1. North American Lighting To Add 250 Jobs in Shoals Area
North American Lighting, Inc. met with Alabama officials in February to announce that the company will invest approximately $35 million and create 250 new jobs over the next three years with the expansion of its manufacturing facility in Muscle Shoals.
The expansion will begin operations in January 2012 and the company will produce 1.2 million headlamps per year by 2014.
“I am pleased that North American Lighting has found that Alabama has an excellent business climate for expansion,” said Governor Robert Bentley. “Our automotive supplier base continues to grow as companies find that Alabama is the best place to locate operations, to expand, and to live. Working closely with our existing industries and communities to create new jobs is a goal of this administration. We appreciate the jobs that North American Lighting has provided for the citizens of Alabama in The Shoals area.”
North American Lighting, Inc. (NAL), with its US corporate headquarters in Paris, Illinois, currently has three manufacturing facilities in Southern Illinois and a technical center in Farmington Hills, Michigan. With the recent resurgence of the auto market, the company is running at or near full capacity and this expansion is needed to respond to the company’s continuing growth.
NAL, a leading manufacturer of automotive exterior lighting, supplies lighting products to virtually every automobile manufacturer in the United States. As a wholly owned subsidiary of Koito Manufacturing Co., Ltd., headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, NAL develops and produces the world's most advanced automotive lighting products, which include Adaptive Front Lighting Systems (AFS), Bi-Xenon (HID) headlamps, as well as industry-leading LED capabilities.
2. 2010 Alabama Exports Show Strong Gain over 2009
Alabama’s 2010 export of goods rose 25.5 percent from 2009, a remarkable rebound during a nationwide recession. The state exported $15.5 billion in goods to countries throughout the world. Nationwide, U.S.exports showed a gain of 20 percent from 2009.
Sales of vehicles, chemicals, minerals and machinery led the export gain for Alabama, which ranks 27thin the nation for exports.
Alabama’s leading export category is vehicles. These products alone accounted for $4 billion of Alabama’s total exports in2010. Cars manufactured in Alabama were shipped to some 85 countries, an increase of 29% from 2009 to 2010. Other major exports included chemicals which saw a growth of 30 percent from 2009 and posted over $2 billion in exports; an increase of some 72 percent in minerals ($1.7 billion); machinery ($1.1 billion) at 29 percent increase; and paper ($940 million) with an increase of 16 percent.
Alabama exported goods globally to 191 foreign destinations. The state’s leading markets, by far, are the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) nations of Canada (20percent) and Mexico (7percent) with exports to these countries totaling $3.155 billion and $1.24billion respectively. Other top marketsareChinawith12 percent ($1.935 billion), Germany with 11 percent ($1.784 billion) and Brazil ($662 million) or 4 percent.
Seth Hammett, director of the Alabama Development Office, stated “Alabama’s rebound of exports from2009 is tremendous for the state’s economy. Exports help sustain and create jobs and it is estimated that over 294,000 jobs were required to produce and ship these goods.”
The Alabama Development Office began an aggressive export initiative nine years ago to help Alabama companies find new and expanding markets. The Export Alabama Initiative has the support of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce’s TradeRoots program. The Export Alabama Alliance is comprised of local, regional, state and federal organizations which help companies export their products.
“Growing our companies through exports has so much potential to create jobs,” Hammett commented. Alabama companies have the opportunity to be part of trade missions which will take us to Ireland, Brazil and the United Arab Emirates.”
3. Vector Expansion Will Bring 100 Jobs to Andalusia Area
Vector Aerospace will expand in Andalusia in the South Alabama Regional Airport Industrial Park. more than double its current working space and add additional offices. The expansion will mean at least 100 new jobs in coming months, said Mayor Earl Johnson.
Johnson said the construction is a joint project for Andalusia, Opp, Covington County and the South Alabama Airport Authority. “We are very excited about this,” Johnson said. “The money will be in place in two or three weeks and we’ll be kicking off with in a month.”
“This will mean at least 100 new jobs here,” Johnson said, adding that Vector’s parent corporation is very pleased with the quality of work done in its Covington County facility.
