Alabama EDG 2015 by Stephen Potts

alabama

2015 economic development guide A comprehensive resource for site selection

Mercedes Rolls Out $ 2 Billion Expansion

From the publisher of

inside

Development Incentives Foreign Direct Investment Workforce Solutions Regional Economies Development Agencies Technology Centers

View this Publication Online at www.madeinalabama.com

magazine

alabama

2015 economic development guide A comprehensive resource for site selection

6 6 8

Greetings from Gov. Robert Bentley Statewide Business Benchmarks

Region by Region

14 Tennessee Valley 16 Central Highlands 18 Capital Heartland 24 Southeastern Wiregrass 26 Gulf Coast

Emerging Ind ustries

28 Biotechnology 30 Aerospace 34 Information Technology 37 Automotive

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Table of Contents

Features

12 Headquarter Moves to Alabama 20 Revitalized City Centers 39 Automotive Sweet Spot 42 Toyota Mountain 45 Cluster of Auto Suppliers 52 Directory of Auto Manufacturers 56 The Modern Apprentice 62 University Worker Co-operatives 68 Sweet Home of Incentives 71 Tax Incentives Brief International Trade

72 Import-Export Leaders and Foreign Direct Investment 74 Port of Huntsville 76 Foreign Trade Zones 77 Alabama State Port Authority

16 Transportation

82 Alabama Commercial Airports 82 Major Alabama Highways 84 Alabama Major Rail Service and Delivery Times 85 Alabama’s Waterway System

On the cover: Mercedes-Benz U.S. International CEO Jason Hoff (left), Senior Manager Shedrick Kynard and employees at the Mercedes plant in Vance on June 18, 2014 celebrated the first Mercedes C-Class sedan to roll off the assembly line. Mercedes invested more than $2 billion to prepare the plant for the addition of the C-Class, spent 18 months retrofitting the facility, and hired 1,000 new employees to handle the increased production. Photo by Cary Norton

Economic Development Agencies

86 Alabama Department of Commerce 88 Alabama Department of Economic

and Community Affairs

89 AIDT

90 Alabama Technology Network 91 Economic Development Association of Alabama 92 Economic Development Partnership of Alabama 94 Birmingham Business Alliance

Opposite page, left: Gov. Robert Bentley. Opposite page, center: United Launch Alliance, in Decatur — a joint venture of Boeing and Lockheed Martin — builds the Delta and Atlas rockets that power most of the U.S.’s satellites into space. Opposite page, right: Sugar-white beaches attract thousands of visitors each year to Baldwin County. Photo courtesy of Gulf Shores & Orange Beach Tourism Top: Design image of the space launch system engineered by Stratolaunch, a company headquartered in Huntsville and founded by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen and Burt Rutan. Above, left: C-Class sedan assembly line at the Mercedes plant in Vance. Photo by Cary Norton Above, right: Alabama ranks 10th among U.S. states in cotton production.

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G ov e r n o r’ s L e t t e r

Alabama Economic Development Guide

Publisher T.J. Potts Associate Publisher Walker Sorrell

Welcome to Alabama! World-class companies are proudly proclaiming their products and services are “Made in Alabama.” Whether you are taking your first look at our state, or Alabama is already your home, you will be amazed at all the advantages Alabama has to offer. Area Development consistently ranks Alabama as one of the top five states for doing business. There are several factors that help achieve this ranking. One is our overall business environment. Another is good infrastructure. We also have a fair cost of doing business. But the best asset Alabama has to offer is its people. The people of Alabama have a strong work ethic and are dedicated, determined, and driven to succeed. You won’t find better workers anywhere. In addition to world-class workers, we have a world-class training program called AIDT that other states want to imitate. Alabama Industrial Development Training helps companies find the right employees — and then prepares each person to excel in his or her job. We are also taking new measures to ensure that more students are receiving the workforce training they need. Recently, I established the Alabama Workforce Council which will advise and support the state Board of Education, two-year colleges and four-year colleges to tailor programs that teach the skills that are sought by employers for today’s workplace. Alabama is not only a great place to work. It is also a great place to live. From the beaches along the Gulf Coast, to the mountains of North Alabama, to our gorgeous lakes and rivers, there are many reasons why your company will be glad to call us “Sweet Home Alabama.” If you’ve not yet had a first-hand look at Alabama, I hope you will visit us soon and experience all our wonderful state has to offer. Sincerely,

Governor Robert Bentley

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Editor Chris McFadyen Senior Writer Nedra Bloom Contributing Writers Jessica Armstrong Cary Estes Kathy Hagood Nancy Mann Jackson Thomas M. Little Wendy Reeves Art Director Marie Katz Ad producer Rebecca Reeves Traffic & Administration Anne Lyle Harris Circulation Anita Miller Accounting Carolyn H. Jones Account Executives Lee Mills, ext. 102 Advertising Sales Office 2204 Lakeshore Drive, Suite 120 Birmingham, AL 35209 info@pmtpublishing.com Alabama Economic Development Guide is published annually by PMT Publishing Co., Inc. Copyright 2014 by PMT Publishing Co., Inc. All rights reserved. Reproduction in whole or in part without written permission is prohibited. Address all correspondence to Alabama Economic Development Guide, 3729 Cottage Hill Road, Suite H, Mobile, AL 36609 or 2204 Lakeshore Drive, Suite 120 Suite 110, Birmingham, AL 35209, (251) 473-6269 in Mobile or (205) 802-6393 in Birmingham. FAX in Birmingham is (205) 802-6393. Letters to the editor are welcome. Please query the editor before sending unsolicited articles or photographs.

Economic Overview

Statewide Benchmarks The momentum of the Alabama economy sweeps across the state — with Airbus revving up in the south, Boeing flying high in the north, new company headquarters across the state, new suppliers for the state’s burgeoning automotive and aerospace industries and a variety of landmark biotech, information tech and innovation winners. Airbus has been growing its facilities and growing its workforce as it prepares to begin assembling planes in 2015 with the first of the U.S.-assembled passenger jets scheduled for delivery in 2016. The customer, JetBlue, has long flown the Airbus A320 series jets and long topped the list of customers for the planes, the first that the European aircraft giant will assemble in the U.S.

As the buildings of Airbus’ $600 million project have been taking shape on the ground, the first batches of new employees have been selected, many heading for initial training in Europe before helping to lead teams in Alabama. Boeing, meanwhile, won an out-ofthis-world victory this year. In August, NASA approved advancing the new Boeing-designed Space Launch System from formulation to development. For the first test flight, slated to happen in 2017, the rocket will have a 77-ton lift capacity; later versions will have a lift capacity of 130 metric tons and are viewed as the rocket to carry humans to Mars and beyond. Price tag for the project is pegged at $7 billion. Boeing, with a major space systems operation in Huntsville, holds a

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$2.8 billion contract to develop the core stage of the SLS. Alabama auto makers continued to be an economic gold standard for Alabama. Mercedes-Benz U.S. International in Tuscaloosa County — the automaker that initiated the state’s wide-ranging industry more than 20 years ago — began production in 2014 of a new C-Class sedan, the first non-SUV to roll out of the plant. Hyundai continued to set production and sales records, with its best six months ever coming in the first half of the year, and company leaders beginning to whisper about expansion. At Lincoln in Talladega County, Honda has also been setting sales records with its Acura MDX — new to the Alabama line up in 2014, a trendsetter. Toyota Motor Manufacturing Alabama,

2 in Huntsville, also had a great year, celebrating its 3 millionth engine at the start of 2015, along with recognition of the firm’s fourth expansion in 11 years. Meanwhile, the strong automotive sector continued to attract new suppliers to the state. Asahi Kasei Plastics North America announced plans for a $30 million, 100-employee plant in Limestone County to process plastic resin for automotive components. South Korean company Taesung announced plans to build a $6.6 million, 70-employee plant in Macon County to make plastic injection-molded auto parts. Like Alabama’s automotive sector, the state’s aerospace industry attracts suppliers and gives new opportunities to existing businesses. Wetumpka’s Information Transport Solutions Inc. was selected to provide networking services for the facilities now under construction in Mobile. New to Alabama is Carpenter Technology, which opened a $500 million plant near Athens in 2014 to produce premium alloy steels. Nearly half of the company’s products go to the aerospace and defense industries. In an unusual coup, Alabama also attracted a wide range of company headquarters in the past year or so. (See related story, page 12) Biotech blossomed with Alabama-grown BioCryst among those in the race to create an effective Ebola treatment. Information technology moved to the heavens as Huntsville’s Adtran created products to help small businesses take the same advantage of cloud computing as their bigger counterparts. And a relative newcomer to the state’s economy, craft beer, made a place for itself. With new state laws allowing brewers to distribute more easily, the state now boats 24 licensed breweries with year-over-year production up nearly 50 percent.

1. Virginia Barnes leads Boeing’s drive toward a new space launch system, key to putting mankind back in deep space. Photo by Eric Shindelbower 2. Airbus’ A320neo in 2016 will begin flying out of the company’s first U.S. assembly plant, in Mobile. 3. Fairhope Brewery, one of the scores of Alabama craft brewers. Photo by Ashley Rowe

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Economic Overview

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Viper Motorcycle Co. founder John Silseth and one of his company’s specialty bikes in the new headquarters that moved from Minnesota to Auburn in 2011.

Calling Alabama

Home Alabama has racked up an impressive list of

companies relocating their headquarters here. By Jessica Armstrong // photo by robert fouts Just like us regular folks who relocate for a variety of reasons — jobs, weather, retirement or simply a fresh start — companies, too, pull up stakes when the grass looks greener on the other side of the corporate fence. Cost of living, operating expense, quality of life, available workforce, tax environment, air transportation and mergers and acquisi-

tions are among the many factors steering companies to greener pastures. And Alabama has been that greener pasture for a number of companies in recent years — all of them sharing the belief that the state’s a great place for their home base. Curse Inc., one of the world’s largest gaming-information companies, in 2013 moved its corporate headquarters from San

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Francisco to downtown Huntsville. The company still maintains an office in San Francisco (and in New York and Europe), yet decided to relocate its center of operations to the Rocket City directly across from the Huntsville Museum of Art. “For a media and technology company, Huntsville has a lot to offer, and we’ve been impressed with the incredible talent pool, the support of local organizations and the overall economic climate,” says Chief Technology Officer Michael Comperda. “On top of all that, the cost of doing business here and the cost of living extended to our staff are among the best in the country.” Comperda says in San Francisco the competition for talent created by Google, Facebook, Twitter and many startups is a considerable challenge, as is the rapidly rising cost of living. Curse attracts more than 30 million online visitors monthly and consists of community sites, tools, databases, videos, guides, live streaming and eSports teams. About 50 people work at the Huntsville headquarters. The company worked closely with the Huntsville Chamber of Commerce and the City of Huntsville to create a competitive incentives package to ease the financial impact of the corporate relocation. “We’re growing, fast,” says Comperda. “The morale of our staff has never been higher, and we’re now in a great position to strategically hire the best people we can find. The move has been a great success.” Wise Metals Group moved its corporate headquarters in 2011 from Baltimore to Muscle Shoals, a decision made primarily because the company’s holdings have increasingly become more centered in northwest Alabama and other Southern states, says Sandra Scarborough, senior vice president of corporate human resources and community relations. Top-tier management now has better access to the company’s operating plants. “It made sense to move our corporate headquarters here, to be near the majority of multiple divisions of our company — Wise Alloys, Alabama Electric Motor Services (AEMS), Total Maintenance Center (TMC). Alabama has been good to Wise, and the Shoals area offers everything our company and our people need for the loca-

tion of its corporate headquarters.” Wise employs about 1,400 people and nearly 1,300 of them work in Muscle Shoals, Sheffield and Mobile. While there were no incentives directly associated with the move, Scarborough says state and local incentives were provided for expanding operations in Colbert County. Viper Motorcycle Co. was launched in 2002 with the belief that the motorcycle industry lacked high-performance bikes with innovative style, great handling and the dependability of an OEM (original equipment manufacturer). Founder John Silseth says he moved Viper’s headquarters from Minnesota to Auburn in 2011 because “the corridor of 500 miles from Auburn represents about 50 percent of our market.” Weather also factored in the move. There are more months to ride and test Viper’s super-cruiser motorcycles in southeast Alabama than in snowbound Minnesota. The opportunity to establish a relationship with Auburn University’s College of Engineering also was reason to head south. The city of Auburn provided a small moving allowance grant, a $200,000 loan (repaid) for equipment and a generous build-out allowance for the 63,000-squarefoot Auburn manufacturing facility, which Silseth expects to be fully operational later this year. The state provided training grants. BASS (Bass Anglers Sportsman Society), sponsor of the Bassmaster Classic, moved its corporate headquarters in 2011 from Orlando to Birmingham. Once owned by ESPN/Disney, the fishing and media company is now co-owned by Alabama native and former chief of Time Inc. Don Logan, who now lives in Birmingham. CEO Bruce Akin says the new headquarters makes BASS more centrally located and accessible to its members, professional anglers and tournaments. Akin says no state or local incentives factored in the decision to move. About 50 people are employed in the new Birmingham corporate headquarters, where services include publishing Bassmaster, BASS Times and Fishing Tackle Retailer. Tournament and event operations are also handled at the new headquarters, along with membership and online management. BASS’s television production division remains in Little Rock. Proximity also was important in Walter Energy’s decision to move from Tampa to Birmingham, in 2009. Vice President of

Corporate Communications Tom Hoffman says Birmingham put Walter Energy closer to its metallurgical coal mines, and its coke and natural gas businesses. “The move met all the criteria; close to principal mining operations, access to an airport and a city large enough to appeal to executive families.” Walter Energy was more diversified in Tampa where it began as a homebuilding business, and the company is now focused on its role as a leading producer and exporter of metallurgical coal for the global steel industry. The Birmingham corporate office employs 114 people. In August 2014, CanAm Coal Corp. announced plans to relocate its head office

“We’re now in a great position to strategically hire the best people we can find.” — Michael Comperda, Curse Inc. from Calgary, Alberta, Canada to Birmingham to reflect the reality that the company’s principal operating assets are located in northwestern Alabama, Market Watch reports, based on a company report. The company will maintain a presence in Calgary. Alabama has gained national recognition as a pro-business state. For the fourth consecutive year, Area Development magazine in 2013 ranked Alabama among the top five states for doing business. Also in 2013, Alabama was ranked a Top 10 state for business by Chicago-based Pollina Corporate Real Estate and the American Economic Development Institute. Says Alabama’s Secretary of Commerce Greg Canfield, “Alabama offers an ideal environment for corporate operations because of the state’s business-friendly policies, low cost of living and high quality of life.” J. Michael Hardin, dean of Culverhouse College of Commerce at the University of Alabama, identifies three main areas driving a company’s decision to locate its headquarters in Alabama — business friendliness, university systems that have proven records of partnering with businesses and quality of life. “Our universities have a history of supporting businesses and companies. We also produce topnotch competitive graduates that are career ready.”

Companies also are establishing regional headquarters in Alabama. LMI, a McLean, Virginia–based government consulting firm, opened its Southeast headquarters in Huntsville in 2012 after acquiring Belzon Inc., a government consultancy in Huntsville. The company’s biggest customer is the U.S. Army, which makes Huntsville a strategic location. Senior Vice President Jeff Bennett calls LMI’s Southeast headquarters “a huge success.” Belzon had 42 employees at the time of the purchase and the office has grown to 90. “I’d like to double in size every two years like the last two years,” says Bennett. “Huntsville has been the best regional decision we’ve ever made.” In 2000, German-based MAHA established MAHA USA in Pinckard, where vehicle lifts are manufactured in its 90,000-square-foot production facility. The German headquarters is in a rural setting, and its founder and owner wanted a similar site in the United States. The Pinckard area has sufficient infrastructure and local suppliers for outsourcing needs, and real estate and taxes are lower than in neighboring states such as Florida, explains Managing Director Wolfgang Raffler. Another German-based company recently opened its U.S. headquarters in Alabama. Automotive supplier RAPA (Rausch & Pausch) selected Auburn from 68 potential sites. Managing Director Roman Pausch says Auburn’s focus on midsize companies, Auburn University’s strong technical reputation and being located in the “new automotive South” were among the reasons for selecting Auburn. Total investment in the first phase was $18 million. “Since this is our first venture within the U.S., we had established no credit history so the entire investment had to be paid with shareholder equity, meaning the Pausch family’s money.” No incentives were received for the plant, which started production in January. “I strongly believe that a business should never rely on subsides. But it was extremely helpful that the city of Auburn planned and built the plant for us. This happened under open book conditions, meaning we did not receive cash incentives, but it helped us stretch the investment. We certainly are no experts at building plants in the U.S., yet.” For the full story, see the March 2014 issue on BusinessAlabama.com

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regional profile

tennessee valley

The Tennessee Valley region is home to one of the fastest-growing high tech economies in the U.S.

