1. Airbus To Add 90 Engineers at Mobile Center
MOBILE – Airbus Americas, the jetliner unit of the European Aeronautic Defense and Space Co., will add 90 engineers to its office at the Brookley Field Industrial Complex. Like the current 150 engineers, the new additions will work on projects other than the aerial refueling tanker that EADS hopes to assemble in Mobile for the U.S. Air Force. "Our commitment to Mobile is strong," said David Trent, site director for Airbus Americas at the Brookley engineering center. "We continue to grow here and will continue to grow here.
Airbus opened its 48,000-square-foot building at Brookley in 2007, reaching its original target of 150 engineers last year. The employees there work on cabin interiors, cargo systems and escape systems on a wide range of Airbus jets. The Mobile expansion is part of a larger growth in Airbus engineering capabilities in North America
2. Study: Aerospace Industry Lifts Alabama Economy
New and expanding aerospace companies in Alabama contributed to a 13 percent growth in employment in the sector between 2002 and 2008, along with a 37 percent jump in the industry payroll impact, according to a study issued today.
The study from the Alabama Aerospace Industry Association shows that the industry's job growth was twice the rate of the state's total non-farm employment, which grew by 6 percent over the same period.
In 2008, aerospace and defense companies in Alabama numbered 280. Along with their suppliers and federal government aerospace and defense programs, they contributed an $8 billion-plus payroll to the state economy.
The majority of the state's aerospace jobs are in engineering; research and development; maintenance, repair and overhaul; information technology; and missile and space vehicle manufacturing.
3. ThyssenKrupp Hires Thousandth Worker at Mobile Facility
ThyssenKrupp's carbon steelmaking operation in Alabama said this month it has hit a hiring milestone -- its 1,000th employee is now on board. The carbon steel plant is expected to begin initial operations this month and will eventually have 1,700 workers.
"In the last three years we've watched our team grow from 1 person to just over 1,000 talented team members," Andy Ritter, vice president of human resources for ThyssenKrupp Steel USA, said in a statement. "This is important to us and also important to Alabama, and particularly Mobile, because over 1,000 additional well paying operational jobs have been added to the area with many more to follow in the coming months
4. Ground Broken for New Automotive Training Center
Shovels ceremoniously were thrust into mounds of dirt this month as Gadsden State Community College broke ground on its new Center for Automotive Excellence.
Gadsden State administrators and elected officials from throughout Alabama gathered for the short ceremony at the site of the new facility, which should be completed early next year, on the college’s East Broad campus.
Gadsden Mayor Sherman Guyton said the city of Gadsden and the Workforce Development Partnership helped secure approximately $1.5 million in grant funding to build the new facility.
“To create jobs, you must have a trained workforce,” Guyton said, “and to have a trained workforce, you must have good facilities and educators, as well as lots of land for development.”
Construction of the 7,100 square-foot auto facility, as well as a renovation of the Bevill Center, which currently houses the mechanical technology design department, will cost an estimated $1.2 million.
Timothy Green, dean of technical programs at Gadsden State, said the automotive center will have eight bays with the capacity for 30 students in auto service technology. He said the facility will also have new, top-of-the-line equipment, including lifts and laser alignment machine.
The Bevill Center will be home to the auto mechanic technology, electrical engineering technology and civil and mechanical engineering departments.
Green said the departments are not new, but will be upgraded with new equipment and lab space for programmable logic controllers, Fanuc robots and a new instrumentation process control lab.
The idea, according to Green, is that prospective businesses will be able to visit the center and ATN-Gadsden and see the “one-stop shop.” “The project could be completed as early as March 2011.
5. New Auburn Research Center Opens in Huntsville
HUNTSVILLE -- Eager to work with federal agencies and industry, Auburn University opened its new research center in Huntsville in late June.
But what's described by Brian Keeter, AU director of public affairs, as a "soft opening" will actually be the start date for the only employee at the center located in Cummings Research Park. It’s expected to grow quickly, though, and a more formal grand opening is scheduled for September.
Dr. Rodney Robertson, director of the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command's technical center since 2005, will head the Auburn research center and be its first employee. Robertson has degrees from Auburn and the University of Alabama in Huntsville. Among Auburn's objectives for the center is to partner with federal agencies to advance national and homeland security as well as space exploration. It's perhaps a natural role, given that six Auburn graduates have become astronauts - including Huntsville's Jan Davis.
But research is central to the mission for the Huntsville presence. According to AU, more than $5.8 billion in research funds flow into Redstone Arsenal annually.
6. Company To Expand Gadsden Plant, Add Jobs
Prince Metal Stampings USA Inc. is planning an expansion to one of its two plants in Gadsden Airport Industrial Park, Mayor Sherman Guyton announced.
Guyton said the expansion will enable the company, which is owned by the NARMCO Group in Windsor, Ontario, to increase its production of stamped metal parts for the automotive industry.
“The company proposes to invest $25 million to add on to one of its two plants there and to install machinery and equipment,” he said.” They expect to add 30 new jobs over the next three years with an average wage of $30,000 per year.”
