coverage for drilling and servicing contractors, reported a big increase last year in its oil-field-worker compensation claims in the Midwest.

Between 1998 and 2003, insurance premiums collected at AMI tripled as drilling activity picked up, said Ray Merz, executive vice president. But during the same time, claim losses quadrupled.

"There is a correlation between the lack of experience and the lack of training and a higher frequency of claims," Merz said. "In other words, workers with less than six months of experience have a higher accident rate."

The company's findings could not be immediately backed by government statistics, which are still being compiled for 2004. Statistics put together by industry groups such as the International Association of Drilling Contractors show a steady decline in injuries, based on lost-time incidents and accidents in 2004 compared to the past few years.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/ABPub/2005/03/10/2002203336.jpg
Roy Craig, right, and David Kerns add a section of drilling pipe as they search for oil on a rig owned by Sterling Oil near Zenda, Kan. Record-high prices have created renewed interest in domestic oil drilling, but drillers are having some difficulty finding workers to man new rigs.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/ABPub/2005/03/10/2002203330.jpg
Roy Craig prepares a section of drilling pipe as he searches for oil near Zenda, Kan., earlier this year.

http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/ABPub/2005/03/10/2002203337.jpg
Roy Craig guides a section of pipe into position at a drilling site near Zenda, Kan. A Kansas trade-group spokesman says the lack of workers is dragging down the recovery in that state's oil and gas industry.

http://pittsburgh.bizjournals.com/pittsburgh/stories/2005/03/21/daily15.html

Pittsburgh Business Times
Tuesday, March 22, 2003
FirstEnergy to add 3,000 jobs

FirstEnergy Corp. said Tuesday it will add 3,000 employees through 2007, with about 1,600 expected to be hired in 2005 and 2006.

Akron, Ohio-based FirstEnergy (NYSE:FE) companies currently have more than 13,000 employees in Ohio, Pennsylvania, and New Jersey.

"Like most U.S. companies, we will need to replace highly skilled and experienced employees who retire over the next several years," president and CEO Anthony Alexander said. "While some of these positions will be filled through promotions and reassignments, we will be aggressively recruiting talented and highly motivated people from outside our company to ensure that we continue to provide reliable, responsive service to our customers."

FirstEnergy, which began selling electricity to Pittsburgh-area customers in 1997, said in 2005-06, approximately 745 positions will be available in energy delivery, 575 positions in power plants and support services, and 280 positions in corporate service areas, depending upon retirements and other factors.

The jobs will include engineering, business analysts, finance, dispatching, information systems, administrative, line and technical positions.

Another mundane business that no one ever notices expanding . . . and another textile plant, too, though this isn't your standard household textile uses . . .

http://www.bizjournals.com/industries/manufacturing/general/2005/03/21/charlotte_daily16.html

Charlotte Business Journal - 12:00 PM EST Tuesday
PGI investing $40M in Mooresville plant
Roberta Fuchs

A Mooresville manufacturing plant will boost its production and add 49 employees.

PGI Nonwovens, a subsidiary of South Carolina-based Polymer Group Inc., will invest $40 million to install a new production line at its plant in the Mooresville Business Park, off Mazeppa Road.

The expansion is designed to meet customer demand for PGI's product line of highly absorbent disposable fabrics for medical, industrial and hygiene products.

Demand for those fabrics, made in a process called "spun melt," has increased faster than the typical 7% annual growth rate for most nonwoven products.

Construction of the new line will begin by the end of April, and commercial production is planned for the second quarter of 2006.

The plant has 170 employees.

About two-thirds of the 49 new workers will be employed in manufacturing. The rest will work in sales and research and development.

The average weekly wage is expected to be $720.

Mooresville competed with a plant in Virginia and three overseas for the investment, says Dennis Norman, vice president of strategic planning and communication at PGI.

Mooresville and Iredell County officials offered the company one of the community's most generous incentive packages, $1.6 million over six years.

The project also qualifies for state incentives of $150,000.

"Polymer Group has a longstanding history of operations in North Carolina," Norman says. "North Carolina was very motivated in bringing investment to the community."

Polymer Group (OTC BB: POLGA) has 421 employees in North Carolina. Along with the Mooresville operations, the company has a plant in Benson and an administrative office Raleigh.

Fed raises rates again

http://money.cnn.com/2005/03/22/news/economy/fed_rates/fed_moves_march05_275.gif

Another quarter-point hike, with more 'measured' increases likely, but a clear signal on inflation.

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - The Federal Reserve raised short-term interest rates another quarter point Tuesday and said it expected to keep boosting rates at a "measured" pace -- but the central bank put investors on notice that it was growing more concerned about inflation.

The central bank's policy-makers lifted the federal funds rate, an overnight bank lending rate, from 2.5 percent to 2.75 percent, the highest since right after the Sept. 11 attacks in 2001. It was the seventh quarter-point increase since the Fed started raising rates last June to end an era of super-cheap money and start the preemptive battle against inflation.

But while it kept its "measured" language, the Fed also noted a pickup in "pricing power" in recent months, a sign that Fed chairman Alan Greenspan and other policy-makers are worried about record high oil prices and other inflationary pressures. Stocks and bonds fell sharply following the announcement.

[...]

CNNmoney (http://money.cnn.com/2005/03/22/news/economy/fed_rates/index.htm)

Wholesale price gains modest

Producer Price Index up 0.4%; core PPI climbs only 0.1%, signaling tame inflation for now.

http://money.cnn.com/2005/03/22/news/economy/ppi/ppi_core.ppi.gif

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) - Wholesale price increases for February came in roughly in line with Wall Street expectations Tuesday, tempering inflation concerns.

The Producer Price Index, the government's key measure of wholesale prices, rose 0.4 percent in February, compared to the 0.3 percent increase seen in January. Economists surveyed by Briefing.com had forecast a 0.3 percent rise in February.

The so-called core PPI, which excludes often volatile food and energy prices, gained 0.1 percent. A 0.8 percent rise in the core PPI in January shook markets by raising new inflation concerns.

Economists had forecast only a 0.1 percent rise in the core PPI in February.

But even with the relatively modest month-to-month rises in wholesale prices, Tuesday's reading contains some troubling signs of inflationary pressures.

With Tuesday's numbers, overall wholesale prices were up a not-so-modest 4.7 percent over the past 12 months, while the core PPI increased 2.8 percent during that same period.

The change in the core PPI is the biggest 12-month increase since May 1992. Both the overall and core PPI gains also outstrip the 12-month rise in the Consumer Price Index, which measures overall retail prices, and the core CPI, which follows retail prices less food and energy.

[...]

CNNmoney (http://money.cnn.com/2005/03/22/news/economy/ppi/index.htm)

France relaxes 35-hour week rule

French MPs have effectively voted to relax the Socialist-era 35-hour limit on the working week, allowing private firms to increase working hours.

The National Assembly, dominated by the centre-right, voted by more than two to one to allow up to 13 hours' overtime.

Private sector workers will also be able to convert extra days off into wage rises or pension contributions.

Employers said the 35-hour week, introduced in 1998, had failed to create jobs and was uncompetitive.

The new law does not scrap the 35-hour week - it still applies in France's large public sector and it will remain the standard working week in the private sector.

But the changes will allow workers to work up to 48 hours a week - the maximum allowed by the European Union.

Labour Relations Minister Gerard Larcher hailed the reform as a "pragmatic and realistic" move, but Socialist deputies dismissed it as a backward step, the Associated Press news agency reports.

"This text in fact just shows the blind refusal of a ruling party that is heading for trouble and toughening its line on ideological principles that date from another century and penalise jobs and workers," Socialist deputy Alain Vidalies said.

A poll earlier this year showed that the majority of French workers did not want to work longer hours, with only 18% saying they did.

Public sector trade unions mobilised against the reforms, bringing hundreds of thousands of protesters on to the streets in a series of protests across the country.

But many blue collar unions said members wanted more pay, not more time off.

The 35-hour week was introduced by a Socialist government, in the expectation that it would help reduce unemployment.

However, unemployment remains stubbornly high at 10%.

Prime Minister Jean-Pierre Raffarin said the changes were aimed at restoring the work ethic in France and improving its sluggish economic performance by encouraging people to earn more by working more.

He said the change was vital to keep the French economy competitive and to create more jobs.

BBC (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/4373167.stm)

:fiddle:

LOL, gotta love those French. ;)

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/24/business/worldbusiness/24sbiz.html

NY Times
March 24, 2005
SMALL BUSINESS
Export Opportunities Aren't Just for the Big Guys
By MARK A. STEIN

About the time the Wiggins Lift Company decided last year to open an office in England and expand in Europe, a wonderful thing happened. The euro became worth more than $1.25.

The fall of the dollar's value against the European currency - the euro is now worth $1.30, up from 87 cents three years ago - made Wiggins's giant forklifts more affordable in Britain, Italy, Spain and elsewhere, and sales took off. Europeans were eager to modernize their marinas, so they wanted Wiggins lifts, which can cost as much as $500,000 each, because they can raise 40-foot powerboats out of the water and gently stack them on racks ashore.

Wiggins's factory in Oxnard, Calif., could hardly keep up with demand, but some customers were happy to make deposits on lifts that would not be delivered for 6, 8 or even 12 months, said Michael P. Marzahl, the company's marketing and customer-relations manager. "They want to jump on it before the euro falls," he said.

Other small businesses, which make everything from computer security hardware to toothpaste, are also reporting sales gains as the dollar falls. The Commerce Department does not gather data specifically on the volume of exports by small businesses, but the Small Business Administration estimates that the number of small businesses exporting goods or services has tripled in the last 10 years, and the value of what they sell abroad has tripled in just the last five years.

A large part of that gain has come in sales to Canada and Mexico, driven by the North American Free Trade Agreement, says Manuel A. Rosales, the Small Business Administration's principal adviser on international trade. He says his agency estimates that 97,000 small businesses export to those two countries alone, and the total value of those exports was about $50 billion last year.

But as Wiggins Lifts shows, the gains are also coming in Europe or anywhere else that the dollar has slid in value against the local currency. "For a small U.S. manufacturer like ourselves," said Mr. Marzahl, "it's been very good."

Not all small businesses see sales opportunities overseas, of course. But many small businesses who do not may want to take a closer look. Faribor Ghadar, a professor of finance and director of the Global Business Study Center at Pennsylvania State University, divides small and midsize exporters into four categories: two that stand to gain from a weak dollar and two that do not.

Businesses with unique products, like supercomputer support of biotechnology research, do not, because customers have nowhere else to go. At the other end of the technology spectrum, companies that make generic products in competitive fields, like clothing or toys, do not, because they still cannot compete against low-cost rivals in Asia and elsewhere.

But a weaker dollar can benefit small brand-name exporters that piggyback on global brands, like those that sell components for I.B.M. computers or Cisco routers, Dr. Ghadar says. It can also help exporters in competitive fields that have an intimate relationship with their customers, like toolmakers or auto-parts suppliers, if they have the means to deliver their products quickly and transfer payments back to the United States at low cost, he said. In both those cases, Dr. Ghadar said, the weaker dollar has made coveted American brands that once seemed out of reach to some foreign buyers much more affordable.

That is certainly the experience of Britestream Networks, a company in Austin, Tex., that makes computer-security hardware and is actively seeking to expand exports, especially in Asia. Buyers there are notoriously tight-fisted, but Bob Weinschenk, Britestream's chief executive, says their resistance has crumbled along with the greenback.

"Especially in some of the more cost-conscious markets, I'm not hearing any more concerns about prices," Mr. Weinschenk said.

The weak dollar has not only helped increase his company's sales, it has also helped to control its costs, he added. As the dollar began its slide, Britestream stocked up on screws, brackets and other materials it buys overseas. "We just went out and bought everything we could," Mr. Weinschenk said.

Mr. Weinschenk said he had dispatched 15 sales representatives to Asia, three times as many as in Europe, which is the company's second-largest market after America. Not only is he hoping to drum up more sales, he says, he is also aiming to build up personal relationships that will sustain his relationships with clients if the dollar turns up. "It's not so much about saving a penny or two on each unit," he said. "It's about, 'Can I trust this person?' "

It is not necessary for small businesses to field a flock of sales representatives abroad. Edward Cutler, for one, found that the Internet did a lot of that work for him. His company, Squigle Inc., in Narberth, Pa., northwest of Philadelphia, makes a special mild toothpaste for people who cannot tolerate the foaming agents and other harsh chemicals in mass-produced products.

Squigle focused on the domestic market after Mr. Cutler, who has a doctorate in chemistry, introduced his toothpaste in 1998. But as news spread over the Internet, Squigle started receiving inquiries from Taiwan, Turkey and elsewhere around the world. One customer, a canker-sore sufferer in Britain, was so enthusiastic about the toothpaste that he began importing Squigle to England for sale there.

That was good news for Mr. Cutler because it let him expand abroad at little cost or risk, and he said he was most eager to start selling beyond America. "We're looking to sell overseas for the same reason the big companies do: most of the world's population lies outside the United States," he said.

It is ideal when he can find a distributor abroad, rather than having to bother with individual orders for his toothpaste, which retails for $7 to $11 for a four-ounce tube. "It is just easier to deal with distributors," he said. "We prefer to deal in master shippers of 144 tubes. We don't have to do anything then but slap a label on it."

Without a doubt, exporting complicates many processes for small-business owners, from shipping to collecting receivables. These include bills of lading, letters of credit and customs forms at both ends, said Mr. Rosales, the Small Business Administration official. There is also the crucial task of picking the right market, one that is open to the particular product to be exported but not crowded with established local competitors.

The government offers free advice on the practical points of exporting for small-business owners, through the Web site www.export.gov, which coordinates assistance from federal agencies, including the Commerce Department, the State Department and the Small Business Administration.

Personal help is available at 16 export assistance centers that the Office of International Trade at the S.B.A. operates around the country and at more than 100 centers that the Commerce Department's commercial service runs.

Giant exporters like Boeing, Microsoft and the Hollywood studios get most of the attention when people talk about export opportunities, said Harvey D. Bronstein, a senior international economist at the S.B.A., but there is no reason that small companies cannot join them.

"The dollar will only encourage more exporting from the United States," he said, "and small business will get its share."

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2005/03/24/business/sbiz.184.jpg
Some Wiggins customers have made deposits on lifts that will not be delivered for months.

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2005/03/24/business/sbiz2.184.jpg
A Wiggins Lift worker welds a machine that pulls boats out of the water. Lifts can cost as much as $500,000.

Just want to say thanks for this thread, it always seems to brighten up my day. :)

^You're welcome. :) Now, for some more good news (well, this article was from back in August, but the folks in Erie are no doubt still very very busy) . . .

Here's another heavy manufacturing industry that's currently booming - railroad car construction. The first post of this thread was an article about railroads needing to hire ~80,000 people over the next several years (in part to fill in mass-retirements), but I showed one article a couple pages ago about a large shortage of rail cars and locomotives needed to haul out coal in Colorado. The effect of all this is - this:

http://www.sts.siemens.com/News/2004/081904.html

18 August 2004
Erie Times-News
GE Transportation's locomotive orders near 800
By Peter Panepento, Erie Times-News, Pa.
Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News

Aug. 18--GE Transportation's busiest production year in half a decade keeps getting busier.

A surge in demand -- along with continued improvements to GE Transportation's production cycle -- has put the company on pace to fill orders for as many as 800 locomotives by the end of the year.

That projection marks a significant jump over earlier production estimates of about 700 locomotives and would give GE Transportation its strongest locomotive production year since 1999, when it cranked out a record 911.

"The growing economy has resulted in GE's customers looking for more locomotives to haul freight," GE Transportation spokesman Patrick Jarvis said.

The high demand is not expected to lead to any employment increases, but it does offer a measure of stability for the nearly 4,000 workers at GE Transportation Systems' Lawrence Park complex.

A downturn in the locomotive market had dropped GE Transportation's order totals to as low as 470 in 2002 and had prompted the company to lay off about 130 workers and offer early retirement packages to several hundred more.

GE Transportation has since recalled all of those laid-off workers and has hired about 240 more to keep up with demand, officials with the United Electrical Radio and Machine Workers Local 506 have said.

In addition to the increase in locomotive demand, Erie County's largest employer is also benefiting from a $150 million contract with Kazakhstan's national railroad company to produce 200 locomotive modernization kits over the next three years.

GE Transportation is also preparing to begin production of the gearing for wind turbines that will be manufactured by its sister company, GE Wind.

The heightened demand has helped boost profits for GE Transportation, which is part of a General Electric Co. business unit that includes the former GE Aircraft Engines.

Profits for the unit totaled $810 million in the second quarter, an increase of 18 percent over the $686 million profit recorded during the same period in 2003.

Here's a more meta-view of the whole railroad-car-building business. It's from last July but it gives you an idea . ..

http://www.rsiweb.org/news/RAILROADFREIGHTCARORDERSANDBACKLOGSURGEINSECONDQUARTER2004.htm

Washington , DC - July 27, 2004
For further information:
Tom Simpson, (202) 347-4664

RAILROAD FREIGHT CAR ORDERS AND BACKLOG SURGE IN SECOND QUARTER 2004

Orders for new railroad freight cars continued to increase in the second quarter of 2004 according to statistics released by the American Railway Car Institute (ARCI) Committee of the Railway Supply Institute (RSI). This marks the third straight quarter orders have increased.

The ARCI reported that 19,770 new freight cars were ordered in the second quarter of 2004 compared to 17,962 in the first quarter of 2004. Total orders of 37,732 for the first six months of 2004 already exceed the 28,457 new freight cars ordered in 2002, and are approaching the 47,249 new freight cars ordered in 2003. The increase in second quarter orders was spurred by increased orders for covered hopper cars, aluminum gondolas and all types of flat cars.

Despite the increase in orders, the deliveries of new railroad freight cars remained flat with 10,071 new cars delivered in the second quarter of 2004 versus 10,012 new cars delivered in the first quarter. This has led to a backlog of cars ordered but not yet delivered of 51,446. The backlog is the largest enjoyed by the industry since 1999.

"The continued increase in new freight car orders is welcome news for the freight car building industry but the continued uncertainty of availability of steel and component parts are of concern. However, the industry is on track to deliver well over 40,000 new cars this year," said Tom Simpson, spokesman for ARCI.

The ARCI Committee consists of companies in the railroad freight car building industry. As one of several functions, the ARCI compiles statistics and reports quarterly on North American railroad freight car orders, deliveries and backlog.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sometimes when I've been doing these posts, the numbers and the size of the things involved are practically staggering. In addition to individual orders of, like 60 Boeing planes, can you imagine trying to fill a backlog of 51,446 railroad cars??? Just ONE railroad car is pretty big. And they've got 51,446 of them they need to build!! If you also take into account that just a relative handful of factories are needed to build all those, it gives you an idea of how busy some folks are gonna be!!

^That website above has some more updated info here:
http://www.rsiweb.org/committees/arci_stats.htm
^
As of the end of last year, the backlog in railcar orders was up to 58,677. At the end of the 3rd quarter it had been as high as 61,052. If you compare the orders and the backlog from 2001-2002 and compare it to 2004 you see how much the business has taken off.

And speaking of orders for big stuff like railroad cars and locomotives . . .

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&ncid=1203&e=1&u=/ap/20050324/ap_on_bi_go_ec_fi/economy&sid=95609868

Factory Orders Surge; Jobless Claims Up
Thu, Mar 24, 2005
By JEANNINE AVERSA, AP Economics Writer

WASHINGTON - America's factories saw orders for big-ticket goods rise by 0.3 percent in February after falling sharply the month before. The report highlighted the sometimes uneven recovery experienced by manufacturers.

The increase in February pushed up the total value of new bookings for durable goods — costly manufactured products expected to last at least three years — to $200.8 billion. The rise in orders came after a 1.1 percent drop in January, the Commerce Department (news - web sites) reported Thursday.

While most of January's decline reflected weakness in demand for commercial airplanes, most of February's pickup came from a big bounceback in new orders for commercial aircraft and parts. Demand for other types of manufactured goods last month was somewhat sluggish.

Excluding orders for transportation equipment, which can swing widely from month to month, durable-goods orders actually dipped by 0.2 percent in February, the first decline since November.

On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrials lost 13.15 point to close at 10,442.87.

In other economic news, the number of new people signing up for unemployment benefits last week rose by a seasonally adjusted 3,000 to 324,000 the Labor Department (news - web sites) reported. Even with the rise, claims are still at a level that suggests a gradual improvement in the jobs market.

