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IAMC Member firm U.S. Steel on June 20 opened a new 11,000-sq.-ft. (sq.-m.) maintenance training center at its Fairfield Works location in Fairfield, Ala., part of the Birmingham metro represented in IAMC by Metropolitan Development Board President Theodore J. vonCannon.

Alabama Labor Commissioner Jim Bennett, General Manager Fairfield Works Tubular Division Rick Nehilla, General Manager Fairfield Works Sheet Merle Stein and Maintenance Training Manager Fairfield Works Andrew Bissot (l. to r.) cut the ribbon for U.S. Steel's new training center in Birmingham.


"Fairfield Works historically hired maintenance employees directly from the community and supplemented them with graduates from an internal Maintenance Learner Program," said Fairfield Works General Manager Merle Stein. "Recent changes in the labor market have significantly reduced the availability of qualified maintenance employees in the Birmingham area. These include changing demographics, increased use of technology, the time needed to adequately train workers in key competencies, and the significant increase in automobile assembly plants and their suppliers in Alabama. Our new facility will permit Fairfield Works to develop the skilled workforce critical to our plant's long-term viability."

Stein just assumed the leadership post at Fairfield Works in March, following the retirement of former GM Robert Cary after 41 years of service. However, Stein isn’t far behind that total, having begun with U.S. Steel in 1970 and transferred to Fairfield 22 years ago. According to a company release, 63 courses and associated hands-on exercises were developed for the Maintenance Technician program. "To
Fairfield Works produces approximately 2.4 million tons of raw steel and 640,000 tons of seamless tubular products annually, and is one of five core domestic plants for U.S. Steel.
successfully complete the program, students will be required to demonstrate proficiency in 30 mechanical modules or 33 electrical modules," said the company. "Classes, which began on June 5, are being taught by current Fairfield Works employees who have undergone an extensive three-tiered Train the Trainer program, consisting of observing training activities at U. S. Steel's Gary Works in Indiana, a three-day training seminar conducted at Fairfield Works, and several months of close observation and coaching by a training consultant."

"There is a serious shortage of skilled mechanical and electrical maintenance personnel in the Birmingham area," said Alabama Labor Commissioner Jim Bennett, also at the ceremony, "and workers with these skills are crucial to the success of our region's manufacturing industries."

Stephen Bilan, regional manager, USS Real Estate, and Garrett Hurley, president, USS Real Estate, are IAMC members. Angela Weir, vice president of the Economic Development Partnership of Alabama, and Ted Levi, senior project manager for Southern Co.’s Alabama Power Co., are also IAMC members based in Birmingham.


Plant manager Dave Barnes stands in front of Air Products Canada's 71 million standard-cubic-feet-per-day hydrogen production facility in Strathcona County near Edmonton, Alberta, which serves Petro-Canada and Imperial Oil refineries, as well as other customers in the local area.

Another Pennsylvania-based IAMC firm, Air Products and Chemicals, continues to grow the presence of its Canadian subsidiary, celebrating in mid-June the commercialization of the first of three Canadian hydrogen production plants. The first is in the heart of Alberta oil sands territory, in Strathcona County, adjacent to the Petro-Canada Edmonton Refinery, and will also supply other customers in the area by pipeline, including Imperial Oil.

"The Alberta Industrial Heartland is one of three key Canadian refining centers and an area that will continue to grow in hydrogen demand as more oil sands crude is processed," said Steve Losby, general manager for Air Products' Energy and Process Industries Division-Canada.

The company has already started engineering for a second hydrogen plant in the area.

Hydrogen helps refiners turn the synthetic crude oil derived from the oil sands into products like diesel fuel and gasoline. The US$89-million Alberta plant is the 23rd to be constructed through Air Products’ partnership with French engineering firm Technip, and will employ 22 people. The next Canadian hydrogen plant for the company will be coming online soon in Sarnia, Ontario. But Alberta is where it’s at.