“The sky is not the limit,” the Huntsville Chamber of Commerce proclaims on its materials. And it’s the perfect slogan for a city that thrives on rocket science. Here is NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center; here the Boeing space facilities at work on the rocket to take humans once again into deep space; here the companies racing to take people back to the moon. It’s a city where more than half the residents have college degrees and some 20,000 are engineers.

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Nearby are Carpenter Technology, making premium alloys that have been part of the nation’s aviation legends since the Wright Brothers, and United Launch Alliance, where the partnership between Boeing and Lockheed Martin makes the rockets that launch virtually all of the nation’s satellites into space. National defense is also a critical element of the Tennessee Valley mix, with most of the biggest defense names — Boeing, BAE, Raytheon, General Dynamics, Northrop Grumman, Finmeccanica, United Technologies, L-3 Communication and SAIC — all represented in the Redstone Arsenal region. Alabama’s Tennessee Valley region is widely known for its other high tech industries as well, and Huntsville’s Cummings Research Park is the nation’s second largest research park. Biotechnology flourishes at the HudsonAlpha Institute in Huntsville, one of the nation’s leading centers for genomics research. Alabama’s largest IT company also calls

4 Huntsville home — Adtran, a publicly traded company that makes networking gear and now is working to make cloud computing as accessible to small businesses as it is to large ones. Alabama’s northern tier also has one of the four key elements of the Alabama automotive industry — Toyota Motor Manufacturing Alabama in Huntsville is the company’s only facility making fourcylinder, V6 and V8 engines, and last year produced 540,000 engines, a record for the plant. Toyota has expanded four times since it opened in 2003 and now has more than $850 million invested in the plant. A key element in many of Alabama’s newest industries is the use of robots on the plant floor. Calhoun Community College in Limestone County is assisting that new technology, training workers to control and maintain the robots and offering industry a place to design, build and test new robotic strategies. While Huntsville is a hub for new technology and defense, the entire Tennessee

Valley boasts a varied economy with innovation industry alongside more conventional mainstays. In the state’s northwest corner, the area known as The Shoals, the economy is humming to the sound of railroad cars rolling on the rails of a FreightCar America facility it leases from truck maker Navistar in Cherokee County. The enormous plant has made an enormous comeback after nearly being sidetracked by the recession. Now there are 355 workers at the plant. Auto lighting; aluminum for cans; paper towels, tissues and napkins; flooring, and a wide variety of products for the home and office are all produced in the Shoals region. Florence is also home to two companies that have taken Alabama-designed clothing into the national fashion scene — Billy Reid and Alabama Chanin. And nearby Elkmont is home to Belle Chevre, makers of award-winning goat cheese acclaimed by foodies nationwide. In the state’s northeast corner, entrepre-

neur Davis Lee has created a new wood pellet facility, producing alternative fuel for the poultry business that thrives in the region and now for export to the European market, where tough emissions standards make the carbon-neutral fuel a hot commodity.

1. Chad Johnson, Carpenter Technology employee, uses a lift to move steel at the facility in May 2014. Photo by David Higginbotham 2. Adtran headquarters in Cummings Research Park, Huntsville. Adtran — which makes networking and communications equipment, competing against companies such as Cisco and Ciena — is Alabama’s largest high tech manufacturer and the 9th largest non-bank public company. Photo by Scott McDaniel. 3. The City of Athens is revamping its land use and development plan, ensuring that city leaders are listening and enacting what residents’ want of their city in the future. Pictured here is the town square. Photo courtesy of Alabama Tourism Department/M. Lewis Kennedy 4. U.S. Space and Rocket Center. Photo courtesy of Alabama Tourism Department/Jeffrey Greenberg

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regional profile

central highlands

Banking, insurance and auto manufacturers are leading economic engines, as well as the region’s legacy steel makers and metals fabricators. Birmingham, Alabama’s largest city, sets the pace for the economy of the Central Highlands — a 19-county region that includes the banking and insurance dominance of Birmingham, the education superstars in Tuscaloosa and Birmingham,

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auto makers in Tuscaloosa and Lincoln and a host of new industry. Birmingham grew from the earth — the iron ore that lay beneath the surface and fueled a strong iron industry. Still a strong segment of the economy, that industry is celebrated by the giant statue of Vulcan, the Roman god of fire. Today, the heartbeat of Birmingham is in finance and insurance. Regions Financial, headquartered here, is the only Fortune 500 company headquartered in the state. Insurance is big business here, too, with Protective Life, Infinity Property & Casualty and ProAssurance all headquartered here. Medicine and biotechnology make up another key component of the Birmingham economy. The University of Alabama at Birmingham offers medical education, fosters medical research and innovation and provides first-quality care that brings patients from the entire region. The arts flourish here, too — with music, dance,

drama and fine arts. Some of Alabama’s most celebrated chefs call Birmingham home, including Frank Stitt, who’s repeatedly been nominated for and chosen among the nation’s best chefs and operates three Birmingham restaurants— Highlands Bar and Grill, Bottega Restaurant and Chez Fon Fon. Education is the heartbeat of Tuscaloosa, home of the University of Alabama and all the accouterments of a major national university — as internationally known as Crimson Tide football. Tuscaloosa also has the distinction of hosting the company that many credit for recreating the state’s economy — Mercedes-Benz U.S. International. When Mercedes picked Alabama for its first U.S. assembly plant in 1993, it gave birth to an industry that now includes four major auto plants and countless supplier firms. Many of those suppliers also are centered on Tuscaloosa County. Mercedes is the state’s leading exporter. Lincoln, in Talladega County in the eastern half of the Central Highlands, is home to another major auto manufacturer — Honda Manufacturing of Alabama. Production in the $2 billion facility started in 2001, and the first Odyssey minivan rolled off the line in November. The Alabama plant, with 4,000 workers, is Honda’s largest light truck facility and the sole producer of the Odyssey minivan, Pilot SUV, Ridgeline pickup truck, the Acura MCS and the V-6 engines for them. Also in the eastern half of the highlands are manufacturing centers Gadsden and Anniston. Gadsden, lying along the Coosa River at the foot of the Appalachians, is home to a major Goodyear Tire & Rubber plant, two large poultry processing plants, and several new automotive suppliers. A pacesetter city, Anniston was the first in Alabama to be wired for electricity in 1882 and added telephones in 1884. Its major employer is the Anniston Army Depot, the maintenance center for tracked vehicles. Nearby McClellan, a planned community growing from the former Fort McClellan, is the training center for the national Department of Homeland Security’s anti-terrorism activities. Like its Central Highlands neighbors, Anniston and Calhoun County are also home to automotive supplier firms that have emerged in the past 20 years.

2 Cullman, not far north of Birmingham nor far south of Huntsville, along Interstate 65, has kept its agriculture roots strong but take to the highways as well. One of the nation’s top 60 counties for agricultural income, the county is also home to three relatively new Tier 1 auto suppliers and a host of smaller firms. And looking to the skies, Cullman is home to Axsys Technologies, which is working on the lenses for the James Webb Space Telescope, in design to replace the Hubble. Not to be outdone by their bigger neighbors, three counties in the western reaches of the Central Highlands — Lamar, Marion and Fayette — teamed up to create a single economic development

agency, the C3 of Northwest Alabama Economic Development Alliance, that is promoting location along new Interstate 22 and bringing new industry to the region. And when a Wrangler jeans factory was destroyed by tornadoes in 2011, C3 convinced the company not only to rebuild, but to rebuild bigger and better. 1. Mercedes’ first U.S. built sedan, the C-Class, in final inspections. Photo by Cary Norton 2. Overseeing the $280 million Grandview Medical Center project for Brasfield & Gorrie are Virnetta Woodbury (left), project manager, focused on the medical office building and parking deck; and Susan Stabler, senior project manager, focused on the hospital.

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regional profile

capital heartland

Home to state government, the Capital region also has a full

complement of private sector enterprise, from mainstay agriculture to rapid-growth automotive manufacturing. For a century and more, Alabamaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Capital Heartland hummed along to the sound of cotton farming, interspersed with the debates of lawmakers at work in the Capitol Building at Montgomery.

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The Capitol still thrums along. The sounds of agriculture still fill the air, though the crops today may be catfish or bamboo, alongside the cotton. And even those crops have turned higher tech, with the algae that forms scum atop the catfish ponds now being harvested to make biodegradable plastics. But thereâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a new sound in the air â&#x20AC;&#x201D; the pulse of the slickas-a-whistle Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama plant rolling out Sonatas and Elantras as fast as 3,000 workers and a whole passel of robots can work. And every so often you can practically hear the sound of another production record being broken. The $1.7 billion, 2 million-square-foot plant opened in 2006 and today stands ready to build 399,500 vehicles a year. The plant has attracted 35 Tier 1 suppliers and another 43 Tier 2, bringing another $650 million industrial investment and employing another 7,000 workers. Education is big business in this region of Alabama. Near to the Georgia border is

4 Auburn, the state’s original land grant university and now home to engineering, architecture, veterinary medicine and a broad array of other programs. The state’s newest medical school, a branch of the Virginia-based Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine, is rising not far from the university campus in one of the city’s research parks. The campus region is also home to a variety of high tech businesses, like General Electric’s new factory making jet engine components. Six of the top employers are auto suppliers making components such as wheels, bumpers, springs, axles and driveshafts. Briggs and Stratton continues to make its industry-standard air cooled gasoline engines that power lawn equipment and more. And newcomers Pharmavite makes vitamins while Gambro Products makes kidney dialyzers. Nearby Opelika recently made headlines by wiring the entire city with fiber

optic cable to provide a city-owned internet utility. Smaller cities in the Capital Heartland are making their own headlines. Phenix City and its over-the-river partner Columbus, Georgia, have teamed to build a world-class whitewater course on the Chattahoochee River. In its first year, the whitewater course attracted 18,000 river runners — three times as many as planners predicted. And Phenix City has followed up by beginning major renovations along its downtown riverfront area. On the other side of the region, Selma is seeing new companies come to work with the timber that’s long been a mainstay of the region. For example, Zilkha Biomass Energy is gearing up to produce Zilkha Black Pellets — a wood-based fuel that substitutes for coal — and is expected to fill a big demand in the European market. Like much of the rest of the state, Selma’s Dallas County is home to auto sup-

pliers, while it’s native son Bush Hog continues to build agricultural and lawn care implements.

1. University of Kansas students stand with the bamboo bikes they’ve designed and built for HERObike, home grown in Greensboro. Photo by Art Meripol 2. Briggs & Stratton plant manager Russ Stone, center, demonstrates the Direct Current (DC) electric hand tools to be used in lieu of more common air tools for assembly of the new Vanguard 810cc engines, allowing for better quality control and producing a record of torque sequences and values — a “torque DNA” for each engine. Photo courtesy of Briggs & Stratton 3. Algent’s Butch Wilson harvests algae from a catfish pond using a mobile machine developed by parent company Algix. Right, Wilson displays algae after dehydration at the plant in Marion Junction, ready for processing in Meridian, Miss. Photo by Robert Fouts 4. Auburn University, the oldest land-grant college in the South, traces its roots to 1856.

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1. MSCO has brought new life to downtown Florence. Photo by Wendy Reeves 2. Developer Charlie Sealy is reawakening downtown living in Huntsville. Photo by David Higginbotham

New Life

Downtown Downtown districts across the state are attracting major investments. Here’s a look at 3 big projects in Florence, Huntsville and Montgomery.

Florence

By Wendy Reeves Martin Industrial Supply enters its 80th year by creating a new corporate home for itself, with a $3.5 million renovation of the old Rogers Department Store building in downtown Florence. Louis Martin started the company in 1934 to provide basic industrial supplies and repair parts to the Alabama market during the Great Depression. Today, the company has operations in seven states under its corporate umbrella, MSCO Inc. The business handles industrial supplies, fasteners, safety, plant services, hardware and security. Martin’s three grandsons, Gordon, Doug and David Ruggles, have managed the com-

pany since the retirement of their father, Don Ruggles, who still serves as chairman of the board. Until a few months ago, the Ruggles brothers ran the company out of the Sheffield distribution facility that’s been in operation since 1967. “In 1986, when I came back from college, we were at $3.5 million in total annual revenue and had 21 employees,” Doug recalls. “We passed the $100 million mark in revenue last year, and we have 260 employees.” “We knew we were outgrowing our offices in the distribution center,” Doug says. “We had added offices inside as we could and stacked things on top of each other. But it was not conducive to the corporate environment we were trying to create.” But where would they go?

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About five years ago, Doug and his brothers started talking about a new corporate headquarters as part of the company’s strategic planning process. “We looked at the growth potential for the business and what kind of space we needed,” Doug says. “One important factor in the equation was that we want to be able to attract top talent.” Did they want to stay in the Shoals or look at a bigger city like Dallas, Atlanta or Nashville? Their great-grandfather, William Henry Martin, founder of Martin Industries, another Shoals-area business, was from Atlanta. “But this is our home,” Doug says, “and Florence has become one of the most vibrant downtown areas in the entire state.” When Doug pitched the possibility of the Rogers building to his brothers, they laughed. “They said I was out of my tree, that I was crazy,” Doug recalls. “But I kept in touch with the developer who owned it. I loved this building. And on a side note, my wife was working here as a buyer on the second floor when we started dating.” When the previous developer landed Jos. A. Bank menswear as an anchor tenant for the first floor, Doug says his brothers became more interested. “We started putting the numbers together and decided it was something we could do,” Doug says. “Our business was continuing to grow, and then the real decision factor came when two more tenants were interested.” The Ruggles brothers made an offer on the building and took over development and restoration of the first floor. They also made plans to convert the second floor into their new corporate headquarters. “That corner is important because it is the center of the downtown area,” says Andy Mann, president of Downtown Florence Unlimited. “The building sat empty for several years, but when the Ruggles brothers bought it, that was just a huge win for downtown Florence.” Chef Paul Visuthikosol, a founding partner in Phuket restaurant in Huntsville, liked what he saw in downtown Florence. He was one of the new first-floor tenants who opened YUMM, Thai Sushi and Beyond. The Ruggles brothers were impressed with

Visuthikosol’s architect, Cherri Pitts, owner of Studio C Architecture Interiors in Birmingham. “We liked what we heard from her, her vision and her style with what we were trying to do,” Doug says. “We didn’t want just plain vanilla, because this building is too nice.” Striking the right design balance was crucial. “It was a big project, a profound project because the Rogers building has so much history,” Pitts says. “Everyone was watching to see what we were doing.” The Rogers building takes its name from a family business opened in 1894 by Benjamin Armstead Rogers and his sons and in the family for more than 100 years. The business was first called the Surprise Store. By 1910, the store became known as Rogers Department Store. That was also the year when a fire destroyed the original space, which was replaced by a 27,000-square-foot establishment, featuring a basement, first floor, mezzanine level, second floor and mahogany-paneled elevators. Another major renovation in 1948 added the now-familiar art deco exterior and the third floor. The Rogers building is on the National Register of Historic Places and the Alabama Register of Landmarks & Heritage. The building’s historic character figured in the Ruggles brothers’ financial picture. Doug says the restoration qualified for federal and state tax credits of 10 percent each, and that meant leaving much of the building’s existing architectural elements intact. “That was our launching pad,” Pitts says. “The space felt amazing just as a raw space.” For the first floor, Pitts worked on YUMM, and created the open space that has since been occupied by Alabama Outdoors on the first floor. To maintain the building’s historical elements, Pitts kept the curved lines of the mezzanine throughout the first floor. The City of Florence joined the project, building a $65,000 covered walkway from the city’s parking deck to the mezzanine level. “To have the building occupied by Martin is really another shot in the arm to our downtown area,” Florence Mayor Mickey Haddock says. “People can park in the parking deck, use the covered walkway to go to work, use the building, and go down to the street through a well-secured building, so it was really a good investment on our part, and then the investment they’ve made is just beautiful.”