Meanwhile, new-home sales in February soared by 9.4 percent — the biggest increase since December 2000_ as still-attractive mortgage rates lured buyers, the Commerce Department said in a separate report.

The over-the-month increase boosted sales of new homes to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.2 million. Sales posted solid gains in all parts of the country in February. The pickup comes after sales dropped by 8.6 percent in January as bad weather kept house hunters and prospective buyers indoors.

Home sales, which posted record highs last year, are expected to slow this year as mortgage rates move higher. Still, analysts believe the housing market should remain in good shape.

The median sales price of a new home — where half sell for more and half sell for less — rose to a record high of $230,700 in February.

In the manufacturing report, the 0.3 percent rise in overall orders for big-ticket goods in February was weaker than some analysts were expecting. They were forecasting a 0.8 percent increase.

Declining orders for communications equipment, automobiles, electrical equipment, machinery and fabricated metal products restrained February's performance. Orders for commercial aircraft, military aircraft, computers and primary metals, a category that includes steel, all showed gains in February.

Some economists thought lackluster demand for certain goods may partly reflect the expiration of a temporary provision that had allowed companies generous write-offs on capital equipment. The provision expired at the end of 2004.

"Perhaps we are witnessing the breather after a tax-incentive induced flurry late last year," said Steve Stanley, chief economist at RBS Greenwich Capital.

Wanting to prevent an inflation flare-up, the Federal Reserve (news - web sites) on Tuesday boosted interest rates for a seventh time since its rate-raising campaign began last June. It also signaled that more rate increases were likely in the coming months.

Companies have been coping with high prices for energy as well as for certain raw materials. Economists said they'll be on the lookout to determine whether rising inflation translates into caution on the part of businesses. Analysts want to see businesses step up hiring and boost investment — important ingredients for a healthy economy.

Wow, just amazing work there Bond James Bond. This thread is great.

I was curious about what companies made railroad cars, so I did a bit of research and found this one, practically in my back yard! It looks like not all of this production will occur in the US (some will be in Canada, some in Mexico), but even if only part of it will occur in Portland, it's still a lot of railcars to build!

Here's the main page of the part of the company headquartered in Portland:
http://www.gbrx.com/page.php?view=PROFILE

Here's a very recent newslink from them:
http://www.gbrx.com/news/2005/GBXNewOrdersBacklog.pdf
^
"Lake Oswego, Oregon, March 10, 2005 - The Greenbrier Companies [NYSE:GBX] announced today that it has received recent orders for nearly 5,000 railcars valued at approximately $260 million. The orders, principally for production in North America, include 4,500 double-stack intermodal wells and other conventional railcar orders.

The orders increase the Company’s current combined North American and European backlog to 12,300 units valued at $720 million, up from 10,300 units valued at $620 million at November 30, 2004, and 10,000 units valued at $560 million at February 29, 2004.

The Greenbrier Companies (www.gbrx.com), headquartered in Lake Oswego, OR, is a leading supplier of transportation equipment and services to the railroad industry. With manufacturing facilities in the U.S., Canada, Mexico and Poland, Greenbrier produces new railroad freight cars and marine vessels, and performs repair, refurbishment and maintenance activities."

Interesting note...

GE has now regained the spot as the company with the highest Market Capitalization: $378.735 Billion

ExxonMobile which had surpassed it recently fell back to
2nd place: $376.736 Billion

Combined: they are the size of the entire economic output of Australia.


Anyways... Some Good News:

New home sales surge

New home sales jumped 9.4 percent in February, the government reported Thursday, rebounding from the previous month's decline and topping economists' estimates.

Sales of new one-family homes rose to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of about 1.23 million in February from a revised 1.12 million in January, the Commerce Department said.

The increased rate beats projections from economists, who had estimated that new home sales would come in at about 1.15 million in February, according to a consensus compiled by Briefing.com.

CNN (http://money.cnn.com/2005/03/24/news/economy/homesales/index.htm)

And Not So Good News

Durables orders disappoint

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - New orders for long-lasting U.S.-made goods edged up an unexpectedly weak 0.3 percent in February as declining demand for a broad array of items was offset by strong aircraft orders, the government said Thursday.

Excluding the volatile transportation category, orders for durable goods -- pricey manufactured items meant to last three years or more -- slipped 0.2 percent, the Commerce Department said.

The report offered a disappointing signal on the factory sector and business spending plans. Wall Street economists had expected durable goods orders to climb 1 percent overall and 0.5 percent excluding transportation.

CNN (http://money.cnn.com/2005/03/24/news/economy/durables.reut/index.htm)

^That was the same stuff I just posted above. ;)

Interesting column I just read in the NY Times. Basically . . . there's too much money in the world! (sorta ;))

FLOYD NORRIS
Too Much Capital: Why It Is Getting Harder to Find a Good Investment
Published: March 25, 2005

THERE is too much capital in the world. And that means that those who own the capital - investors - are in for some unhappy times.

That thesis may sound inherently unlikely, but it explains a lot. Those with capital find they must pay high prices for investments that are likely to produce only a little income. The relative importance of things other than capital, like commodities and cheap labor, has grown.

Evidence of the capital glut can be seen in interest rates. Market rates are low, and even when central banks set out to raise short-term rates, longer-term rates are slow to move. Little additional yield is available to those who buy very risky bonds. For the same reason, stock prices are high. Profit disappointments may not cause the stock market to plunge, since the capital will have to go somewhere. But the return on the underlying investments is likely to be below what investors have expected.

With capital in a weakening position, returns that once would have gone to owners of capital have gradually been redirected. That is one way to explain the surge in management compensation in the last two decades. In the early 1980's, when interest rates were high and stock prices low, the average chief executive received no stock options in any given year. Now nearly all get sizable grants, and one study found that chief executive pay rose faster than that of any group save for professional athletes and movie stars. Those who provided the capital had less power to demand the profits from the enterprises they financed.

Another sign of excess capital can be seen in what Argentina did to its creditors - and in how they reacted. When Argentina defaulted on its debt in December 2001, many thought it would eventually negotiate a deal with creditors that was similar to previous arrangements made by countries in default. Instead, this year it imposed far harsher terms and refused to talk about them. The vast majority of the bondholders meekly went along and bonds of other emerging markets have not suffered.

Emboldened, Argentina's government is sounding an uncompromising note regarding foreign-owned utilities and oil companies. It is betting that it can get away with treating the owners of capital badly and it may be right.

Why is there too much capital? One answer is that central banks reacted to the bursting of the technology bubble by cutting interest rates by too much for too long. The resulting liquidity might in other times have sent inflation soaring, but now China's emergence has placed offsetting deflationary pressures on consumer goods prices. The excess liquidity is sloshing around world capital markets.

At the same time, China's emergence is spurring investment that the world may not need. The world automobile industry is plagued by overcapacity, but every car company believes it must have plants in China.

We have seen too much capital before, but not on a worldwide basis. It flooded into Japan in the 1980's when money there was cheap and the success of the Japanese economy obvious. Japanese business still suffers from excess capacity. Excessive investment in telecommunications in the late 1990's left a lot of unused fiber optic cable.

The excess of capital is bad news for wealthy economies, especially as it is happening when aging populations in Japan, Europe and the United States need good investments to finance retirement. But it should be good news for economies that need capital to develop.

Capital will not remain in excess forever. Money will be spent on consumption rather than investment, and new technologies and rising demand will eventually create more uses for a supply of capital that will have been depleted as low returns discourage saving. But for those with capital, that could be a slow and painful process.

And another analysis about the real estate boom (I think I might have posted one on page 1 or thereabouts):

NY Times
March 25, 2005
Trading Places: Real Estate Instead of Dot-Coms
By MOTOKO RICH and DAVID LEONHARDT

Real estate-crazed Americans have started behaving in ways that eerily recall the stock market obsession of the late 1990's.

In Naples, Fla., some houses have been bought twice in a single day, an early-21st-century version of day trading. Buying stocks on margin has morphed into buying homes with no money down. The over-the-top parties of Internet start-ups have been replaced by flashy gatherings where developers pitch condos to eager buyers.

Five years ago, the cable channel CNBC sometimes seemed like a backdrop to daily American life. Its cheery analysis of the stock market played in offices, in barbershops, even in some bars. Today, "Dude Room," "Toolbelt Diva" and other home-improvement shows are the addictive fare that CNBC's exuberant stock shows once were.

"It just seems like everyone is doing it," Laurie Romano, a 26-year-old self-described real estate investor, said with a giggle as she explained why she was attending an open house this month for the Nexus, a 56-unit building going up in Brooklyn's chic Dumbo neighborhood. She and her fiancé, a dentist, had already put down a deposit on a Manhattan condo earlier in the week and had come to look at another at the Nexus.

Nobody can know whether the housing boom of the last decade will end as the dot-com frenzy did. But the parallels are raising alarms among many economists, even those who acknowledge that there are important differences between homes and stocks that significantly reduce the chances of another meltdown. For one thing, houses are not just paper wealth: you can live in them.

Still, perhaps the most troubling similarity, some analysts say, is the claim that the rules have somehow changed. In an echo of the blasé attitude that "new economy" investors took toward unprofitable companies, the growing ranks of real estate investors are buying houses they never expect to be able to rent at a profit. Instead, they think the prices of houses will just keep rising.

Indeed, the government reported yesterday that sales of new homes jumped sharply in February, in the biggest monthly increase in four years. A strong economy and an improving job market contributed to the gain. But many buyers were also trying to beat rising mortgage rates, which could eventually cool the market.

Adding to the parallels between stocks and housing, some of the doomsayers from the 1990's have returned with new warnings.

"We're going through something very similar in real estate that we did with stocks," said Robert J. Shiller - a professor of economics at Yale, whose prescient book on stocks, "Irrational Exuberance" (Princeton University Press, 2000), appeared just a few months before technology stocks began their slide. "It's driven by the same forces: that investments can't go bad; that it has the potential to make you rich; that you'll regret it if you don't do it; that it looks expensive but is really not."

A new edition of Mr. Shiller's book will be published next month. The cover promises an "analysis of the worldwide real estate bubble and its aftermath."

Premonitions of a bubble on the verge of popping do not ruffle those who are bullish on real estate. In Miami, Ron Shuffield, president of Esslinger-Wooten-Maxwell Realtors, predicted that a limited supply of land coupled with demand from baby boomers and foreigners would prolong the boom indefinitely.

"South Florida," he said, "is working off of a totally new economic model than any of us have ever experienced in the past."

The can't-miss aura of real estate has also helped nudge many families to invest more of their personal wealth in real estate by buying more expensive homes and taking on riskier mortgages - much as ordinary workers used their 401(k) plans to bet on company stocks.

There are certainly serious reasons to believe that house prices will not suffer the fate of technology stocks. Not only are houses more tangible, but people do not sell their homes as quickly as stocks, making a panic much less likely. Because of tax advantages, few owners are likely to sell and rent something else simply because local house prices start to decline.

As high as they might seem now on the coasts, home prices nationally have not quite doubled over the last decade; during the 1990's, the Standard & Poor's 500-stock index more than quadrupled.

"I just don't think we have what it takes to prick the bubble," said Diane C. Swonk, chief economist at Mesirow Financial in Chicago, who was an optimist during the 90's. "I don't think prices are going to fall, and I don't think they're even going to be flat."

Such confidence about real estate has created a 1990's-like stampede of new investors. The night before the Nexus party, Patrick Cullert, 31, and Jennifer Mathews, 29, who are engaged, camped out to ensure they would be near the head of the line for one of 16 condos to be sold at the party. It was today's version of pestering a broker for shares in a hot public offering.

And many former stock market enthusiasts are now turning to housing. Douglas Paul, a 46-year-old former analyst, left AT&T in 2002 to buy and sell stocks on his own. But he soon decided that real estate could be another way to make quick profits. Mr. Paul owns two condominium units around Fort Lauderdale and one in Miami Beach, all bought during the last year, in addition to the one where he lives. He plans to sell one of the Fort Lauderdale condos in June for what he believes will be double his investment.

"It really is a very hot real estate market, and I don't know how long it's going to continue," he said. "But in the short term, why not profit from it?"

Mr. Paul's path is an increasingly common one. The National Association of Realtors estimates that nearly one-quarter of home purchases last year were made by people who thought of the house as an investment rather than a place to live. Seminars promising to teach amateurs the tricks of real estate speculation have proliferated.

Even at Harvard Business School, where students have traditionally gravitated to careers in investment banking and corporate marketing, real estate is suddenly hot. About 25 graduates have taken real estate jobs in each of the last two years, up from only six in 2001.

It is not quite the gold rush of 2000, when about 200 Harvard M.B.A. graduates flocked to technology companies. But even if they are not working in real estate, some of those graduates are now investing in it.

Andrew Farquharson, a member of the class of 1999, said he recently teamed up with a high school friend to buy a home in the Central Valley of California "out of pure speculation." He knows of other classmates who have made similar investments.

"I look at this as a short-term investment," said Mr. Farquharson, 36, who works for a venture capital firm, "and plan to unload it as soon as things look dangerous."

In addition to the flood of investors, the parallels between real estate and stocks extend into mainstream culture.

Real estate bulletin boards and blogs like Curbed.com and Real Estate Pimp have taken the place of financial chat rooms like Tokyo Joe's. ABC has a breakout hit in "Extreme Makeover: Home Edition," and Home and Garden Television, a once-obscure cable channel, now draws an average of 827,000 viewers in prime time.

The seemingly inevitable how-to guide inspired by Donald Trump - "Trump Strategies for Real Estate" (John Wiley & Sons) by George Ross, one of Mr. Trump's assistants on his hit show "The Apprentice" - is a strong seller, already hitting No. 177 on Amazon.com's list in March, less than a month after its release.

At the Nexus party in Brooklyn, Steve Nguyen, Ms. Romano's fiancé, said he was heeding Mr. Trump's advice. "He says buy, buy, buy," Dr. Nguyen said.

The same message is being trumpeted by David A. Lereah, chief economist of the Realtors association, who argues in his new book, "Are You Missing the Real Estate Boom?" (Currency), that real estate investors will "experience substantial and satisfying wealth gains" into the next decade.

The question that looms over these books is whether they will suffer the fate of another optimistic talisman, "Dow 36,000" (Times Books), which was a best seller in late 1999. Its authors, James K. Glassman and Kevin A. Hassett, argued that stock prices, despite five years of roaring gains, "could double, triple or even quadruple tomorrow and still not be too high."

The Dow Jones industrial average hovered around 11,000 when "Dow 36,000" was published. It dropped below 8,000 in 2002 and closed at 10,442.87 yesterday.

Another lingering echo of the stock market boom is the role of the Federal Reserve, the nation's central bank. In the 1990's, the Fed kept interest rates relatively low because it saw little risk of rising inflation despite a booming economy, helping feed a fever for stocks. Alan Greenspan, the Fed chairman, famously asked aloud in 1996 whether "irrational exuberance" was driving the stock market, but then backed off from second-guessing investors.

After the market plunged and the economy weakened, the Fed pushed interest rates down to 50-year lows, helping to fuel the housing boom. This month, Mr. Greenspan made some comments about housing that offered a faint echo of his 1996 musings.

"Analysts have conjectured that the extended period of low interest rates is spawning a bubble in housing prices in the United States that will, at some point, implode," Mr. Greenspan said in a speech in New York, adding that real estate speculation had shown a "marked increase." Nevertheless, he said he did not expect a "destabilizing" drop in prices, in part because home prices across the country have never fallen significantly.

But by one measure, houses in at least a few metropolitan areas are as expensive as telecommunications stocks were in 1999, relative to their underlying value.

The average house in San Jose, Calif., costs 35 times what it would cost to rent for a year, according to Economy.com, a research company. In New York and West Palm Beach, this ratio - a rough equivalent of the price-earnings ratio for stocks - is almost 25.

In March 2000, the price-earnings ratio of the Standard & Poor's 500 - the combined price of the stocks, divided by their profits per share - peaked around 32, and it was briefly even higher for telecommunications stocks. The S.& P.'s P.E. ratio has since fallen to around 20.

Still, no matter how expensive real estate might be, it continues to provide many owners a return worth boasting about.

Holly Peterson, who is writing a novel about the idiosyncrasies of New York's rich, said that at dinner parties in Manhattan, she frequently hears complaints about high home prices, followed by claims of quick profits. "They always hit you with their last jab: 'Of course my money's doubled three times over since I got married,' " she said.

Five years ago, she said, friends at parties were crowing about "making millions of dollars on paper with $25,000 and $50,000 investments." But "most of those people," she added, "got wiped out."

---------------------------------------------------------------------

And this is the part of the article that does get me wondering:
'The National Association of Realtors estimates that nearly one-quarter of home purchases last year were made by people who thought of the house as an investment rather than a place to live."

whoops...

Yet another potential steel mill expansion . . .

http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/newssentinel/11201908.htm

Fort Wayne News-Sentinel
Tue, Mar. 22, 2005
Expansion considered for Columbia City mill
Steel Dynamics would add 100 employees at site.
By Doug LeDuc


Steel Dynamics Inc. is considering an expansion in Columbia City, which could increase the size of its work force there 25 percent.

Fred Warner, investor relations manager for the Fort Wayne-based steel mini-mill, said Monday it has mentioned to securities analysts the Columbia City project could be “one of a few expansions planned for the next two years.”

“There could be a $150 million project and an additional 100 employees, but those (figures) are pretty conjectural at this point, because there really hasn’t been a full study on that,” he said.

The Columbia City mill began operations in 2002, making structural steel, and expanded into steel rail production in 2003. It employs 400, and the project could add 100 jobs there, Warner said.

“The Columbia City mill offers the opportunity for expansion because we already have melt capacity for more tons than we produce there,” he said.

“It would be primarily a rolling mill (expansion) to produce additional products. We haven’t said what products ... or when,” Warner said. “It could be additional investment in casting as well. It’s a little early in the process to identify specifics.”

The reference to a possible expansion of the Columbia City mill came up during a recent discussion with securities analysts on the company’s prospects and 2004 earnings.

Steel Dynamics earned $295 million, or $5.27 a share, last year. That was up dramatically from $47 million, or 91 cents a share, in 2003. The company’s sales more than doubled last year, rising to $2.1 billion, from $987 million the prior year.

The company’s consolidated shipments for 2004 grew 22 percent to 3.4 million tons.

This one is a little older, but whatever . . . and it's also for a very environmental cause, too. ;)

http://www.harktheherald.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=42844&mode=thread&order=0&thold=0

Provo Daily Herald
Thursday, December 16, 2004
Provo steel plant to add jobs
Grace Leong DAILY HERALD

Santa came early this year for the 35-plus workers at a Provo steel-fabrication plant that was nearly shuttered a year ago because of declining workload.

Wednesday, officials of Chicago Bridge & Iron Co. at a news conference in Provo's City Hall announced plans to hire 60 more workers and invest more than a million dollars to expand the company's steel fabrication plant at 700 S. 550 East in Provo.

Fueling the change is a contract Chicago Bridge won last month to fabricate 150 tubular steel support towers for one of the world's largest wind turbine suppliers. The wind turbine support towers are to be installed in wind farms throughout the western United States.

The Provo plant will be responsible for manufacturing, fabricating and painting the 262-feet towers, which will be shipped to those wind farms. More than 18,000 tons of steel will be used for the project, which is expected to start next week.

The company plans to spend more than $1 million to add 23,000 square feet of manufacturing space at the existing 186,000 square-foot Provo plant and to acquire processing and welding equipment.

Chicago Bridge officials declined to reveal the identity of the wind turbine supplier and the value of the wind energy project. But they said they will continue to find additional work for the Provo plant after the project is completed in 14 months.

Wednesday's announcement by Chicago Bridge heralds a marked change from a year ago when the Provo plant was part of assets disputed in an ongoing antitrust lawsuit filed by the Federal Trade Commission against the company to force a breakup of its $84 million merger with rival Pitt-Des Moines.

Federal regulators accused Chicago Bridge of violating federal antitrust laws when it acquired the Provo plant and other assets of Pitt-Des Mines in February 2001, allegedly to reduce competition.

The FTC preemptively issued an order Dec. 12, 2003, requiring the company to preserve Pitt-Des Moines assets after Chicago Bridge tried earlier that month to shut down the Provo plant ahead of a final resolution of the lawsuit. Both parties are now awaiting a final order on whether Chicago Bridge is required to divest all the acquired assets.

"The Provo plant has been kept open these past months because there's work for them to do. It's been producing steel plate fabrication work for other contracts," said Bruce Steimle, Chicago Bridge's spokesman.

