1. 150 New Jobs Coming to Andalusia with SaeHaeSung Announcement
The Andalusia City Council has approved a memorandum of understanding with SaeHaeSung Alabama that will facilitate the company’s expansion and result in the creation of 150 new jobs in Andalusia.
Under the terms of the agreement, the city’s Industrial Development Board will finance the construction of a 72,000 square foot building with a 6,000 square foot administration building attached to it. It will be built in the city’s industrial park, very near its current facility. SaeHaeSung will occupy the building through a lease-purchase agreement, Mayor Earl Johnson told council members, and has agreed to a 10-year lease.
Johnson said the company’s owner, Mr. In-Tae Heo, will put an additional $10 million in equipment in the Andalusia facility. The operation will be expanded from a welding and shipping operation to include a stamping operation. The company, which is a Hyundai supplier, will add a minimum of 150 jobs over the next two years.
2. Regent Aerospace To Open in Mobile, Employ 90 People
Regent Aerospace, which specializes in maintenance and repair of aircraft seats and interiors, will open a new facility in Mobile's Brookley Field Industrial Complex.
Regent, a private firm based in Valencia, Calif., plans to begin operations in coming months. The firm plans to hire up to 90 people within two years. Jobs will pay an average of $24,000 a year, according to information submitted to the Mobile city Industrial Development Board.
The building is next ST Aerospace Mobile, which overhauls commercial jets. Mike Lilley, vice president and general manger of Regent, said seats come off jets while ST Aerospace Mobile is working on them. Instead of trucking them to Regent's Indianapolis facility, now the firm will do the work next door.
Lilley said the firm plans to expand to a larger facility at Brookley after the first two years, raising employment to 150 or above.
3. Two Alabama Areas in Top Ten Nationally for Economic Development
Alabama's Daphne-Fairhope and Cullman were among the nation's top 10 micropolitans for new and expanding corporate facilities last year, according to Site Selection magazine. Statesville-Mooresville, N.C., led the list of micropolitans, which was part of an annual set of rankings by the Atlanta-based real estate and economic development magazine. Daphne-Fairhope tied for fourth with Lincolnton, N.C., while Cullman tied for 10th with Findlay, Ohio.
Alabama ranked sixth out of the top ten states with the most top micros.
4. Mobile’s Port Becomes Nation’s Ninth Largest
MOBILE -- The Port of Mobile moved past Los Angeles in 2008 to become the ninth biggest in the nation in terms of tonnage, according to statistics released by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
According to the data, Mobile's port moved 67.6 million short tons in 2008, up from 64.5 million in 2007. A majority of the cargo -- 38.1 million -- was foreign trade, according to the Corps data. The Port of Mobile, which is operated by the Alabama State Port Authority, directly employs 570 people.
5. Prattville Named as Top Ten Golf City in United States
Prattville has been named as one of the Top 10 Golf Cities in the nation by a travel-and-relocation web site.Liveability.com generated the list which places Prattville at No. 7, above Stillwater, Okla., Asheville, N.C., and Tyler, Texas. The city of Eugene, Ore., topped the list.
"The majority of golfers don't get to play at world famous courses," said John Hood, Web content manager for Liveability.com. "They are more likely to play on a local course or a public course on vacation or business trip. We were looking for the top best-kept secrets when it comes to golf. "Prattville, with its Robert Trent Jones (Trail) location, certainly fits."
The Capitol Hill Course sees an average of 85,000 rounds played each year, said Mike Beverly, director of golf at the complex. The three, 18-hole championship courses cover a sprawling 1,500 acres. Capitol Hill is one of the most popular stops on the trail, which has 10 locations.
6. HK Motors Unveils Plant Design Possibilities
BAY MINETTE -- Architects unveiled three possible master plans for a Bay Minette car factory as Hybrid Kinetic Motors opened a three-day session to choose design and engineering firms.
Officials with both HK Motors and one of its engineering firms said that their favored plan is a symmetrical design with a central spine for transportation and utilities. The company would build body, stamping, paint, assembly and engine facilities on one side as the first phase of plant, which the company plans to open by 2013. The company could then add capacity by building a mirror image of those facilities on the other side of the utilities spine.
HK Motors, a subsidiary of Hong Kong-based Far East Golden Resources Group Ltd., has contracted with Kohlbecker Gesamptplan GmbH and the Shanghai Institute of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering Co. Ltd., to design the automobile plant near Bay Minette.
Officials from the three companies spent Tuesday afternoon meeting with utility, transportation and environmental and permitting officials. They plan to meet Wednesday with representatives from 14 companies that could win contracts to build the plant. On Thursday they plan to meet with fire and insurance officials.
7. Sales Rise for All Three Automakers in State
Alabama’s three automotive makers all posted increased sales for the month of February. Hyundai credited a redesigned version of its Sonata sedan with driving the model's sales jump last month. U.S. sales soared during February for both vehicles
Honda reported sales gains in February for its state-made Odyssey minivan. U.S. sales of Honda's Alabama-built Odyssey minivan rose 11.4 percent in February, the automaker said. U.S. sales jumped during February for the two vehicles Mercedes-Benz builds in Alabama.
8. Birmingham To Gain Lab Jobs by 2018
Birmingham is in line to benefit from a projected up swell in clinical laboratory jobs over the next decade, industry experts say.
The U.S. Department of Labor predicts a combined 108,000 clinical technologist and technician jobs will come open due to job growth and replacement needs by 2018. Those jobs include “rapid growth in private diagnostic labs, as well as in physicians’ offices,” according to a recent U.S. News and World Report list of the top 50 careers for the next 10 years.
Birmingham’s robust health care community and the University of Alabama at Birmingham’s Clinical and Laboratory Science/Medical Technology Program could be a winning job-growth combination, according to health care professor John Lowe. Lowe, director of the Simmons College graduate program in health care administration in Boston, said the local area might benefit from an expected increase in lab work as baby boomers demand more medical services and technology becomes more affordable.
9. Birmingham Expects To Score as Sports Host of Major Events
April is shaping up as a record month for Birmingham area tourism, thanks to three major sporting events. Convention officials expect them to generate a combined $62 million in tourism-related spending.
About $33 million of that will come from the IndyCar Series inaugural IRL Grand Prix of Alabama, set for April 9-11 at the Barber Motorsports road track near Leeds, said David Galbaugh, sports marketing director for the Greater Birmingham Convention & Visitors Bureau.
Two events beginning April 24 -- the Talladega Superspeedway Aaron's 499 and the Federation Cup women's tennis match between the United States and Russia -- are expected to have an economic impact of $25 million and $3.9 million, respectively.
10. Classes Help Companies Solve Problems through Teamwork
Mercedes-Benz has brought many good things to Alabama, including vehicles like the M-Class. But it is the adoption of another Mercedes "class" that's being used to change how economic developers help existing industry across the state.
The Economic Development Partnership of Alabama has rolled out an initiative called the Alabama Operations Management Institute that seeks to help companies solve their manufacturing problems.
The AOMI program is based on a technique that Bill Taylor, now the chief executive at EDPA, used with Mercedes and its supplier plants when Taylor was head of the automaker's plant in Vance.
"I know from when I was with Mercedes that this is effective," Taylor said. "We can take it and apply it to all existing industry, not just automotive. This is not a program, it's a process and it can be tailored for any company."