Huntsville

By Nancy Mann Jackson Charlie Sealy III, who has led the charge to bring more residents to downtown Huntsville with recent loft developments, was raised in the real estate business. His grandfather, Charlie O. Sealy Sr., launched Sealy Management Co. in Tuscaloosa in 1955 and was later joined by Sealy’s father, Charlie Sealy Jr. Under their leadership, the company became one of the largest apartment management firms in the state. Sealy, who, with his wife, Sasha, developed Huntsville’s Belk Hudson Lofts in 2012 and recently announced plans for The Avenue, a new $30 million mixed-use development in downtown Huntsville, didn’t always plan to make a career out of the family business. But now that he has, the third-generation vice president of Sealy Management Co. realizes it’s a career he’s prepared for all his life. Sealy recently has found a niche leading the growing up of downtown Huntsville into a metropolitan area with convenient, loft-style living that contributes to a bigcity atmosphere — an element long missing from Rocket City residential options. “Huntsville has a beautiful downtown with great attractions and events,” Sealy says. “Increasing numbers of people are desiring to live downtown, due to the vibrant atmosphere, walkability, convenience, and quality of life. I wanted to undertake another development downtown because I believe in the continued growth and popularity of downtown.” As more young professionals landed in Huntsville during recent years, they were unable to find the upscale, downtown housing that many of them prefer. Sealy’s answer? To turn the historic Belk Hudson department

store building into 75 loft apartments. The city of Huntsville, eager to revitalize the downtown area, agreed to help Sealy by offering $450,000 in incentives over five years, with the stipulation that the Sealys maintain the historic façade of the building. The $12 million project opened in late 2012 to great fanfare, and the apartments have been instrumental in bringing more city dwellers downtown. After the success of Belk Hudson Lofts, Sealy is planning another, much bigger downtown Huntsville development. The Avenue, which will be located on the 2.7acre site of a large downtown parking lot, will include 200 loft apartments, 20,000 square feet of retail and restaurant space and a parking garage for up to 400 vehicles. The mixed-use facility will offer luxury amenities for residents, including a saltwater pool and outdoor gathering spaces. “Currently, the demand is increasing for residential and mixed-use properties in downtown settings in many markets across the country,” he says. “Huntsville is following this movement and has the diverse components seeking urban living, ranging from young professionals to empty nesters. I believe Huntsville will grow in population and economic activity in the near future, and the appeal for urban living, shopping, dining and gathering will increase, as it is in other leading cities.” Again, the Huntsville city government helped make the project happen. The city has agreed to lease the project site to Sealy Management Co. for $100 a year for 50 years. After that, the rent will increase to $120,000 annually. Huntsville also will be responsible for improving the area around the development by adding landscaping, new brick-lined sidewalks, street lamps,

Alabama Economic Development Guide 2015 21

3. Golson Foshee, left, and brother John Foshee stand inside their refurbished 40 Four Building in the center of Dexter Avenue redevelopment in Montgomery. Photo by David Bundy

3 traffic lights and more street parking. And the city will construct a new road behind the apartments to improve access. Total cost to the city is estimated at $2.8 million, recently retired Director of Planning Marie Bostick told The Huntsville Times. In return, Sealy’s company will cover all construction costs for the apartment building and parking garage, which will include spaces for public use. The Avenue will cost his company around $30 million to build, he estimates. Construction on the project is set to begin this fall and to be completed in the spring of 2016. Partnering with the city certainly makes a development of this size more palatable for Sealy Management Co., but it also promises to help the city infuse new life into its downtown. “The Avenue will add to the critical mass of downtown,” Sealy says. “This residential base will attract more shopping, dining and entertainment venues to downtown. The retail and restaurant component of The Avenue will draw more people to downtown and add to the energy of downtown.”

Montgomery

By Kathy Hagood Downtown Montgomery looks to be on the verge of a revival with forward-thinking brothers Golson and John Foshee helping foster historic Dexter Avenue redevelopment with their newly opened 40 Four Building loft and commercial midrise. The Foshees say they and their partners alone are investing up to $5 million in the eight-story 40 Four. The Foshees are also investing in several nearby Dexter Avenue buildings, all part of the newly rebranded Market District, which they will redevelop in part this summer. The Market District will include additional lofts, commercial space and restaurants. After

redevelopment, the area will be limited to pedestrian traffic on the weekends. “We’re foreseeing a family-friendly destination with all sorts of fun events, including car shows,” Golson Foshee says. Home to several banks over the years, the refurbished 40 Four Building originally opened in 1975 as First National Bank. It’s now the new headquarters for Foshee Management, including Foshee Residential Management Co., run by Golson Foshee, and Foshee Design and Construction, run by his younger brother, John. “We’re enjoying being downtown, including taking advantage of the great views. And we could have never otherwise afforded the marble and mahogany finishes they could back in the ’70s,” Golson says. The Foshee brothers’ father, who still has some involvement with the family business, is a retired general contractor and property manager. “We’re the third generation,” Golson says of his brother, who is an architect, and himself. “Our grandfather built and sold apartments in the 1970s. Then my father built and sold until 1990, when he held on to his first property. Managing other people’s properties soon followed. Now we build and manage our own properties and others, including about 2,400 to 2,500 units.” Although the building is several decades old, the newly refurbished loft spaces look completely modern, with the latest finishes, including granite countertops and up-todate lighting fixtures. “The biggest strengths of the building are the magnificent windows and the views of the city through these windows,” says architect brother John. “Although this building is small in comparison to buildings in larger cities, the height of this building affords views of Montgomery that are incredible. The layout of the apartment units allows each tenant to gain a unique perspective.” Because the building was originally designed for banking services and administration, the conversion required extensive work. “One of the major hurdles for the architecture and construction of this building is that it was never intended to be anything except a cubicle-filled office building,” John says. “The infrastructure of the plumbing, mechanical and electrical systems had to

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be completely reworked in the conversion of the building into multifamily dwelling units.” The Foshee brothers are also behind additional loft and commercial redevelopment along Dexter Avenue within several blocks of the Court Square fountain, as well as the rebranding of the area as a dining and entertainment destination called the Market District. “We want to develop a culture of cool downtown. Our goal is to keep more of our young people interested in living in Montgomery, as well as drawing others to our area,” Golson says. “The future health of our city depends on it.” While the Foshee brothers, who both graduated from Auburn University, returned to their hometown to settle down and work, many of their contemporaries have established themselves elsewhere, Golson laments. “Montgomery invests a lot in educating their young people, but so many leave because they don’t see a lot going on here,” he says. “By improving downtown, we’re giving young people and others another reason to stay.” Momentum has definitely begun to build for Montgomery’s image as a happening place. The city is now promoting itself with a “Capital Cool” campaign, as well as making downtown redevelopment strides. The Alley, another relatively new entertainment district, has also helped create interest in downtown. Mac McLeod, director of business and commercial development for the city of Montgomery, says the Foshees and several other developers’ investments — in addition to city efforts — are helping redefine Montgomery. Dexter Avenue in particular, including the planned Market District, is expected to be transformed by next March, the 50th anniversary of the voting rights marches from Selma to Montgomery. The city will be improving infrastructure and streetscaping all the way up Dexter from the fountain to the Capitol building at the top of the hill. For the full story on Florence, see the March 2014 issue on BusinessAlabama.com For the full story on Huntsville, see the May 2014 issue on BusinessAlabama.com For the full story on Montgomery, see the August 2014 issue on BusinessAlabama.com

regional profile

southeastern wiregrass The Southeastern Wiregrass region includes one of the country’s most active aerospace clusters, centered on the Army Aviation Center at Fort Rucker. It is also one of the most prolific agricultural producers in the Southeast. The Southeastern Wiregrass of Alabama, tucked into the corner of the state above Florida and west of Georgia, is named for its old groundcover — and what’s covered the ground has long been a key factor in the region.

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After the wiregrass came cotton and when the boll weevil put its mark on the cotton, then peanuts — and the land prospered so well that the grateful residents put up a statue to honor the pest. Today even Dothan, the proud peanut capital of the world, with peanut people statues decorating the downtown streets, is spreading its wings. It’s new tourism campaign promotes all there is to see and do in the region, but keeps the peanuts in the mix with a tagline “play and stay for peanuts.” The region’s other mainstay is about as different from peanuts as you can imagine. Building on the aircraft maintenance expertise centered at Fort Rucker, the entire region has built a reputation for aircraft maintenance, repair and overhaul. Fort Rucker is the home of Army Aviation — with Army aviators training there alongside Air Force helicopter pilots. Aviators from allied countries around the world also study at Fort Rucker. In the commercial aviation sector, just last year, Florida-based Commercial Jet opened a 400,000-square-foot MRO facility in

2 Dothan, with an eye to freighter conversions. The company was a welcome newcomer, moving in on the heels of a similar firm’s departure the previous year. Just north in Troy, aviation turns to aerospace and defense at Lockheed Martin’s Troy missile plant. The Pike County operations plant, where the Joint Surfaceto-Air Standoff missile is produced, broke ground last February to add capability to make Long Range Strike Systems cruise missiles. The new line is expected to add 10 percent to the 300-person workforce. Sikorsky Helicopters also has a major facility in Troy. And just this spring, Troy got news of a new flight training program. Trojan Aviation — developed in a partnership among Mauna Loa Helicopters, Troy University and the City of Troy — will

3 train pilots of airplanes, helicopters and unmanned aerial systems. Troy is also home to Troy University, which has more than 23,000 students, including nearly 7,000 on the main campus and more at its other three Alabama campuses, plus campuses in 11 states and two other countries and a strong online presence. Dothan has also taken a key role in Alabama education with the opening of the Alabama College of Osteopathic Medicine. The Wiregrass is also home to several unique industries. Enterprise in Dale County is the site of Enterprise Electronics, makers of commercial Doppler weather radar that helps give people worldwide advance notice of dangerous storms so they have time to protect themselves. And Eufaula in Barbour County is the home of

Humminbird-Johnson Outdoors, makers of marine electronics such as depth finders and navigation instrumentation, while other Eufaula companies make artificial fishing lures. And the Wiregrass, like much of the rest of the state, has attracted a bevy of automotive suppliers. 1. The AH-64D Apache Longbow helicopter, made by Boeing, is often seen in the skies of the Wiregrass. The helicopter is equipped with the Longbow Hellfire missile. In addition, the AH-64D Apache now includes increased digitization, with a joint tactical radio system and the capability to control UAVs. 2. Troy University has 7,000 students on its main campus and many more in other parts of Alabama, 11 other states and two additional countries. 3. Cotton gave way to peanuts as the key crop of the Wiregrass, but the region is still a major producer.

Alabama Economic Development Guide 2015 25

regional profile

gulf coast

The Gulf Coast region includes the state port, Airbus’ first U.S. commercial aircraft assembly plant and the largest stainless steel mill in North America. For centuries, Mobile has been Alabama’s link to the world, as ships from near and far plied the coastal waters to transport goods. The port still hums with the economic lifeblood of the area — but there have been some changes. Now the port uses radio frequency identification systems to find exactly the slab of steel with exactly the right properties to ship upriver to the new twin steel mills at Calvert. Built by ThyssenKrupp at a cost near $5 billion, the stainless mill has been sold to world stainless leader Outokumpu Oyj, based in Finland, and the cold rolled mill to world steel leaders ArcelorMittal and Nippon Steel and Sumitomo Metals. Now the port ships trainloads of cargo, train and all, so there’s no delay to load and unload. Now the port gears up to join the business of shipping automobiles, the state’s biggest export, to the world marketplace. And now the port prepares to move entire chunks of aircraft to the Airbus assembly line nearing completion at Brookley Aeroplex. And that, in turn, marks a next generation for the Gulf Coast economy, as it welcomes the first U.S. assembly line for the European aircraft company and readies to become one of the few places in the U.S., indeed in the world, where commercial jets are built. The Gulf Coast aviation cluster predates the Airbus announcement. It started 26 Alabama Economic Development Guide 2015

2 with VT Mobile Aerospace Engineering some 20 years ago, when the Singaporebased company set up a maintenance, repair and overhaul operation in Mobile. Others in the cluster include UTC Aerospace over the bay in Foley, working with nacelles and other aircraft components; Continental Motors, an iconic U.S. engine maker now owned by AVIC International, a Chinese firm, making engines for personal aircraft in Mobile; and Star Aviation, also in Mobile, which specializes in retrofitting post-production aircraft with components such as in-flight Wi-Fi and upgraded avionics packages. Now Airbus is beginning to draw its suppliers to the cluster. The same day Airbus broke ground, Safran Engineering — a subsidiary of the French company Labinal — opened its new offices just across the Brookley complex from Airbus. Despite the influx of aerospace companies, the Gulf Coast has not turned its back on its long-standing industries. Timber and wood products are still a mainstay. The chemical plants that line the region’s rivers continue to thrive, and the German firm Evonik — the region’s first foreign direct investment when it opened in 1973 — has begun construction of a multimillion-dollar expansion to make an amino acid used as an additive for dairy cattle feed.

4 Shipbuilding, too, thrives from yacht makers to fishing boat builders to the craftsmen of Navy ships at Austal USA. Biotech has made news here, too, as German firm Bayer CropSciences announced plans last year for a $500 million plant to make herbicide. On the Gulf Coast, tourism is also big business, with nearly a third of the state’s tourism revenue generated in Baldwin County alone. The beach itself is a big draw, and local tourism officials have worked hard to encourage additional visitors with a mix of festivals and sports events. They join the classic draws — great seafood purveyors,

golf galore and picture-perfect pristine sand lapped by gentle waves that fade blue green to the horizon. 1. Mobile’s downtown office market — dominated by three high-rises financed by the Retirement Systems of Alabama — enjoys a relatively stable vacancy rate. 2. Sugarwhite beaches attract thousands of visitors each year to Baldwin County. Photo courtesy of Gulf Shores & Orange Beach Tourism 3. The Littoral Combat Ship is a fast, agile, focused-mission ship currently designed to defeat asymmetric “antiaccess” threats, such as mines, quiet diesel submarines and fast surface craft. 4. The final assembly hangar, centerpiece of the Airbus final assembly line, takes shape at Brookley Aeroplex in Mobile. Photo by Todd Douglas

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industry profile

Biotechnology

Alabama is home to more than 550 bioscience firms and centers, according to the industry association, BioAlabama, “spanning all sub-sectors of the biotech industry including agriculture, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, hospitals, research testing & medical labs.” Those 550 companies employ more than 10,000 people and a host of achievements on the record — including discovery of seven cancer-fighting drugs in use today and another six in advanced testing. Researchers at the state’s universities and specialty labs — the HudsonAlpha

Institute and Southern Research Institute — continue to pursue better health for the world’s people. Southern Research is the granddaddy, founded in 1941, and continuing to pursue research in biomedicine and other innovative research — it just won the opportunity to negotiate a $5.9 million U.S. Department of Energy grant to research conversion of biomass to carbon fiber. The Institute employs more than 550 researchers and support staff, most of them in Birmingham. Working in a partnership called the

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Alabama Drug Discovery Alliance, UAB and Southern Research Institute have developed seven cancer drugs that have been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. HudsonAlpha Institute, in Huntsville, focused on genomics, is actively working on projects related to ovarian cancer, Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and ALS. Founded in 2008, the nonprofit Institute fosters research and education, individual research and collaboration, academia and business. Top stories in biotechnology this year include a new UAB Informatics Institute,

a collaboration between the University of Alabama at Birmingham and the HudsonAlpha Institute, working to harness the power of data analytics to find solutions to individuals’ medical problems. The Informatics Institute “will work in tandem with UAB’s Personalized Medicine Institute and the UAB-HudsonAlpha Center for Genomic Medicine to enlist scientists and physicians to target a multitude of diseases and disorders,” UAB reports. Dr. Selwyn Vickers, dean of UAB’s School of Medicine, says the project will collect, gather and make data available to researchers with twin goals of advancing research and improving patient care. Other top news in the sector included NIH funding for researchers at Mobile’s Mitchell Cancer Institute, working to prevent skin cancer. Evonik Corp. announced plans for a new research and development facility in Birmingham that will focus on medical devices and technology. Baxter International in Opelika announced plans in August to expand the facility where it makes kidney dialyzers, which help treat patients with advanced kidney disease. Algix LLC opened its Algent division in rural Dallas County, harvesting algae from catfish ponds, with plans to convert it to bioresin for biodegradable plastics. In Tuscaloosa, Inventure Renewables is finding new value in plants outside the food and clothing chain. The company was the first to graduate from the University of Alabama high tech business incubator, the Bama Technology Incubator. In Mobile, Bayer CropScience announced plans in 2013 for a new facility to produce the company’s herbicide Liberty. And BioCryst Pharmaceuticals, born in Alabama though now headquartered in North Carolina, is one of a handful of biotech firms showing promise with drugs to treat the Ebola virus.