"This new contract will produce a major volume of work for workers around the area."

Gerald M. Glenn, chairman and chief executive of Chicago Bridge, which specializes in making storage tanks for companies that produce, process, store and distribute natural resources including liquefied natural gas (LNG), sees wind energy as a potentially substantial market for the company.

"This contract is the first one for us in the wind energy market. We're now pursuing opportunities in both onshore and offshore wind energy projects," Steimle said.

Chicago Bridge, in its latest earnings report released October, said net income for the third-quarter ending Sept. 30 gained 20 percent to $21.6 million, or 44 cents a share, from $18 million, or 37 cents a share last year.

"Our substantial backlog should continue to generate solid revenue performance, while growing international demand for LNG and clean fuels projects is a strong driver for our new business prospects," Glenn said in October's report.

Chicago Bridge's plans to expand in Provo is particularly welcome news for city officials, many of whom share the new governor-elect Jon Huntsman Jr.'s focus on economic development. They said they hope to attract more skilled jobs in sectors such as manufacturing to the area.

"Many cities are working aggressively to bring in new retail businesses, but we can't fund those until we can bring in jobs like those being generated by Chicago Bridge," said Provo Mayor Lewis Billings. "That's also what will drive the growth and funding of education and transportation."

Dixon Holmes, assistant director to Provo City's Office of Economic Development, agreed, saying the company is now in the process of applying for a building permit for the additional 23,000 square-foot plant.

"We have to make sure overregulation isn't a roadblock to businesses wanting to locate here," he said.

The city, which owns two-thirds of the 300-acre Ironton Redevelopment project in Provo, plans to start leasing the property for light manufacturing, industrial and retail businesses in the spring next year.

The state Department of Workforce Services is also partnering with Utah Valley State College and the Mountainland Applied Technology College to find jobs for their welding students with Chicago Bridge.

"We're looking for workers who have basic manufacturing experience in welding, fitting, painting and machine operations," Steimle said.

Wages offered range between $13.45 an hour and $16.05 an hour, according to Workforce Services, which has posted job advertisements for Chicago Bridge since last week on its Web site, www.jobs.utah.gov.

More metal stuff . . .

http://www.foundrymag.com/full_story.php?WID=13061

March, 2005
Molten Aluminum Plant Set in Kentucky
Toyota Tsusho project will supply CMC/CLA wheel plant

According to a published report, Toyota Tsusho America Inc. has agreed to build a new plant to melt aluminum and supply a wheel manufacturer in Paris, KY. Toyota Tsusho America is the holding company for Most Inc., a secondary aluminum smelter in Troy, MO.

The Kentucky plant would be a joint development of Toyota Tsusho America and its Japanese parent, Toyota Tsusho Corp. A statemet by the Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development describes the plant as a $9.2-million investment. It would occupy a 50,000-ft2 site adjacent to CMC/CLA, the wheelmaker in Paris.

“Our long standing relationship with Toyota Tsusho ensures that Kentucky Smelting Technology will be a welcome addition to our community,” added Frank Bellafato, Chairman and CEO, CMC/CLA. “KST will be performing a vital operation for CMC/CLA in providing molten aluminum for our casting operations. We are expecting to expand our production of aluminum wheels in September to one million five hundred thousand per year. With KST providing the aluminum, CMC/CLA can focus our activities on our core business of casting and finishing aluminum wheels.”

Even if the housing boom is really a bubble, at least it creates some non-construction jobs while it lasts! Somebody's gotta make all those windows and sinks and toilets and pipes and wires . . .

http://phoenix.bizjournals.com/phoenix/stories/2005/03/21/daily41.html

The Business Journal of Phoenix
Thursday, March 24, 2005
Milgard Windows plans Surprise plant

Window and patio door maker Milgard Windows plans to build a factory in Surprise and bring 300 new jobs to the northwest Valley.

Milgard, based in Tacoma, Wash., expects to invest nearly $36 million into creating a 300,000-square-foot facility on a 44-acre parcel in the Skyway Business Park, at the northwest corner of Peoria Avenue and Dysart Road.

The plant should be open by early 2006.

As many as 150 workers are expected to be hired in the first year, with the staff size expected to double by the fourth year.

Milgard already employs 300 workers at their Tempe plant. The company has a dozen plants across the United States. Many of the facilities are in the western U.S.; California has four of them.

To save on posts, maybe I should start putting multiple articles in one post . . .

http://www.katc.com/Global/story.asp?S=3116057

Dow plans expansion of Louisiana plant

PLAQUEMINE, La. -- Dow Chemical Co. is expanding its Plaquemine complex to increase the manufacture of a product line widely used in consumer goods, the company has announced.

The expansion likely will not add a significant number of permanent jobs, the company said. Dow said it expected the plan to provide an undisclosed number of construction jobs.

Dow is expanding production of cellulose ethers it sells under the brand name Methocel by 20,000 metric tons a year. Most of the expansion will come from increased production in Plaquemine and at the Down plant in Midland, Mich., said company spokesman Gary Cambre.

Cellulose ethers are used in such consumer goods at tile grout and time-release pills.

The project will start in 2007 or 2008 if Dow obtains state and local tax incentives, the company said.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------


http://www.etruth.com/news/story/344219/index.html

Benteler gears up to build in Goshen
Manufacturer wants city's biggest tax abatement ever
Thomas Bona
Truth Staff
Tuesday, March 22, 2005

GOSHEN -- Benteler Automotive officials are considering a $38 million expansion at their plant here, and they want a tax break to help them make up their mind.

In an application submitted to the city Monday, the company said it would add 290 jobs by 2008, more than tripling the number of employees.

It would be a drastic U-turn for a plant where 70 workers were laid off slightly more more than a year ago.

"This is a company that is seeing in order to compete in a worldwide economy, there's a need for sophisticated equipment," said Bill Bradley, executive director of the Economic Development Corp. of Elkhart County. "What they have been doing the last few years is gearing up for something like this. ... In order to do that they had to get to some bare bones."

The project would include $30 million in top-of-the-line stamping equipment and an $8 million building expansion at the Eisenhower Drive South facility.

Company spokesman Chris DeHart said getting the tax abatement wouldn't seal the deal. He said it would be one of the factors in whether Benteler make the investment here or at another plant.

The tax abatement request is more than four times larger than the largest break the city's ever awarded. It could go to the city council next month.

The proposed jobs would pay an average of $18.62 an hour, with most of them being production jobs averaging $16.64. That's more than Elkhart County's average wage, though less than the county's average production wage.

"It's not as high as the RV industry, but I know it's higher than the other three (non-RV companies that got abatements)," Mayor Allan Kauffman said Monday, "I like the fact that it's part of our diversification. It's not RVs, it's automotive."

One potential roadblock to the tax abatement is a state requirement that the breaks go to projects in "economic revitalization areas." That means the area is undesirable for development or the facility is technologically or economically obsolete.

Council members have wrestled with that part of abatement requests, and Benteler officials didn't help their cause by saying in their application that the area does not meet that definition.

But Bradley said the facility could be considered technologically obsolete and qualify under that point.

"When you have this kind of investment level, this is really tremendous. It's a very positive aspect for not only the company but the community," he said. "I'm elated with this. If we win this, it's a neat coup."

Operating 42 sites in 18 countries, Benteler Automotive produces parts for car manufacturers around the world, according to the company's Web site. It is a division of the family-owned Benteler Group.

The Details
Benteler Automotive's proposed expansion project in Goshen would include the following:

- $30 million in new stamping and pressing equipment
- A 100,000- to 120,000-square-foot addition
- 290 new jobs by 2008, including 172 production jobs.

Since I posted some stuff on coal before, might as well stick in an article about oil and natural gas here and there as well.

Believe it or not, but they're still discovering new oil fields . . . though it's not as easy to find as it used to be . . .

http://www.bizjournals.com/industries/energy/oil_gas/2005/03/21/losangeles_daily18.html

Los Angeles Business
Tuesday, March 22, 2005
Unocal finds more oil off Gulf of Mexico

Unocal Corp. said Tuesday an appraisal well in the Gulf of Mexico found a significant amount of oil.

The discoveries were made at a site dubbed Mad Dog Southwest Ridge. Mad Dog is in about 4,500 feet of water, 200 miles from New Orleans. Production there began in January.

The drillings individually found up to 300 feet of net oil pay. It also found hydrocarbons that were 700 feet deeper on the west flank of the structure than previously encountered. The blocks are located in about 5,000 feet of water.

Unocal owns a 15.6 percent working interest in the Mad Dog unit, with net interest after royalty of 13.3 percent. When Unocal announced in January it was beginning work at Mad Dog, it said the project was designed to process around 100,000 barrels of oil and 60 million standard cubic feet of gas each day.

The Mad Dog operation is one of five projects worldwide Unocal said in January that will add significant production volumes by its fourth quarter.

Mad Dog was discovered in 1998. London-based BP p.l.c. (NYSE: BP) is the operator, with a 60.5 percent working interest. BHP Billiton owns a 23.9 percent working interest.

Unocal Corp. (NYSE: UCL) of El Segundo employs approximately 6,700 people. The company is one of the largest United States-based independent oil and gas exploration and production companies. Its principal oil and gas activities are in Asia and North America.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

And some adventurous wildcatters . . .

http://www.rigzone.com/news/article.asp?a_id=21294

Tri-Valley Commences Operations on Unusual Nevada Well
Wednesday, March 23, 2005

Tri-Valley has commenced operations to drill the Midland Trail No. 1-32 well in Railroad Valley, Nevada, some 50 miles southwest of Ely. Programmed for 7,500 feet, the well is a high-risk exploratory wildcat looking for a potential target in the range of 37 million barrels of oil

Company technical staff identified a look-alike structure about 10 miles southwest and on trend with the prolific Grant Canyon discovery made in 1983. The two Grant Canyon wells were, for some years, America's highest producing wells and each has flowed about 9 million barrels and are still producing. Several companies have tried to duplicate the discoveries in the vicinity without success.

Building on the previous efforts and data generated by others, Tri-Valley has applied its own science and data in defining the Midland Trail prospect which is a classic frontier wildcat. Tri-Valley recently completed the drill site location and has contracted Equipment 2000 of Fallon, Nevada to do the drilling.

Tri-Valley has undertaken a program of large target, high impact wildcat drilling, primarily from its proprietary database along with selected submittals from outside sources in an effort to obtain exponential gains in value from discovery success. So far, two of its prospects have found exceptional quantities of oil and gas locked in tight formations and requiring additional completion work to enable commercial recovery. Those operations are still underway.

In sharp contrast to the Company's primary area of play in California's Great Central Valley, where more than 110,000 well have been drilled, less than 1,000 wells have been drilled in the whole State of Nevada. Because of the abundance of structural traps and the success of the Grant Canyon discovery in Railroad Valley, Nevada holds a still distant promise for exploration companies. So, Tri-Valley is willing to include three Nevada prospects in its 26-prospect portfolio. The other two or more targets are contained in the Oil Springs Prospect also in the Railroad Valley and covered by 11,000 acres of Tri-Valley mineral leases.

Another railroad car manufacturing expansion . . .

http://www.news-journal.com/news/content/news/stories/2005/03/25/20050325LNJTrinity.html;COXnetJSessionIDbuild68=CFRAwtjBrUq27LcIJg1EmCiF02r2rJ853GsY87Hg2k3JHRJSINdZ!1592121821?urac=n&urvf=11118226567150.9521467473517082

Longview (Tx.) News-Journal
Friday, March 25, 2005
Trinity to expand, add at least 250 workers
By JO LEE FERGUSON

Trinity Tank Car Inc. will hire at least 250 additional employees and invest $8 million in a new building and equipment as part of a deal the company sealed Thursday with Longview.

"It's a major announcement for the community," said John Stroud, executive director of the Longview Economic Development Corp., and it shows that the company has a great deal of confidence in Longview.

This is the largest project for Longview since Dana Corp. built a truck frame manufacturing plant in the Longview Business Park, said Susan Mazarakes, LEDCO's business retention and expansion director. That plant began production in 2003 with more than 500 employees.

LEDCO board members and the City Council agreed to an incentive package for the company Thursday that assured the expansion would take place in Longview, instead of other sites where the company has facilities, including Mexico.

LEDCO board members voted to award the company $1.2 million, to be paid in installments, while the City Council agreed to a tax abatement that will decrease over six years. While the awards are tied to at least 250 new workers, Trinity has said it plans to hire 300 employees.

Trinity has five locations in Longview and between Longview and Hallsville. The new building would be at the Jordan Valley Road site in Longview, where the first leg in a three-part process to make new tank cars takes place. The 300 employees will be spread among the five facilities. The company employs 714 people. According to LEDCO figures, Trinity is the area's fourth-largest employer. Good Shepherd Health System is No. 1 followed by Eastman Chemical Co. and Longview Independent School District.

"Longview has been very good to us," said Steve Randall, vice president of tank car operations for Trinity Tank Car Inc. Trinity Tank Car is a part of the Dallas-based Trinity Industries.

"If we're going to expand, we wanted to do it here," he said.

This is a "good place to get labor," he said. Trinity can't say enough about the employees in this area, he said, describing them as hard-working and honest. This expansion was an opportunity to give back to them.

But the incentives, Randall said, also played a large role in the company's decision to expand in Longview.

"Without these incentives there's a good chance we would have went elsewhere," Randall said.

The new building will be 73,400 square feet and worth about $3.5 million. Then, equipment for that building and upgrades to equipment in other buildings will cost about $4.5 million, for the total $8 million investment.

The new building and other improvements will allow the company to increase tank car production in Longview from 70 to 120 a week, allowing Trinity to meet a growing demand for new tank cars.

"The rail car fleet in the U.S. is an aging fleet, and we're replacing that fleet," Randall said.

He expects construction of the new building to begin almost immediately and be finished by the end of the year. He also expects to have all 300 employees hired by the end of the year. Applications are available at the East Texas Workforce Center on High Street. The jobs will pay $13 to $16 an hour, plus benefits, and include positions for welders, machine operators, maintenance and other types of workers.

The grant from LEDCO will be paid in installments: $200,000 when the building is finished and occupied, and then $200,000 each year for five years for creating and maintaining at least 250 new jobs.

The Longview City Council agreed to a tax abatement, or tax "phase-in" as Stroud described it, over a six-year period. The company won't pay any city taxes on the new building for the first three years. The abatement will decrease each year after that, to 75 percent in year four, 50 percent in year five and 25 percent in year six.

Without the abatement, the company would have paid $216,000 in city taxes over six years, but $51,000 with it, a difference of $165,000, Mazarakes said.

The company also will ask the county for a similar abatement next week.

However, schools do not abate taxes, Stroud said. The new building will be in the Pine Tree Independent School District, and Pine Tree will collect $129,000 in taxes the first year, $657,000 over five years and $1.1 million over 10 years, Mazarakes said.

With that abatements factored in, the city will collect $26,000 in property tax revenue during the first five years, while the county would collect $15,000. Over 10 years, those figures would be $173,000 for the city and $100,000 for the county, LEDCO reported.

But the effect will be even bigger when the payroll for the additional 300 employees is included.

The 300 additional employees will mean an $11 million increase in the company's local payroll, Mazarakes said, including wages and benefits. Over five years, that is expected to be $60 million.

The total payroll, taxes and capital investment is expected total $69 million over five years, and $140 million over 10 years.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Another news release I saw for this one said this new plant would employ about 50 people . . .

http://home.businesswire.com/portal/site/google/index.jsp?ndmViewId=news_view&newsId=20050302005679&newsLang=en

March 02, 2005
Eastman Breaks Ground for Innovative IntegRex Facility

COLUMBIA, S.C.-- Eastman Chemical Company (NYSE: EMN) today officially broke ground on the first commercial scale PET polyesters plant based upon the company's IntegRex technology.

"This facility will continue to strengthen Eastman's leadership position in polyesters for packaging," said Brian Ferguson, Eastman's chairman and CEO. "And it directly supports our goal to extend our expertise and know-how into those markets where we can differentiate ourselves from our competitors."

Ferguson noted that the IntegRex technology, introduced by Eastman in September of 2004, will give Eastman a sustainable competitive advantage in the growing global PET market. IntegRex technology is a breakthrough innovation in the integrated conversion of paraxylene (PX) to polyethylene terephthalate (PET) resin.

Eastman is the world's leading supplier of PET for packaging and expects to have the new 350,000 metric ton manufacturing facility on-line and at full capacity by the fourth quarter 2006. Additional elements of IntegRex technology will be used to retrofit the company's existing intermediates assets to provide a portion of the purified terephthalic acid (PTA) needed for this expansion.

Allan Rothwell, Eastman executive vice president and president of the company's Voridian Division, praised the cooperation of the economic development officials in Columbia, S.C., for helping Eastman locate this new plant at its existing facility in Calhoun County.

"This unique facility - along with the technology it's built on - is a key part of Eastman's growth strategy," Rothwell said. "And the excellent cooperation we've received from state and local officials is helping us stay on schedule."

"We couldn't be more thrilled about Eastman's groundbreaking today," said South Carolina Commerce Secretary Bob Faith. "This new facility fits perfectly with the action plan to build our state's economy based on the South Carolina Competitiveness Initiative. First of all, this project gives an enormous boost to our chemical industry, a key focus area when we talk about building clusters. Second, Eastman is a manufacturer that's committed to using technology to improve its products and processes-exactly the kind we welcome in South Carolina. We look forward to supporting this great corporate citizen."

"Eastman has been tremendous corporate citizens over the years and we greatly appreciate their significant investment in Calhoun County," said George J. Bullwinkel, Jr., chairman of the Central SC Alliance. "Our regional economic development team recognizes that in order for existing industries to remain competitive in the global marketplace, they have to re-invest in technology and people. Today's groundbreaking further demonstrates the commitment and confidence Eastman has in our citizens."

Calhoun County Council Chairman David Summers said, "On behalf of Calhoun County Council and our citizens, we are honored that Eastman Chemical Company is breaking new ground today. We have partnered with Eastman since their modest beginning in 1962 and have been side-by-side with them all along the way."

About Eastman Chemical Company

Eastman Chemical Company (NYSE:EMN) manufactures and markets chemicals, fibers and plastics worldwide. It provides key differentiated coatings, adhesives and specialty plastics products; is the world's largest producer of PET polymers for packaging; and is a major supplier of cellulose acetate fibers. Eastman is leveraging its heritage of innovation and strength in polyester, acetyl and organic chemistry technologies to drive growth and meet increasing demand in four select markets: building and construction, packaging, health, and electronics. Founded in 1920 and headquartered in Kingsport, Tenn., Eastman is a FORTUNE 500 company with 2004 sales of $6.6 billion and approximately 12,000 employees. For more information about Eastman and its products, visit www.eastman.com.

http://www.pawtuckettimes.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=14100838&BRD=1713&PAG=461&dept_id=24491&rfi=6

The Pawtuckett Times
Company considering $30M redevelopment project in E.P.
Times Staff 03/08/2005

EAST PROVIDENCE -- Aspen Aerogels, developer of a nano-technology based super-insulation material, is considering an investment of $30 million to redevelop property in the East Providence Waterfront District.

The proposed expansion could add 70 new jobs next year. Aspen Aerogels has proposed redeveloping property at 3 Dexter Road with the goal of opening in early 2006.

New employment opportunities would include positions in manufacturing, engineering and management. The company currently has research and development, along with a small manufacturing facility, in Northboro, Mass., and has chosen East Providence as the location for its 140,000-square-foot manufacturing facility.

Aerogels are highly insulating materials that provide two to 10 times more thermal and acoustical insulating power than traditional insulations such as foam and fiberglass.

Besides NASA, Aspen Aerogels’ government clients include Elite Special Forces of the U.S. military and the Canadian ski team. Fortune 500 clients include Boeing, GM, DuPont, among others.

"U.S. Sen. Jack Reed and Rep. Patrick Kennedy have been instrumental in helping Aspen Aerogels secure $5 million federal appropriations over the past two years to locate and expand our manufacturing operations in Rhode Island, and have been supportive and accommodating to the requirements of our growing company," said Donald R. Young, president of Aspen Aerogels.

"We had pursued other locations in Rhode Island looking for the perfect location for our facility, and East Providence had the right mix of infrastructure and partnership-oriented public officials."

"We are delighted that Aspen Aerogels has selected East Providence to expand manufacturing of its patented technologies," according to Joseph Larisa Jr., mayor of East Providence. "The potential for nearly 70 well-paying management and manufacturing jobs right here in East Providence supports the redevelopment."

