1. New Car Company Takes Steps Toward $1.5 Billion Alabama Plant
MONTGOMERY -- A Chinese-backed automaker that plans a massive hybrid car-building operation in Baldwin County made a pact with a noted Italian firm to design those vehicles during a splashy ceremony this week. Representatives of Hybrid Kinetic Motors Corp. and Italdesign Giugiaro signed a contract for the styling and engineering of a line of hybrids that are slated to be produced in Alabama starting in 2013.
The events featured red carpet, spotlights and music. It culminated with the unveiling of the Quaranta concept car designed by Italdesign Giugiaro to mark the firm's 40th anniversary. It was the North American premiere for the "super sports-car" that debuted on the world stage at the 2008 Geneva International Motor Show. The car, which has a futuristic, wedge-shaped design, is powered by a hybrid engine and solar panels. The Quaranta was shown in Montgomery as an example of the styling philosophy and engineering capability that Italdesign Giugiaro will bring to the Alabama-built hybrids, said CT Wang, chief executive of HK Motors.
2. Birmingham Company Develops New Motorcycle Engine
Motus Motorcycles has developed the world's first direct-injected V4 motorcycle engine. Motus, a Birmingham-based firm located at Innovation Depot, has been working with Michigan-based Katech Engines to develop the KMV4 engine. The KMV4 is an advanced, high performance powertrain designed for Motus MST motorcycles. The new engine is the first American V4 ever built for a production vehicle and is undergoing durability testing.
Motus will compete with foreign manufacturers that lead the sport touring motorcycle segment. Sport tourers blend the two largest motorcycle segments – sport bikes and tourers. To be competitive, Motus determined that a proprietary engine would be needed, the release said.
3. Warship Ceremony in Mobile Attracts Thousands
The warship Independence became the USS Independence this month, drawing thousands of people to Mobile Landing in a driving rain for an event that culminated in crew members running onboard and taking control of their ship. Beneath a sea of umbrellas, most audience members sat in folding chairs that had been arranged in the shadow of the massive, aluminum-hulled vessel, which was decked out in red, white and blue bunting.
Built at Austal USA by a team led by General Dynamics Corp., the USS Independence or LCS-2 is the second of the shallow-water fast warships, which can be outfitted with various weaponry and systems to fulfill different needs, from pirate fighting to humanitarian aid.
The first, LCS-1 Freedom, is a steel-hulled version with a vastly different design that was built by a team led by Lockheed Martin Corp. Each team hopes to build many more of the ships, with the Navy announcing last year a new winner-take-all buying strategy focused on price.
4. Alabama Hosts Consultants at International Business Conference
Alabama hosted more than 25 site selection consultants at an economic development gathering in Costa Rica this month, an effort aimed at recruiting more business to the state. The Second Annual Alabama International Business Conference followed a similar one held in Mexico last year, as state officials network with consultants to promote Alabama as a site for their projects.
ADO Director Neal Wade said 2010 will be one of the most aggressive marketing years for the state, citing upcoming business development and trade missions to India, Vietnam, China, Ireland and Farnborough, one of the world's largest aerospace events.
"Of all the times to market Alabama to the world, this may be the most critical time because of the current economic situation and the thousands of Alabamians looking for good, well-paying jobs," Wade said in a prepared statement.
Central America is playing a heightened role in Alabama's expanding trade efforts, he added. The Costa Rica conference follows the governor's September trade mission to Colombia that included representatives of 14 Alabama companies.
5. Northrop To Lead Team That Could Bring 300 Jobs to Huntsville
HUNTSVILLE - Today's combat troops must operate and coordinate incredibly powerful and sophisticated weapons, sensors, radars, radios and other systems that have rarely been designed to work together.
The soldiers' tasks should get easier in a few years: The Army has chosen Northrop Grumman to develop an Integrated Air and Missile Defense Battle Command System, or IBCS, that will provide a common operating interface and sharing of data among current and future missile and sensor programs, according to Ed McAlister, the company's IBCS program manager.
Northrop will lead a team that includes Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Harris, Colsa and other familiar defense names under a $577 million, five-year contract for IBCS design and development that could result in more than 300 more Huntsville jobs.
6. Alabama Dropout Rate Falls by 26 Percent
The number of students who dropped out of Alabama public schools in 2009 was 26 percent lower than in 2008. The deputy state education superintendent for instruction credits the decrease in dropouts largely to changes in "seat time" requirements previously in place for students to get credit for a subject.
Deputy Superintendent Tommy Bice told state school members that the figures represent the first chance to track the impact of First Choice. The program, which was adopted in 2008, is designed to help pinpoint students who are at risk of dropping out of school if they remain in traditional school settings. The program offers those students alternatives to encourage them to stay in school.
7. Plans for Statewide Career Technical Center Progressing
Gary Dan Williams has a vision for high school students across the state. It revolves around offering them academic and technical options, and in time, could mean a boon to the state's economy.
The campus and its programs would potentially be established in the vein of other such facilities in Alabama - the Alabama School for Fine Arts in Birmingham and the Alabama School of Mathematics and Science in Mobile. Both schools are residential, pulling students from around the state. Ultimately, the proposed Tennessee Valley Career Technology Center would do the same, proponents said.
The Governor's Council on Workforce Development is a key player as well. Williams, the director of the Muscle Shoals Center for Technology, and Gary Warren, the area’s representative on the board of education, presented the concept to the council in early January.
8. 80-job Pipe Coating Plant Coming to Bessemer
A Pennsylvania company will invest $5 million and create 80 new jobs with a new plant in Bessemer. Liberty Group of Morrisville, Pa., will set up a regional pipe coatings plant through its Liberty Coating Co. in a 131,000-square-foot building in Bessemer's Interstate Industrial Park, officials said. The building is part of the Pullman-Standard rail car manufacturing operation on 216 acres there.
9. Army Headquarters Moving to Redstone Arsenal
The Army is moving the headquarters for its Contracting Command and Expeditionary Contracting Command to Redstone Arsenal from Fort Belvoir, Va. The "force structure" move will reassign 79 soldiers and 234 civilians to Redstone and is expected to be completed in August 2011.
This relocation is not part of the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure decision that is moving about 4,700 Army and government positions to Redstone, including the Army Materiel Command and the U.S. Army Security Assistance Command. Bringing the contracting commands to Redstone increases the "critical mass" of government agencies, personnel and expertise located here. That should help efforts to attract jobs in the next round of BRAC moves, which are expected to be decided about 2015.
10. New Industry Coming to DeKalb County
A new industry will soon be operating in Ider. Steel-Plus, a metal fabrication company, is expected to be up and running by early April, said Ider Mayor Brad Hannah. He said the industry would operate out of the building vacated by Galbreath when that company shut down last summer.
Jimmy Durham, director of the DeKalb County Economic Development Authority, said the company would initially employ about 25 people. He said Galbreath had 40 employees when it closed, and around 100 at its peak.
Jeff Haymon, of Rainsville, who co-owns Steel-Plus along with Jim Hicks, of Fort Payne and Brad Jackoway, of Centre, said he hopes to employ 40 to 50 people by the second year of operation.