1. Mercedes To Build C-Class Sedan in Vance, Bringing 1,000 Jobs
Mercedes-Benz’ decision this week to move some of its C-Class automobile production to its Vance factory in 2014 will not only create 1,000 jobs, but it also helps secure the future of the automotive industry in West Alabama, experts say.
During the past two years, Mercedes has cut its Vance workforce as demand for the factory’s sport utility vehicles fell. At its peak, the Vance factory employed about 4,000 people. It now has about 3,000 workers and expects to have about 2,800 employees early next year after its latest early retirement and buyout offers. A faltering economy is largely to blame for the sluggish vehicle orders.
But the economy also prompted Wednesday’s decision by Mercedes to shift additional production to Vance. Dieter Zetsche, chairman of Daimler AG and head of its subsidiary, Mercedes-Benz Cars, said in Germany that the decision “is essential for strategic and operational reasons, and helps the company to remain competitive and to fully utilize future growth opportunities.”
2. Automaker Hyundai Celebrates Millionth Vehicle Made in Alabama
Korean automaker Hyundai marked a milestone in Alabama as workers at the Montgomery factory produced its one millionth vehicle. H.I. Kim, president and CEO of the Alabama factory, drove the vehicle.
Montgomery Mayor Todd Strange, who helped bring Hyundai to Alabama as then-director of the Alabama Development Office, said Hyundai produces a "class product" in Alabama and he congratulated the plant's employees.
3. LCS Commissioning May Position Mobile as Shipbuilding Center
MOBILE -- Commissioning of the littoral combat ship Independence will symbolize Mobile's emergence as a military shipbuilding center, community leaders hope.
The Jan. 16, event will be preceded by parties, tours and ceremonies that, according to members of the commissioning committee, will cost as much as $400,000 to put on. The Navy does not pay for a commissioning; it is funded with donations from the local community as well as the ship's builders and suppliers. But it is a small price to pay for what current and potential work could mean to the local economy, they said.
"We're trying to get word out to the community how significant this is," said Dick Pennington, president of the committee. "From an economic development standpoint, it's beyond most people's comprehension."
The Navy in March 2008 picked Mobile, where the ship was built at Austal USA, as the commissioning site over Philadelphia and San Diego, where Independence will be based. It will mark the first time a Mobile-built ship has been commissioned here since World War II, those involved said.
Austal, the American arm of Australian shipbuilder Austal Ltd., is building a version of the LCS as part of a team led by General Dynamics Corp. And it's laying the groundwork -- in a big way -- to expand its reach. The company unveiled an $88 million module manufacturing facility earlier this month, the largest of its kind in the nation.
4. Major Auto Supplier To Bring 195 Jobs to Tuscaloosa
TUSCALOOSA -Faurecia North America, a major automotive supplier, plans to build a $15 million plant in Tuscaloosa County, with construction to start in January. The manufacturing plant will employ about 195 people when it reaches full production.
The new plant will be built in the Cedar Cove Technology Park just south of the Interstate 20/59 state rest stop between Cottondale and Vance.
Faurecia will supply parts to the Mercedes-Benz plant in Vance for an upcoming vehicle platform, the statement said. The plant will be about 3.5 miles west of the Mercedes plant and will be a just-in-time supplier to Mercedes.
Just-in-time automotive suppliers deliver their parts to automotive assembly plants as needed for production, eliminating the need for assembly plants to stockpile and warehouse the parts. Such suppliers tie their production closely to their customers’ automotive plant production and often locate near the automotive assembly plants they serve.
5. Home Depot Opens Large Distribution Center in Jefferson County
Home Depot Inc. opened a large distribution center in McCalla recently that already has delivered jobs for an area struggling with double-digit unemployment.
The first 179 employees hired for the facility were decked out in orange shirts, and their claps and cheers echoed through the 657,000-square-foot center at a ceremonial grand opening Wednesday.
The $33 million distribution center, which the Atlanta-based home improvement retailer has dubbed a "rapid deployment center," will serve up to 150 Home Depot stores as far away as Arkansas and Missouri. The company said it will hire several hundred workers for the center.
The project in the 739-acre Jefferson Metropolitan Park McCalla was first announced in January 2008. In keeping with its do-it-yourself image, company officials eschewed the typical ribbon-cutting routine by breaking out a saw and cutting a board to mark the opening.
Michael Gordon, general manager of the facility, said the project has gotten lots of support from local officials and from the employees hired to man the center.
"I have done several startups in my career, but really none like this one," Gordon said. "There has been a lot of teamwork, a lot of support to get us to this point."
6. Statewide Technical Magnet School in the Works
Officials are seriously pursuing a proposed career technical academy in the Shoals that would ultimately serve vocational/technical-minded students from across the state.
The proposal involves the creation of a Tennessee Valley Career Technology Center, a magnet school for the state that would offer courses in career technical areas based on business and industry needs and student interest.
Gary Dan Williams, director of the Muscle Shoals Center for Technology, is spearheading the project and said the time is right to start training students on a much larger scale in an effort to create a strong work force in Alabama.
"This isn't just about Muscle Shoals or even the Shoals area but about the whole state and doing what we have to, to be able to compete for big business and industry by having the well-trained work force to offer those companies," Williams said. "This is truly a way of taking care of all our students by presenting them with opportunities like never before."
Courses offered wouldn't compete with programs that already exist in area vocational schools or high schools.
7. South Korean Steel Giant To Create 60 Jobs in Jefferson County
South Korean steel giant Posco plans to invest $17 million and create 60 jobs at a new steel processing plant in Jefferson Metropolitan Park McCalla, officials said.
The Jefferson County Economic and Industrial Development Authority on Tuesday approved a deal to sell a 31 & ½- acre site in the industrial park to Posco-America Corp., the company's North American subsidiary, for $1.5 million.
The new facility could be operating by the end of 2010, said Carma Jude, executive director of the county development authority. The company plans to bring steel rolls into the facility, where the metal will be cut and processed for customers.
Posco's site is between the new Home Depot distribution center -- which held its grand opening last week -- and a speculative building constructed by Birmingham-based Graham & Co. The site has access to the Norfolk Southern rail line that runs by the industrial park.
8. Birmingham Auto Supplier Kamtek Lands VW Contract
Auto supplier Kamtek Inc. has won a contract to perform work for Volkswagen's planned Chattanooga plant, allowing the supplier to boost jobs and operations at its facility in Pinson Valley.
Kamtek may be the first Alabama auto supplier to win a pact with the German automaker, which is spending $1 billion on the factory complex under construction in Chattanooga. Alabama economic development officials have been targeting Volkswagen work for state suppliers.
The future Volkswagen work and an increase in work for Mercedes-Benz's plant in Vance are fueling an expansion for the company, which stamps out parts such as metal fenders.
9. Auto Supplier Brings 25 New Jobs to Anniston Area
It's coming here because of the proximity to Honda, to Nissan, to Toyota. And it's bringing jobs, much-needed jobs, to stoke the sputtering economy. Industry Products Co., an auto supplier from Ohio, announced that it is opening a branch in Anniston. It will employ 25 people to start, but hopes to expand as business increases.
"They'll be good-paying jobs," said Don Hopper, executive director of the Calhoun County Economic Development Council.
10. Red Diamond Brewing Up Growth Plans in Alabama
Red Diamond Coffee & Tea, founded in Birmingham over a century ago, is in a growth mode despite the economic downturn, the fourth-generation CEO of the family owned company said.