1. In the Caldwell Lab, nicknamed The Worm Shack. Kim Caldwell places a slide under a microscope. 2. Kim and Guy Caldwell in their University of Alabama lab, observing a petri dish of research worms. Photos by Robert Sutton 3. Joe Ng works with synthetic genes, developing organisms for a range of purposes, from fighting cancer to cleaning up oil spills. Photo courtesy of University of Alabama in Huntsville

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industry profile

aerospace Alabama came a step closer to assembling commercial aircraft on state soil this year, and it brought the nation a step closer to the heavens. In the southern tier of the state, design and construction workers from a dozen and more companies brought the first Airbus assembly line in the U.S. from a shovel scratch in the earth at Mobile’s Brookley Aeroplex in 2013 to a set of buildings nearing completion. Teams of new hires began the journey to Germany to learn their new jobs alongside seasoned Airbus workers. And the sense of excitement builds as the new facility moves closer to rolling out its first A320 neo in 2016. In the northern tier of the state, The Boeing Company helped bring mankind

toward the stars as the heavy launch vehicle to power the world’s largest rocket system moved beyond the critical design review, on the march toward a planned launch in 2017. That first launch will be an unmanned moon orbit, followed four years later with a manned moon orbit launch. And the next goal — Mars by 2025. Throughout the state, aerospace continued to soar. NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center is superintending the new space launch project and also working on the Chandra X-ray Observatory, the Discovery scientific investigations such as Grail; Kepler and Moon Mineralogy Mapper; the Fermi Gammaray Space Telescope and Hinode, a multination project studying the sun’s magnetic

field; Hirad, which studies hurricanes; hardware development, oxygen generation and more for the International Space Station, and the James Webb Space Telescope. United Launch Alliance in Decatur — a joint venture of Boeing and Lockheed Martin — continues to build the Delta and Atlas rockets that power payloads to space. An Atlas V launched the U.S. government’s CLIO project in mid September, 2014, its 68th launch. Rockets in the making undergo tens of thousands of tests during the construction process. “By the time we get ready to launch, we know we’re ready to go and the vehicle is going to fly,” says Daniel Caughran, ULA vice president for production operations. Photo by David Higginbotham

Alabama Economic Development Guide 2015 31

2 Lockheed Martin also builds missiles in Pike County. In 2014 the company broke ground for an annex to house its new Long Range Strike Systems cruise missile production, alongside its current facility producing Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missiles.

They’re all part of a cluster that includes most of the nation’s major players in the space and defense fields. Newer aerospace focused companies include Carpenter Technology, which opened earlier this year near Athens to create premium steel alloys — nearly half of which go into aerospace and defense projects. The Pennsylvania-based company traces its heritage to the early days of flight and space flight, noting that its products were part of the Wright Brothers planes, Charles Lindbergh’s Spirit of St. Louis, and the rockets that took Neil Armstrong to the moon. General Electric Aviation is also new to the Alabama mix, opening a $75 million plant in Auburn last year. The plant was announced as a site for producing precision, super-alloy engine parts. In July it announced plans for an additional $50 million investment to begin 3D printing of jet fuel nozzles. And Safran Engineering, part of the French firm Labinal, opened shop in Mobile the day of the groundbreaking for the Airbus assembly line — just to be close to its customers. In fact, the firm had been planning an office in Mobile before the assembly line announcement, to be near the Airbus engineering office that opened in 2007. The newest newcomer is Trojan Aviation, just announced in the summer of 2014. The new company — a partnership among Ha-

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waiian firm Mauna Loa Helicopters, Pike Aviation, Troy University and the city of Troy — will train pilots for fixed wing, helicopter and unmanned or drone flying. The state’s MRO cluster — performing maintenance, repair and overhaul for many kinds of planes and helicopters — continues to thrive. VT Mobile Aerospace Engineering in Mobile sparked the cluster in the early 1990s. UTC specializes in nacelles and other systems in Baldwin County, Star Aviation adds specialty systems like Wi-Fi and advanced avionics at its site in Mobile, and Commercial Jet just moved to Dothan, where it specializes in modifications. And as the industry gears up, so have the state’s commercial airports — a completely renovated terminal in Birmingham, a new airline providing commercial flights in the Shoals, terminal expansions in Montgomery, upgraded terminal amenities in Mobile, upgraded amenities and a new hotel in Huntsville, and a variety of upgrades in Dothan from runway and security improvements to upgrades of on-premises industrial sites. 1. The air-launch vehicle will be a primary component of Stratolaunch Systems. Photo courtesy of Stratolaunch Systems 2. Test launch of a ground-based, midcourse defensive missile made by Boeing in Huntsville. A GMD missile aims at knocking out an enemy missile after it reaches its apex in space and begins coasting towards its target. Photo courtesy of Boeing

industry profile

information technology

From hardware to software, from cityoperated fiber optics to head-in-the-cloud imagination, from hospital record keeping to military modeling and simulation, from the smallest specialty company to the 2,500 professional staffers at the Air Force’s Gunter Complex, information technology is flourishing in Alabama. And the state also boasts a couple of very high-powered teams working to keep all that information safe. Adtran is the premier hardware developer in Alabama, one of the state’s few publicly traded companies and a trendsetter in connectivity. Also in Huntsville, Intergraph continues to develop new software that feeds the world market for geospatial data.

In the south, Computer Programs and Systems has created record-keeping systems targeted at smaller hospitals, helping them keep their data accessible and meet mandates the federal government has places on all healthcare providers. CPSI is another of the state’s publicly traded companies. Some areas have focused on the need for connectivity this year. Opelika, unable to get the quality of service its citizens wanted from commercial providers, built its own fiber optic network, available to every home and business. Along the Gulf Coast, Southern Light created a business to provide fiber optic services and has been so successful it has earned a place on the Inc. 5000 list for

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rapid growth. Alabama’s military presence also contributes to its IT prowess, both from within the military and from the hundreds of defense contractors nearby. At Gunter Annex, associated with Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, the Air Force maintains the majority of its 2,500-strong IT professional services.

1. The “wall of patents” at the Huntsville headquarters of Adtran Inc. Photo courtesy of Adtran. 2. A leader in business analytics education since 2002, The University of Alabama’s Culverhouse College of Business has partnered with Lockheed Martin to create an analytics laboratory for academic and industry use.

The Business and Enterprise Systems Directorate provides IT services and superintends contracting and acquisition of additional services. In Huntsville, contractors specializing in modeling and simulation support the nationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s defense capabilities. The cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s annual modeling & simulation conference, AlaSim, attracts experts from around the world. AEgis Technologies is one of the modeling & simulation leaders, developers of a new program that acts like a video game but helps troops learn to differentiate quickly between friend and foe. Keeping all that data safe is the primary concern for several companies and agencies. Seven of the states college and universities have been designated as centers of excellence for information systems security education at various levels of expertise. And Gary Warner, a professor at University of Alabama at Birmingham, has created a firm, Malcovery, that works to find the perpetrators of cyber abuse and bring them to justice.

Alabama Economic Development Guide 2015 35

industry profile

automotive

Alabama’s been on a roll with the auto industry since 1993. Economic experts regard 1993 as a watershed year for the state’s economy — the year Mercedes-Benz announced plans for a plant in Vance, Tuscaloosa County, to make a line of sport utility vehicles. Now the plant makes three models of SUV and a new sedan and Daimler Chairman Dieter Zetsche announced in fall of 2014 that the plant will be home to yet another new model, a compact SUV called the ML Coupe. The value of the plant has increased tenfold, from the initial investment of $400 million to more than $4.4 billion, and Mercedes is at work on yet another expansion, adding a $70 million logistic center. The German automaker announced plans in September to bring some 26,000 workers from other countries to the Vance plant for a three-day immersion in the brand, a plan that delighted William Bell, the mayor of Birmingham, where guests will stay. The program is planned to bring workers a group at a time for the next few years. Mercedes is not alone in talking expansion. Hyundai continued to set production and sales records, with its best six months ever 1. Workers dance with elation as the first C-Class sedan rolls off the line at Mercedes-Benz U.S. International in Tuscaloosa County. Photo by Cary Norton 2. Honda’s 4,000 associates in the Lincoln facility produce V-6 engines, Odyssey minivans, Pilot SUVs, Ridgeline pickup trucks and, now, the Acura MDX.

Alabama Economic Development Guide 2015 37

1 coming in the first half of 2014, and company leaders beginning to whisper about expansion. At Lincoln, in Talladega County, Honda has been setting sales records, too, with its Acura MDX — new to the Alabama line up in 2014 — a trendsetter. Toyota Motor Manufacturing Alabama, in Huntsville, also had a great year, celebrating its 3 millionth engine at the start of 2014, along with recognition of the firm’s fourth expansion in 11 years. The strong automotive sector continued to attract new suppliers to the state. Asahi Kasei Plastics North America announced plans for a $30 million, 100-employee plant in Limestone County to process plastic resin for automotive components, and South Korean company Taesung plans to

build a $6.6 million, 70-employee plant in Macon County to make plastic injectionmolded auto parts. Bolta US Inc. broke ground near the Mercedes plant for its own facility to make chrome-plated plastic automobile parts. Meanwhile, HS Automotive Alabama in Enterprise announced plans in 2014 for the second expansion in two years. The firm, which makes weather stripping, tubes and hoses for Hyundai and other automakers, announced a $20 million, 100-employee expansion last year, and while construction and hiring were underway, announced another 200-job expansion to increase hose and tube operations and robotics. In August, Business Facilities magazine — which helps businesses select sites for new enterprise — ranked Alabama tops for

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automotive manufacturing strength, highlighting job growth and production gains. After 20 years, auto makers continue to break records. In 2013 the state’s plants produced 915,000 vehicles. And autos top the state’s export list. Figures for 2013 value Alabama exports at $19.3 billion, just a hair off the all time record set the previous year, with automotive accounting for more than a third of all exports, at $7.1 billion.

1. This $1.4 billion Hyundai automotive plant is one of the most advanced assembly plants in North America. Photo courtesy of The George F. Landegger Collection of Alabama Photographs in Carol M. Highsmith’s America, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division

Sweet Spot in the Southern

Automotive Corridor By Lew Drummond, Executive Director Alabama Automotive Manufacturers Association

Strong demand and intensive production schedules have defined 2014 for Alabama’s automotive manufacturers and suppliers. The Alabama Automotive Manufacturers Association, founded in 2001 to promote the state’s auto industry, hosted the 2014 Southern Automotive Conference (SAC) in Birmingham in October, offering us the opportunity to join with our sister organizations — MAMA (Mississippi), TAMA (Tennessee) and GAMA (Georgia) — to make this an outstanding regional automotive event. Alabama manufacturers and suppliers are continuing their intensive production schedules to meet demand. Sales and production numbers for Alabama-made vehicles continue to climb, providing an excellent barometer reading for the health of the industry. Honda celebrated exceeding 3 million

vehicles produced in its Alabama manufacturing facility since it began production in 2001. Mercedes continues to enjoy high demand for its current vehicle lineup, and rolled out its much-anticipated C-Class early in the year. Hyundai has expanded its production facilities to meet the continued demand for its popular vehicles. Along with the OEMs’ increased production volumes is a corresponding increase in shipments from the many suppliers that make up the supply chains, so critical to the Alabama automotive industry. Almost weekly, announcements are made about a supplier expanding its operations or about a new supplier establishing operations in Alabama. Alabama has the largest single-site Toyota engine plant in the world located in Huntsville. A full complement of engine

configurations — V-8, V-6 and 4-cylinder — are manufactured at the site that employs approximately 1,000 team members. Since the economic recovery began in Alabama, most of the OEM plants and their suppliers have been working three shifts daily and six or seven days a week to meet customer demand. This level of production intensity in a highly automated environment has created growing requirements for highly skilled personnel. Most of the automotive manufacturing plants and suppliers have a constant demand for qualified industrial maintenance technicians. To meet this demand, partnerships are being formed among the plants and The newest addition to the product line and the first sedan ever built at MercedesBenz U.S. International plant in Tuscaloosa County, the C-Class rolls toward completion. Photo by Cary Norton

Alabama Economic Development Guide 2015 39

educational institutions at the high school, two-year college and some four-year university levels. Gov. Robert Bentley has established the Governor’s College and Career Ready Task Force. The task force is chaired by Bentley and co-chaired by the lieutenant governor, the speaker of the House, the Senate pro tem and the secretary of commerce. The appointed statewide task force has been heavily engaged in developing a plan to increase participation in developing workers’ technical skills that will meet industry’s needs. Two other initiatives in the state designed to provide a comprehensive approach to developing the technical skills needed by the automotive industry are the Consortium for Alabama Regional Center for Automotive Manufacturing, known as CARCAM, and the Shelton State/Mercedes Industrial Mechatronic and Automotive Technician Programs. CARCAM involves 11 community colleges with a mission to provide a sustainable manufacturing education delivery system by providing curriculum development, technical education programs, student outreach and professional development opportunities to address current and future education and manufacturing industry needs for the 21st Century. The Industrial Mechatronics program is a seven-semester program that integrates mechanics, electronics and computer science into the manufacturing process of Mercedes products. The Automotive Technician program, which is a three-semester program, involves applying students’ mechanical and electrical automotive skills to the Mercedes Productions System. Both of these programs are designed to provide a pipeline of highly qualified potential employees. Currently there are 115 students enrolled in these programs. The Alabama automotive manufacturing industry outlook is good. Improved manufacturing productivity and efficiencies are in place to increase the competitiveness of Alabama-produced vehicles and engines in the marketplace. New job and career opportunities are greater now than ever before. Alabama continues to be the “sweet spot” in the Southern Automotive Corridor.

Alabama Economic Development Guide 2015 41

Engine Plant Climbs

Toyota Mountain Beginning in 2003 with 350 people, Toyota’s Huntsville plant — at $850 million total investment and 1,150-employees — is now poised to become the largest Toyota engine plant in the world. By Thomas M. Little

Toyota Motor Manufacturing Alabama in Huntsville is on course to become the largest Toyota engine plant in the world, aiming to produce 744,000 engines annually. The only Toyota plant building 4-, 6and 8-cylinder engines under one roof, Toyota supplies engines for eight American-built Toyota models. It is increasing production for V6 engines for the Highlander and hopes to reach a 216,000 unit-per-year increase in V6 production. To accommodate the

increased production, Toyota is expanding the plant with the addition of a new, 300,000-square-foot building, increasing the facility to nearly 2 million square feet. The automaker broke ground on the new building in late 2013. “Our latest expansion has four assembly lines,” says TMMAL President Jim Bolte. “The Highlander sells incredibly well, so we’re happy to help make more available.” The plant also is installing new equipment for machining V6 engines, which should be complete by summer 2015.

42 Alabama Economic Development Guide 2015

These improvements represent a $250 million investment, making the total investment in the plant more than $850 million. Toyota’s workforce also has expanded to meet high production demands. To prepare for the increased workload, the plant worked closely with AIDT, the state’s workforce development agency. Gov. Robert Bentley was on hand in 2011 to help Toyota Motor Manufacturing Alabama officials unveil their new line of fourcylinder engines.

Toyota’s Huntsville operation — the only Toyota plant making four-, six- and eightcylinder engines under one roof — has a goal of producing 744,000 engines a year.