Vector moved in to its existing facility at South Alabama Regional Airport about two years ago and has already outgrown the space, he said.
Vector provides helicopter maintenance and repair to military and domestic companies from its Andalusia location. Formerly known locally as AcroHelipro, Vector was rebranded in 2008. The company operates state-of-the-art facilities in Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom and South Africa.
Johnson also announced the Airport Authority has leased both of its large twin hangars to Support Systems Andalusia Alabama, a subsidiary of SSAI, which plans to provide maintenance, repairs and overhauls for C130s at the South Alabama Regional Airport. The company expects to hire 50 employees.
4. Birmingham Steel Site May Be Development Magnet
After talks lasting more than a year, the city of Birmingham and the owner of the 600-acre former Ensley Works property are moving closer to a plan for redeveloping Birmingham's industrial past. "We're making significant progress," Birmingham Mayor William Bell said. "We're closer than we've ever been to seeing something come to fruition."
USS Real Estate Inc., the largest property owner in Jefferson County, is talking with the city while evaluating the property housing the dormant steel mill. The city has been eyeing the site as the home of a new distribution operation, along with other uses that have been proposed.
"We're working with our staff to conduct an environmental assessment and get a sense of the condition of the property," said Tom Howard, head of Southeast development for USS Real Estate. "The ball is in our court to get back to the city with those results so we can move forward."
Bell said that assessment will identify the level of cleanup needed and the possible uses for the property once it is ready for development.
The 400 acres that make up the former industrial portion of the Ensley Works will almost certainly become an industrial park for light manufacturing and distribution operations, providing the project moves forward. The other 200 acres could be used for residential or commercial purposes, Bell said.
The multiple rail lines coming onto the property make it ideal for distribution, Bell said."That has always been the key to this property," Bell said. "The great rail access makes this a very attractive site."
5. Baldwin County Ranks Sixth in Nation for Corporate Expansion
Site Selection magazine has ranked Baldwin County as the No. 6 micropolitan area for business expansions in 2010, counting 10 corporate expansions and relocations in the county last year.
The Thomasville/Lexington N.C. area was ranked first among micropolitan areas with 26 projects. Scottsboro was among five areas that tied for 20th with five projects. Micropolitan areas are typically rural counties with more than 50,000 people.
Robert Ingram, president of the Baldwin County Economic Development Alliance, said that a $7 million, 20-job expansion at Ascend Performance Materials in Foley and a $6 million, 25-job project at Saunders Yachtworks in Gulf Shores were among the county's most significant in 2010.
"Most of what we had were local companies expanding, which is good," Ingram said. "If local companies are doing well, that means they're happy with their workforce and they see improving sales."
6. Bessemer Officials Eye Growth after Distribution Center Win
Elected and business leaders in Bessemer say they want to use the new atmosphere of change and cooperation that has taken root in the county and state to expand the city's economy and create jobs. That was the message at the Bessemer Area Chamber of Commerce's 89th annual meeting.
Recent economic development victories like the $60 million Dollar General distribution center and its 650 jobs are providing momentum. Bessemer Mayor Kenneth Gulley said winning Dollar General required cooperation across all levels and is a sign of things to come. "All of us working more closely together is what it's going to take in the climate we're in today," he said in an interview.
Keynote speaker, Lt. Gov. Kay Ivey, said the change in leadership in Bessemer, Jefferson County and the state set the stage for doing things differently. "There is effective change going on and it's going in the right direction," she said.
7. Medical College, Employment Increase To Boost Dothan Economy
A strong retail base, a proposed medical college and more people working in Dothan all have the city poised to burst out of the gate amid signs of a slow end to the economic recession.
Mayor Mike Schmitz said the proposed Alabama College of Osteopathic Medicine has a strong ally in new Governor Robert Bentley. Schmitz said he and Dothan Area Chamber of Commerce Director Matt Parker met with the governor last month and that the governor said the college is his top economic development project in the state.
Parker said a preliminary study estimates the school will have a $120 million economic impact on the city. Although the school will only have about 65 full-time employees when fully operational, the addition of more than 600 students to Dothan, along with the potential for other related economic development, would be a boom to the city.