"Clearly, having a company like Aspen Aerogels in the city will have a positive economic impact," said William Fazioli, city manager.

"In addition, there will be ancillary benefits, such as visits to the city by Aspen Aerogels strategic partners, such as DuPont and 3M, providing ininvaluable positive exposure to our great city."

"The idea of reclaiming the Waterfront is to provide the perfect mix of jobs, retail and residential use of this previously underutilized area," said Patrick A. Rogers, chairman of the East Providence Special Development District Commission.

"Aspen Aerogels would be a welcomed addition to our overall economic and design strategies for the Waterfront. The Dexter Road District of the Waterfront was in fact, specifically targeted for high-technology businesses such as this."

The plans will have a public hearing on Wednesday before the Waterfront Special Development Commission’s Design Review Committee and as well as a public hearing with the Commission’s Hearing Panel on March 16. On March 21 the plans will have a hearing with the full Waterfront District Commission.

http://buffalo.bizjournals.com/buffalo/stories/2005/03/28/daily11.html

Business First of Buffalo - Tuesday, March 29, 2005
Manufacturers get low-cost power

Four Western New York manufacturers planning to expand operations learned Tuesday that they will receive allocations of low-cost hydropower.

Hydropower generated at New York Power Authority's Niagara Power Project will help to create 64 jobs at the four companies.

The NYPA Trustees Tuesday approved allocations, totaling 3,490 kilowatts (kw), for BMP America and Associated Brands in Medina, DuPont Co. in Niagara Falls and Allegheny Technologies in Lockport. The power will be drawn from two blocks of Niagara power, known as replacement power and expansion power, that combine for a total of 695,000 kw. Both blocks are reserved for Western New York manufacturers, and are currently linked to over 43,000 jobs at more than 100 area companies.

"The latest allocations stem from a coordinated effort under Governor George E. Pataki to make Niagara power available on a continuous basis to companies promising to create and protect jobs for Western New York," said Louis P. Ciminelli, NYPA chairman. "We're working hard to maximize the potential of uncommitted power, recognizing its value in supporting the growth of area businesses and industries."

More than 106,000 kw of Niagara power remain available for the region's economy following the NYPA board meeting.

The Western New York Advisory Group, consisting of the Power Authority, Niagara Mohawk, Empire State Development Corp. and the Buffalo Niagara Enterprise, recommended the newest allocations. In late 2003, the members of the group signed a Memorandum of Understanding for allocations of available Niagara replacement and expansion power on a continuous basis.

Since the agreement, the Power Authority has made allocations to a total of 29 Western New York companies, including the four approved Tuesday.

BMP America, which manufactures textile components for business machines, will receive 120 kw of replacement power in return for adding 10 jobs to its existing Medina work force of 120. The company is undertaking a 40,000-square-foot expansion, facilitating its acquisition of additional machinery, for a total investment of more than $2 million.

DuPont will receive 3,000 kw of replacement power to support its creation of 30 jobs at its Niagara Falls plant where 254 employees now work. The chemical manufacturer is investing $1.6 million for additional sodium and lithium cells and associated equipment used in the manufacture of those chemicals.

Associated Brands, a second Medina company, is slated for 170 kw of expansion power, as it adds 21 jobs to an existing total of 208. The company, which manufactures dry food products, is spending more than $950,000 on new equipment.

Allegheny Technologies, a diversified specialty materials company, will receive 200 kw of expansion power. It plans to add three jobs to its Lockport work force of 43 and spend $357,000 for new equipment and building modifications. The company manufactures steel for turbine generators and aircraft engines, among other applications.

The Niagara Power project, in the Town of Lewiston, is the single largest source of electricity in New York State, with a generating capacity of 2.4 million kilowatts. The project provides some of the state's lowest cost power, along with a second NYPA hydroelectric facility, the St. Lawrence-Franklin D. Roosevelt Project, in Massena.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

http://hometownlife.com/Redford/News.asp?pageType=StoryCurrent&StoryArchiveID=92149&StoryID=8375&Section=Main%20News&OnlineSection=Main%20News&SectionPubDate=Thursday,%20March%2017,%202005&RefDate=3/17/2005

Redford (MI) Observer
Thursday, March 17, 2005
Handy: Town tackling blight, becoming gateway
By Matt Jachman
Staff Writer

Redford Township is cleaning up blight, leading Michigan's economic comeback with a major factory expansion and becoming a "gateway to the suburbs," Supervisor R. Miles Handy II said Wednesday.

Handy, in his first state of the township speech, touched on some of the highlights of his tenure, rolled out a new slogan and announced a sister city agreement with a Mexican town, San Luis Potosi.

"This is a community that people are going to want to move into, not move out of," Handy said. "We're moving forward."

Handy spoke in front of about 120 people in a packed meeting room at the new Redford Township District Library. A luncheon beforehand was sponsored by the Redford Township Chamber of Commerce.

Handy spoke of some of the crises he's dealt with in his first four months in office, and stressed the recently announced deal that kept Detroit Diesel Corp. at its plant on Redford's south side.

A $275 million expansion is planned for the complex, and parent company DaimlerChrysler is bringing in operations from some of its other companies, a move that's expected to create some 600 new jobs. Handy said he spent hundreds of hours on the deal, in which Redford will recapture some $11.3 million in new taxes for a massive road-paving project.

"Michigan's economic rebirth is going to happen right here in Redford Township," Handy said.

The supervisor said his administration his cracking down on property blight - recently citing the owners of more than 240 abandoned cars and developing plans for ticketing homeowners who've let the grass get too long or haven't cleaned the gutters.

"If you got tall grass, anymore, that's not going to happen in my township," he said.

He added: "If you got Christmas lights up year 'round, that's not going to happen in our township," which drew laughter.

Handy also launched a new marketing campaign, complete with T-shirts, which were on sale for $5 each, and free buttons and bumper stickers. The new slogan is "Gateway to the Suburbs."

In announcing a new sister city arrangement with San Luis Potosi, Handy introduced a guest, George Lozano, a senator from Mexico who has previously visited Redford. Lozano said he hoped the agreement would lead to cultural and economic exchanges - and soccer matches - between the towns.

Handy also reached out to Redford residents, saying he wants to get them involved.

"We're going to get together and do what's right for Redford Township, so I need the residents' help also," he said.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.selmatimesjournal.com/articles/2005/03/09/news/local/news225.txt

Selma Times-Journal
LP expansion means jobs and $14-mil
By John Gullion
Wednesday, March 9, 2005 12:23 AM CST

The Song of Selma Park at the foot of the Edmund Pettus Bridge needed renovation.

The base boards of the deck were weak and rotting. They were a hazard and with possibly the biggest Jubilee ever coming up fast, Selma needed help.

That's where LP Wood Polymers, Inc., stepped in. They provided the city with the materials to replace the boards and by this weekend, the park was open and safe.

It's that kind of dedication to the community - Mayor James Perkins Jr. said - that makes the industry located in the Craig Field Industrial Park a good corporate citizen.

City and county officials displayed their gratitude for that partnership Tuesday afternoon as the company announced a $14 million expansion of their Dallas County facility.

"The plan includes property improvements, plant expansion and new equipment, which will double production capacity and create additional jobs," the company's press release states.

Those jobs - which could be as many as 20 - won't be the only benefit to the Selma area. John Snooker, general manager of LP's outdoor living group, said that the work would be done with local contractors and suppliers as much as possible.

"This expansion is a result of the growth and strong demand for LP WeatherBest composite decking and railing products," said Snooker. "It is also a testament to the hard work and dedication of the Selma employees, and the support of the Alabama Development Office, the Craig Field Airport and Industrial Authority board of directors, and the Economic Development Authority Executive Board of Selma and Dallas counties."

Both Perkins and Dallas County Probate Judge Johnny Jones thanked LP for their work in the community. They handed out keys to the city and county respectively. Perkins also gave out portraits of the Edmund Pettus Bridge and the park the company helped to renovate.

"On behalf of the City of Selma, we really just want to express our appreciation," Perkins said.

Jones recalled when LP first chose Craig Field some years ago. He said LP officials had several visits scheduled when they were looking for a site for the facility.

"We met with the officials, they flew into Montgomery," Jones said. "We showed this site, had a good meeting with them. I do recall they had a quick conference, they called the other sites they were supposed to go to and said there's no need to waste our time, we want to locate here in Selma and Dallas County. It was a good decision for them and a better decision for us."

Centre of Commerce Executive Director Wayne Vardaman thanked several groups and individuals who were key in the process. Vardaman recognized ADO Project Manager Gary Faulkner, the EDA board members, Menzo Driskell and the board members of Craig Industrial.

LP is a supplier of building products, delivering innovative, high-quality commodity and specialty products to its retail, wholesale, homebuilding and industrial customers. Visit LP's Web site at www.lpcorp.com for additional information on the company.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Who says consumer electronics aren't still made in the USA?

http://www.wstm.com/Global/story.asp?S=3059909

NBC3TV.com
March 28, 2005
McIntosh Laboratory expands Binghamton factory

BINGHAMTON, N.Y. McIntosh Laboratory -- a maker of "ultra-premium" home entertainment systems -- has expanded its operations in Binghamton.
The company -- which has been headquartered in the city for more than a half-century -- has increased the size of its facility by more than 50 percent.

McIntosh plans to hire about 15 people, expanding its workforce to 150.

Company officials say the plant expansion should help keep McIntosh production jobs in the United States. The company received a state grant to cover some of the expansion costs.

McIntosh was acquired in 2003 by a Japanese holding company.

McIntosh high-end amplifiers, loud speakers and related products have been highly prized by audio experts around the world for decades

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.theomahachannel.com/money/4324233/detail.html

Columbus Medical Product Manufacturer Undergoing $50M Expansion

POSTED: 3:36 pm CST March 28, 2005
UPDATED: 3:44 pm CST March 28, 2005

COLUMBUS, Neb. -- A $50 million expansion project will begin this spring at a Columbus medical products manufacturing plant.

Officials with Becton, Dickinson and Co. said Monday they hope to break ground in early May.

The expansion would add 75,000-thousand square feet of plant space and is expected to create 75 new jobs.

Becton, Dickinson makes various medical products, including several kinds of syringes and needles.

Good God, northern Indiana seems to be really on a roll if you check through my last several pages . . .

http://www.tribstar.com/articles/2005/03/29/news/top_stories/top02.txt

The Tribune-Star, Terre Haute, Indiana
Mar 29, 2005
DADC planning $18M expansion
Growth means hiring of 50 new employees, company official says

By Peter Ciancone/Tribune-Star

Terre Haute's Digital Audio Disc Corp. production facility plans to add a new production line.

An $18.7 million expansion of the plant on North Fruitridge Avenue will retool a portion of the 678,000 square-foot building to produce a new type of compact disc called a UMD, short for universal media disc.

Using data compression technology, the UMD is a smaller compact disc that comes in a cartridge, said Keith Moenter, director of Human Resources at DADC.

"We're using it for the Playstation Portable," he said. That video game playing system is a new Sony product unveiled March 24 that is designed to compete with other portable systems such as the popular Gameboy system.

Data compression allows more gigabytes of information to be written onto smaller-sized discs.

The plant will produce about 3.5 million UMDs a month, and has the potential to expand, Moenter said.

"We expect to add about 50 employees by Sept. 1," he said. Moenter said the company will be increasing the number of replication lines for the new discs.

Work on retooling the plant is scheduled to begin April 15, and is estimated to be completed by the end of the year. While the UMD production will be fit into the layout of the existing buildings, Moenter said DADC is looking at a 45,000-square-foot addition to its facility that will enlarge the company's packaging area and extend the receiving docks.

The expansion includes a request for a 10-year tax abatement on the expansion. The Terre Haute City Council approved the first stage of the abatement request by a 7-1 vote in March. It will be up for confirmation during the council's April 14 meeting.

According to the abatement application, DADC represents a $334 million investment in Terre Haute.

The DADC plant in Terre Haute is the largest Sony Disc Manufacturing plant in North America, employing almost 1,100 with an annual payroll of more than $45 million. The plant produces monthly about 66 million CDs and DVDs that are distributed worldwide.

Here's a great overview of Toyota's capacity dillemma for North America . . . their cars are selling so well, it's outstripping their North American production (and the models they make in Japan, I'm guessing, aren't the ones that are selling so well in North America so they can't always just import more cars from Japan).

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=10000101&sid=aiuL6aQrRC7w&refer=japan

Toyota Says Plant Limits to Curb U.S. Growth in 2005

March 21 (Bloomberg) -- Toyota Motor Corp., which led the U.S. auto industry in volume growth in 2004, expects slower sales gains in North America this year because of limited factory capacity, a company executive said.

Toyota, the world's second-largest automaker, sold a record 2.06 million autos in the U.S. last year, a rise of 10 percent. Growth will probably drop to 2 percent in 2005, Dennis Cuneo, Toyota's senior vice president for North American operations, said on a conference call hosted by Morgan Stanley analysts.

"Part of that is availability of product,'' Cuneo said today, speaking from New York. ``Our North American plants right now are running flat out, all running overtime. Our growth this year, if anything, will be limited by constrained supply.''

Toyota, based in Toyota City, Japan, wants to raise its global vehicle sales to 8.5 million in 2006 from about 8 million this year and plans to add North American capacity as sales grow.

The company already has five assembly plants in the U.S., Canada and Mexico, and next year will open a sixth, a pickup truck plant in Texas. Toyota has said it may decide on additional North American factory capacity this year.

Capacity

Cuneo didn't say where Toyota might add a new factory. He said there's room to expand at the company's new Baja California, Mexico, factory, and at the 2,000-acre site of a San Antonio pickup plant that opens next year. Canada, where Toyota makes Corolla small cars and Lexus RX 330 sport-utility vehicles, is also a potential site for expansion, he said.

"If we're going to continue to grow, we're going to have to add capacity here,'' Cuneo said. ``Not just vehicle assembly, but unit capacity, engines, transmissions, everything.''

Toyota's plants are running at "essentially 100 percent'' of available capacity, both because of demand for its autos and because more production has shifted from Japan with a stronger yen relative to the dollar, said analyst Catherine Madden of auto industry consultant Global Insight Inc. in Lexington, Massachusetts.

"They are sourcing more assembly from North America this year, particularly models like Camry and the Lexus RX 330,'' Madden said.

The yen, Toyota's home currency, has strengthened 1.5 percent against the dollar in the past 12 months. Madden estimates Toyota will build a record 1.5 million cars and trucks in North America this year.

Production

Toyota's North American plants in Fremont, California, Georgetown, Kentucky, Princeton, Indiana, Cambridge, Ontario, and Baja California built 1.44 million vehicles and 1.27 engines last year. Toyota aims to produce 1.66 million cars and trucks and 1.44 million engines at existing factories, including the San Antonio plant, in 2006.

Toyota, which has taken U.S. market share from competitors such as General Motors Corp. and Ford Motor Co. over the past decade, last year held a record 12.2 percent of the market last year, a gain of 1 percentage point from 2003.

General Motors, the world's largest automaker, saw its share fall to 27.5 percent in 2004 from 28 percent in 2003, according to Autodata Corp. As recently as the early 1970s, GM's U.S. share was more than 50 percent. Ford's share dropped to 18.3 percent last year, down from 19.5 percent a year earlier.

As Toyota aims to add production facilities, GM is planning to cut second-quarter North American output by 10 percent, and Ford is planning a 1.2 percent reduction.

Toyota's U.S. sales operations are based in Torrance, California. The company's U.S. shares fell 2 cents to $76.55 in New York Stock Exchange composite trading at 4:18 p.m. They've risen 8.8 percent in the past year.

And yet another northern Indiana plant expansion . . .

http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/journalgazette/business/11149175.htm

Fort Wayne Journal-Gazette
Wed, Mar. 16, 2005
Monroeville auto factory to add 25 jobs
By Urvaksh Karkaria

Less than two years after announcing plans to add about 100 jobs at its Monroeville operation, a Mount Pleasant, Mich.-based auto parts supplier is at it again.

CME Automotive plans to invest about $800,000 and 25 more jobs to support work from a new customer, David Stevens, the company’s vice president of administration, said Tuesday.

Although Stevens declined to disclose the name of the customer, he said it is a foreign automaker.

“We have outstanding history for quality and productivity” at the Monroeville operation, he said.

The 25 jobs, which will include assembly positions, will pay an average of about $11 an hour, Stevens said.

CME Automotive employs about 250 in Monroeville, where it produces auto components including wiper systems and seat motor systems. The roughly 174,000-square-foot plant, about 20 miles southeast of Fort Wayne, supplies customers including Honda and Nissan.

CME Corp., which owns CME Automotive and is a subsidiary of Mitsuba Corp., reported 2004 sales of $260 million.

A job fair to fill 50 positions will be from 1 to 4 p.m. Monday at the CME plant. Applications will be taken for production assembly positions.

In September 2003, CME said it would invest about $5.5 million in an expansion at its Monroeville operation and add about 100 jobs. Some of those jobs have been added. The latest project represents further growth of an existing employer in the automotive industry, said Ron Sheets, spokesman with the Fort Wayne-Allen County Economic Development Alliance.

“CME Automotive continues to outperform its plans thanks to outstanding products and dedicated employees,” Sheets said.

This time we're over to northern Illinois. The Rust Belt lives!!!

http://www.rrstar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050323/BUSINESS05/503230309/1002

Rockford Register-Star
March 23, 2005
Business: Manufacturing
Manufacturer plans to expand in Loves Park
By BOB SCHAPER, Rockford Register Star

LOVES PARK -- A manufacturer of waste-water treatment systems will break ground today on a $4 million, 25,000-square-foot addition to its Loves Park factory.

Robert Wimmer, president and CEO of Aqua-Aerobic Systems Inc., said growth in the company's customer base -- along with a projected 30 percent increase in employment during the next five years -- made expansion necessary.

The two-story addition will house a seminar facility, executive and engineering office space and a lunch room. About 20,000 square feet of current office space will be remodeled, and an interior structure inside the factory will be demolished to open up more floor space.

Besides providing more space, Wimmer said the expanded facility will provide better educational resources to Aqua-Aerobic's customers. The high-tech seminar room will host seven waste-water treatment classes a year, each with between 30 and 35 out-of-town attendees. The company will also hold 30 to 50 "mini-seminars," each tailored to specific projects.

When completed in April 2006, the company will have 120,800 square feet of office and manufacturing space. The project was designed by Rockford-based McClellan & Blakemore Architects; the general contractor is Cord Construction Co., also headquartered in Rockford.

Wimmer, 57, said Loves Park's location made the area attractive for the company.

"I'm within 1,000 miles of 75 percent of our customers," he said. "We want to be here. It's a great place to raise a family, and the skilled-labor base is good."

Aqua-Aerobics, which was founded in 1969, has grown from 90 employees to 150 during the past five years. Much of the company's work involves design and engineering, explaining why 125 employees work in the office and only 25 on the manufacturing floor.

Though Wimmer said he could not place an exact number on new jobs, if his anticipated 30 percent growth rate happens during the next five years, that would mean about 45 jobs. Most of the new jobs will be in design and engineering, paying between $50,000 and $60,000 annually.

John Brubaker, chairman and principal owner of the company, said he was excited by the project.

"It's a major step; it's the right step," he said. "It's happening at the right time."

Sen. Dave Syverson, R-Rockford, Rep. Dave Winters, R-Shirland, Winnebago County Board Chairman Scott Christiansen, Loves Park Mayor Darryl Lindberg and Rockford Mayor Doug Scott are expected to attend today's groundbreaking.

Lindberg said he was excited to see Aqua growing.

"Aqua has been a great business partner of Loves Park," he said in a prepared statement. "They really are a pleasure to work with."

Wimmer said he never gave serious consideration to leaving Loves Park.

"I called the mayor and said, 'Look, I'm not going to tell you that we're going to move to Wisconsin. I'm not going to tell you that we're threatening to move to Nashville,'" Wimmer said Tuesday morning. "'We're a Loves Park-based business, and we're going to stay here. But I don't want to be penalized. We want you to take economic care of us.'"

Wimmer said the company had not received any tax breaks so far, but had applied for county tax abatements and other incentives.

A Connecticut native who took the reins at Aqua-Aerobic seven years ago, Wimmer previously worked for Thames Water, England's largest utility. He and his wife have lived in nine cities, but he described Loves Park as a good place to settle down.

The company's only previous expansion was in 1989. Wimmer said he looks forward to leaving his "footprint" on the company.

