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IAMC People and Projects
Seagate Technology in December announced it would locate a new media substrate plant in Senai at Johor, Malaysia, that could employ as many as 2,500 people. "The plant, complemented by Seagate's Limavady, Northern Ireland, substrate facility, will supply
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| Seagate's new facility will be located in Johor, Malaysia. It also operates a site in Penang. |
a large portion of the company's total requirement of aluminum substrates — the base platter on which magnetic materials used for digital storage are deposited for the manufacture of recording media used in the assembly of hard disc drives," read a company release. The one-story, (44,000-sq.-m.) facility is expected to launch operations in 2008. It will draw from technical expertise and resources associated with Seagate's printed circuit board assembly (PCBA) facility at Senai, established in July 1996, and media manufacturing facilities at Woodlands, Singapore. The firm also has operated a thin film magnetic recording head manufacturing facility at Bayan Lepas in Penang since 1988. "We will work closely with the Malaysian government to leverage the established infrastructure as well as emerging pool of technological and human resources, bolstering economic growth for the country," said Bill Watkins, Seagate CEO. YB Tan Kok Hong, chairman of Johor Exco for International Trade & Industry, Energy, Water and Telecommunication, said that in the first eight months of 2006, Johor had approved 137 projects that accounted for investment of RM 3.5 billion (US$1 billion).
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Among Seagate's existing Malaysian operations is this complex in Penang.
photo courtesy of Seagate |
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In an image from the railroad's 2006 calendar, a Norfolk Southern coal train in Cameron, N.Y., moves east toward a coal-fired power plant. The railroad has recently handled record amounts of coal, coke and iron ore.
photo by Charlie Juda, yardmaster, Gangs Mill, N.Y. |
In line with a trend across North America to ramp up the manufacture of all types of railcars, FreightCar America, Inc. announced in late February it has delivered the first railcar of an order for 1,200 BethGon® II hybrid coal cars to IAMC member organization Norfolk Southern Railway Co. Wick Moorman, Norfolk Southern's CEO, christened the new railcar as he accepted it from the employees of FreightCar America at their production facility in Roanoke, Va. Delivery of the new coal car marked the opening of FreightCar America's second railcar production line in Roanoke, housed in facilities leased from Norfolk Southern at the railroad's East End shops. "With both higher capacity and expected improvements in service life, these cars will be valuable additions to our coal car fleet," said Moorman. "We are pleased to have worked with FreightCar America in the design and testing phases, and we are excited to see the new cars being produced in Roanoke." Norfolk Southern announced in December its intent to spend $1.34 billion in 2007 for capital improvements to its railroad operations and subsidiaries, including $401 million on equipment, including the coal cars and 53 six-axle locomotives. (For further coverage of other recent railcar production expansions in North America, see the Transportation Equipment industry report in the March 2007 issue of Site Selection.)