8. Prattville Resort Named Top North American Golf Destination
For recreation at Marriott hotels in North America, those looking for the best guest satisfaction should head to Alabama.
In addition to having the top Marriott spa globally in 2010 (Spa at the Grand Hotel), Alabama has the top golf location at the Montgomery Marriott Prattville Hotel & Conference Center at Capitol Hill.
Part of the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail’s Resort Collection, three other Alabama locations also join Capitol Hill in Marriott’s Top 10 for customer satisfaction: Muscle Shoals, Auburn/Opelika and Point Clear. Marriott has 25 golf locations in the United States and Canada.
“The Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail started just under 20 years ago and the addition of Marriott hotels has enhanced the experience of our guests,” said John Cannon, president of the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail. “Having the four Top 10 golf locations, including the No. 1 spot, plus Marriott’s best spa makes Alabama quite a destination for guests wanting great customer service and a real value.”
The RTJ Golf Trail has consistently been ranked one of Alabama’s top tourist attractions since opening in 1992. Marriott International uses a third-party company specializing in guest satisfaction to rate all areas of the hotels, including golf and spas. Both the RTJ Golf Trail and its Resort Collection are owned by the Retirement Systems of Alabama.
9. Huntsville Biotech Company Creating New DNA for Research
A Huntsville startup company is using the emerging science of synthetic biology to create "biological Legos" scientists can use to modify living organisms. Dr. Joseph Ng's company, iXpressGenes, is making genes "from scratch" now in a laboratory at HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology.
"Scratch" is the key word, Ng said last week. "Instead of cutting and pasting existing genes, we are creating new ones," Ng said.
The new genes can, in turn, control the biological functions of the organisms in which they are placed. Ng and others in the emerging field believe that will lead to such things as molecules that absorb and metabolize oil or light up in the presence of pathogens. An example of the latter would be wall paint that changes color in the presence of certain chemicals. "That's already being done," Ng said.
Other projected uses include creation of new biofuels and diagnosing and targeting diseases. What makes a biosensor better than current sensors? "You cannot beat the sensitivity of any biological system," Ng said, citing the example of a shark's nasal receptors that can sense blood across a kilometer of ocean.
Synthetic biology is the latest outgrowth of the history of genetics. First, the human genome was charted and links established between certain genes and certain diseases, then scientists began replicating, cutting and splicing genes for research and to modify agricultural products such as corn and wheat.
The latest breakthrough came last May when researchers at the J. Craig Venter Institute in Rockville, Md. announced they had inserted synthetic DNA into cells that survived and reproduced according to the inserted synthetic coding. Ng, who teaches biology at the University of Alabama in Huntsville, was as excited by the news as the world's other biologists. Now it might be possible, they realized, to improve upon nature, at least in terms of speed and efficiency.
Ng said he realized that Huntsville contained the rare building blocks for a synthetic biology center. It has HudsonAlpha with its sophisticated machinery for gene replication, and it has the UAH with a pool of biology students and an administration eager to partner in new ventures.
10. Westervelt Breaks Ground for Hale County Plant
MOUNDVILLE - For most of its 15 years, The Westervelt Co.’s sawmill operation here has produced 291 million board feet of lumber annually. That’s enough lumber to circle the equator 2.5 times. The sawmill also produces tons of bark chips for landscaping, ash that’s mixed with top soil and wood shavings used in cat litter.
This fall, it will add another product — electricity, enough to supply power to 3,000 homes a year.
Ground was broken in February for the new electrical generating plant at the Westervelt site in rural Hale County. The generating plant will be a partnership between privately owned Westervelt and Alabama Power Co., the state’s largest electrical utility.
A large turbine will be built at the Westervelt plant later this year and linked to Alabama Power’s electrical transmission system. The new generating station should be operating by this fall, said Chris Habig, Alabama Power’s manager of renewable resources.
The project, a joint effort of two of the company’s divisions — Westervelt Renewable Energy and Westervelt Lumber — will be the state’s first renewable energy project fueled by biomass — the byproducts of the sawmill operation.
“This is an across-the-board windfall for all involved,” Habig said. “The economy of West Alabama will benefit, as well as it will demonstrate the use of biomass in the area.”