"You can find Aqua equipment on every continent," Wimmer said. "The real key to our success is the people we have here."

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

This is an update of stuff I posted earlier . . .

http://www.rrstar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050323/BUSINESS05/503230307/1018/BUSINESS05

Published: March 23, 2005

Business: Manufacturing
Area to get 500 more jobs in expansion
By HEATH HIXSON, Rockford Register Star

BELVIDERE -- An additional 500 jobs are expected to come to northern Illinois as part of the expansion of Belvidere's DaimlerChrysler plant, the Rockford Register Star has learned.

State economic development director Jack Lavin is expected to announce today in Belvidere that three automotive suppliers will bring the new jobs. As many as four new vehicles, including a successor to the Dodge Neon, will be manufactured as part of DaimlerChrysler's $419 million retooling of the Belvidere assembly plant.

The announcement -- which brings the number of jobs related to the expansion to 2,200, with more expected -- is scheduled for 1 p.m. at Growth Dimensions, 200 S. State St. Growth Dimensions is Boone County and Belvidere's economic development agency.

Lavin is expected to announce state will give the companies "investment packages," which are likely to include some form of tax breaks, credits, abatements or grants because of the companies' decisions to locate plants and create jobs in Illinois.

"Several Chrysler Group suppliers will be announced, and it will result in hundreds and hundreds of new jobs for the region," said Andrew Ross, a spokesman for the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity.

The announcement will include two companies that are putting up buildings in business parks north and east of the DaimlerChrysler plant and a third company with a factory in Sycamore that currently supplies seats to the plant.

Grupo Antolin, an automotive-parts supplier based in Burgos, Spain, is building an 80,000-square-foot factory at 642 Crystal Parkway in Sager Corporate Park to supply door parts. The industrial park, developed by DareCloud Development of Rockford, is bordered by U.S. 20 to the north, Tripp Road to the east and Interstate 90 to the south. The site is about three miles east of the DaimlerChrysler plant.

The Register Star previously has reported that the multinational firm, with 7,800 employees and operations in 18 nations, plans to add 150 jobs.

Android Industries, a components company based in Flint, Mich., is constructing an 80,000-square-feet building at 122 Crosslink Parkway in the 220-acre Crosslink Business Park, just north of the DaimlerChrysler plant.

Johnson Controls Inc., a Milwaukee-based company that manufactures doors for DaimlerChrysler, is expected to expand its Sycamore plant at 1701 W. Bethany Road. The company first opened that plant in the late 1980s, according to records.

Android Industries and Johnson Controls are expected to combine for the additional 350 jobs.

"We are extremely excited about all these suppliers that are now coming here," said state Rep. Ron Wait, R-Belvidere. "Hopefully, we will have additional suppliers that will come here and be supplying the DaimlerChrysler plant."

This is the first time that officials have formally recognized that several suppliers are constructing plants and adding jobs as part of the DaimlerChrysler expansion.

Official recognition of the suppliers comes nearly three months after the Register Star reported that at least four suppliers -- including Grupo Antolin and Android Industries -- were either constructing buildings or already had started operating in new factories near the plant.

At least two other suppliers, both based in Troy, Mich., will be part of the expansion and already have been confirmed by the newspaper.

They are not expected to be part of the state agency's announcement.

Both companies have put up buildings in the 90-acre Townhall Industrial Park, northwest of the Neon plant.

Townhall is being developed by Rockford-based Landmark Development Inc.

Collins and Aikman Corp. is operating a 105,000-square-foot building at 1805 Industrial Court. The company plans to add up to 200 employees, according to local plant officials.

ArvinMeritor Inc. has almost completed a 111,000-square-foot building at 3458 Morriem Drive. A company spokeswoman was unable to provide the number of jobs that would be created.

DaimlerChrysler announced that it would add up to 1,000 jobs inside the Belvidere factory during the next two years as it expands and brings in new models.

The company earlier announced TDS/US of Brownstown, Mich., will add 500 jobs in a parts-sorting factory that will be built adjacent to the Belvidere plant.

Here's an article focusing on why one under-performing state - Ohio - is under-performing:

The Wall Street Journal
Monday, March 14, 2005
Ohio Offers Clues on Cause of Low Growth

The U.S. economy, being the sum of many parts, has a couple of stragglers, which raises the question: What explains the divide between high-growth and low-growth states?

Ohio, the nation's seventh-most-populous state and one that was pivotal in President Bush's re-election, is one of the laggards and may offer some clues. As the Kerry campaign was eager to point out, Ohio has lost more jobs than any other state since 2000. Things haven't improved since the election. While most indicators suggest that employment is picking up across the country - businesses added 262,000 new jobs in February, double the pace in January - plans to expand employment are spotty in what the Federal Reserve calls the Cleveland district, according to the Fed's latest Beige Book report.

And while the Cleveland district also includes West Virginia, Kentucky and Pennsylvania, Ohio trails these states, too, which have essentially tracked national employment growth since the beginning of 2001, while Ohio trailed the national average by more than four percentage points, according to the Fed.

The problems seem to be threefold: the number of manufacturers, the type of manufacturers and the state's tax structure.

Ohio relies on manufacturing for 15% of its employment. Manufacturers have laid off thousands of workers since the recession that began in March 2001, and have been slow to restore them, in large part because gains in productivity have made adding more people unneccessary. In Ohio, manufacturing lost 3,000 jobs in January.

As manufacturing goes, so goes the service sector, says Don Mottinger, president of Cleveland-based Superior Products, which makes gas fittings and assemblies. Manufacturers outsource payroll functions, computer systems, accounting, transportation and maintenance. "If manufacturing goes down, service goes down," he says. "There's a distinct connection between the two." Indeed, nationwide, nonmanufacturing jobs increased 2% since the start of 2001, but fell 1.6% in Ohio. Latest job figures for the state show losses in professional and business services, leisure and hospitality, and trade and transportation.

But having a big manufacturing base isn't the only issue. Nor does it have to be a negative. After all, as the Federal Reserve points out, neighboring Pennsylvania, with 12% of its jobs in manufacturing, has lost 2% more manufacturing jobs than Ohio. Yet Pennsylvania's 5.1% unemployment rate in January was much lower than Ohio's 5.9% and was even lower than the national average in January of 5.2%

A second factor is the composition of those manufacturing jobs. Richard DeKaser, chief economist at National City Corp., says that the region's manufacturing sector tends to be more on the losing side of international trade, especially with China, than on the winning side. Products that are increasingly imported from China - plastics, furniture and auto parts - tend to be made in the Ohio region, while products leaving for China - electronics, aerospace, or advanced medical machinery - aren't. "Our particular manufacturing composition is most vulnerable to increases in global trade," he adds.

A third factor is the state's tax system. Ohio has had a long tradition of providing tax breaks to ailing big industries, which in turn puts a greater burden on smaller start-up companies that could have greater growth potential. The state also has the highest taxes on business inventories and equipment in the nation, which is especially hard on smaller companies because they often end up holding inventory for bigger companies that want just-in-time deliveries.

Gov. Bob Taft wants to phase out the taxes on business inventories and equipment, among other tax proposals, and replace them with a broad-based low-rate commercial-activity tax. Overhauling any tax structure is difficult because shifting the burden, or losing revenue, can affect services that create other problems. Still, the momentum is there for some tax changes, in large part because the state's economic performance is so lackluster. While changing the tax structure could help in the short term, it isn't a long-term solution. Manufacturing as a share of employment has declined throughout the states, regardless of how progressive their structure is.

No one is suggesting that the state further winnow its manufacturing base just because manufacturing has had a difficult few years. Moreover, the surviving manufacturers remain for a reason: Productivity gains have kept costs and prices down and made them more competitive on the export market and in fending off foreign competitors. Capital-goods exports are strong, which helps heavy-machinery makers and their suppliers, like Eaton Corp. and Parker Hannifin Corp.

"The productivity gains in manufacturing have been phenomenal," says Brain Bethune, an economist with Global Insights. That, coupled with the weak dollar, is boosting exports of capital goods, heavy machinery and aircraft, which in turn will lead to employment growth. "The foundations are in place with strong productivity gains and a lower dollar. The manufacturing sector is in good health and will see improvements, more so in the second half of 2005," Mr. Bethune says.

The key is to build on the expertise in production and materials. For instance, the polymers industry is big in Ohio, thanks to the state's history of tire-making. Cleveland-based metal and forging companies are now making hip-replacement implants out of titanium, and chrome coatings for medical instruments that make them easier to disinfect. Logistics companies are sprouting up to take advantage of its central shipping location.

The state can build on its inherent strengths, including its Midwest location. Shipping, mainly over highways and through ports on Lake Erie, is booming because the state is centrally positioned in terms of trucking goods to the Northeast and Southeast. To attract drivers, trucking companies are raising wages. Northeast Ohio has top universities and health-care facilities, notably the Cleveland Clinic.

Mr. Mottinger, of Superior Products, says productivity and sales per employee increased 30% last year because of new technology, creating growth without adding workers, a situation mirrored at smaller companies in the region. "We're not seeing a lot of job growth and that's not neccessarily a bad thing for the future of manufacturing," he says. His own 80-employee company will be adding five or six new people this year because of new product lines. His main concern: finding educated workers who are sophisticated about technology.

Another trucking-related plant expansion . . .

http://www.kentuckynewera.com/articles/stories/public/200503/15/04cx_news.html

Kentucky New Era
Tuesday, March 15, 2005
New factory would help offset job losses
By KAREN CAMPBELL

With job security a big concern in Trigg County right now, the announcement that a new plant is locating in Cadiz couldn't come at a better time, said local officials.

Benson International, Inc., a manufacturer of steel and aluminum truck trailers and bodies, announced on Monday its decision to locate a $10 million facility in Trigg County's Industrial Park.

The 180,000-square-foot facility is expected to open in about 10 months, said Donnie Holland, president of Benson International.

The plant will be located on about 15 acres of the industrial park's third site, which is empty now. Benson will open with two production lines and plan expansions within five years, depending on the market, Holland added.

Forty people will be employed at the facility when it opens. At least 150 are expected to be employed there in two years. Within five years, 250 could be employed at the plant, Holland said.

He said the decision to locate here was in part based on an independent market survey that showed a need for a facility in the Southwest.

Aluminum welders would be needed to fill the jobs and Holland said Hopkinsville Community College could provide that training to the workforce.

"This is the right place for us," Holland said. "We're very, very excited about the new site. We're anxious to get going."

Dan Bozarth, executive director of the Pennyrile Area Development District, said the decision by the company to locate here means a lot.

"It means 250 jobs that will offset some of the job loss over there," Bozarth said. "This will make a lot of difference to the community.

"For the region, we're always pleased when we get new jobs. Obviously, a lot of behind the scenes work went into this. We think this is a good fit."

Within the last seven months, two Trigg County factories have announced they were closing operations.

Chelsea Industries laid off more than 50 employees in October at its Cadiz factory that made automobile parts.

Elk Brand, a jeans manufacturer, announced Sunday that, after more than 80 years in business, its 70 Cadiz employees would have to look for new jobs in May, when the factory will close its doors.

"We feel very fortunate that Benson International is locating in Cadiz and Trigg County," said David Shore, chairman of the Cadiz-Trigg County Economic Development Commission. "This development will have a positive impact on our community and the surrounding counties."

Cadiz Mayor Lyn Bailey said the city welcomes Benson with open arms.

"Being one of the largest custom trailer companies in the business, we feel they will complement our existing industries," Bailey said.

Benson International has been building "rugged and reliable transportation equipment" for more than 50 years and is now one of the largest custom trailer and body builders in the business, according to its Web site. It has operating plants in West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Tennessee, and dealerships in more than 20 states, Canada and Puerto Rico.

In a press release Monday, Gov. Ernie Fletcher thanked the company for choosing Kentucky.

"This is a tremendous opportunity for the workforce in Trigg County," Fletcher stated in the release.

The Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority (KEDFA) preliminarily approved Benson International for tax credits under the Kentucky Industrial Development Act (KIDA), an incentive program aimed at increasing manufacturing employment in the Commonwealth.

Fletcher added that his administration would continue its commitment to provide more jobs and opportunities for Kentucky families.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.argusleader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050312/BUSINESS/503120323/1003

Sioux Falls Argus-Leader
Mitchell gets new factory
JON WALKER
published: 03/12/05

MITCHELL - A German manufacturer will hire up to 160 workers for a new plant in Mitchell that will use specialized welding to produce cooling systems and heat exchangers.

The new plant, the company's second in the United States, will continue the growth in the industrial park on the west side of Mitchell, south of Interstate 90.

The plant will open this year with 80,000 square feet at a cost of more than $7 million.

AKG has 11 locations worldwide and wanted one in the American Midwest close to customers such as Caterpillar, said Bryan Hisel, executive director of the Mitchell Area Development Corp. and Chamber of Commerce. It first came to the U.S. in 1981 with a plant in Mebane, N.C.

The state is working with Mitchell Technical Institute and Southeast Technical Institute of Sioux Falls to upgrade welding programs to provide the company with a labor pool.

"We're working with them to ramp up a program that would provide training for specialized aluminum welding, something the curriculum doesn't now offer," said Jafar Karim, director of the Governor's Office of Economic Development.

Dieter Reichel, senior consultant for AKG, commended South Dakota for its help in and prompt attention to detail.

"I cannot say enough good things about the state and the community of Mitchell. When I asked the state for information, it never took longer than 12 hours to receive that information," he said in a comment posted on the state Web page.

Two other plants are in the industrial park. Trail King, with 400 employees, makes specialized over-the-road truck trailers and has been in the industrial park since 1987.

Quality Wood Designs, with 25 employees, makes store fixtures for Cabela's and products such as fishing racks. The company moved to the park in 1996.

AKG's arrival "is great for the growth of the town," said Kerry Morgan, who owns Quality Wood Designs with Victor Honermann and his son, Mike.

The Office of Economic Development lines up prospective employers and helps with startups and expansions. Acrotech, a Minnesota company, will hire 125 to 150 workers in Watertown to make gas tanks for recreational vehicles. Mesaba, which makes conveyors to handle gravel for the mining industry, will hire 50 in Vermillion after moving from Iowa. Steck Wholesale Foods, a new business, will make English muffins in North Sioux City.

Economy Grew Briskly in Final Quarter of 2004

By REUTERS

Published: March 30, 2005

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/03/30/business/30wire-econ.html?hp&ex=1112245200&en=1b921e80cbb4c15b&ei=5094&partner=homepage

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. economy ended 2004 with brisk momentum on the strongest surge of corporate profits in three years, the government reported on Wednesday, though there were signs that price pressures might be picking up.

Gross domestic product, which measures total output within U.S. borders, expanded at a 3.8 percent annual pace in the fourth quarter, the same as estimated a month ago, the Commerce Department said in its third and final estimate of GDP performance.

That was slightly less than the 4 percent GDP pace that Wall Street analysts had forecast but still reflected healthy growth, only slightly less than the third quarter's 4 percent rate. Most private-sector analysts anticipate steady expansion during 2005 but with some drag from rising oil prices as the year wears on.

Revisions in the final estimate of fourth-quarter GDP were minor. The department noted that business inventories grew at a slightly smaller annual rate of $47.2 billion instead of $51 billion estimated a month earlier. But that was largely offset by upward revisions to exports and spending on costly durable goods, including new cars.

Corporate profits after taxes climbed 12.5 percent during the fourth quarter to a record seasonally adjusted annual rate of $973 billion - the strongest increase in profits since an 18.9 percent surge in the fourth quarter of 2001. Profits had fallen 4.2 percent in the third quarter after a series of hurricanes wreaked havoc in several southeastern states.

There was some evidence that inflation might be perking up. A price index favored by Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan - personal consumption expenditures excluding food and energy products - gained at a 1.7 percent annual rate in the fourth quarter, up from a 1.6 percent estimate a month ago and nearly twice the 0.9 percent third-quarter rate of increase.

For all of 2004, GDP expanded 4.4 percent, which is substantially larger than growth rates in Japan and in continental Europe, where a half decade long recession continues. That was the strongest growth in five years, since a 4.5 percent advance in 1999, and was well ahead of the 3 percent posted for 2003. A recent survey by Blue Chip Economic Indicators, a consensus of leading economists, predicted GDP growth will ease to 3.7 percent this year and 3.4 percent in 2006 as the Fed extends a campaign to restrain price pressures by gradually ratcheting interest rates higher.

http://www.topix.net/r/0NzmEpCXHLddFNmn6FncYgShZqXkGYv0ctsb62ndYqfoGhqzV5tU7oHnC61LPuyF9YiO4FXHVOUOjmJuUkEpw81tbFBr6fVKIUXIHRn3VhO0=3D

New manufacturing plant for semiconductor cleaning equipment planned
Last Update: 03/17/2005 4:22:11 PM
By: Associated Press

ALBUQUERQUE (AP) - An Albuquerque company plans a new factory to make specialized cleaning equipment for semiconductor companies such as Intel.

Ktech Corporation is moving California-based Poly-Flow Engineering to Albuquerque’s Sandia Science and Technology Park.

The deal is contingent on Ktech getting $25 million in industrial revenue bonds from the city of Albuquerque.

The venture is expected to employ up to 100 people at an average wage of $22 an hour.

Albuquerque Mayor Martin Chavez says about 20 people will move from California, but the rest will be hired locally.

Ktech bought Poly-Flow last July.

Poly-Flow makes spray-cleaning devices that semiconductor manufacturers use to clean solvents and acids from manufacturing equipment.

I think the economy is finally reaching its stride. It is amazing the performance when one considers an atmosphere of budget deficits, rising interest rates, rising oil rates, and the continuing expenses in Iraq. A fine economy indeed.

Posted on Mon, Feb. 07, 2005

FLORIDA

'Booming economy' to provide budget surplus for Gov. Bush

Gov. Jeb Bush told the Watchdog Report Friday at Coral Gables' Biltmore Hotel that Florida's economy is growing so well that the $61.6 billion state budget for 2005-06 he proposed to the Legislature will have billions left in reserves.

''After we fund our priorities, after we cut taxes and after we spend money, we will have $3.5 billion in cash, which probably puts us in a position unlike any state in the country,'' he said.

http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiheral...te/10834901.htm

Factory orders up 0.2%

New orders at factories rose less than expected in February, despite strong demand for aircraft.


Midwest business activity accelerates
Chicago-area manufacturing grows for 23rd straight month versus forecasts for a slowdown.

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Business activity in the Midwest expanded in March for a 23rd straight month, and at a faster rate than expected, a report showed on Thursday.

The National Association of Purchasing Management-Chicago business barometer rose to 69.2 from 62.7 in February. Economists had forecast the index at 61.0. A reading above 50 indicates expansion in the sector.

The employment component of the index rose to 66.0 from 57.7 in February. Prices paid eased to 68.2 from 70.1 and new orders rose to 76.7 from 68.5.

For the latest economic reports, click here. Top of page


Jobless claims post unexpected rise :sleepy:

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The number of idled U.S. workers applying for jobless aid jumped an unexpected 20,000 last week, a government report showed Thursday, while the number of people who remained on benefit rolls fell to its lowest mark since 2001. :)


Spending, income up

Personal income and consumer spending rebounded in February from weak readings the previous month, the government said Thursday, as a closely watched inflation reading in the report showed slightly higher prices than expected.

CNN (http://money.cnn.com/2005/03/31/news/economy/income_spending/index.htm)

In addition to the previously-reported new facilities in PA and UT, here's yet another one in the windmill business, this one in ND. As with the coal business and mom-and-pop oil drilling business in Kansas, high oil prices create jobs in the windmill busines, too!

http://www.grandforks.com/mld/grandforks/11272195.htm

Posted on Thu, Mar. 31, 2005
LM Glasfiber to hire up to 50 employees
Wind turbine blade maker also builds plant in Quebec

By Tu-Uyen Tran

Herald Staff Writer

In the up and down world of the wind energy industry, LM Glasfiber in Grand Forks is on the upswing, with plans to hire 40 to 50 in the next few months.

Craig Hoiseth, chief executive of the plant here, said he expects to have more than 250 employees by June now that LM has completed a second plant expansion.

A smaller plant is to be built in Quebec by next January, though Hoiseth said he hasn't decided whether it would be subordinate to the Grand Forks plant, which now heads LM's North American operations.

The Lunderskov, Denmark-based maker of wind turbine blades has seen quite a few growth spurts since opening in Grand Forks in summer 1999. It had 60 employees at the time. This latest spurt comes on top of one beginning in October when LM began hiring 100, reaching the current level of 210.