"If you look at opportunities for investment and expansion, Alberta and the oilsands are absolutely among the top priorities for our company," Mark Bye, vice-president of Air Products and Chemicals Inc., told the Edmonton Journal. "We expect very significant investment to go into the ground here."

Eugene Ervin, director, real estate and property management for Air Products, and Susan Reber, real estate manager, are IAMC members.


Before the vaccine plant announcement, GSK’s biggest investment in Singapore was its presence in Biopolis, where fellow IAMC member Novartis opened its Novartis Institute for Tropical Diseases (above) in July 2004.

GlaxoSmithKline is investing $188 million in a new vaccine plant in Singapore, its first vaccine plant in Asia. The investment, involving 915,000 sq. ft. (85,000 sq. m.) in the Tuas Biomedical Park, is part of a plan to invest $2.5 billion over the next five years in vaccine development and product launches. The first phase of the Singapore investment will be devoted to pediatric vaccines. The company’s vaccine production base is currently located primarily in and around Rixensart, Belgium, where most of GSK Biologicals’ 1,500 employees work. Employing more than 200, the new Singapore facility complements GSK’s existing presence in the city-state’s successful Biopolis complex, and brings the company’s total investment in Singapore to more than $1 billion. GSK opened its Centre for Research in Cognitive and Neurodegenerative Disorders in Biopolis in 2005, and announced in November 2005 that it would add to its manufacturing presence in Jurong with a new $72-million R&D and pilot plant complex devoted to the development and manufacture of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients.

"GSK has enjoyed a presence in Singapore since 1959, even before Singapore became an independent nation," said Patrick Florent, Senior Vice President, Global Industrial Operations, GSK Biologicals. "We view ourselves as residents, not tourists, and this view underscores our long-term commitment to Singapore. We chose to develop our new vaccine plant — also our largest vaccine investment in Asia — in Singapore due to its excellent infrastructure, highly-qualified work force, superb geographical location and strong government commitment to the biomedical sciences sector. The new plant emphasises our long-term commitment to Singapore and to the Asia-Pacific region, and Singapore remains an attractive location for any future investment for GSK."

Jack Smith, manager, real estate, Americas and Asia, is an IAMC member.


Holcim Romania is investing more than $76 million in expanding and upgrading its cement plant in Campulung Muscel, Romania. It’s part of $131.5 million invested in growth at the site since an expansion program was launched there in 2005. That program will continue until 2008. Kathy Shanteau, real estate manager for Holcim (US) Inc., is an IAMC member.


Weyerhaeuser has sold its composite panels business to Ontario-based Flakeboard, including the sale of mils in Albany, Ore.; Bennettsville, S.C.; Eugene, Ore.; Malvern, Ark.; and Simsboro, La. Altogether, the mills produce 1.1 billion sq. ft. of medium density fiberboard (MDF) or particleboard annually.

Rick Little


Separately, the company has announced it intends to reduce its greenhouse gas emissions by 40 percent by 2020, primarily by using biomass as fuel in boilers that generate steam and electricity in the company’s mills. The company’s pulp and paper mills already generate 72 percent of their energy from biomass.

"Not only is the reduction of 40 percent one of the largest in the private sector, it is global in scope," said Jonathan Lash, president of the World Resources Institute, as part of the June 21 announcement. "As important, Weyerhaeuser is doing this in a way that makes a permanent difference — making changes in how their facilities operate."

The key to such a dramatic reduction is in the math surrounding the biomass’s source. As the company’s release explained it: "Biomass fuel consists of bark, lignin (the substance that binds wood fibers) and other organics in spent pulping chemicals. When biomass comes from sustainably managed forests, burning it has a neutral effect on greenhouse gas emissions. The regenerating forest absorbs the carbon dioxide released by burning the fuel. By contrast, the carbon dioxide released from burning fossil fuel is not offset."

The pledge was part of the company’s 2005 sustainability report, which reports among other things that the company recovered 6.7 million tons of used paper in 2005, or 13 percent of the total recycled in the United States.

IAMC Board member Rick Little is director of real estate for Weyerhaeuser.

 
 
 
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