“With AIDT, we’ve built a strong and diverse workforce,” says General Manager of Administration Emily Lauder. “We have 18 counties represented from Alabama and Tennessee, and employees coming in from around the globe.” The continued growth has led to the addition of 125 new jobs, bringing the plant’s total employment to about 1,150. “We had over a thousand applicants for the initial expansions,” says Lauder. “AIDT helped us find the best candidates through preliminary training.” Through a variable workforce program, temporary workers involved in previous expansions were made full-time employees. Trainees go through a “day of work” simulator in which they familiarize themselves with the basic tasks involved. They receive hands-on experience with trial engines to learn the assembly process and hone safety and efficiency. Bolte attributes the plant’s steady progress in part to the company’s adherence to a set of principles called the Toyota Way. “It comes down to respecting the human,” he says. “We work diligently on two-way communication among all levels of staff.” The Toyota Way draws heavily from the concept of Kaizen. The Japanese word, literally meaning “improvement,” has come to represent a philosophy of continual progress and change for the better. “It’s important to work together toward common goals,” Bolte continues. “That’s why Toyota looks for team members who are flexible. We look for problem solvers.” Since starting its production lines in 2003, Toyota has enjoyed a close relationship with both its neighbors and the surrounding state. “We’ve been very successful in Alabama, and we love working in Huntsville,” says Bolte. “At every government level, we’ve been embraced as a corporate citizen.” As the automotive industry has continued to expand in Alabama, state leaders have been keen to show their support for state-invested businesses. In late 2013, Gov. Robert Bentley and a group of state development officials visited Japan to meet with industry leaders, including Alabama Economic Development Guide 2015 43

Toyota Chairman Takeshi Uchiyamada. Bolte, who joined the Alabama representatives abroad, believes that the meeting was a successful step in strengthening the state’s ties to the foreign-based businesses. “The partnership between Alabama and Toyota has been great,” he says. “We’re doing business on a global scale, and it’s important to keep relationships strong.” Toyota Alabama also prides itself on being one of the most environmentally conscious plants in the U.S. The recent expansions have allowed it to incorporate new environmentally friendly construction, energy-efficient lighting and the reduction of emissions. “Every time we grow, we want to improve on what we’ve already done,” says Bolte. Toyota’s efforts earned numerous recognitions in 2013, including an Air Pollution Control Achievement Award from the City of Huntsville. Bolte also anticipates the arrival of alternative fuel cars in the coming years. “Toyota leads the market in hybrid production,” he says. “These cars are on the rise, and you will start to see more hybrid plug-ins in the future.” In an effort to provide alternative fuel sources, Toyota is currently researching hydrogen fuel cells. Concept cars were debuted at the Tokyo Motor Show in 2013, and the finished product is planned to launch around 2015. The recent investment indicates overwhelming confidence in Toyota’s viability for years to come. Demand for Toyota products is high across the board. “Many plants across the U.S. have been running at 100 percent capacity,” says Lauder. “Everyone is running overtime to meet demand.” Engines in high demand include powerful V8s for the Tundra and Sequoia, and V6s for the Tundra and Tacoma. “Customer preference depends on who and where you are,” says Bolte. “Working trucks need something strong like a V8. A family may need something different. In Europe, small diesels are popular.” Since production began here 10 years ago, Toyota has achieved milestone after milestone. In 2014, it produced its 3 millionth engine.

44 Alabama Economic Development Guide 2015

Rich Cluster of Auto Suppliers The Alabama-based plants that supply Alabama’s big four assembly and engine manufacturers number in the hundreds, with thousands upon thousands of employees. By nedra bloom They make car seats, car doors, braking systems, headlights, gaskets and more. If it’s a component of a modern automobile, odds are somebody’s making it in Alabama. They may not carry the glitz and glamour of the big boys — MercedesBenz, Hyundai, Honda and Toyota — but

they represent an enormous industrial sector in the Alabama economy. They are the Tier One and Tier Two suppliers, spread across the state from major cities to towns as small as Luverne, Elba, Cusseta and Haleyville. Some have been in the state almost

since the announcement that Mercedes was on its way; some for just a few months. In total, they are a force to be reckoned with. The Big Four may be the “mother Gov. Robert Bentley tours the axle line at the Tuscaloosa plant of Mercedes supplier ZF Lemforder Corp.

Alabama Economic Development Guide 2015 45

bee” of Alabama’s automotive sector, as described by David Bronner of the Retirement Systems of Alabama. But the suppliers are the worker bees that support the effort. Together, some 80 key firms employ in the neighborhood of 20,000 workers, according to Alabama Department of Commerce figures.

The world’s No. 6, 7, 8 and 9 supplier firms all have a presence in Alabama. Faurecia, among the state’s largest suppliers by number of employees, is a great example. The French firm opened in Tuscaloosa in 2010 and has already expanded. Along with others in the state, Faurecia supplies seat assemblies to Mercedes and auto plants in neighboring states. Like many other suppliers, the Alabama operation is part of a global company. Automotive News ranks Faurecia as 7th in the world in 2012, with $22.5 billion in sales in 2012 and 94,000 employees in 34 countries. Other big players include: w Johnson Controls, in Cottondale. Among the nation’s largest automotive suppliers, Johnson Controls also is among Alabama’s oldest supplier firms, opening its plant in 1995. Like Faurecia, Johnson Controls makes seats for Mercedes. Automotive News ranks it 6th on the international list. Johnson Controls also has a plant in Clanton, which it acquired from C. Rob. Hammerstein Group in 2011. w Mobis America, in Montgomery. Opened in 2005, Mobis makes cockpit and chassis systems for Hyundai’s neighboring plant in Montgomery and for the sister Kia plant in West Point, Georgia. Automotive News ranks it 8th among international supplier firms. w Nemak USA Inc., in Sylacauga. Nemak has two facilities in Sylacauga, which it describes as using “different production technologies: Lost Foam and High Pressure Die Casting.” The Alabama plants

Alabama Economic Development Guide 2015 47

Recently completed: a $14.6 million expansion at ZF Lemforder Corp. in Tuscaloosa. Announced in 2012, then Plant Manager Ron Davis (fourth from left) helped staff members and guests hold the ribbon while Gov. Robert Bentley made the cut.

employ nearly 700 workers of a worldwide 20,000-employee team. w Smart Alabama LLC, in Luverne. A principal supplier for body parts for

Hyundai, the 700 workers in Luverne make parts for Hyundaiâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Sonata sedan and Santa Fe SUV models. Smart Alabama is the largest employer in Crenshaw County.

Alto Products, the first supplier to open in 1993, moved its headquarters to Atmore in 1997. w TS Tech Alabama LLC, in Boaz. Another automotive seat maker, TS Tech Alabamaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s principal customer is Honda, with its plant just an hour away in Lincoln.

The influx of suppliers began almost immediately after the Mercedes announcement, when Alto came to town. Alto Products opened in 1993 in Atmore. A 50-year-old manufacturer of friction clutches and related equipment, Alto moved its headquarters to Atmore in 1997. Alto has continued to build its worldwide market, opening in China in 2004, and in Dubai, Brazil, Taiwan, India and Australia in 2006. 48 Alabama Economic Development Guide 2015

While building the marketplace, it has also built its product line — adding gears and shafts with the 2002 acquisition of TICUSA and a turbocharger designed to increase power in fuel-efficient vehicles in 2010. And to accommodate all that growth, the company expanded its corporate headquarters in 2005, moving into a 100,000-square-foot facility next to its earlier corporate HQ. Rehau Automotive LLC opened in 1994 in Cullman. A worldwide corporation, Rehau’s Alabama operations specialize in automotive parts, plastic injection molding, painting and assembly. In November 2013, Rehau announced plans for

tered in Alabama. Hwashin America is typical. The company, which produces chassis and body components, primarily serving Hyundai and its other suppliers, has expanded twice since opening in 2004 in Greenville. Mando America Corp. Alabama, a Korean-based provider of brake, steering and suspension systems, completed construction of its Opelika plant in 2005. Yachiyo opened its Alabama plant almost in concert with Honda’s plant in

Lincoln in 2000. Located in Steele, the plant has expanded several times, including a 2012 expansion to support the new Acura MDX at Honda. And the influx continues today. Asahi Kasei Plastics North America announced plans in mid-2014 for a new $30 million plant in Limestone County to turn plastic resin into pellets that are used to make injection molded parts for automobiles. At the close of 2013, Taesung announced

Rehau has opened its first U.S. research & development center in Cullman. a new technical center — its first in North America — adjacent to its existing Cullman plant. The new center, estimated to cost $2 million to $3 million, will house about 45 engineers, who will work on injection molding, paint, fabrication and supply chain issues, as well as offering space for technical training. Rehau’s announcement followed close on the heels of news of a plant expansion to facilitate a new bumper system for Mercedes. ZF Lemforder Corp., which opened in 1994 in Tuscaloosa, is a key supplier for Mercedes, making automotive front and rear axle systems. Like Mercedes, the company is based in Germany. And like Mercedes, it recently has completed a significant expansion. Kamtek Inc., which opened in 1995 in Birmingham, operates an auto body metal stamping plant. Like many other Mercedes suppliers, it has expanded recently. Each new automaker has brought its own rush of suppliers, which come to be close to their customers. Says Ashley Frye, vice president of production at the Hyundai plant in Montgomery, about half of the company’s 70 major suppliers are headquarAlabama Economic Development Guide 2015 49

plans for a $6.6 million plant in Shorter, Macon County, to make injection molded auto parts. Among the newest industries in Alabama’s Interstate 22 corridor is Fayette Fabrication. The plant, first in its tricounty regional business incubator, will make steel racking systems for use on the production floor of manufacturing plants. Suppliers also use these assemblies to transport products to their customers. Fayette Fabrication opened in December, 2013. Over in Lee County, Donghee America Inc. joined the strong supplier force in 2013 when it announced a $48 million investment for a plant to make automotive fuel tanks. The plant, in the Auburn Technology Park West, joins German supplier RAPA, Seung Chang Airtech and Mando as new and expanding players in the Auburn-Opelika area. RAPA, a nickname for German-based Rausch and Pausch LP, was the 2012 headline maker there with the announcement of an $18 million plant and headquarters. A maker of precision auto parts, including solenoid valves and control blocks, RAPA supplies Chrysler and German transmission manufacturer ZF. “We are now an Auburn company,” Chairman of the Board Horst Pausch Sr. said of the Auburn location. “Over time, we want to build a company in Auburn that is independent from Germany, with its own research and development capabilities and its own set of North Americabased customers.” Other top suppliers make almost every element of a modern automobile — engine blocks at Nemak USA Inc. in Sylacauga; auto lighting at SL Alabama LLC in Alexander City; catalytic converter systems at BASF Catalyst in Huntsville; aluminum wheels at Borbet Alabama Inc. in Auburn; ignition systems and sensors at Electricfil in Elkmont; signal lamps at North American Lighting Inc. in Muscle Shoals; sound insulation components at Daehan Solutions Alabama LLC in Hope Hull; dashboard assemblies at Inteva Products LLC in Gadsden, and tubes for ventilation systems at KwangSung America Corp. in Dadeville.

50 Alabama Economic Development Guide 2015

by the numbers

alabama auto production year

total production

u10 passenger vehicle models

u Alabama ranks 4th in the

2004

252,000

are built by Alabama manufac-

U.S. for vehicle exports. In 2013,

2005

479,000

turers. In 2013, Honda began

export dollars for vehicles and

2006

698,000

production on the 2014 Acura

vehicle parts totaled nearly

2007

738,000

2008

672,000

MDX . The Mercedes C-Class

$6.5 billion. (Alabama

2009

467,817

began production in

Department of Commerce

2010

711,283

2011

745,000

2012

880,114

2013

915,000

2014 and a new Mercedes SUV

International Trade Division,

is announced for 2015.

2013; 2012 data)

Alabama Economic Development Guide 2015 51

Automotive Manufacturers ADDRESS

executive/ title

address

PHONE/FAX

WEBSITE

PRODUCTS

EMPLOYEES

rank

Ranked by Number of Employees. Source: Alabama Department of Commerce database. DND = Did Not Disclose.

Honda Manufacturing of Alabama LLC

Tom Shoupe President & CEO

1800 Honda Dr. Lincoln, AL 35096

205-355-5000 205-355-5011

hondaalabama.com

Odyssey Mini Vans, Pilot SUVs, Ridgeline Pickups, V6 Engines & Acura MDX Luxury SUVs (2013); V-6 Engines

Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama LLC

Young Deuk Lim President & CEO

700 Hyundai Blvd. Montgomery, AL 36105

334-387-8000 334-387-8297

hmmausa.com

Sonata & Elantra Sedans, 4-cylinder 2.0L Turbo & 2.4L Theta Gasoline Direct Injection & Multi Port Injection Engines, 1.8 Liter Nu Engine

30014000

Mercedes Benz US International Inc.

Jason Hoff President & CEO

1 Mercedes Dr. Vance, AL 35490

205-507-3300 DND

mbusi.com

Third Generation M-Class SUV, GL-Class SUV, R-Class Crossover, C-Class Sedans (2014), New Coupe-style Design (2015)

25013000

Toyota Motor Manufacturing Alabama

Jim Bolte President

1 Cottonvalley Dr. Huntsville, AL 35810

256-746-5000 256-746-5906

toyota.com/tmmal

V6 & V8 Engines, 4 Cylinder Engines

10011500

Johnson Controls Inc.

Andreas Jagl VP General Mgr.

15911 Progress Dr. Cottondale, AL 35453

205-553-2355 205-553-7013

jci.com

Auto Seat Assembly & Interior Products

651-750

Mobis America Inc. (HC)

Soon Hwa Kim President & CEO

1395 Mitchell Young Rd. Montgomery, AL 36108

334-387-4800 DND

mobis.co.kr

Motor Vehicle Chassis, Plastic Injection Molding, Distribution

651-750

Nemak USA Inc.

T. Gerald Burgess 2100 Old Sylacauga Hwy. HR Manager Sylacauga, AL 35150

256-401-2600 256-401-2601

nemak.com

Engine Blocks

651-750

Smart Alabama LLC

Homan Hong Vice President

121 Shin Young Dr. Luverne, AL 36049

334-335-5800 334-335-5816

smart-alabama.com

Stamping Plant, Inner Panel Sheet Metal (Tailgates, Hoods & Sunroofs)

651-750

TS Tech Alabama LLC

George Nichols Sr. Mgr. Admin.

1685 N. Main St. Boaz, AL 35957

256-593-9399 256-593-9865

tstech.co.jp/english

Automobile Seats

651-750

Federal-Mogul Sealing Systems

Robbie Day Plant Manager

1500 Freeman Ave. Athens, AL 35613

256-233-0140 256-233-0578

federal-mogul.com

Automotive Gaskets & Seals

551-650

David Nam President & CEO

661 Montgomery Hwy. Greenville, AL 36037

334-382-1100 334-382-1101

hwashin.co.kr/eng

Chassis & Drive Train Automotive Body Parts

551-650

Tae Young Kwak President

4201 N. Park Dr. Opelika, AL 36801

334-364-3600 334-364-3601

mando.com/mando/ eng

Braking, Steering & Suspension Systems

551-650

13 REHAU Automotive LLC

Lars Krook Plant Manager

2424 Industrial Dr. SW Cullman, AL 35055

256-737-3028 256-737-3018

rehau.com

Automotive Parts Plastic Injection Molding, Painting & Assembly

551-650

14 Briggs & Stratton Corp.

Russ Stone Plant Manager

150 Technology Pkwy. Auburn, AL 35830

334-821-7999 334-502-2259

briggsandstratton. com

5-22 HP Gasoline Engines

451-550

15 Johnson Controls

Dean Lenane CEO

2541 7th St. S. Clanton, AL 35046

205-755-9994 205-755-9083

crh-group.com

Automobile Seat Adjuster Systems

451-550

16 NABI Bus LLC

Herb Clark Director HR

106 National Dr. Anniston, AL 36207

256-831-4296 256-831-4299

NABusInd.com

Transit Buses

451-550

17 SL Alabama LLC

Sun Kyun Seok 2481 Airport Blvd. Project CoordinaAlexander City, AL 35010 tor & Sales Mgr.