Its plant in the Industrial Park, owned by the city of Grand Forks, has grown from 83,000 square feet to 141,000 square feet through an expansion in 2002 and this past winter.

Market trends

Hoiseth said the market for wind energy is as "vibrant" as it's ever been, mostly because of the rising price of oil. "Oil has never been this high," he said, "nor has our reliance on imported oil been this high."

(Adjusted for inflation, oil prices were higher during the Arab oil embargo of the 1970s and the Iran-Iraq War of the 1980s.)

Another factor is Congress' renewal in October of wind energy production tax credits, a vital incentive for utility companies to invest in wind turbines.

Without the tax credits, the industry added only enough new capacity in 2004 to generate 389 megawatts, enough to light 100,000 homes, compared with 1,687 megawatts in 2003, according to the American Wind Energy Association. The industry group predicted tax credits would spur an "impressive growth spurt" in 2005.

Canada is pushing wind energy as well, with new initiatives in Ontario and Quebec and a resolution by the federal government to quadruple incentives for the industry.

LM grows

LM has certainly benefited from those trends.

The Grand Forks plant currently makes enough blades a year to produce 450 to 500 megawatts. The recent expansion and new hires would increase that to 600 megawatts a year, Hoiseth said.

The blades are going to projects all over North America, from California to Texas to Quebec, he said. There haven't been many projects much closer to home because of the local energy grid's limited transmission capacity, he said.

The latest contracts were signed in March with GE Energy for projects worth nearly 2,400 megawatts in North America over the next decade.

Among them was a deal for 990 megawatts in Quebec, which has some made-in-Canada requirements. As a result, LM is planning to build a new factory in Gaspé, Quebec, that would initially employ 100 to 120 to build up to 240 megawatts a year.

Hoiseth said this plant would not take work away from the Grand Forks plant. It should help ease delivery of blades to projects in the Great Lakes and New England region, he said.

The newest edition of expansionmanagement.com just came out, so time to post some stuff from there. :D

http://www.expansionmanagement.com/smo/articleviewer/default.asp?cmd=articledetail&articleid=16402&st=3

Eastman Kodak Creates Digital Media Plant
3/30/2005

Eastman Kodak Co. will spend $45 million on a new factory at Kodak Park in Rochester, N.Y., that will produce supplies for turning digital images into high-quality photographic prints.

The new digital media plant, the largest single capital investment at Kodak Park in five years, comes as digital photographers increasingly look to convert their pixels into pictures on paper, according to the company.

Workers at the plant will manufacture a special dye-transfer ribbon for printers found in stores, homes and commercial photo studios dedicated to digital imaging.

Once open in 2006, the factory is expected to add about 50 jobs to Kodak’s Rochester work force. The company expects to fill those jobs with existing personnel.


-------------------------------------------------------------------------


The Dakotas seem to be on a roll the past several days . . .

http://www.expansionmanagement.com/smo/articleviewer/default.asp?cmd=articledetail&articleid=16399&st=3

Aircraft Manufacturer to Build in North Dakota
3/30/2005

Hensley Aircraft Inc. will build an aircraft manufacturing facility in Devils Lake, N.D.

Hensley will move all primary operations for the four-seat, twin-engine, sport aircraft H-1 Wolf to the Devils Lake facility, including 15 to 20 full-time positions for assemblers, production managers, technical assistance, sales and marketing, and accounting professionals with a salary range of $40,000 to $85,000. Future employment growth includes another 10 to 15 full-time professional positions.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------


http://www.expansionmanagement.com/smo/articleviewer/default.asp?cmd=articledetail&articleid=16400&st=3

American Made, Subsidiary Relocate in Pittsburgh Metro
3/30/2005

American Made LLC and its U.S. Liner Co. division will expand their operations, relocating to a 77,000 square foot building purchased in Cranberry Township, Pa., in the Pittsburgh metro.

American Made will make a $6.5 million capital investment in the region, retain 47 jobs and plans to increase the number of employees to 100 within three years, according to the company.

The companies manufacture thermoplastic composite for the transportation industry. Both intend to move to the new facility this year.

A disappointing jobs report . . . It's almost like we're having alternating good months and bad months!

I also can't help but wonder if the fact that this report for March was released on the very first day of April effected the numbers. Can they accurately get all the new jobs added in just the last few days?

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=668&ncid=749&e=2&u=/ap/20050401/ap_on_bi_go_ec_fi/economy

Payroll Growth Sluggish; Jobless Rate Dips

By JEANNINE AVERSA, AP Economics Writer

WASHINGTON - Payroll growth across the country was sluggish in March as employers added just 110,000 jobs, the fewest since July. Nevertheless, the soft labor market accommodated enough people to drop the unemployment rate to 5.2 percent.

The new figures, released by the Labor Department Friday, offered another mixed picture of America's hiring climate. The job market has been the sector of the economy that has been among the slowest to recover from the last recession.

"It wasn't a banner month for the average American worker. We had job growth but not enough to absorb the still large number of unemployed and underemployed people," said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Economy.com. "The job market is not in full swing."

Payroll growth, as measured by a survey of businesses, slowed in March. Job losses at factories and in the retail sector tempered gains in professional and business services, construction, education and health services and in other industries.

The 110,000 jobs added in March marked the smallest gain since last July, when payrolls grew by a tepid 83,000. March's payroll gain was half of the roughly 220,000 jobs that economists had forecast before the report was released. Job gains for February, meanwhile, were revised slightly downward to 243,000 from the initial 262,000 reported a month ago.

The civilian U.S. unemployment rate is calculated from a separate statistical survey than the payroll figures. The two statistical methods often can — and do — offer seemingly conflicting pictures of what is happening in the labor market.

The seasonally adjusted overall civilian unemployment rate dropped to 5.2 percent in March from 5.4 percent in February. The household survey showed that 357,000 people said they found employment last month, outpacing the number of people who couldn't find work. Thus, the fractional decrease in the overall jobless rate.

Economists tend to put more more stock in the payroll figures because they come from the much broader business survey, which is based on 400,000 work sites. The survey used to calculate the unemployment rate, called the household survey, is based on 60,000 households.

On Wall Street, stocks rose on investors' beliefs that the sluggish showing on payrolls would keep the Federal Reserve from ratcheting up interest rates. The Dow Jones industrials gained 30 points and the Nasdaq was up 7 points in early morning trading.

In a second economic report Friday, the Commerce Department said construction spending rose by 0.4 percent in February to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of $1.05 trillion.

Analysts believe the economy in the first three months of 2005 grew at an annual rate of 4 percent or higher, according to some projections. Economic growth probably will slow a bit in the current April-to-June quarter but should still remain at a healthy pace to spur decent job gains in the months ahead, they said.

Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan and his colleagues, meeting last week, said "labor market conditions continue to improve gradually."

Economists believe that the lackluster performance in payrolls in March reflected businesses turning somewhat more cautious in the face of high energy prices.

President Bush — who was dogged with questions about the health of the job market throughout his first term in office — wants to see the labor market and the overall economy thriving as he seeks to sell the American public and politicians a revamp of the Depression era Social Security program.

Fed policy-makers are feeling upbeat about the economy's growth, yet are concerned about a potential pickup in inflation. They boosted interest rates last week for the seventh time since June 2004. An additional increase to hold inflation in check is expected at the Fed's next meeting, on May 3.

Workers' average hourly earnings rose in March to $15.95, a 0.3 percent increase from the previous month. While that was slightly higher than economists were forecasting, analysts didn't believe it was a harbinger of wage inflation. They noted that hourly earnings have been fairly stagnant.

For jobseekers it is still a difficult climate. There were 7.7 million people unemployed in March with the average duration of 19.5 weeks without work, the highest since November.

The share of the working-age population working or actively seeking a job in March continued to hold steady at 65.8 percent, a nearly 17-year low first reached in January.

http://www.wkrn.com/Global/story.asp?S=3153884

Company adding new plant, 300 jobs
April 1, 2005

KINGSPORT, Tenn. An East Tennessee company is planning to build a new factory and add three hundred new jobs.

Officials with U-S Fence announced the nearly 19-(m)million-dollar expansion at its Bulls Gap facility yesterday. It's the third straight year the company has expanded its operations.

The company is adding about 100-thousand-square feet of manufacturing and office space.

U-S Fence is the nation's largest manufacturers of wood and vinyl fencing. When the new jobs are filled, it will employ about one-thousand workers.


----------------------------------------------------------------------------------


http://www.bizjournals.com/industries/manufacturing/general/2005/03/28/stlouis_daily66.html

St. Louis Business Journal - 9:29 AM CST Friday
Precoat Metals to open plant in Alabama

Precoat Metals plans to open a new coil coating complex to support growth in the Southeast, the company announced late Thursday.

Precoat signed a letter of intent to purchase a 150,000-square-foot building to house the facility. The building is on a 22-acre site in the Birmingham, Ala., suburb of Hueytown. The company said the location was chosen because it has both truck and rail access and is close to a number of regional metal suppliers, metal service centers and current customers.

Precoat said it will expand the facility and relocate existing equipment in order to operate a 62-inch wide tandem coil coating line and slitter on the site.

The complex, which is expected to open in 2006, will encompass production, laboratory, warehouse and administrative office space and will employ about 80.

St. Louis-based Precoat Metals supplies coil coating services to the building products, container, transportation, appliance and manufactured products industries. Precoat operates plants in St. Louis; Granite City, Ill.; Houston; Jackson, Miss.; Portage, Ind.; and McKeesport, Pa.

Precoat Metals is a division of Sequa Corp. (NYSE: SQAA), a New York-based diversified industrial company.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------


http://www.amnews.com/public_html/?module=displaystory&story_id=12834&format=html

Friday April 1, 2005
Danville lands new factory
By LIZ MAPLES
Staff Writer

An Italian furniture company will locate its first manufacturing and distribution operation in Boyle County.

The corporation, 3B S.p.A., will invest $17 million in its operation here, and is expected to create 100 full-time jobs in two years. The average target pay for those positions is $12 -$14 an hour, said Joe Gibson, president of the Boyle County Industrial Foundation.

3B makes kitchen, bath and living room furniture cabinets, and is owned by the Bergamo family.

The factory is expected to locate in the United Warehousing building on Lebanon Road. Gibson said the company hasn't closed the deal on the property yet but will soon.

The company plans to renovate the 150,000-square-foot building. The factory is expected to open before the end of the year. Gibson said the Bergamo family is closely involved with the operation. "They are very good business people," he said.

Alessandro Bergamo, an officer of 3B said, "We plan to grow and prosper in Kentucky and in the United States, and we look forward to being part of the Danville community."

Gov. Ernie Fletcher and Cabinet for Economic Development Secretary Gene Strong visited Italy last fall and held a Kentucky banquet for some of the businesses in northern Italy.

Gibson said the Bergamos were impressed, and then Fletcher talked them into visiting Kentucky.

"3B is an excellent family-owned, internationally-known company with a highly regarded reputation in the cabinetry business. They take a very business-like approach to doing things and will make a very good corporate citizen of this community."

The Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority has preliminarily approved 3B for $1.4 million in tax incentives.


-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Not sure if this one is a repeat or not, but . . .

http://www.kltv.com/Global/story.asp?S=3151531&nav=1TjDY9hJ

3/31/05-Longview
Abatement Approved For Longview Jobs Expansion

A decision by Gregg County officials yesterday means hundreds of new jobs are coming to Longview. Gregg County Commissioners signed on to a tax abatement agreement yesterday that paves the way for the Trinity Tank Car company to bring at least 250 to 300 new jobs to Longview.

The company already employs 714 people. It plans to build a 73- thousand square foot factory in Longview by the end of the year. That's when Trinity plans to add those new jobs.

http://www.bizjournals.com/industries/economic_view/economic_snapshot/2005/03/28/milwaukee_daily29.html

The Business Journal of Milwaukee - March 30, 2005
Orion receives aid to revive shuttered Mirro plant

Orion Energy Systems Ltd. will receive a $500,000 loan from the Wisconsin Department of Commerce to help convert the former Mirro plant in Manitowoc into a lighting products factory.

The project is expected to create 100 jobs, Gov. Jim Doyle said Wednesday in announcing the Community Development Block Grant Economic Development loan.

Orion Energy Systems, based in Plymouth, designs and manufactures energy-efficient lighting products for the school, gymnasium, manufacturing, warehousing and commercial markets. It recently purchased the 260,000-square-foot former Mirro distribution facility and will invest approximately $1.8 million to establish a new manufacturing plant.

The Department of Commerce loan will be used to purchase equipment for the facility.

The project will help bring back some of 880 jobs lost in Manitowoc County following the 2003 closing of the Mirro by owner Newell Rubbermaid Inc., Doyle said. The closure combined with other area layoffs to make the area a priority in the state's economic development efforts, Doyle said.

Over the past two years, the Department of Commerce has provided approximately $6 million to more than 20 projects in Manitowoc County that have created nearly 600 jobs, retained nearly 300 more, and leveraged more than $18 million in new investment, he said.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.bizjournals.com/industries/economic_view/economic_snapshot/2005/03/28/albany_daily39.html

The Business Review (Albany) - April 1, 2005
Greek dairy company to build Johnstown plant in spring

A dairy company based in Athens, Greece, has selected the Johnstown, N.Y., Industrial Park for the site of its first North American processing plant.

Fage Dairy Industry S.A. makes yogurt, cream, milk and other dairy products at five factories in Greece. It has formed a U.S. subsidiary, Fage USA Dairy Industry Inc., to operate the Fulton County facility.

Construction on the new $27 million project is expected to begin in late spring.

The deal is contingent on the approval of local and state government officials in New York. The Johnstown Industrial Park is located within an Empire Zone.

The new plant is expected to employ up to 60 workers.

Fage is eligible for a $300,000 Empire State Development capital grant, a $375,000 grant from the Governor's Office for Small Cities and low-cost energy. That help is in addition to the tax breaks and other benefits available for being in an Empire Zone.

A very informing thread. Thanks for all the info. :okay:

^You're welcome! :)

http://arkansasbusiness.com/news/headline_article.asp?aid=40331

K-Tops to Open Manufacturing Plant in Colt
3/30/05
By Arkansas Business staff, Arkansasbusiness.com Daily Report

K-Tops Plastic Manufacturing said Wednesday that it will open a new plant in Colt, employing 200 people within its first year of operation.

A plastic injection molding company wholly owned by Charles and Nancy Hsieh, the plant will make products for Kolcraft, a North American baby products supplier.

The plant will move into the former RBX Facility, a 225,000-SF rubber extrusion operation on 50 acres. The plant shut down in April 2004.

Economic developers in Cross and St. Francis counties said they worked together to persuade the company to move to Colt.

The parts made at the plant will be assembled into such Kolcraft products as juvenile walkers, highchairs, strollers and diaper pails. Kolcraft products are sold at Wal-Mart, Target, Sears and J.C. Penney.

K-Tops said the plant will be fully operational by early 2006.


---------------------------------------------------------------------------

This one's a bit different - a new, startup company . . .

http://nashville.bizjournals.com/nashville/stories/2005/03/28/daily31.html?jst=b_ln_hl

Nashville Business Journal - Thursday, March 31, 2005
Hendersonville manufacturing start-up getting underway

Trakloc Southeast, a startup manufacturing company, is opening a production facility in Hendersonville's Freehill Industrial park.

Trakloc Southeast was formed two years ago by Gary Nelson Jr., Gary Nelson Sr., Gary Kemper and Mark Eberle. The company is one of two in the United States authorized to make and distribute the Trakloc Steel Framing System.

Developed in Australia and used primarily in commercial construction, Trakloc is a self-locking system that allows contractors to build adjustable walls on construction sites.

Trakloc Southeast is licensed to make and distribute the system in 15 states, including the Southeast and South Dakota.

On Feb. 7, the company leased space at 234 Molly Walton Drive in Hendersonville. Throughout the past two months, the company has installed equipment and hired its first employees, three machine operators and a machinist. The company began testing its equipment on March 14. The goal is to have a three-shift operation and employ about 30 people.

Forward Sumner Economic Council helped the company locate a site and worked as a liaison between the owners and local officials.

I seem to have missed this one from a couple weeks ago. Well, better late than never. This one's an expansion of an existing (but recently-built) facility where, it seems, most of the new jobs have already been created. But since it's all recent stuff I'll add it . . .

Rolla (MO) Daily News
March 22, 2005
http://www.therolladailynews.com/articles/2005/03/22/news/news.txt

Briggs & Stratton is growing in Rolla

Rolla dignitaries joined Sen. Christopher S. "Kit" Bond and John Shiely, the president and CEO of Briggs & Stratton for a ceremonial groundbreaking Monday to mark the start of a $10 million expansion to the Rolla Briggs & Stratton facility.

"This is a great day for us," said Dain Ward, a member of the Rolla Community Development Corporation (RCDC), one of the groups that played a key role in attracting Briggs to Rolla in 1994.

Speaking at the ceremony Monday, Ward said Briggs promised to invest $38 million into its Rolla facility and create 600 new jobs. Those promises, he went on to say, have been "honored and exceeded."

This latest expansion is making way for the 280 new jobs Briggs has added to its roster during the past couple of years, said Briggs & Stratton president and CEO John Shiely, who was on hand for Monday's event.

Employment now at the Rolla facility is at 972 and, over the next year, the plant anticipates it will manufacture about 2.4 million engines.

Briggs will build an additional 40,000 square feet of manufacturing space taking the Rolla plant to about 330,000 square feet, and it will put in place approximately $6 million in new capitol equipment, according to plant manager Mike Lehn.

"We're excited about the economic impact this will have on the community," Shiely said. "We're looking forward to being a part of Rolla's future for a very long time."

Sen. Bond said the growth of the Rolla Briggs & Stratton plant can be attributed mostly to the outstanding work done by its employees and the support of the Rolla and Phelps County communities.

"Missouri workers are the best in the nation and today's groundbreaking is another example of that. Your dedication and work ethic has made today possible," the senator said.

Bond said in Washington, D.C. he has worked to stave off "dumb" regulations that inhibit plants such as the Briggs & Stratton factory in Rolla from keeping jobs and money in the United States.

Bond was able to stop legislative efforts stemming from California in 2003 that might have cost more than 830 jobs at the Rolla Briggs facility, and some 5,100 manufacturing jobs throughout Missouri.

Rolla City Administrator John Butz complimented the people of Briggs & Stratton for their committment to the community both within the plant's walls and otherwise. He said Briggs & Stratton employees are "engaged" in a variety of community activities from supporting the Rolla Area United Way to participating on local sports teams.

Hogan Construction of Rolla has been hired to serve as the general contractor on the project; Shelli Obermiller is the project manager for Hogan. Although no timeline was given Monday for when the project will be completed, work was taking place even as the groundbreaking ceremony was happening.


---------------------------------------------------------------------------

This one doesn't say how many (if any) new jobs would be added, but it *is* a plant expansion so I'll add it, too . . .

http://twincities.bizjournals.com/twincities/stories/2005/04/04/story1.html

Twin Cities Busineses Journal
From the April 1, 2005 print edition
Protein Design seeks law change to expand
Sam Black, Senior reporter

Protein Design Labs Inc. is preparing for a major expansion less than a year after opening its $200 million biopharmaceutical plant in Brooklyn Park.

Before PDL gets serious about it, though, it wants a state law changed so it can keep some proprietary construction plans secret. A proposed revision could have implications for the entire biotech industry in Minnesota.

Fremont, Calif.-based PDL opened its Brooklyn Park plant in July. The 214,000-square-foot facility has about 160 employees now and a lot of room to grow.

For future expansion, the firm recently bought another nine acres next to its 28-acre site from Ryan Cos. US Inc. for an undisclosed sum.

The additional land would be a staging area for construction equipment and materials, and the expansion would occur on the 20 acres of vacant land on the original site.

When the plant opened, the city of Brooklyn Park asked to review the designs of PDL's piping system, citing recently adopted state mechanical codes. But PDL objected.

"We had an issue with submitting our piping plans to the city," said Phil Gerloch, senior director of manufacturing services for PDL.

Once the designs are submitted to the city, they would become public information and could give away trade secrets to competitors, he said.

On the original building, the city and PDL hammered out a deal for permits that used a third-party inspector and didn't require PDL to submit its plans, Gerloch said. "We'd like to get something figured out before we start construction [on the second phase]."