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| On Feb. 8, the Port of Houston christened its new Bayport Container Terminal at the same occasion that saw CMA CGM christen its newest vessel, The Blue Whale. Port of Houston Authority Chairman Jim Edmonds said the $1.4-billion facility will nearly triple the port authority's container handling capacity. "When fully developed, the terminal will have a total of seven container berths with the capacity to handle 2.3 million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) on a complex which includes a 376-acre container yard and a 123-acre intermodal facility," Edmonds said. |
Two February announcements from First Industrial Realty Trust demonstrated its powerful affinity for port-related development. First, it named CB Richard Ellis veteran Gary Danklefsen as regional director of its new Seattle/Tacoma office. "The Seattle/Tacoma market, with more than 260 million square feet of industrial space, represents an excellent growth opportunity given the region's favorable long-term economic outlook and growing importance as a critical port solution for customers engaged in international trade," said Mike Brennan, First Industrial's president and CEO. "In 2006, the Port of Tacoma set a new container record handling nearly 2.1 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs). And it is investing in expansion ahead of increasing global trade with a long-term objective of reaching 10 million TEUs by 2025." Two days later, First Industrial announced it would develop the InterPort Business Park on 88 acres located in the Port of Houston, Texas. Development plans include two bulk distribution facilities totaling 1.3 million square feet through First Industrial's Development and Repositioning Joint Venture, FirstCal 1, with the California State Teachers' Retirement System (CalSTRS). The parcel is between the Barbour's Cut Container Terminal, which has been operating at capacity, and the new Bayport Container Terminal that opened in February. The Bayport Container Terminal will have capacity for seven cargo ships and includes a 378-acre container storage yard with a maximum capacity of 2.3 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs). This represents a 200 percent increase over the Port's current container capacity according to the Port of Houston Authority. "Container volume is escalating at the port — driven principally by rising international trade, a growing population in the nation's fourth largest city, and heightened demand for access to Houston's expanding rail, air, and highway infrastructure to distribute goods," said Jerry Pientka, First Industrial's executive vice president of development. "The Houston economy has benefited from above-average job growth, particularly in the distribution sector, and this market has produced 15 consecutive quarters of positive absorption. The rising volume of containerized cargo that will pass through the new terminal will further support these positive trends."
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| Kimball International's showroom in Jasper, Ind. |
Kimball Electronics Group, a division of Indiana-based IAMC member organization Kimball International, announced in mid-February the closure of its acquisition of Reptron Electronics. According to a press release, under the terms of the agreement, Reptron will become a wholly owned subsidiary of Kimball. Reptron's four manufacturing operations located in Tampa, Fla.; Hibbing, Minn.; Gaylord, Mich.; and Fremont, Calif. will be renamed with Kimball Electronics identities. The acquisitions will increase Kimball's capabilities and expertise in support of the company's long term strategy to grow business in the medical electronics and high end industrial sectors. "We look forward to bringing a deeper package of value, an expanded global supply chain, and a global footprint of production capabilities to our new customers," said Don Charron, president, Kimball Electronics. "By doing so, we believe that our customers will be able to shift their own resource allocations from manufacturing to focus on other business areas such as product marketing and development." Chris Whann, facilities operations manager for Kimball International, is an IAMC member.
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| Nalco headquarters in Naperville, Ill. |
In news pertinent to an education session at the upcoming Professional Forum on Amelia Island, IAMC member company GlaxoSmithKline on January 17 was awarded a $63-million contract by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) for the development of pre-pandemic and pandemic flu vaccines. In May 2006, GSK received an award of $274 million to develop cell-culture technology to speed the development of new cell culture-based seasonal and pandemic influenza vaccines, and to scale-up cell culture manufacturing capability at its site in Marietta, Pa., acquired from fellow IAMC member firm Wyeth. For more on flu vaccine development by IAMC member companies and related HHS grants, see this article from the September 2006 issue of Site Selection.
After initially announcing it would shut down its Eastman Chemical Iberia, S.A., site in San Roque, Spain, Tennessee-based IAMC member firm Eastman Chemical announced in February it had entered into an agreement to sell the operation instead, to La Seda de Barcelona, S.A., located in Barcelona, Spain. The sale, subject to Spanish regulatory approval, includes Eastman's PET polymers manufacturing assets in Spain and the related polyester resins business. The polymer plant was completed September 25, 1997, and the CHDM plant began operations in first quarter 2000. Overall the site employs 140 people. "We announced at our November 2006 Investor Day that we would be taking strategic actions to address our non-integrated PET polymers assets outside the United States," said Gregory O. Nelson, Eastman executive vice president and polymers business group head. "This agreement is a major step forward as we implement our strategy to improve the overall financial performance of our PET polymers business." The company's CHDM manufacturing assets at the San Roque site will still be shut down. CHDM is used in the manufacturing of various specialty plastics products, and a doubling of CHDM capacity at the company's Kingsport operations was announced in early 2006.