256-397-8511 256-397-8512

samlip.co.kr

Auto Lighting Parts & Systems

451-550

18 AJIN USA (Joon LLC)

Jae Ik (Jake) Jang 1004N Lanier Ave. Managing Director Lanett, AL 36863

334-644-5821 334-756-3656

DND

Automotive Metal Stamping & Robotic Welding

351-450

19 BASF Catalyst

Mark Todd Site Manager

9800 Kellner Rd. Huntsville, AL 35824

256-772-9373 256-464-7409

catalysts.basf.com

Catalytic Converter Systems

351-450

20 Bostrom Seating Inc.

Robert Jackson President/CEO

50 Nances Creek Industrial Blvd. 256-447-9051 Piedmont, AL 36272 256-447-2038

bostromseating.com

Driver Seating for Heavy/Medium Duty Trucks

351-450

21 Fontaine Trailer Co.

Mark Keller President

3300 Industrial Dr. Jasper, AL 35501

205-385-0930 DND

fontainetrailer.com

Flatbed Tractor Trailers

351-450

11 Hwashin America Corp. 12

Mando America Corp. Alabama

Over 4000

Heil Environmental Industries

Anthony Henson Plant Manager

4301 Gault Ave. N. Fort Payne, AL 35967

256-845-4912 256-845-7538

heil.com

Garbage Truck Bodies

351-450

Phoenix Industries Huntsville

H. Bryan Dodson President

2939 Johnson Rd. SW Huntsville, AL 35805

256-880-0671 256-880-2149

hsvrehab.org

Canvas Products

351-450

Alabama Cullman Yutaka Technologies (ACYT)

Masa Suzuki President

460 Alabama Hwy. 157 Cullman, AL 35058

256-739-3533 DND

yutakatech.com

Metal Stampings, Automotive Exhaust Systems & Catalytic Converters, Torque Converters

301-350

25 Alto Products

David Landa President

1 Alto Way Atmore, AL 36502

251-368-7777 251-368-7774

altousa.com

Auto Transmission Clutch Plates

301-350

26 Hanil USA

James Cho Plant Manager

50 Hanil Dr. Tallassee, AL 36078

334-514-5843 DND

haniltube.com

Plastic & Steel Tube Component Assembly for Vehicle Fuel Systems

301-350

Dan Thornton Vice President & Plant Manager

405 Industrial Blvd. Leesburg, AL 35983

256-526-3530 256-526-3529

kth.net

Metal Frame Components

301-350

KTH Leesburg Products LLC

52 Alabama Economic Development Guide 2015

EMPLOYEES

rank

executive/ title

address

PHONE/FAX

WEBSITE

PRODUCTS

28 S J A Inc

Seung Hwa Ahn President

274 Thweatt Industrial Blvd. Dadeville, AL 36853

256-825-2290 256-825-7712

DND

Plastic Injection Molded Automotive Parts

301-350

29 Topre America Corp.

Hiroshi Chiba President

1580 County Rd 222 Cullman, AL 35057

256-735-2600 256-736-6473

topreamerica.com

Automotive Metal Stamping

301-350

Jason Gerding President

2310 Industrial Dr. S.W. Cullman, AL 35055

256-739-6660 256-739-6296

webbwheel.com

Hubs & Drums (Heavy Truck/Trailer)

301-350

31 Z F Lemforder Corp.

Ron Davis Plant Manager

1200 Commerce Dr. Tuscaloosa, AL 35401

205-333-5100 205-333-5210

zf-group.com

Automotive Axle Systems

301-350

32 Borbet Alabama Inc.

Jim Ferguson President & CEO

979 W. Veterans Blvd. Auburn, AL 36832

334-502-9400 334-502-9494

borbet.de/en

Automotive Aluminum Wheels

251-300

Charlie Kim President

12970 Montgomery Hwy. 331 N. Luverne, AL 36049

334-537-5000 334-537-9300

dwmic.com

Door Frames, Side Impact Beams, Roof Molding, Console Brackets

251-300

Pascal Auburtin 18831 Carter Circle Vice President/ Elkmont, AL 35620 General Manager

256-732-4044 256-732-3934

electricfil.com

Ignition Systems & Transmission & Climate Control Sensors

251-300

Martin Kim CEO

4400 N. Park Dr. Opelika, AL 35801

334-741-7725 334-741-7796

hanwhacomposites.com

Bumper Back Beams & Bumper's Impact Resistance Core

251-300

36 Inteva Products LLC

Joyce Luker Plant Manager

11005 Ed Stephens Rd. Cottondale, AL 35453

205-554-3140 205-554-6140

intevaproducts.com

Motor Vehicle Parts Manufacturing

251-300

37 Kamtek Inc.

Mike Hartman Plant Manager

1595 Sterilite Dr. Birmingham, AL 35215

205-327-7000 205-327-7010

ogihara-al.com

Auto Body Metal Stamping

251-300

38 Lear Montgomery

Duk Kim Plant Manager

200 Folmar Pkwy. Montgomery, AL 36105

334-280-5505 334-280-5581

DND

Motor Vehicle Seating & Interior Trim Manufacturing

251-300

39 Matsu Alabama Inc.

Robert Todd 9650 Kellner Rd. General Manager Huntsville, AL 35824

256-772-5888 256-772-6090

matcor-matsu.com

Auto Metal Stampings & Welded Components

251-300

Dan Johnson Manager

256-314-4200 DND

nal.com

Automobile Signal Lamps

251-300

ADDRESS

Webb Wheel Products Inc.

Dongwon Autopart Technology AL

34 Electricfil Corp. 35

Hanwha L&C Alabama LLC

North American Lighting Inc.

100 Counts Dr. Muscle Shoals, AL 35661

54 Alabama Economic Development Guide 2015

41 Bridgewater Interiors LLC 42

Daehan Solutions Alabama LLC

EMPLOYEES

rank

ADDRESS

executive/ title

address

PHONE/FAX

WEBSITE

PRODUCTS

Ronald Hall President & CEO

1 Bridgewater Dr. Eastaboga, AL 36260

256-240-7900 256-240-7990

bridgewaterinteriors.com

Automotive Seat Systems

201-250

Kevin Kim CEO

9101 County Rd. 26 Hope Hull, AL 36043

334-404-5000 334-404-5040

dhsol-usa.com

Interior Sound Insulation Components

201-250

43 Flex-N-Gate Alabama LLC

Tom Lynett 6324 Bay Dr. General Manager McCalla, AL 35111

205-277-1030 DND

flex-n-gate.com

Full Assembly, Injection Molding

201-250

44 Grede Holdings LLC

Jim LeCroy 130 Industrial Park Rd. General Manager Columbiana, AL 35051

205-669-5750 205-669-5753

grede.com

Medium- & High-volume Gray & Ductile Iron Lost Foam Castings

201-250

Kyung Ho Woo President

200 Craig Industrial Dr. Selma, AL 36701

334-410-7112 334-410-7101

hanileh.com/eng

Automotive Interior Trim

201-250

Michael Nixdorf Talladega Test Facility Manager

144 Division St. Lincoln, AL 35096

256-761-6900 256-761-6950

DND

Motorcycle Research & Development

201-250

Toshihiko Osawa President

990 Duncan Farm Rd. Steele, AL 35987

256-538-1974 256-538-2043

yachiyo-ind.co.jp

Welded & Sub-assembled Automotive Parts

201-250

48 Federal-Mogul Corp.

Rick Owens Plant Manager

300 Wagner Dr. Boaz, AL 35957

256-505-6200 256-593-4669

federalmogul.com

Auto Chassis

151-200

Fleetwood Metal Industries Inc.

Paul Clarke Plant Manager

162 Gene Stewart Court Sylacauga, AL 35151

256-245-0013 DND

fleetwoodmetal.com

Automotive Metal Stamping

151-200

F S Fehrer Automotive GmbH

David Rodriquez Plant Manager

4330 W. Brooke Dr. Gadsden, AL 35904

256-680-3333 DND

fehrer.com

Automotive Seat Pads

151-200

51 Imperial Group LLC

Scott Geier Central Region Mgr.

106 National Dr. Anniston, AL 36207

256-831-4296 256-831-4299

NABusInd.com

Transit Bus Components

151-200

52 Inteva Products LLC

Joyce Luker Plant Manager

4605 Airport Rd. Gadsden, AL 35904

256-413-4088 866-272-7748

intevaproducts.com

Automotive Dashboard Assemblies

151-200

Moon Wook Kim CEO

217 Thweatt Industrial Blvd. Dadeville, AL 36853

256-825-8002 256-825-9006

DND

Blow Plastic Tubing for Auto Ventilation Systems; Automotive Plastic Injection Molding

151-200

Hanil E-Hwa Interior Systems

46 Harley-Davidson Inc. 47

Yachiyo Manufacturing of Alabama LLC

KwangSung America Corp.

Alabama Economic Development Guide 2015 55

56 Alabama Economic Development Guide 2015

The Modern Apprentice Leading Alabama manufacturers advance their workforce with apprenticeships crafted for advancing times — from modern tool and die to mechatronics. By Kathy Hagood A number of manufacturing apprenticeship programs have sprung up across the state in recent years in response to increased demand for workers with critical technical skills and the realization that a cadre of veteran employees will be retiring within the next five to 10 years. Alabama employers and community colleges are working together to develop a richer labor pool through programs that strategically combine technical classroom

and lab instruction with on-the-job training. Program designers say that everyone — employees, employers and colleges — wins because apprenticeship programs are specifically tailored to produce desirable employees with proven track records ready to take on highly skilled positions. Although apprenticeship programs have some similarities with cooperative education (co-op) programs, which match college students with related work opportunities,

apprenticeship programs are more specifically designed to meet a local employer’s needs. Apprentices earn while they learn and employers pay some of the cost of classroom instruction. A limited number of John Howard, human resources manager at Weidmann Plastics, works with student employee Phillip McFarlin, who is in the industrial machine system technician apprenticeship program at Southern Union State Community College.

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Gadsden State Community College students learn to troubleshoot a robot in a classroom portion of their training. Photo courtesy of CARCAM

slots are available, either through a highly competitive application process or company selection from its current employees. Workforce development experts expect the apprenticeship trend only to increase in coming years. “Today, there are many more manufacturing jobs that are so technically demanding that college coursework is needed before someone can even begin to work in an area. It’s also the case that putting that technical knowledge into practice on the plant floor solving real-life issues

is invaluable,” says Beverly Hilderbrand, director of the Consortium for Alabama Regional Center for Automotive Manufacturing (CARCAM), which is based at Gadsden State Community College. CARCAM’s members include 11 Alabama community and technical colleges; automotive manufacturers and suppliers; and local, county, state and federal education and workforce development agencies. The consortium is supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation

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Advanced Technological Education (ATE) division, and helps foster well developed apprenticeship programs that are registered with the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Apprenticeship. “We first began promoting apprenticeship programs in 2005,” says Hilderbrand, “and have seen an increase in their numbers in recent years.” Among the best apprenticeships across the state are two four-year programs that Federal-Mogul has established in association with Calhoun Community College. The company and college came together in January 2012 to create one program in industrial maintenance and another in tool and die, to serve Federal-Mogul’s Athens plant, which manufactures sealing systems for the automotive industry. “Federal-Mogul wanted to develop some of its proven employees to be able to eventually move into higher skilled positions,” says Diane Peck, workforce solutions project coordinator at the college. The first class, which began in fall of 2012, included three tool-and-die apprentices and four industrial maintenance apprentices. The second class, which kicked off this year, includes six apprentices in each area. Those apprentices work full-time at the plant and attend college part-time, taking classes alongside regular community college students for their coursework. “It’s a great advantage for our regular students to be attending classes with fulltime workers who have practical knowledge,” Peck says. Calhoun collaborates with six area companies with apprenticeship programs. Because they work with internal candidates, the companies either reimburse college tuition if coursework is completed successfully or directly pay the college for their employees’ classes. “Companies know they have highly skilled workers who will be retiring and/or anticipate increased demand for such workers. Rather than launching an expensive job search and then waiting to see whether a new employee will work out, they prefer to develop some of their own top performers,” Peck says. By contrast, the application process for the Mercedes-Benz U.S. International Inc.

In the robotics lab at Wallace State Community College Hanceville, faculty member Joe Hendrix (right) explains the fine points of controller programming. Hendrix was honored as the Alabama Community College Association technical teacher of the year.

mechatronics apprenticeship program at Shelton State Community College is competitive and not limited to internal candidates. Even so, Mercedes picks up much of the cost of tuition — 100 percent during the final semesters. Students must buy their own books. Mechatronics is a technical discipline that combines electronics and mechanical engineering. Several hundred applications came in for 40 slots available in the first mechatronics class, which kicked off in January of 2012. “It’s been a wonderful opportunity for our students,” says Jason Moore, associate dean for training for existing business and industry for the college. Candidates for the seven-term mechatronics program must first be accepted by the college and then apply to MercedesBenz. After a series of assessments, Mercedes selects a limited number of apprentices for part-time work at the company’s production facility. Students work 16 hours a week and take from 11 to 18 credit hours depending upon the semester. Mechatronics apprentices attend day classes with their cohort group at the college, are provided with hands-on training at the Mercedes-Benz Institute and experience on-site learning at the MBUSI plant. After their coursework is completed, they earn an associate degree in industrial electronics and a short certificate in industrial maintenance from Shelton. Apprentices who rank in the top 75 percent of their cohort group are promised production positions at MBUSI. Topperforming candidates will move on to the company’s industrial mechatronics maintenance program. “There’s no down side to the program, even for those who are not hired by MBUSI. Students that might have been working at fast-food restaurants to earn some money are spending the same amount of time gaining experience with a major employer in their field of interest,” says Shelton State’s Moore. While both the Mercedes and FederalMogul apprenticeship programs were designed to produce top-notch employees for their own companies, the industrial 60 Alabama Economic Development Guide 2015

machine system technician apprenticeship program at Southern Union State Community College works on a slightly different model. The college is partnering with the East Alabama Industrial Consortium to provide on-going part-time apprenticeship work opportunities with its 12 consortium members. Slots in the program are limited and in demand, even though students are fully responsible for paying their own tuition. Consortium members include Gambro Renal Products, Weidmann Plastics North America, Donaldson Co., Mando America, Hanwha L & C, Pharmavite, Borbet Alabama, Daedong Hi-Lex, Aluminum Technology Schmid North America, CV Holdings LLC (SiO2 Medical Products and CSP Technologies) and Rexnord Industries – Auburn. “The companies don’t necessarily have any current or anticipated needs for skilled workers, but they realize they could at some point, and they want to give back by supporting the community in developing a skilled labor force everyone can take advantage of,” says Darin Baldwin, dean of technical education and workforce devel-

opment at Southern Union. Currently 16 apprentices are participating in the six-term program, which concludes with an Associate of Applied Science Manufacturing Technology and a number of short-term certificates, including manufacturing technology. No matter what company they work for, apprentices at minimum learn the same set of specific manufacturing tasks. “At the end of the program, they will have a number of transferrable technical skills that will make them desirable employees for companies in or outside of our area,” Baldwin says. One apprentice from the program’s first class, which kicked off in October 2012, is Phillip McFarlin Jr., who is working at Weidmann Plastics as part of his program. “An instructor I knew from high school recommended I apply for the program, and I’m so glad I did,” he says. “When I come across a problem in class, I can ask one of my fellow workers about it, and when I come across a challenge at work, I can ask an instructor about it. It’s really helpful in better understanding what I’m learning.” John Howard, human resources man-

ager at Weidmann Plastics, says having McFarlin on site helps develop his skills and provides Weidmann’s maintenance department with a motivated employee. “We may or may not have an opening available for him after he graduates, but we know we’ve giving someone deserving a great opportunity for hands-on training and invaluable work experience,” Howard says. The apprenticeship program trend bodes well for Alabama’s economic health, says Terry Waters, senior executive director for workforce and economic development of the Alabama Department of Postsecondary Education. “We are encouraged by the startup of several new apprenticeship and cooperative education programs in Alabama,” he says “Our community college system understands the value of students training alongside journeymen, and we are seeing more of these ‘earn while you learn’ models being initiated in concert with our colleges, having remarkable success.” For the full story, see the January 2014 issue on BusinessAlabama.com

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Fitness Training for the Real World The decades old training model of the college co-op seems designed for today’s lean and hungry job market. Employers get a semester or more of “interview” time. Students bulk up resumes for the real world. By Thomas m. Little What do you do when even entry-level jobs require experience? Many college students in Alabama turn to co-op programs — partnerships between universities and businesses that offer on-the-job experience for students and fresh ideas for companies. Students alternate a semester of classes with a semester on the job, gaining practical understanding of their fields and a significant bullet point for the experience section of their resumes. Tyler Clark, an engineering student

at the University of Alabama, joined his school’s program to learn more about his potential career path. “The co-op program has completely changed my perspective on my education,” he says. “Prior to co-oping, like most college students, I was still somewhat unsure if engineering was the career path I wanted to follow. However, once I began the co-op program, I was able to quickly realize that engineering is where I belong.” Clark has spent three semesters working with Redstone Test Center, a division of

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the Army Test and Evaluation Command in Huntsville. He was involved in a variety of testing procedures, including dynamic testing on military equipment, climatic and temperature testing and flight testing with the aircraft survivability equipment on the Co-op students from nearby universities are a way of life at the Mercedes-Benz U.S. International plant in Vance. Here, HR and Recruiting Specialist Steve Colburn (left) takes a moment’s break with students Jarvis Fullenwilder, Carlton Northrup and Katy Beckett. Photo by Cary Norton

