1. Governor Outlines Trade Strategy To Create New Jobs through Exports
Gov. Bob Riley unveiled the state’s updated strategy to create new jobs through exports during a ceremony this month at the State Capitol where he also recognized seven Alabama companies for their success in international trade.
The value of Alabama’s exports has increased significantly since Governor Riley launched Export Alabama, the state’s trade promotion effort, in 2004. In fact, Alabama’s exports in 2009 totaled $12.4 billion, an increase of 36 percent since 2004. Since the launch of Export Alabama, 21 trade missions to 22 countries have taken place resulting in 33 agreements being signed between Alabama companies and foreign customers. These agreements are worth approximately $70 million in sales and the creation of 1,000 jobs in Alabama.
The 2010 trade strategy includes pursuing business opportunities in emerging markets such as China, India and Russia. The Governor will lead trade missions to India and Russia during 2010. Exports from Alabama to India jumped 63 percent from 2008 to 2009, from $98.9 million to $161.4 million. Exports from Alabama to Russia also saw an increase from 2008 to 2009, from $309 million to $343 million -- an 11 percent increase.
The trade strategy also calls for a continued focus on helping Alabama’s small- and medium-sized companies to market their goods and services overseas. A new effort for 2010 will help companies develop and modify their websites to reach potential customers in foreign countries.
2. Port Authority Moves Ahead with Project To Increase Rail Capacity
MOBILE - The Alabama State Port Authority has voted unanimously to move forward with a project to increase rail access to the McDuffie Coal Terminal.
Authority members voted to spend up to $850,000 to modify the train tracks at the coal terminal, but only if the money is reimbursed by a railroad company that requested the project. Smitty Thorne, the authority's executive vice president, said the company had agreed in principle to the amount but had not signed a contract. He said he could not identify the company until the contract was signed.
As it is now, each train bringing coal into the terminal needs to be broken down into three parts. The smaller sections can then be brought in to dump their coal. "It would be a tremendous time saver," Thorne said. "We would increase rail capacity by as much as 50 percent."
The coal terminal has room to spare. A recent expansion put its total capacity at more than 30 million tons a year, but it only dealt with 18.5 million tons in fiscal year 2008. Right now about 30 to 40 percent of the terminal's coal is transported by rail. The majority goes by barge, Thorne said. The railroad company is expected to sign the contract soon, Thorne said, and the construction project will take about six months.
3. New Survey Shows Alabama’s Cities Poised for Economic Recovery
According to a new survey by Moody’s Economy.com, Alabama’s cities are poised for economic recovery. In a ranking of 378 American metropolitan areas conducted by job-growth prospects, Huntsville ranked first, Auburn-Opelika ranked 2nd, the Columbus-Phenix City area ranked seventh, and Mobile ranked 12th. The state’s two largest cities, Birmingham and Montgomery, ranked 83rd and 22nd. The rankings were reported by The Economist.
“These areas are quite diverse: Huntsville benefits from an aerospace and defence legacy, as well as from military base realignments that will centralize several commands in the area; Mobile has ThyssenKrupp’s plant as well as continued recovery from the effects of Hurricane Katrina; Auburn-Opelika has Auburn University, recipient of some $47 million in stimulus money; and Phenix City abuts a large Kia plant in Georgia and is near Fort Benning, also due to grow thanks to base realignment,” according to The Economist.
The Economist also said the cities share advantages common to Alabama: low utility costs, property taxes and corporate income-tax rates; a good workforce-training organization; and an aggressive economic-development organization.” Since 1993, when Mercedes built its first passenger-vehicle plant in the United States in Vance, Alabama, the state has focused on attracting foreign-owned companies, of which it now has over 300.”
For the full article: http://www.economist.com/world/unitedstates/displaystory.cfm?story_id=15663940&fsrc=rss
4. Cullman Yutaka To Expand, Add 45 Jobs to Workforce
An expansion at Alabama Cullman Yutaka Technologies (ACYT) is expected to create up to 45 new jobs this year. The $3 million investment will add a catalytic converter line to the Cullman plant, which will serve Honda vehicles manufactured across the state.
Yutaka already manufactures torque convertors, exhaust systems and other products for Honda Manufacturing of Alabama. The new catalytic machinery should be installed within the next few months.
5. UAB Hits Record High in Research Funding
The University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) had a record year for grants and other awards in 2009, bringing in an extra $50 million to hit the $485 million mark, thanks to a big boost from the federal stimulus.
So far, the university has been promised more than $81 million from the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act for research as well as infrastructure and other needs. According to federal and UAB data, that money -- some of which comes from the state's share of recovery funds for education -- has helped create or hold on to the equivalent of 312 full-time jobs.