7. Alabama Once Again Wins Silver Shovel Award for Projects
Alabama has been named a recipient of Area Development magazine’s 2010 Silver Shovel Award in recognition of projects undertaken in 2009 creating a significant number of high value-added new jobs as well as investment.
Alabama and Texas are the only two states who have won shovel awards for a record five years since the magazine started the recognition in 2006. In 2006, Alabama won the Golden Shovel Award when the magazine ranked Alabama number one in the nation based on the 10 biggest job-created and investment projects initiated the previous year.
Area Development Annual Shovel Awards recognize state economic development agencies that drive significant job creation through innovative policies, infrastructure improvements, processes and promotions that attract new employers as well as investments in expanded facilities.
Alabama Development Office Director Neal Wade said he is proud of the growth that has brought economic opportunities to Alabama and the fact that the state has been consistently recognized for its economic development efforts. “These awards reflect not only the efforts of ADO, but also our economic development partners and elected leaders throughout Alabama. Without this team approach, these projects would not have been announced,” Wade said.
Area Development Magazine’s Annual Shovel Awards recognize state economic development agencies that drive significant job creation through innovative policies, infrastructure improvements, processes and promotions that attract new employers as well as investments in expanded facilities.
Silver Shovels are awarded to 10 states in three population categories.
For the Silver Shovel Awards, states are compared only to other states in their tier based on population. Texas, Michigan, and Florida are winners in the over 10 million population group. Georgia, Tennessee, and Indiana are awarded Silver Shovels in the 5 to 10 million population category; and Louisiana, South Carolina, Kansas, and Alabama are honored in the under 5 million population group.
8. Panama Canal Project Could Help Booming Port of Mobile
A global real estate firm recently flagged the Port of Mobile as an emerging seaport poised for growth.
The port, which draws its largest concentration of business from Birmingham-area companies, is one of a handful of ports nationally that’s beefing up infrastructure to vie for future market share from the widening of the Panama Canal to open in 2014, according to Jones Lange Lasalle Port and GloBAL Infrastructure Outlook.
And with exponential growth in its container operations expected, Jones Lang LaSalle is “bullish” on Alabama’s main port and the benefits it will reap from the recent pick up in containerized trade.
“It is an example of what the future is going to hold with the widening of the Panama Canal and new routes,” said John Carver, executive vice president of port, airport and global infrastructure for Jones Lang LaSalle.“There’s a lot of energy poured toward Mobile, through the authority and shipping lines and importers.”
The port’s containerized cargo grew from nearly 24,000 TEU (20-foot equivalent unit, a measure for capacity in containerized transportation) in 2003 to more than 129,000 TEUs in 2008, said the report.
And it is expected, once its container facility is entirely completed, to handle an annual volume of 800,000 TEUs.
Port analysts are watching Mobile closely, too.“(Mobile is) in a good position, with good labor and good rates,” said John Martin, a port analyst with Martin Associates in Pennsylvania. “It’s a good port that’s positioned for growth.”
Martin said Mobile’s container terminal that opened in 2008 will be key in attracting additional cargo through the widened Panama Canal and Suez Canal.
And that’s important because of the growth of auto manufacturing in Alabama and the rail connections the port has into the heart of that production.
It could potentially carry into Atlanta, Nashville and Memphis, he said.
Earlier this year, the port authority said it moved up in the rankings – to the ninth largest port in the nation in terms of tonnage from 10th. And the authority is still in talks with Norfolk Southern Corp. to connect with a proposed $112 million intermodal facility the railroad plans to build in McCalla, near Birmingham.
9. Business Openings Buoy Shoals Area Economy
Shoals Chamber of Commerce President Steve Holt said last month that he has attended so many grand openings in recent weeks he has lost count.
“We've had a bunch of ribbon-cuttings the past two months,” Holt said. “We've had at least one a week and usually several each week since the first of May,” Holt said. “It's been a long time since we've had this many new businesses opening up or existing businesses expanding.”
Florence Mayor Bobby Irons said 15 businesses have opened this spring or are in the process of opening.
“I'm excited about all the activity,” Irons said. “I'm really optimistic about what is going on. In addition to businesses that have opened or are under construction, many more have indicated they are interested in coming to our area. Somebody calls me just about every day asking about opening a business in our city.”
10. Company To Build Distribution Center in Prattville
PRATTVILLE — An Illinois-based medical supply company is going to build a 350,000-square-foot distribution center in Prattville, creating 35 to 40 jobs.
Medline Industries Inc., headquartered in Mundelein, Ill., will build the $12.5 million facility in the city’s South Industrial Park. Founded in 1966, Medline has grown to become the nation’s largest privately held manufacturer and distributor of health-care supplies and services, according to the company’s website.
Medline provides products and services for the entire medical field, including hospitals, extended-care facilities, surgery centers, commercial laundries, home-care dealers, home-care agencies, physician offices and other alternate-care sites. The company has 6,800 employees, including a sales force of 800.
Construction is set to begin in the next few months.