Chinook and Blackhawk helicopters. This time outside of the university allowed Clark to put his knowledge to the test, as well. “Co-oping has also allowed me to see that some things learned in the classroom may look good on paper and in the theoretical world, but may be a completely different story when you go to physically apply those principles.” Clark’s on-the-job learning is exactly what UA hopes to achieve by connecting its students with businesses. “By matching the appropriate students with a job description, we provide the opportunity for students to blend classroom theory with hands-on application and a potential full-time hire for the participating employer at the end of the program,” says Roy Gregg, director of UA’s Cooperative Education and Professional Practice Program. The program provides a direct link between the student’s education and career. For the program’s participants, the time spent at work helps develop a clearer idea of what they can do beyond college, often providing vital connections to their field. “I’m gaining real world experience,” says Clark. “I feel like it has given my education a greater meaning and allowed me to develop a passion for engineering.” Reflecting the university’s growing enrollment, the UA Cooperative Education Program has more than 800 students each semester participating or interviewing with partner businesses. The university has offered coop opportunities since the official program was established in 1963, though there may have been some informal involvement by engineering students in Birmingham industries as far back as the 1930s. The program began as an engineeringspecific initiative but was expanded to a university-wide program in 1978. While the focus has broadened, engineering remains among the university’s most popular fields. “We reflect the job market and have very large technical and engineering participation,” says Gregg. “Our university and College of Engineering are very invested in this program. Parents and students are shopping around now, looking for universities which offer an instructional structure or process to allow students the opportunity to acquire resume enhancing work experience prior to graduation,” he says. Co-op programs have become increas-

ingly viable options for Alabama companies as well. “We are seeing more employer inquiries than ever before,” says Gregg. “I sense employers are looking for cost effective ways to identify talented young students in desired majors, train them and hopefully retain these students at graduation.” For many students, the most immediate co-op benefit comes in the form of experience. Putting career-specific work credentials on a resume is a distinct advantage in an increasingly competitive market. As

students gain new understanding of their coursework by applying it, they simultaneously increase their chances for employment. “With many employers going to online employment application processes, student resumes must now show acquired skill sets and in-depth work experiences to get a positive employer response,” says Gregg. “Many parents are now wanting a return on their investment in the form of professional employment for their children

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at graduation. Those parents are very tuned in to the competitive job market for new college graduates.” Co-op experience also helps students retain what they’ve learned in class, pick up tricks of the trade and get a head start on cutting edge techniques that haven’t yet

found their way into textbooks. Auburn University software engineering student Robert Ghames took advantage of his school’s co-op program and put his tech skills to work at Neptune Technology Group in Tallassee. He worked in test engineering, building machines and writing

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software to test various products. “In my case, co-oping let me learn new technical processes, or new software lanMercedes recruiter Steve Colburn points out features of the Vance plant for co-op students. Photo by Cary Norton

guages I hadn’t even heard of until my work terms,” he says. At the end of the co-op period, students typically return to their regular schoolwork until graduation. Although some graduates may find a job with their former co-op, they all come away with a unique insight into their line of work. Auburn’s Cooperative Education Program has connected students to companies for more than 76 years. About 680 students are currently enrolled in the program. “Primarily during the sophomore and junior years, students alternate between full-time work and full-time school semesters until they have worked a minimum of one calendar year,” says Kim Durbin, director of Auburn’s co-op program. Auburn is partnered with more than 180 companies spanning industry, business and government — with Southern Co.,GeorgiaPacific and Mercedes-Benz ranking as the university’s top three employers. In Mobile, the University of South Alabama connects an average of 145 students to businesses each year. “This type of practical experience is es-

sential to the university’s teaching mission,” says Director of Career Services Bevley Green. “Upon return to the classroom, students often have an enlightened view of their studies and are better able to translate theory to practice.” These real world applications are highly encouraged by USA staff, and student ambassadors return to share their experiences at an annual event. A Co-op Student of the Year and an Intern Student of the Year are named after their ambassadorship has ended. “We are very proud of the accomplishments of all of our students,” says Green, “so supporting our students through this recognition of their time and efforts is a small way to show our appreciation.” USA student Nathan Wisner found a co-op position with Southern Co., where he is charged with driving efficiency in contractor resources for the plant maintenance department. Among other duties, he analyzes payroll reports and translates raw data into information using Excel models. “I apply accrual-based accounting principles and accounting information system

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concepts daily in my job functions,” he says. “I’ve found accounting information systems to be the most practical course I’ve taken to date in the accounting curriculum. “I plan to use the experience and skills developed from my co-op to make an impact in future roles held within Southern Co.,” he says. “There are limited financerelated opportunities at the plant, but I hope to find a niche somewhere within the company.” By working with Southern Co., Wisner has joined one of the most well-established co-op groups in the U.S. Southern Co. and its subsidiaries, such as Alabama Power, have strong partnerships with colleges across the state. “Our co-op program is designed to give hands-on experience to talented undergraduates in a variety of areas,” says Southern Co.’s Campus Recruiting Consultant Lindsay Osborne. “It provides students with the opportunity to build on their experiences through increased responsibility each returning semester. Our goal through the program is to develop students to prepare them for potential careers with

Southern Co. and our subsidiaries, including Alabama Power. “We use our co-op program as one of our primary pipelines into entry-level engineering positions,” says Osborne. “Alabama Power and all of Southern Co. have benefitted from a very good retention rate. In many cases, engineers typically join the company through a co-op program and stay for their full career.” While Southern Co. has an extensive co-op program, it strives to maintain a balance in expanding its workforce. “We see the benefit of hiring co-ops as a natural extension of our overall hiring, including hiring full-time employees,” says Osborne. “One program does not outweigh another. They work in concert to ensure Southern Co., Alabama Power and all our subsidiaries have a strong, diverse and inclusive work environment.” Co-op programs have become a valuable scouting tool for companies across the state. Mercedes Benz U.S. International has participated with co-op programs for 15 years, drawing many of its students from Alabama and Auburn. “The co-op program is mainly for recruiting,” says Human Resources and Recruiting Specialist Steve Colburn. “Secondary to that, the program is for student development and is a resource tool for MBUSI.” Mercedes takes on about 40 students per semester, allowing them to hone their skills in a wide range of areas, including human resources, communications, purchasing, logistics and finance. “The co-op program provides real world development for the student and it also allows us to prepare students for possible full time roles within MBUSI,” he says. “The students are involved in many different projects and tasks that make a positive impact at MBUSI.” In the northern region of Alabama, Parker Hannifin Corp. works closely with the University of Alabama in Huntsville to bring in co-op students. The company has about 20 students working at a time. “One of the main reasons we participate in the program is to identify young talent for future needs in our business,” says Human Resources Manager Rodney Atkins. “The co-op program allows us to develop young students into productive full-time employees upon graduation, either for

Parker or other employers.” Co-op students are paid based upon their school status. At Parker’s Huntsville and Boaz locations, they are assigned company-essential projects so that they can serve the company while preparing for careers in fields like engineering, supply chain management, marketing and lean manufacturing. Students at Parker Hannifin may work with the company for two or three semesters.

“I look at this time as a long interview,” says Atkins. “It is an opportunity to build a long-lasting relationship with a young professional who will potentially be a valuable asset upon graduation or even years down the road. Hiring a regular employee is always a much higher risk, due to not being familiar with their technical skills, personality, fit for the job, etc.”

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Sweet Home of Incentives Alabama is famous for making deals to get business â&#x20AC;&#x201D;

from megadeals like Mercedes to small-town retail plums. Economic developers say itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the only way to play the game. By Jessica Armstrong 68 Alabama Economic Development Guide 2015

In 1992, South Carolina offered BMW an incentive package valued at some $150 million. Just a year later, Alabama brought considerably more to the table, beating out other states with $253 million in incentives to bring a Mercedes-Benz assembly plant to Vance. Since then, Alabama has successfully used incentives to attract major companies, including Honda, Hyundai, Toyota, Airbus and Australian-based shipbuilder Austal. Incentives are a fact of life, says Alabama Secretary of Commerce Greg Canfield, necessary to attract economic investments that in turn bring jobs. And all the state’s rivals offer incentives when a major project is in play. An effective incentives package can give Alabama a seat at the negotiating table where its business climate, logistical advantages, job training programs and workforce can be presented. “One of our basic measures on each incentivized project is a return on investment analysis,” Canfield explains. “The metrics used for this ROI analysis include the capital investment of the company, risk characteristics, payroll generated, property tax generated for education, income taxes, payroll taxes and other factors.” Canfield says the state has been repaid many times over for its support of Project Rosewood (the campaign to recruit Mercedes-Benz to Alabama), which began in 1993 as a $300 million plant with 1,500 employees. After four expansions, the investment now totals $4 billion in the plant and equipment, and the workforce is at nearly 5,000 employees. “On another level, Mercedes has improved Alabama’s image and opened doors for us around the world,” says Canfield. “The same is true for Honda, Hyundai, Toyota and other international companies operating in the state. I expect Airbus to have a similar effect.” Calculating the return on investment is done “very carefully,” Canfield points out. “We evaluate the financial metrics of all projects using a number of factors and ROI is a common calculation among several others we use.” Canfield says performance-based measures are often introduced to tie incentives to job creation or investment, so that payments are structured only at certain intervals. Clawback clauses ensure that companies live up to their end of the bargain or

they must make reimbursements. For big projects, the Department of Commerce consults an independent source, typically an economist, who provides a detailed assessment of costs and benefits. “We have seen other states create more incentives that rely less on debt and more on tying the source of incentives to tax streams that benefit from economic activity,” Canfield adds. “Alabama, to remain competitive and keep our incentive base sustainable, must look at funding incentives in similar fashion. We’re working on a new incentives approach for this legislative session.” The legislature passed Commerce’s plan, the Made In Alabama Act, a plan “to reduce Alabama’s dependency on debt to encourage growth and will give us the ability to incentivize companies not just around capital investment but also around job creation. The act will include additional incentives to companies interested in creating jobs in counties that are suffering

from high unemployment,” Canfield says. “This new act is a win-win solution in that it provides attractive incentives to companies and it provides the state a guaranteed return on investment.” Not all incentive projects proceed without a hitch. German-based ThyssenKrupp won more than $1 billion in incentives for land, job training and tax breaks, but in just a few years put both of the twin mills on the market. The $5 billion plants in Mobile and Washington counties are still operating and are among the area’s largest employers. Alabama’s incentive investment in ThyssenKrupp’s Mobile facility, Canfield says, was Opposite: Secretary of Commerce Greg Canfield is an ardent supporter of incentives, but still looks for ways to improve the process. Photo by Robert Fouts Above: Incentives are a fact of life, says Canfield, attracting major companies like like ThyssenKrupp, which built this stainless steel plant now owned by Outokumpu Oyj. Photo by Dan Anderson

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covered when total employment at both its carbon and stainless plants hit 2,000 jobs. Canfield was encouraged that both mills found buyers — Outokumpu Oyj for the stainless mill and a joint venture between ArcelorMittal and Nippon Steel & Sumitomo Metal for the cold rolled mill. Near Muscle Shoals, Canadian-based National Steel Car built a railroad car plant using a total of $625 million loaned by Alabama’s pension fund, but the rail-

car industry went bust during the height of the recession. As its new owner, the Retirement Systems of Alabama is now trying to sell it, and National Steel Car’s chairman and CEO was accused of defrauding the RSA by not disclosing the actual cost of the project and will be tried in Colbert County. Canfield says the National Steel Car project incentives were performance based and the state made an initial incentive

payment of approximately $13 million. Since that time, he adds, the state has renegotiated a new project with Navistar and FreightCar America, and the plant is in active production. David Bronner, CEO of Retirement Systems of Alabama, believes incentives are crucial to leveling the playing field by making Alabama more attractive to outsiders. “A state like Alabama, where the quality of life isn’t as good as it is in some other states, can’t compete without incentives. It’s just that simple.” Back in Gov. George Wallace’s day, Alabama could only attract dirty industries like chemicals and oil, Bronner recalls. “And you had to put up a lot of money for a few jobs. Now, for example, the state has the automotive industry, which I call a ‘mother bee.’ A whole lot of other jobs have to supply that mother bee — all kinds of tier 1 and 2 suppliers.” Alabama municipalities also offer incentives to attract businesses to their communities. Local incentives helped entice Pennsylvania-based Carpenter Technology, a producer and distributor of specialty alloys, to build its new superalloy powder plant across the street from its $518 million manufacturing facility near Athens, in Limestone County, even before the first plant was open. “It’s a great 125-year-old U.S. company,” says Tom Hill, president of the Greater Limestone County Economic Development Association. “They looked at about 125 sites worldwide and visited about 10 sites. It was very competitive.” In Ozark, officials approved a $2.2 million agreement with Love’s Travel Stop and Country Store to allow the company to secure property to construct a travel center off U.S. Highway 231. The agreement will be funded by rebating 2 cents of the local gas and diesel tax collected in the area for a period of 15 years or until sales reach $2.2 million, with the money used for the city’s general fund. Eric Basinger, executive director of the Ozark Dale County Economic Development Corp., says travelers seek out nationally recognized brands such as Love’s. So an increase of travelers stopping off the interstate onto U.S. 231 should overflow to neighboring food and fuel retailers. For the full story, see the February 2014 issue on BusinessAlabama.com

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d e v el o p me n t r es o u r c es

ALABAMA ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT INCENTIVES “Alabama has one of the most competitive business climates in the nation,” says the Alabama Department of Commerce. And the fact that tax incentives are statutory — part of the state’s Constitution and Codes — “gives industry a stable framework for long-term investment.” Citing Alabama’s tax burden as among the lowest in the nation, the Economic Development Partnership of Alabama says, “Alabama is one of a small number of states that allow a full deduction of federal taxes paid from state income tax liability.” That provision drops an actual 6.5 percent corporate tax rate to an effective rate of 4.5 percent, lower even than any of its Southern neighbors. Here’s a quick look at major tax incentives and credits: • Capital Investment Tax Credit. Up to 5 percent of capital costs may be claimed for 20 years. Projects must meet minimum investment values and be involved in specific types of industries such as manufacturing, wholesaling, inbound call centers, recycling and logging. They must also meet employment levels, which vary by category, and wage standards. • Property Tax Abatement. New and expanding businesses can avoid property taxes, except those for schools, for up to 10 years. • Sales and Use Tax Abatements. Companies can avoid taxes on costs for construction, pollution control devises, mortgage and recording taxes. • Net Operating Loss Carryforward. Companies may carry forward any operating losses for up to 15 years. • Alabama Enterprise Zone Credit. Credits and exemptions based on numbers of employees for businesses locating in depressed areas of the state. • State Docks Capital Credit. A busi-

ness spending $8 million or more to build warehousing, storage, port and harbor operating facilities or marine cargo handling facilities on Alabama State Port Authority property can get a tax credit of 5 percent of the capital costs per year for 20 years. • Income Tax Education Credit. Allows an employer to take a tax credit for 20 percent of the cost of an employer-sponsored program to improve basic skills though high school level. • Full Employment Act Credit. Employers who had no more than 50 employees as of January 1, 2011 are eligible for a $1,000 nonrefundable income tax or financial institution excise tax credit for each qualifying job created. Here’s a quick look at financing incentives: • Industrial Development Grants. Local governments and authorities can receive state grants to help businesses with the cost of site preparation. These grants are

available to industrial, warehousing and research firms or headquarters facilities for other types of firms. • Industrial Revenue Bonds. Tax exempt bonds up to $10 million can be issued covering all or part of the cost of land and building acquisition, construction, furnishings and some soft costs. • Alabama Infrastructure Grant Program. Helps finance water, sewer and road facilities. • Alabama Industrial Access Road and Bridge Program. Helps finance the roads and bridges needed to connect public roads to industrial projects. • Certified Capital Company Program. Provides financing for projects considered to be too risky for conventional financing options More Information: Alabama Department of Revenue, Alabama Department of Commerce and other state agencies.

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i n te r n at i o n al t r a d e

National Leader in Exports And Foreign Direct Investments

By plane, train and ship, goods move from Alabama to the world. Taking advantage of the deepwater port at Mobile, international freight forwarder Panalpina in Huntsville, a major intermodal center in Birmingham, and crisscrossed by interstate highways and five class 1 railroads, Alabama is well equipped to trade with the world. Year after year, it uses those advantages to advantage. In 2013, Alabama exports ranked at $19.3 billion — placing it at 23rd in the nation for international trade, according to U.S. Department of Commerce figures. Vehicles topped the list again in 2013, jumping up 8 percent, from $7.69 billion to $8.35 billion. Chemicals, metals, minerals, ores and forestry products totaled another $6.4 billion. Where does it go? Alabama has more than 200 export destinations. But Canada tops the list, taking $2.7 billion in automotive goods alone. Germany, China, Mexico and the United Kingdom are other top destinations for transportation equipment. China imports the biggest share of chemicals, at $592 million; Brazil of mining goods, at $292 million; Mexico tops primary metals at $675 million, and Canada leads in forest products, at $158 million.