PDL uses a complex series of pipes to make antibodies designed to treat various diseases and conditions, such as asthma, Crohn's disease and cancer. For now, the company performs only research at the plant, as it prepares to launch its products.

The company has four proteins at various stages of the FDA approval process and expects decisions on some of those this fall. That will trigger a need for more manufacturing space, Gerloch said. He declined to elaborate on the timing or number of new jobs.

At one time, PDL was talking about 500 to 600 total jobs on its campus, and those jobs are important, said Rep. Tim Mahoney, DFL-St. Paul. Mahoney introduced a bill in the House March 21 that would exempt such piping systems from city reviews in Hennepin and Ramsey counties until January 2008.

The proposed bill doesn't exempt companies from inspection, just from submitting plans, Mahoney said.

The legislation, House File 1988, passed the House Commerce and Financial Institutions Committee Tuesday. It was referred to the Government Operations Committee.

The bill would convene a panel that would propose new piping regulations that won't discourage biotech expansion, he said.

"We need to be very nimble on our feet in order to bring these kinds of jobs to the state," Mahoney said.
How it came about

Mahoney, who is a pipefitter by trade, said he heard PDL was having a problem with the review process, so he asked an official from the Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) to meet with the firm.

"[PDL] had some concerns and they were not sure whether they were going to expand in the state of Minnesota," Mahoney said.

The study group Mahoney is proposing would have one year to figure out a statewide policy for approving such piping systems. The panel would include representatives from biotech firms, piping installers and state government.

The group will address the special challenges and safety issues of biotech plants, Mahoney said.

For example, fire crews and medical personnel need know what's in certain pipes in case of an emergency, he said.

Right now, those issues are left between cities and manufacturers to figure out, Mahoney said. "If you get a sour relationship going on either side, unfortunately maybe those kinds of conversations don't happen."

Gene Goddard, economic development program specialist for DEED who helped draft the proposed bill, said this issue extends beyond just PDL.

It could affect local drug makers such as 3M Co., Paddock Labs Inc., MGI Pharma Inc., Upsher-Smith Labs Inc. and the semiconductor fabricators in the state. It also might play a role with companies considering a move to Minnesota, he said.

"If a company's process piping is made public, a competitor could get a copy of their process and reverse-engineer their products," Goddard said.

Gerloch at PDL said about 40 other states don't require the permitting of process piping. "We don't want to install something unsafe," he said. But the firm also doesn't want to give away trade secrets.

"This issue is a concern. It's not a deal-breaker. It's just an issue that we want to make sure that we have addressed, and the time to do that is sooner rather than later," he said.

More from the railcar boom . . .

http://arkansasbusiness.com/news/headline_article.asp?aid=40369

American Railcar to Add 90 Jobs at Paragould
4/4/05 2:31:18 PM
By Arkansas Business staff, Arkansasbusiness.com Daily Report

American Railcar Industries broke ground Monday on a new paint shop at its Paragould facility that it said will employ 90 new workers.

The company estimates it will invest about $10 million in the new shop for building and equipment. The shop is expected to be completed in April 2006, with hiring to begin two weeks before the completion date.

American Railcar has railcar manufacturing locations in Paragould and Marmaduke, with railcar subassembly manufacturing in Kennett, Mo.

The company said that as a result of increased production in its current facilities and the expansion, it will increase employment in Greene County to about 1,200 workers.

The Paragould and Marmaduke manufacturing plants are among the newest railcar manufacturing plants in North America. The Paragould plant began operations in 1995 as a covered hopper car manufacturer with two production tracks. In addition to railcars, the company makes railcar and industrial parts and provides railcar maintenance and management services.


-------------------------------------------------------------------------


http://www.reviewatlas.com/articles/2005/04/04/news/local/news1.txt

Daily Review Atlas (Monmouth, Ill)
Monday, April 4, 2005
Farmland proposals continue forward

CEO cites positive relationship with Monmouth

Farmland officials confirmed that the company is moving forward with its work on a proposal that will involve expansion to its plant in Monmouth, Illinois. "We've made a commitment to develop a proposal that can work. It is a complex process. But we've made a lot of progress," said George Richter, the President and Chief Executive Officer of Farmland Foods.

The proposed expansion would significantly increase the plant's processing capability and would be coordinated with initiatives at the company's facilities in Crete, Nebraska and Denison, Iowa.

Richter, a 30-year veteran with Farmland, expressed gratitude for the support and encouragement the company has received from the Monmouth community.

"Farmland has been in Monmouth for some time now," Richter said. "We've always had close relationships with the communities where we operate. Our workers have shown that - even in the toughest of times - they have what it takes to make our plant run the way it should. We're also very pleased with the productive relationship we have with Mayor Jack Reitman and his council. The mayor has helped enormously. Monmouth should be proud of him."

Richter indicated that the company is working to assure that the necessary steps are taken to meet environmental standards and to obtain the required land acquisitions. He also stated that obtaining incentive commitments from state and local sources plays a critical role in receiving the required corporate approvals. The company is working with the economic development officials in Springfield to obtain the necessary commitments.

The proposed Monmouth expansion includes plant expansions that would create 250 - 300 new jobs and an estimated $10 million in payroll/benefits annually. In addition, the company is proposing to build a distribution center that would provide an additional 100 jobs with an estimated $3.5 million in payroll/benefits. If approved, the improvements would be conducted over a three-year time frame. "The "Farmland" brand is an important one," says Richter. "We want to continue to build that brand in a way that will make the citizens of Monmouth proud."

Final approval for the project will need to come from Smithfield Foods, the parent company of Farmland Foods. Under Smithfield ownership, Farmland Foods has continued to do business as an independent operating company. Based in Smithfield, Virginia, Smithfield is the world's largest pork processor and hog producer. Smithfield acquired Farmland Foods from Farmland Industries, once the largest farmer-owned cooperative in the United States, after the cooperative filed for bankruptcy in 2002.

Richter stated, "The Smithfield people have been great to work with. But we will need to demonstrate to them that our proposal is a competitive and sound investment. Smithfield facilities span the globe, and there is a lot of competition for capital. They will approve capital expenditures only when there is the necessary return on investment. For this to happen, all the parts have to come together."

Courtesty of one of the guys in the Southeast section . . .

http://www.richmond.com/news/output.aspx?ID=3590713&Vertical_ID=127&tier=10&position=1

The News & Features Channel Richmond.com
Monday, April 04, 2005
$300 million facility
$300 million Philip Morris research lab given a 2007 completion date.

Mayor L. Douglas Wilder has announced plans for a $300 million research and development facility by Philip Morris USA in the city's Virginia BioTechnology Research Park in downtown. The project will create 500 new jobs such as scientists, engineers and support personnel.

The 450,000 square foot facility is scheduled to open in 2007, and will be located north of the Richmond Coliseum from 5th to 7th Street. In addition to the technical jobs created, an estimated 1,000 workers will be involved at the peak of the development's construction.

"I am pleased that Philip Morris indicated the BioTech park's location as one of its primary, favorable reasons for the development," Wilder said a written statement. As governor, Wilder worked with VCU President Eugene Trani in establishing the BioTech park. He said that its subsequent development "has clearly served as testament for those who have long believed that Richmond's downtown area is indeed able to attract quality business enterprises such as this."

The new facility will be known as the Philip Morris USA Research & Development Center. Once it is complete, the scope of laboratory, research and office space at the BioTech Park will exceed 1.1 million square feet. The park currently houses 45 biosciences companies and research institutes.

A press conference has been scheduled for tomorrow, Tuesday April 5, at 11:15 a.m.

This one's got some potential dirty side-effects, but at least it's 750 good industrial jobs. Also what's interesting is that it'll burn waste coal from old coal mining piles . . .

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05095/482999.stm

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
New coke plant gets quick OK
Facility will bring 750 jobs and high mercury, soot emissions to Cambria

By Don Hopey, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The state has rushed through approval of a new coke plant near Ebensburg, Cambria County, that is allowed to emit 47 pounds of mercury into the air each year and enough soot and smog that managers of national forests and wilderness areas in nearby states have expressed concern.

The mercury emissions from Sun Coke Inc.'s 1.7 million tons-a-year coking and electric power generating facility would be almost 12 times the 4 pounds a year allowed from U.S. Steel's Clairton Coke Works, which can produce 6.4 million tons of coke annually.

Soot and soot-forming compounds emitted by the new facility will top 4,500 tons a year, and the federal land manager for national forests, wilderness areas and the Shenandoah National Park in Virginia, West Virginia and Maryland has requested a formal review.

The expedited permit was issued by the state Department of Environmental Protection yesterday afternoon, just ahead of today's federal designation of Cambria County as a non-attainment area for soot.

Under such a U.S. Environmental Protection Agency designation, the coking plant would have had to offset its emissions of soot- and smog-producing particles and compounds by paying thousands of dollars to existing pollution sources, most likely coal-fired power plants, to reduce their emissions.

"The application would have had to be amended to include the [soot] offsets," said David Campbell, chief of EPA's permits and technical assessment branch, whose four-page comment letter on the application was highly critical of the emissions allowances and production processes approved by the DEP.

"The state believes it was all filed in due process, but this was an expedited approval process. It was done quite fast."

Sun Coke Inc. subsidiary Cambria Coke Co. applied for its state permits in January and the 30-day public comment period ended a week ago.

"We're pleased the process is moving forward," said Gerald Davis, a spokesman for Philadelphia-based Sunoco, parent company of Sun Coke.

Even before it received permit approval, the Cambria Coke Co. plant proposal, and the 750 new jobs it will produce, were endorsed by Gov. Ed Rendell. He visited Ebensburg 10 days ago to deliver a $3.3 million financial incentive package that will help Amfire Mining Co. of Latrobe reopen an old mine that will supply coal to the coke plant.

Coke, made by baking coal at high temperatures, is a key ingredient in making steel. Sun Energy's subsidiary, Cambria Coke Co., will sell the coke it produces to International Steel Group of Cleveland.

"The project was a priority for the governor," said Betsy Mallison, a DEP spokeswoman. "He's looking at attracting jobs as well as protecting the environment."

But several environmental groups and federal and state agencies raised questions about the high mercury, soot and sulfur emissions contained in the company's permit application. Sun's original application asked for permission to release 538 pounds of mercury a year.

The U.S. Park Service and Forest Service comments noted that the agencies did not get all the information they needed to fully comment on the permit application. The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency and seven environmental groups requested that the public comment period be extended.

"Rushing a permit through to get 'in under the wire' to evade more restrictive public health regulations runs absolutely counter to your department's mission to protect public health and the environment," Sandy Buchanan, executive director of Ohio Citizen Action, wrote in a letter to DEP Secretary Kathleen McGinty.

The DEP denied the extension request.

John Hanger, president of Citizens for Pennsylvania's Future, a statewide environmental group, said the 47 pounds of mercury emissions allowed by the permit is a substantial amount and the organization will review whether the permit was issued legally.

"That's still a very significant amount of mercury," Hanger said. "It demonstrates the pressing need to enact a state law for regulating mercury. If we're going to bring industries like this into the state, we'd better get serious about requiring them to reduce their emissions."

Mercury, released into the air when coal is burned, is a persistent neurotoxin that accumulates in the environment. Human exposure is primarily through fish consumption. Pregnant women, children, subsistence fishermen and recreational anglers are most at risk for health effects that include brain, nervous system, heart and immune system damage.

According to the EPA, it was the DEP's position that new federal mercury controls do not apply to the Cambria Coke Co. plant. The state has filed a federal court challenge to the federal mercury rule issued last month, claiming it is too lax and delays existing mercury controls.

Also to beat the soot emissions offset requirements imposed by today's EPA non-attainment designation, the DEP yesterday approved a permit for Robinson Power Co.'s Beech Hollow waste coal power plant in Robinson, Washington County.

The new 300-megawatt power plant will use 37 million tons of waste coal from the Champion coal refuse pile -- the biggest east of the Mississippi River. The Champion refuse pile contains enough coal to supply the power plant for 17 years.

The facility, which is allowed to emit up to 3.34 pounds of mercury annually, will also use another 20 million tons of waste coal from other nearby refuse piles and reduce acid mine drainage in the area.

Pennsylvania's 200-year-old mining heritage has left behind 8,529 acres of coal refuse piles containing 258 million tons of waste coal that could be burned using modern technology.


---------------------------------------------------------------------------

This one's kinda intereting - they were negatively effected by imports, but in changing over to a new product line because of that, they're actually hiring more people that way . . .

http://www.bizjournals.com/industries/economic_view/economic_snapshot/2005/04/04/charlotte_story6.html

Charlotte Business Journal
From the April 4, 2005 print edition
Parkdale spending $23M on Union plant
Ken Elkins
Staff writer

Yarn manufacturer Parkdale Mills Inc. will spend $23.2 million to expand its plant in Mineral Springs and completely change its product line.

In a move that will add 36 jobs to the 95-employee operation, Parkdale will convert the Union County plant's production to T-shirt yarn, switching from yarn that's used in bed-sheeting fabric, says Andy Warlick, Parkdale chief executive.

"We had to move away from sheeting yarns, which were negatively affected by imports," he says.

On Jan. 1, U.S. textile import quotas on China and almost 40 other countries were dropped, prompting a nearly 30% increase in shipments of Chinese goods to the United States, according to the U.S. Commerce Department.

However, demand for U.S.-produced T-shirt yarn has remained strong, Warlick says. "Some areas are more import-sensitive than others," he says. "We had the orders and aggressively pursued them."

The company plans to add 30,000 square feet to the 450,000-square-foot Parkdale Plant No. 21. Most of the investment will go toward equipment.

Details regarding the new production process haven't been revealed. But Warlick says the project will make the Mineral Springs plant one of Parkdale's most technologically advanced facilities. A timetable has not been disclosed for renovations at the plant on N.C. Highway 75.

Parkdale chose Mineral Springs for the project over three other company sites. To help seal the deal, Union County commissioners recently awarded Parkdale $227,300 in incentives to be paid over three years.

"With all that's going on in that industry, Union County is fortunate to have a company with growth in its future," says Jackie Morgan, retention and expansion director for the Union County Partnership for Progress.


-----------------------------------------------------------------------


http://www.etruth.com/news/story/345155/

Tuesday, April 05, 2005
Jayco Inc.: Plant addition planned

MIDDLEBURY -- Jayco Inc. will build a 65,000-square-foot addition to its lamination plant at its complex in Middlebury.

Construction will begin within 30 days and be completed by the fall. Jayco will move one or more additional lamination lines into the new facility.

"Our laminated products are growing at such a rate we need additional site department capacity," said Sid Johnson, director of marketing.

The new addition will go up in the northwest quadrant of Jayco's complex. The new factory will create an unspecified number of new jobs, Johnson said.

This is almost getting ridiculous - I can find a new article about a new factory or plant expansion in the US just about every few hours it seems . . . and I'm not even posting all the ones I find. Some of the ones I find are new power generation plants. I could post those, but I'll stick to news about companies that make things other than electricity. ;) I also find a lot of articles about sewer treatment plant expansions, but those definitely don't count. ;) Finally, I also find some stories that are on registration-required newspapers, but I can't be bothered with those. So far I've run into about 2-3 articles of that kind per week. So there are others in addition to these.

http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/mld/myrtlebeachonline/news/local/11293785.htm

Myrtle Beach Sun-News
Posted on Sat, Apr. 02, 2005
New plant to open in Georgetown
Utility, manufacturer strike deal; 100-plus jobs forecast

By Zane Wilson

The Sun News
GEORGETOWN - A deal was sealed Friday on what is being called the biggest economic development project for Georgetown County since the steel mill came in 1967.

Santee Cooper's board clinched an agreement with American Gypsum, a Dallas-based company that intends to invest more than $125 million in a wallboard plant that will hire more than 100 people. The company will use a synthetic gypsum that is formed as a byproduct of pollution-reduction methods at the utility's power plants.

"It's a good deal for South Carolina; it's a great deal for this county," said Santee Cooper board Chairman Guerry Green, who described it as the biggest project since Georgetown Steel. Green has a screen-products factory south of Georgetown and lives in Pawleys Island.

Georgetown County has struggled with a high unemployment rate and several years of plant closings and layoffs. Though 100 jobs is not large compared with the 700 at International Paper Co., which is one of Georgetown's largest employers, the posts are described as good-paying jobs by those who helped work the deal. The project is seen as one that will have a ripple effect on the local economy because of the size of the investment.

American Gypsum is a subsidiary of Eagle Materials. Eagle was spun off from Centex Corp. last year. Centex is a major builder of homes in Horry and Georgetown counties, and the connection could produce another range of economic spinoffs as new homes continue to sprout across the area.

An announcement with more details is scheduled for 11 a.m. Monday at the Winyah Generating Station. Georgetown County leaders who participated in recruiting the company, Santee Cooper officials and Gov. Mark Sanford are to take part.

The S.C. Commerce Department sent out invitations but didn't participate in incentives or recruiting, officials said.

Green said Commerce Director Bob Faith told Santee Cooper to take the lead in trying to make the agreement with American Gypsum.

The company will get the usual tax credits for new jobs that are offered to all companies, but Commerce said that because the company was coming to the state for the gypsum, the state would not offer other incentives. The state gives a minimum of $3,500 tax credit for each job created.

Santee Cooper worked the deal with some of its own money, Green said.

"We closed the deal with savings that we'd saved in other places," such as cutbacks in advertising, he said.

He did not say exactly what incentives Santee Cooper offered, but the utility will be paid for the materials American Gypsum will use, as well as for steam to make the wallboard and for lease of about 60 acres near the Winyah plant, he said.

"By utilizing the synthetic gypsum in its gypsum wallboard production, American Gypsum will convert waste that would otherwise be landfilled into a valuable building product," the company said in a news release Friday.

"Additionally, the gypsum paper that American Gypsum uses is made from 100 percent recycled paper fiber creating a finished product from essentially 100 percent recycled materials," the statement said.

Most of the material for American Gypsum will come from the Winyah plant, but it will get some from Santee Cooper's Cross Generating Station, northwest of Charleston as well, Green said.

Use of the synthetic gypsum is a growing trend. Earlier this week, another gypsum company announced plans to build a new wallboard factory near a power plant in North Carolina.

When Santee Cooper said about a year ago that it would upgrade pollution-control devices at the Winyah plant, the utility started getting inquiries from gypsum companies, Green said.

The upgrade will produce even more gypsum than the devices make now. Currently, the material is dumped into holding ponds on the utility's property near the plant.

The American Gypsum statement said the power plant will start producing wallboard grade gypsum next year and the plant will be operational in 2007.

American Gypsum was interested in locating either at Cross or Winyah, but Winyah won because of a nearby natural gas line. The company uses gas in its process, Green said.

The announcement comes amid legislative review of the way Sanford has handled Santee Cooper. The first of three hearings was held Thursday and the second is set for Monday evening.

The utility staff worked on the project for about a year, beginning before the controversy over Sanford's firing of the previous board chairman and demands for more money for the state from the utility, Green said.

But the timing is significant in another way, Green said.

With many other power plants set to upgrade their pollution controls because of stricter federal laws, it was critical for Santee Cooper to ink a deal before the market for the gypsum expands, he said.

A deal like this is a significant way for Santee Cooper to add value to the state, as the governor has requested, Green said.

"This is the kind of thing we want to do," he said.

Lonnie Carter, president of Santee Cooper, praised his staff for their work in putting the agreement together.

"This is one of those things that's going to make a big difference," Carter said, "not only for our state but for our company, in many years to come."

Details of the deal

American Gypsum will make a $125 million investment in a plant near Georgetown that will recycle gypsum into wallboard; 100 jobs are planned to be created by 2007.

The company plans to lease 60 acres near the Winyah Generating Station, owned by Santee Cooper, and pay for gypsum byproduct from the plant's pollution scrubbers and steam to use in manufacturing the wallboard.

This is a small one - at least initially . . .

http://www.decaturdaily.com/decaturdaily/news/050405/tax.shtml

Decatur (AB) Daily
TUESDAY, APRIL 5, 2005
Decatur approves several tax breaks for Hartselle firm
By Martin Burkey
DAILY Staff Writer

Decatur City Council approved a $104,000 property tax and state sales tax break Monday for a Hartselle manufacturer to set up a new plant in Decatur's police jurisdiction.

In return for the 10-year abatement, which doesn't include city taxes, industrial cylinder maker JIT Industries Inc. plans to build a $2.8 million plant at 307 Woodall Road.