Naperville, Ill.-based IAMC organization Nalco Co., a leader in industrial water treatment, announced in December a research partnership with Argonne National Laboratory today to develop advanced technologies to reduce, reuse and recover power plant cooling water, primarily at coal-based operations. "Cooling water is essential to power plants, which consume more than 100 billion gallons daily in the United States," said a press release. The three-year research project is funded jointly by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), National Energy Technology Laboratory's (NETL) Innovations for Existing Plants (IEP) program and Nalco. Nalco's global portfolio of plants sports its own portfolio of environmental honors, including, in 2005, a Top Ten Environmentally Friendly Enterprises Award to its Suzhou Plant in China from the Suzhou National New Development Zone Government. That same year, the company's clearing plant in Illinois received its third consecutive Illinois Governor's Pollution Prevention Award for improvements made to recover more products from its manufacturing process. IAMC retired member and founding board member Jack Logue was formerly with Argonne National Laboratory. Elizabeth Heban, real estate analyst for Nalco, is also an IAMC member.
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| The Boeing Company announced in December that its Everett, Wash., facility — home of the 747, 767, 777 and 787 — has received International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 14001 certification. ISO 14001 confirms Boeing's Everett facility has a certified system in place to monitor, manage and continuously improve its environmental management system. |
In further examples of IAMC companies setting the standard for environmental, safety and health accomplishment, Weyerhaeuser Co. in November was recognized by the Commonwealth of Kentucky (an IAMC member organization) for an extraordinary employee safety and health program at its corrugated packaging plant in Bowling Green. The plant has been inducted as a STAR site of the Voluntary Protection Partnership (VPP) program administered by the Kentucky Office of Occupational Safety and Health (OSH), an agency of the Environmental and Public Protection Cabinet (EPPC). Bowling Green Packaging has operated continuously since 1980. It employs about 250 men and women producing a wide range of corrugated shipping boxes and specialty packaging. In Kentucky, Weyerhaeuser employs about 1,450 men and women, with operations in Henderson, Hawesville, Owensboro, Bowling Green, Louisville, Richwood, and Chavies. Also in Kentucky, E.ON U.S. in November announced that its Kentucky subsidiaries LG&E and KU had received a $125-million federal tax credit for environmental controls at the second generation station the company is installing at its Trimble County site. "This is wonderful news for our customers and the Commonwealth," said Victor A. Staffieri, Chairman, CEO and president of E.ON U.S. "The impact of the credit will effectively lower the plant's costs by $125 million. We intend to pass through to our customers the benefit of these credits."
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| Kentucky Gov. Ernie Fletcher (left) recognizes Weyerhaeuser for being one of thirteen corporations in Kentucky history to receive the VPP STAR, the highest level of certification for employee safety and health. The E.ON U.S. Trimble Co. complex (right) just received a $125-million federal tax credit for environmental controls at its second generating station, currently under construction. |
NAI Global in February announced its member firms "are committing as an organization to create opportunities for an initial 60 service members throughout the United States" as the network seeks to hire returning veterans from the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan. "Over the years, we have found that veterans, in particular, make terrific commercial real estate professionals, bringing strong leadership, problem-solving skills, and a disciplined approach to work," said NAI Global Chairman Gerald Finn, himself a veteran. "We would hope that others within the commercial real estate industry join our initial effort, in order to expand the employment opportunities for all veterans."
Carter & Burgess, with offices across the U.S., is currently looking to fill some 395 job openings, many of them in engineering, in areas ranging from land development to water infrastructure to transportation management. Eighty of those are in the company's home community of Dallas-Ft. Worth, and the rest, providing an index of sorts, are led by Phoenix (34 openings), Las Vegas (30), Denver (29), Washington, D.C. (20), San Antonio (18), Los Angeles (17) and Houston and Orlando (16 each). IAMC member Deane Foote, senior project manager, works out of the Phoenix office.
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IAMC Notes