The grants will pay for research in a range of medical-related subjects, from treatments for alcoholism to cancer. Even without the stimulus money, NIH funding for UAB bumped up from $205 million in grants and contracts in 2008 to $223 million in 2009. With the stimulus added in, UAB received $270.2 million from NIH last year.
6. MAI Manufacturing To Hire 30 Employees in Limestone County
Thirty Limestone County area workers will find new jobs making acoustical insulation and air-conditioning ventilations systems over the next three years at MAI Manufacturing in Athens.
Parent company Acoust-A-Fiber Research and Development of Richwood, Ohio, will locate its new plant at 7109-A Greenbrier Road, said MAI General Manager Jim O’Donnell. The company’s primary customer is Hart & Cooley in Huntsville.
7. CGI Group in Troy Wins National Award for Community Impact
CGI Group, Inc. in Troy has been named as a winner of Trade Industry & Development Magazine’s 5th annual Corporate Investment & Community Impact (CiCi) Awards.
According to the magazine’s editors, more than 1,000 submissions were considered, concluding with 30 winners for the two categories—15 for Corporate Investment and 15 for Community Impact. The only stipulation for each nomination was that the project announcement had to be finalized in the previous year. CGI was a winner in the Community Impact division.
CGI Group Inc., a leading provider of information technology and business process services, announced plans in late September 2009 to open a new Center of Excellence in Troy and bring 300 new jobs to Pike County.
“While in many cases significant investments are made, the Community Impact portion of our CiCi Awards celebrates economic development projects that have a profound positive affect on the quality of life for the citizens who inhabit the regions in which the developments are located, and the many who find employment because of these establishments, whether directly or indirectly,” according to the magazine.
For the full story, visit Trade & Industry Development’s website at: http://www.tradeandindustrydev.com/issues/id-453-article.aspx
8. ACIPCO, Vulcan Painters Venture Will Create 30 Jobs
American Cast Iron Pipe Co. and Vulcan Painters have formed a joint venture that will create 30 new jobs. ACIPCO is one of the nation's largest makers of ductile iron pipe. The two companies plan to build a paint and coating shop at ACIPCO's ductile-iron pipe plant in North Birmingham.
ACIPCO's underground water pipes are coated with an epoxy Bessemer-based Vulcan Painters will apply on-site.
9. ThyssenKrupp Melt Shop Could Start Production in 2013
MOBILE - Local managers of ThyssenKrupp AG’s stainless steel unit say the company could start production at its stainless melt shop in Calvert by 2013. The melt shop, which would take scrap and turn it into new steel, was delayed last year as Germany's largest steelmaker put off capital spending as the economy crashed and the company lost money.
The stainless unit is scheduled to begin processing steel this fall, but its raw product will be steel made in Europe, not in its own melt shop.
ThyssenKrupp wants to be ready to benefit from a recovery in the highly cyclical stainless market, said Ulrich Albrecht-Frueh, chief executive officer of ThyssenKrupp Stainless USA. He said the firm's directors are likely to vote on a 2013 startup in coming months. "We will not be successful without a melt shop," Albrecht-Frueh said. "That is not a long-term sustainable solution."
ThyssenKrupp has to start soon on the project, estimated to cost around $300 million, to be ready for a market rebound. "It would take two years until the melt shop is up and running after a decision is made," Albrecht-Frueh said.
The stainless melt shop is a major element in the $5 billion complex growing on the Mobile-Washington county line. Going ahead with it would help sustain employment at the site, which has about 5,000 construction workers now. It would also mean stainless would reach full permanent employment of 900 more quickly. The separately managed carbon steel unit expects 1,800 permanent employees on site.
10. Alabama Engineers Building Better Ways To Assemble Vehicles
LINCOLN -- At Honda's Alabama auto assembly plant in Lincoln, workers don't just build cars. They also build the equipment that helps build those cars. The Japanese automaker last year opened an on-site high-tech engineering facility, where specialized production tools are designed, developed and manufactured.
It's called the Alabama division of Honda Engineering North America, or for short, EGA-L. It falls under the umbrella of Japan-based Honda Engineering, also known as EG. It gives the automaker's 4,500 Alabama workers a direct link to the global resources of Honda when it comes to implementing more efficient, ergonomic ways to build Odyssey minivans, Pilot SUVs, Ridgeline pickups and Accord V-6 sedans.
Housed in a work space that includes a 10,000-square-foot high bay with a 40-ton crane, EGA-L has 22 employees who monitor the Lincoln assembly lines and come up with new ways to improve the production process, said division manager Cory Hauberg.
They're also available when someone from the line has a concern or suggestion about a specific step. "It's not just 22 associates. It's a doorway to the 3,400 EG associates in North America and Japan that can solve almost any kind of production issue," Hauberg said.