The new plant would design, manufacture and repair industrial-grade hydraulic cylinders, according to company attorney John Caddell. The plant would initially employ 10, with an annual payroll of $402,500, he said. It would grow to 40 employees within three years, with an annual payroll of $1.9 million.

The tax break requires council approval but doesn't require that the city give up future taxes, Caddell noted. In fact, the city would get 45 percent of the 5.8 mils of county property tax collected annually, he said.

The company is seeking abatements of non-educational property taxes, and state sales and use taxes. The non-educational property taxes abated would be about $7,000 annually for 10 years.

The project would create $8,132 annually in additional school taxes during the 10-year abatement period, Caddell said.

The state sales taxes abated would be $33,900. However, the project would generate $20,275 in Morgan County sales and use taxes.

Caddell added that the company is considering Councilman Gary Hammon's suggestion during last week's council work session that the company seek annexation of the new plant into the Decatur city limits.

http://www.wkbn.com/Global/story.asp?S=3142598&nav=81AlYJ77

Mercer County: CCL Container

HERMITAGE, Pa. (AP) - Union workers at a Mercer plant that makes aluminum bottles for Iron City Beer and Snapple soft drinks approved a new four-year contract that will let the company expand and add 60 jobs.

The new contract means the 35 million-dollar million expansion will occur at CCL Container's plant in Hermitage, instead of the company's Canadian plant in Penetang, outside of Toronto. The expansion will add three new lines within three years at the plant, which also makes aluminum aerosol cans.

The contract includes three-and-a-half-percent raises each year, but workers will pay more for health care. CCL Container has a third plant in Mexico City.

------------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.al.com/business/mobileregister/index.ssf?/base/business/1112692529282100.xml

Tuesday, April 05, 2005
INEOS Phenol plant in Theodore to expand
Chemical producer, which employs about 130 people, expects to add 15 jobs

By ANDREA JAMES
Business Reporter

INEOS Phenol plans to complete a $55 million expansion of its production site in Theodore by late 2007, creating at least 15 jobs, company officials said.

Gladbeck, Germany-based INEOS Phenol operates production sites in southern Alabama and Europe that make phenol and acetone -- chemicals used to make a range of products, including aspirin, compact discs and car bumpers.

"We provide the bulk and some of it goes to distributors that get it to smaller bottles that end up on the shelf," said Robert Luiten, the plant's chief operating officer.

The facility, which occupies 30 acres on a 120-acre site along the Theodore Industrial Canal, employs about 130 people. It ships chemicals to customers in North America, South America and Asia. Growing demand prompted the expansion, and once complete the Theodore plant will produce more phenol and acetone than any other in the world, according to Luiten. INEOS is the world leader in both products, according to the company.

"It certainly is significant because of the fact that it would be the world's largest producer," said Bill Sisson, vice president of economic development for the Mobile Area Chamber of Commerce. "Business retention is a significant goal of ours. We want to make sure our existing companies stay strong and growing."

The added jobs would pay $60,000 per year or more, Luiten said.

The plant began production in May 2000 as Phenolchemie. INEOS Group, a British-based chemical conglomerate, purchased the plant for $380 million in April 2001.

http://www.whotv.com/Global/story.asp?S=3171726

New Jobs

April 5, 2005, Des Moines -Another round of new jobs is headed to the metro. Allied Insurance says it will add 2,300 jobs in Des Moines.

Allied plans to add those new jobs periodically through 2009. Allied says the jobs will be white collar, ranging from telemarketers to claims agents.

This news comes on the heels of Wells Fargo announcing it will add one-thousand new jobs when their new office campus opens in West Des Moines later this year.

The Greater Des Moines Partnership says those are only a couple of examples of job growth here in the greater metro area. In fact, 30-percent of all metro companies say they plan to add jobs to the workforce this year.

The Partnership wants to find ten new businesses willing to set up shop in the metro. So far this year they have found two. They also want 20 businesses to expand in the metro. So far this year, four have agreed.

The president of the partnership says all of this growth is making it easier to market the metro area, which creates new jobs and new construction.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

http://biz.yahoo.com/prnews/050405/cgtu075.html?.v=2

Alter Trading Corporation Announces Plans for $5 Million Expansion of Its Waterloo Facility
Tuesday April 5, 6:03 pm ET

WATERLOO, Iowa, April 5 /PRNewswire/ -- Alter Trading Corporation announced today that it has signed a definitive agreement to purchase a new state-of-the-art scrap metal shredder which will be installed later this year at Alter's facility in Waterloo, Iowa. The shredder installation is part of Alter's planned $5 million expansion of its Waterloo location.

"This expansion reflects Alter's continuing commitment to significantly invest in its operations, in its employees, and in the communities in which we operate," says Robert S. Goldstein, Alter's President and CEO. According to Steve Pleis, the General Manager for Alter's Waterloo facility, "This new, state-of-the-art equipment will improve the product quality, the environmental efficiency, and the overall performance of our Waterloo operations."

Founded in Davenport, Iowa in 1898, Alter Trading Corporation -- a privately-owned, fourth generation company -- is ISO 9001:2000 certified at all of its 16 processing facilities. Alter's recycling operations and 5 trading offices are located in seven states throughout the upper Midwest.

The new shredder will be delivered to Alter by this September, with final installation expected to be completed in November. It is anticipated that this investment will result in the addition of up to five new jobs at Alter's Waterloo operation.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.businessweekly.co.uk/news/view_article.asp?article_id=9291

CCL plans to expand in US every six months

By Business Weekly, 05 April 2005

Technology creator Cambridge Consultants Ltd says it plans to double the size of its new US HQ every six months in line with strong demand for its services.

The company’s Boston office, which focuses on medical device R & D, has more than doubled in size over its first six months with four key appointments that will allow CCL to staff a US laboratory and expand sales and marketing functions to the firm’s medical device clients.

Andrew Diston, senior vice president and managing director of US operations, said: “It’s vital that we are close to our customers for ongoing projects. Boston is home to both a thriving medical device industry and a community of highly qualified technical personnel.

“Our intention is to keep doubling staff every six months until we achieve critical mass of about 75 people in Boston and about 250 staffers in the US. We have been delighted with the exceptional calibre of local engineers and scientists we are seeing and know they are key to our successful expansion here.”

CCL, a leading technology developer for the last 45 years, has a team of over 200 engineers, scientists and consultants in offices in Cambridge UK and Boston.

It has been directly responsible for the creation of over 20 companies worldwide, generating more than 2,500 new jobs and over $1bn in value.

Diston said: “Cambridge Consultants has worked successfully for international companies for decades. Over 40 per cent of our business is located in the US.”

And still more on the rail car boom. This is a whole new company building a whole new factory . . .

http://www.roanoke.com/business%5C20919.html

Tuesday, March 29, 2005
On track to make rail cars
"It is absolutely my expectation that this will be a successful venture and we will be here for a long time," said an executive with FreightCar America.

By Lois Caliri
The Roanoke Times

For the first time in nearly five years Norfolk Southern's East End shops are humming and buzzing with activity. Construction crews have been digging, hauling, paving, pouring and building, getting the shops ready for workers to build aluminum rail cars.

FreightCar America, which is leasing the shops from NS, expects to start producing the cars on April 18.

Because of competitive reasons, the company has declined to say how many cars it will build in Roanoke.

FreightCar's primary customers are financial institutions, railroads and shippers. Its backlog of firm orders for new rail cars increased from 6,444 rail cars as of Dec. 31, 2003, to 11,397 rail cars as of Dec. 31, 2004, representing estimated sales of $365.9 million and $747.8 million, respectively, according to documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Initially, FreightCar employees will build cars to carry coal. But that could change and the company could build cars to haul other commodities, said Ken Bridges, senior vice president of operations.

Company officials have already hired 26 salaried and 25 hourly employees, the majority from the Roanoke Valley. Hourly workers can earn between $10.91 and $16.83, and rapid advancement is available, said Bridges, a former official for General Motors.

A few employees used to work for NS, said Bridges, who said he values experienced welders. So far, he's hired people to build support systems for the cars to be assembled. He said he did not have any problems finding quality help, and he did not see a shortage of applications.

More than 500 applied for positions, according to the Virginia Employment Commission, the agency responsible for accepting applications and screening applicants.

It's too early to know whether the FreightCar shops will be union. There is no steadfast rule that says when unions can begin organizing within a workplace, according to the National Labor Relations Board.

FreightCar has shops in Johnstown, Pa., and Danville, Ill., that are unionized. But the company recently got embroiled in a class-action lawsuit and a proposed settlement with the workers in Johnstown, according to company documents filed with the SEC.

The workers were without a collective bargaining agreement since October 2001.

In November, a FreightCar subsidiary settled with the United Steelworkers of America, which represents unionized employees in Johnstown.

The settlement is pending approval by the NLRB and the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Pennsylvania, according to SEC papers.

Starting next month, Bridges said, he expects to hire an additional 40 workers in Roanoke. Experienced mig welders - a semiautomatic welding process - will be given priority. He expects to have 200-plus employees by December.

"We've had to do significant work in the shops to get ready," Bridges said. For example, crews have been digging extensive pits so workers can work underneath the rail cars. FreightCar expects to spend more than $5 million to complete the construction.

"It is absolutely my expectation that this will be a successful venture and we will be here for a long time," said Bridges. "With the continued help of the community, I believe this will happen."

FreightCar has a 10-year lease with NS.

Because coal is plentiful and coal-burning power plants are under construction, Bridges said, the rail-car industry will continue to build coal cars to meet that demand. He noted Detroit Edison's power plant, which burns 400 cars of coal a day. Each car carries 120 tons of coal. That's four delivered train sets of coal a day.

The Roanoke East End shops have been idle since August 2000, when carmen and signalmen became the latest employees to "hit the streets," railroad language for being put out of work. The jobs of 55 signalmen were abolished and 228 carmen were laid off indefinitely at that time.

PICKING UP STEAM

FreightCar America has begun hiring workers and preparing to build railroad cars at Norfolk Southern's East End shops in Roanoke.

Company: Based in Chicago

Jobs: Plans include hiring up to 400 people in Roanoke.

Product: Aluminum rail cars. A locomotive can pull three aluminum cars with the same amount of fuel needed to pull two steel cars.

Contracts: Avis Construction Co. and Breakell Inc. won bids to prepare the shops for rail-car production.

- edit

http://www.azbiz.com/articles/2005/04/04/front/news01.txt

Rail tie maker has plans for Tucson facility
By Philip S. Moore Inside Tucson Business
Posted: Monday, Apr 04, 2005

By this time next year, more than 100 employees will be loading 60 railcars a day in Tucson with concrete railroad ties manufactured at a new facility, operated by the Pittsburgh-based railroad equipment manufacturer L. B. Foster Company.

The company's railroad tie subsidiary, CXT Inc., is preparing to construct a 36,000-square-foot manufacturing facility adjacent the Union Pacific rail yard on Aviation Parkway. The factory will be supplying the railroad under a seven-year contract to replace as many as 10 million railroad ties along the Sunset Corridor between Los Angeles and El Paso.

"We'll be replacing the ties as we do maintenance along the line," said Union Pacific spokesman John Bromley. "We're also adding double track along the route at a rate of about 50 miles a year, at our current pace."

During 2005, the railroad will be replacing 4.4 million wooden and composite cross ties, as well as replacing 1,055 miles of rail, throughout their 33,000-mile system, which covers the Western U.S.

During this year, Union Pacific will be spending an additional $295 million to increase capacity, primarily along the Sunset Corridor, as well as adding eight new side tracks in Texas, Utah, Oklahoma, California, Iowa and Arizona.


Bromley said he's pleased that CXT chose Tucson for the new facility "because it's about half way between Los Angles and El Paso. This rail tie conversion process will be extensive. So, it's a good location to support this work."

The Tucson facility is the third manufacturing plant for CXT, a company that's name is an acronym for "concrete cross ties." The two other facilities are in Grand Island, Neb., and Spokane, Wash. The Spokane plant, which is similar to the planned Tucson operation, employes 130 people, according to the Spokane Economic Development Commission.

Diversified Design and Construction of Tucson will be handling the construction of the plant under a design-builder contract with CXT. "We're still working through the permitting phase," said Jim McCaslin, operations manager for L. B. Foster. "Once we've gotten past that point, we'll start on the design and engineering phase."

McCaslin, who is overseeing the construction of the Tucson facility, said it's too soon to estimate how many jobs will be created by the plant, "but there's no doubt this will be fast-paced operation."

He estimates that the plant will break ground in the early summer and open by November. "Once that happens, we expect to be able to reach targeted capacity by January. However, that's only a rough estimate, since we're still in the very early stages of this process."

He said, "In about 60 days, we'll be able to see how the future will unfold itself. By then, we should have the final details."

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.wnct.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=WNCT/MGArticle/NCT_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1031781912780&path=

Jobs for Halifax County (NC)
Apr 1, 2005
Akila Hardy
WNCT-TV 9

Governor Mike Easley announced today that Airboss of America will open a manufacturing facility in Scotland Neck. The company is a leading developer and manufacturer of high-quality rubber-based products. It will create 86 jobs and invest more than 10 million dollars in Halifax County during the next three years.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.bizjournals.com/industries/economic_view/economic_snapshot/2005/04/04/austin_daily39.html

Austin Business Journal

Austin Business Journal - Thursday, April 7, 2005
Freescale secures $11M in incentives from city

The Austin City Council on Thursday unanimously approved an $11 million, 10-year incentive package for Freescale Semiconductor Inc.

The City Council authorized negotiation and execution of an economic development agreement and creation of an economic development program, including the rebate of 100 percent of city property taxes as well as payroll incentives and airport financial assistance.

Last Friday, Freescale (NYSE: FSL) announced its intent to keep its headquarters in Austin and invest about $414 million in its two Austin plants and add another 500 jobs over the next 10 years.

The city of Austin's incentives are expected to be combined with others from Travis County, the Austin Independent School District and possibly the state's Texas Enterprise Fund, economic development sources say. They say the combined value of incentives from the city, council and school district will be about $30 million.

Throughout Austin, the chip company employs about 6,500 people.

Freescale went public last July and completed its spinoff from Schaumburg, Ill.-based Motorola Inc. (NYSE: MOT) in December.

http://www.forbes.com/home/business/2005/04/07/cx_lm_0407bankers.html

Forbes
Wall Street's Hiring Spree
Liz Moyer, 04.07.05, 6:00 AM ET

NEW YORK - After years in the doldrums, spring has sprung on Wall Street. Profits are up. The phones of executive recruiters are ringing. And bankers are taking their bonus checks and heading for the doors.

Turmoil at the top of Morgan Stanley (nyse: MWD - news - people ) has energized an already strong hiring market, as recruiting firms stumble over each other to lure senior bankers and specialists to rival firms.

"The conventional wisdom is that it's time to get out there and grow the business," says Alan Johnson, president of Wall Street recruiting firm Johnson Associates. For investment banks, "clients are raising equity and the corporate mindset has finally turned."

Michael Karp, co-founder and managing director of The Options Group in New York, says it's the best year in terms of recruiting in over a decade. "Every bank is hiring. The budgets are there."

Among the more senior moves this year: In February, Credit Suisse First Boston welcomed Michael Philipp as chairman and chief executive of its European, Middle East and Africa regions. Philipp was a high-ranking executive at Deutsche Bank (nyse: DB - news - people ) before leaving in 2000 to set up his own alternative investment firm.

Last month, Arnaud Apffel joined Lehman Brothers (nyse: LEH - news - people )as managing director and co-head of European equity corporate derivatives. He was a managing director at Goldman Sachs Group (nyse: GS - news - people ). Citigroup (nyse: C - news - people ) has also snared a few Goldman bankers in recent months, including Chris Williams, formerly of Goldman's financial institutions group, who is now co-head of Citi's European financial institutions group. JPMorgan (nyse: JPM - news - people ) hired George "Beau" Taylor as managing director and head of gas and power trading. He jumped from Morgan Stanley and recruited four junior executives from other firms to join him. And in July, Dante Roscini will join Morgan Stanley as managing director and a senior banker in Europe. Roscini was chairman of Merrill Lynch's (nyse: MER - news - people ) global equity capital markets.

Last year the industry added 30,000 jobs, regaining about one-third of those lost after the bursting of the Internet bubble. Employment in the securities industry nationwide fell 10.7% from its peak in March 2001 to October 2003, according to figures from the Securities Industry Association. In New York State, home of nearly one-quarter of the industry's jobs, Wall Street lost 20% of its workers from its peak in December 2000 to its low point in April 2003.

Business has steadily improved since the dark days. Fiscal first-quarter profits at four big investment banks--Lehman, Goldman, Bear Stearns Cos. (nyse: BSC - news - people ), and Morgan Stanley, were up 19% on average.

Pay is also rising after the relatively lean years of 2002 and 2003, executive recruiters say. Bonuses, which make up the biggest component of annual compensation for most Wall Street executives, rose 15% last year, Johnson says. For deal advisors, the gains were 20% to 25%, while traders saw gains of 5%.

Dealmakers got beaten down the most in the market doldrums, especially at the managing director level. But no one's starving. Managing directors make about $1.5 million to $2 million in annual cash and bonus, Johnson says. Above them, the desk heads make $3 million to $5 million and the business heads make up to $10 million.

Spring is traditionally the time for Wall Streeters to jump ship, coming a few weeks after annual bonuses are paid. But senior-level reorganization at Morgan Stanley last week has opened hunting season on that firm's banking and trading executives.

The reorganization prompted the departures of Vikram Pandit, who was in charge of Morgan Stanley's institutional securities operations; John Havens, head of equities, and Stephan Newhouse, who had been president of the firm.

Karp says his firm has received dozens of calls from Morgan Stanley employees interested in finding out what their market value could be. While the white-shoe investment bank continues to be a career destination for many, "it's easier to recruit some of those people out," Karp says.

Several banks are ready to pounce. HSBC Holdings (nyse: HBC - news - people ) is actively building its advisory ranks as well as several trading desks. JPMorgan is eagerly hiring commodity and energy traders, and mortgage-backed securities and equity derivatives specialists. Citigroup has been building equity derivatives.

In fact, even without the Morgan Stanley effect, hiring was picking up, in favor of the job-seekers. Two-year guarantees for senior producers are back after falling out of vogue for two years. Recruiting firms are getting re-acclimated to fielding candidates with multiple offers. Banks "used to have candidates all to themselves," says Kenneth Murray, president of New York recruiting firm Mercury Partners. "Now they have to fight for them."

The growth of the hedge fund industry is helping to drive the new recruitment effort. Wall Street firms have seen top producers jump to that booming industry for the last two years. In reaction, they are building their proprietary trading capabilities to stave off the exodus of talent. The most sought after candidates at banks are people who specialize in derivatives and other structured products, as well as merger advisors.

Morgan Stanley's own website lists 20 pages of available jobs in its North American institutional securities division, including many technical and risk management posts but also positions in equity research, in derivatives and in prime brokerage.

European banks, including Deutsche Bank, UBS (nyse: UBS - news - people ), Barclays, and Royal Bank of Scotland, have been especially aggressive in building their trading and structured products groups in New York.

"They have the most to lose by not developing a significant footprint in the United States," says Richard Stein, senior client partner for capital markets and derivatives at Korn/Ferry International. The Morgan Stanley turmoil "may be an opportunity for them."

The willingness of the Wall Street banks to pay up for key managers and the overall spending on new employment may also help stem the tide of talent going to hedge funds and other alternative investment firms. The competition for new hires has another side effect: increased due diligence on candidates.

"There's a lot of pressure at the top," says Deborah Rivera of The Succession Group in New York. "Especially if they make a substantial guarantee" to a prospect who later fails to produce as promised.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.kait8.com/Global/story.asp?S=3181050&nav=0jshYPF4

Wynne, AR
Eakas Breaks Ground on Auto Parts Plant in Wynne
April 7, 2005, 12:27 PM

APRIL 7, 2005 - Posted at 1:29 p.m. CDT

WYNNE, AR - Eakas Arkansas has broken ground on the auto parts plant it plans to open in Wynne. The Japanese company is expected to eventually hire 250 people, and it is spending $15 million.

Initially, Eakas will hire 75 workers as production begins next year.

The factory will make door handles, mirrors and other parts for exterior and interior use.

State Economic Development director Larry Walther says the plant will provide an array of benefits to east Arkansas. He also said Eakas will benefit from the workforce available in the region.

Eakas is owned by Sakae Riken Kogyo Company, a Japanese firm that has one other plant in North America, a factory in Peru, Illinois.

The plant will be built on a 40-acre site south of Wynne on Highway 1.