While exports hit $19.3 billion in 2013, the state imported some $24 billion, with minerals topping the list at $10.7 billion, followed by high tech, metals, chemicals, transportation, textile and apparel. Two-way trade totaled $44 billion. “With more than 70 percent of the world’s purchasing power located outside the U.S., Alabama companies are looking at markets beyond our borders, where demand is growing,” reported the Alabama Department of Commerce in “Year in Trade,” its annual review of the global marketplace. “International trade enhances the quality of life for all Alabamians and contributes to the state’s prosperity. Creating jobs through exports for the state’s citizens is key in accelerating Alabama globally.”

Foreign investments in Alabama

Alabama is also home to multitudes of international firms or foreign direct investment. A 2014 study by the Global Cities Initiative, a joint projet of Brookings and JPMorgan Chase, identifies 87,050 jobs in Alabama with firms that are headquartered overseas. In the past 20 years, Alabama has

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International freight forwarder Panalpina, with its U.S. hub in Huntsville, has made commerce via the enormous 747-8 a reality to many markets worldwide.

moved up only one place in the rankings, from 24th to 23rd, but the number of jobs increased from 51,980 to more than 87,000. Alabama Power counts 411 international firms from 30 countries doing business in Alabama. Thanks to the automotive industry, businesses headquartered in Germany, Japan, South Korea and Canada have the biggest presence. But newcomers are power players. The steel mills built by German firm ThyssenKrupp have been sold to Finnish firm Outokumpu Oyj, the world’s leading producer of stainless steel, and to a joint venture of world’s largest steel company, ArcelorMittal, based in Luxembourg, and Japanese steel giant Nippon Steel and Sumitomo Metal. Chinese firm Golden Dragon Precise Copper Tubing has opened in Wilcox County, the first major new industry there in decades. And European aerospace and defense firm Airbus has established a major presence in Mobile with the new aircraft assembly plant that’s nearing completion.

i n te r n at i o n al t r a d e

alabama’s international air cargo port

Huntsville has historically been the hub of Alabama aerospace enterprise — the builders of spacecraft — but Huntsville also sets the pace for using aircraft to get things and people from one place to the other in record time. Huntsville International features two parallel runways — 12,600 feet, which is the second-longest runway in the Southeast U.S., and 10,000 feet. It recently added 492,516 square feet of air cargo ramp space, increasing total air cargo ramp space to 2.3 million. It is the 14th largest air cargo airport in the United States. The Port of Huntsville opened in its current location in 1967. Since its inception, it has grown to nearly 7,000 acres of land and three key units — the Huntsville International Airport (HSV), International Intermodal Center and Jetplex Industrial Park, which is the north Alabama home to a number of international aerospace companies. Passenger service is provided by three commercial airlines, with more than 65 flights per day and nine nonstop destinations. More

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1. Air cargo carrier Panalpina operates 10 scheduled flights a week at Huntsville International Airport, connecting with Europe, Mexico, Hong Kong and Brazil. 2. A $25.9 million baggage claim upgrade in 2012 increased the airport’s baggage handling capacity almost four-fold. 3. The Intermodal Center’s rail and motor carrier terminals are equipped with two 45-ton overhead gantry cranes and dedicated stack train service via Norfolk Southern.

3 than 1 million customers are served annually. Air cargo service at the Port of Huntsville exceeds expectations. The Huntsville Airport Authority began promoting its cargo capacities in the early 1980s, with an air cargo ramp that had 50,000 square feet of cargo space. Those efforts culminated in a rail intermodal facility in 1986. The Port of Huntsville now has more than 300,000 square feet of cargo space. In 1990, Swiss-based international carrier Panalpina opened operations in Huntsville with one 747 flight a week, gradually adding flights over the years. In 2010, its 20th anniversary in Huntsville, Panalpina announced the start of a Hong Kong-to-Huntsville service. Shortly after that, the carrier announced it was also adding Sao Paulo, Brazil, and shortly after that it announced a second Hong Kong flight, adding an outbound flight, making the service round trip. All that was on top of what Panalpina already had — five flights to and from Europe and two to and from Mexico. Now Panalpina provides fully integrated and customizable supply chain solutions, and HSV is its hub in the United States. Panalpina’s Huntsville Logistics Center serves many of the company’s largest hi-tech customers in healthcare and the chemicals

industries with temperature-controlled storage and transport capabilities. Advanced warehouse services, customizable IT enhancements and direct access to its road feeder service in Huntsville allow Panalpina to also provide last-minute solutions for needs of all customers. Since the arrival of Panalpina, the port has invested — in FAA funding and its own financing — about $146 million in infrastructure that directly relates to cargo operations. That figure includes a 2013 grant from the Federal Aviation Administration of more than $15 million in discretionary funds to Huntsville International for improvements to its east runway — the largest grant HSV has ever received. Recently completed improvements have made the Port of Huntsville operational for 747-8 aircraft. The 12,600-foot west runway is open and operational for 747-8 aircraft. Construction is in progress on the 10,000foot east runway, which includes expanding paved shoulders, widening full-strength pavement, and upgrading lighting and signage. Once the east runway is complete, all of HSV’s runways will meet requirements set for the 747-8s, which are classified as Group VI aircraft. While the 747-8 has a payload increase of 16 percent over the 747-400 model, it has substantial reductions in fuel burn, noise

and CO2 emissions. This Group VI aircraft boasts a 224-foot, seven-inch wingspan and measures 250 feet, 2 inches from nose to tail. The new model is 18.3 feet longer and 13 feet wider than the earlier 747 models. The International Intermodal Center provides a single-hub location that delivers world-class multi-modal (rail, air and highway) services and facilities. Nationwide rail service is provided by Norfolk Southern. The air cargo operations are handled by Panalpina, which has the only non-stop 747-8 freighter international air cargo service in the State of Alabama to Europe, Mexico, Asia and South America. These markets are currently served with 7 to 10 flights weekly. This service helped elevate HSV to the 14th largest international air cargo airport in the U.S. “Huntsville International Airport is part of a small group of U.S. airports that have been FAA-certified to support these 7478s,” said Dr. Carl Gessle Jr., HuntsvilleMadison County Airport Authority board chairman. “We share this distinction with cities like Miami, New York, L.A. and Chicago. Considering the size of our community as compared to the others on the list, this truly is an accomplishment for our region.” For more information, visit the port’s website at www.hsvairport.org.

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Foreign Trade Zones

Like an airport duty-free shop, Foreign Trade Zones offer businesses a place for international trade without the encumbrance of tariffs — a level playing field with international competitors. The U.S. Department of Commerce designates FTZs, mostly near ports and major industrial sites. The designation allows companies within the zones to import foreign goods without paying any duty, store them, mix them with domestic parts, and convert them into new products for sales here or abroad. Each of Alabama’s major cities — Mobile, Huntsville, Birmingham, Montgomery and Dothan — has an FTZ. State economic development officials estimate that 12,000 workers are employed in FTZ companies, making $1 billion worth of products that are later sold overseas. Autos, ships, oil and chemicals are among the key products.

Quick facts about Alabama’s five major FTZs

Mobile. Administered by the City of Mobile, the southernmost FTZ covers 9,848 acres in several locations. Several international firms are located within the

FTZ, while Evonik Degussa, Austal USA, Outokumpu Stainless USA and Shell all benefit from smaller business-based subzones. The Mobile zone also has four sites in Baldwin County. Huntsville. FTZ facilities are clustered on 1,700 acres around the intermodal center, plus another 1,000-acre complex at Mallard Fox Creek Industrial Park and the Port of Decatur. DaimlerChrysler has its own subzone in the Huntsville group, as does VF Jeanswear. Birmingham. Birmingham’s FTZ is scattered over seven sites including parts of AirportNorth/Northeast Industrial Park, Shaw Warehouse facilities, ACIPCO industrial area, Oxmoor Industrial Park, Birmingham International Airport’s air cargo facility, and Munger/Valley East. Industrial giant Mercedes-Benz has its own subzone in Vance, as do ZF Industries, JVC America and NACCO Materials Handling Group Inc. Montgomery. Montgomery has more than 5,000 acres in four sites — near the airport and I-65, along the northern and eastern bypass, at the Airport Industrial Commercial Park and at Montgomery County Technology Park. Montgomery also has subzones for Hyundai Motor and Quantegy Inc.

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Dothan. Dothan has six sites in its FTZ, with no industry-specific subzones. Dothan’s international commerce is handled by the airport and the port of Panama City, Florida.

1. Mobile’s foreign trade zone links FTZ warehouses and industry subzones to the Port of Mobile, among the nation’s largest ports. Subzones include Atlantic Marine Alabama, Evonik Degussa Corp., Sony Electronics Inc., Syngenta Crop Protection, Trigeant EP Ltd., Shell Chemical LP, Austal and Outokumpu Stainless USA. Photo by Todd Douglas 2. The foreign trade zone at the Jetplex Industrial Park, in Huntsville, links industries and distribution centers with the air cargo port at Huntsville International Airport. North Alabama’s aerospace and electronics companies thrive on the connection.

Alabama State Port Authority Alabama’s deepwater seaport, at the Port of Mobile, is located just 32 miles from the Gulf of Mexico and handled more than 55 million tons of cargo in 2012. The full service public seaport terminals are owned by the Alabama State Port Authority and are served by major ocean carriers transiting Asian, European, Mediterranean, and Latin American trade lanes. In 2013 the tonnage handled by the Port Authority increased to more than 25 million tons of containerized, general cargo, dry and liquid bulk, frozen poultry, and oversized and heavy-lift cargo freight. Since 2002, the Alabama State Port Authority, has invested more than $750 million in a capital expansion program that established new facilities at the Port of Mobile, including a new container terminal, two new steel terminals, an expansion and enhancement program at McDuffie coal terminal, a new rail ferry terminal and a new turning basin to turn Post-Panamax sized ships. The Authority’s board of directors approved a $356 million capital program that will over the next three to five years establish an intermodal rail facility, new warehouses and terminals, and rail improvements. The public terminals are connected to two interstate systems (I-10 and I-65) and five Class 1 railroads—CSX, Canadian National, Burlington Northern Santa Fe (Alabama & Gulf Coast Railroad), Norfolk Southern and Kansas City Southern. The C.G. Railway offers shippers every four days waterborne connectivity to Southern Mexico’s national railroad system between Mobile and Coatzacoalcos, Mexico (Veracruz Region).

Water

The seaport is supported by a 45-foot draft ship channel currently serving PostPanamax traffic and two 40-foot draft channels serving the upper harbor and the Theodore Industrial Complex. Extending north from the port are more than 1,200 miles of navigable waterways in Alabama, among the most of any state in the nation, with lock and dam structures along the Tennessee, Tombigbee, Black Warrior, Coosa-Alabama and Tennessee rivers

that provide access to not only Alabama’s heartland but also to the Tennessee and Ohio valleys and the Great Lakes. The Port of Mobile is also accessible to the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway, providing shippers coastal connections from Texas to Florida.

Rail, Air and Highway Access

Five Class 1 railroads access the port — Burlington Northern/Santa Fe/Alabama & Gulf Coast Railroad, CSX Transportation, Canadian National, Norfolk Southern and Kansas City Southern. Port linkage is provided by the Alabama State Port Authority’s Terminal Railway. The

Phase 1 of the port’s new, 135-acre container terminal has an annual throughput capacity of 350,000 TEUs (20-foot equivalent units). Photo by Todd Douglas.

Port is also served by the CG Railway, which provides shippers railed cargo via ship to Mexico’s Veracruz region. The seaport is served by the Brookley Aeroplex, located just four miles from the dock’s main entrance and Airbus’s new $600 million assembly plant for its family of A319, A320 and A321 aircraft. Brookley Aeroplex also serves as the region’s air cargo terminal, with daily service provided by UPS and FedEx. The authority’s terminals have immediate access to Interstates 10 and 65/165.

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General Cargo

The Alabama State Port Authority offers 31 general cargo berths, with approximately 2.4 million square feet of open yards adjacent to piers and railroad tracks, and more than 2.4 million square feet are under roof. The general cargo facilities also feature heavy-lift terminals, along with a heavy-lift crane capable of lifting cargo up to 400 tons from ship to barge, rail, truck or specialized carrier. Other facilities include a freezer terminal, a cement terminal, a grain terminal and three RO/ RO berths, all of which can accommodate vessels up to 40-foot draft.

Steel

Jimmy Lyons, director and CEO of the Alabama State Port Authority, shown at the port’s container terminal, where an intermodal container transfer facility in now being developed. Photo by Todd Douglas.

Investments in the Authority’s steel handling facilities are contributing to Alabama’s rapid growth in the steel market. The highly automated Pinto Terminal applies innovation and technology to meet its 5 million-ton annual throughput capacity. The terminal has a 45-foot draft, a 1,050-foot-long ship berth, an automated barge handling system and a slab storage yard. The terminal is equipped

with three post-Panamax gantry cranes, which are the first in North America to use magnet technology in a ship-to-shore cargo handling operation. In addition, the Port Authority will complete construction of a new steel coil handling facility by December 2014. The $36 million, 372,600-square-foot steel coil handling warehouse and terminal will be served by rail, truck, barge and a 40-foot-draft ship dock. The Port Authority just completed $18 million on its open Pier C North terminal to handle both inbound and outbound carbon and stainless steel articles.

Coal

The McDuffie Coal Terminal is the most versatile facility in the nation, with import/export handling capability to ship, barge and rail transportation. Since 2011, the Port Authority has invested over $20 million in new ship and yard equipment, automation and new rail facilities to increase export throughput to 16 million tons annually. Overall investments at McDuffie have generated annual import and export throughput capacity to 30 million tons.

APM Terminals Mobile / Container Intermodal Investments

Phase 1 of the new, 135-acre container terminal has 2,000 feet of berth at 45-foot draft, state-of-the-art container cranes and fully automated gates providing an annual throughput capacity of 350,000 TEUs (20-foot equivalent units). Phase II expansion of the container terminal began in 2014 to increase the capacity to 800,000 TEUs. Ocean carrier services on most trade lanes are provided by Maersk, CMA CGM, China Shipping (CSCL), Mediterranean Shipping Company (MSC), and ZIM. APM Terminals Mobile represents the first leg in the Authority’s 380-acre Choctaw Point intermodal project, which includes an intermodal rail transfer facility and development land for logistics. Also, construction is underway on the Port Authority’s $36 million, Phase I intermodal container transfer facility (ICTF) providing by year-end 2015 containerized cargo shippers, via the Port of Mobile and 5 Class I railroads expanded

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market access into the Southeast, Midwest, and the Ohio and Tennessee River valleys.

Rail Ferry Terminal

The Authority’s Terminal Railway operates a rail ferry terminal that provides rail shippers twice weekly sailings into the Veracruz region of Mexico. The CG Rail Terminal is the first of its kind, with a twin-deck design for quicker loading. The ships can haul 120 standard rail cars per voyage without loading and unloading cargo, shaving nearly two weeks off the typical rail services into Mexico. The service provides four-day rail service between Mobile and Coatzacoalcos, Mexico.

Terminal Railway

The Port Authority’s Terminal Railway provides service between the five Class 1 railroads serving Mobile and the port authority’s terminals. It handled more than 133,000 revenue-producing rail cars in 2013 and maintains more than 75 miles of track and ten locomotives. The Termi-

nal Railway is the largest port authority owned and operated railroad in the nation providing direct access to seaport terminals, including general cargo and container berths, McDuffie Terminals, the Bulk Handling Plant and private industries located as far north as the Port of Chickasaw and as far south as the Alabama State Port Authority’s future Intermodal Container Transfer Facility (ICTF).

Inland Port Facilities

To take full advantage of Alabama’s waterway system, which comprises nearly 1,500 navigable inland barge miles, the Alabama State Port Authority owns 11 inland dock facilities that can be served by either barge or rail. The facilities are located throughout the state’s river systems — at Bridgeport on the Tennessee River; Demopolis, Tuscaloosa/Northport and Cordova on the Warrior River; Claiborne, Selma and Montgomery on the Coosa Alabama River; Columbia, Eufaula and Phenix City on the Chattahoochee River, and at Axis on the Mobile River.

PORT FACTS - 2012

Acreage: 4,000 Number of Berths: 41 Channel Depth: 45 Feet on the lower harbor; 40 Foot in the upper river harbor Warehousing and Open Yards: 4.8 million square feet Number of vessel calls: 1,222 Revenue Producing Rail Car Movements: 133,105 Tonnage: 25.2 Million Containers: 196,956 TEUs Revenue: $125 million Imports: heavy lift and oversized cargo, containers, coal, aluminum, iron, steel, copper, lumber, woodpulp, plywood, fence posts, veneers, roll and cut paper, cement and chemicals. Exports: heavy lift and oversized cargo, containers, coal, lumber, plywood, woodpulp, OSB, laminate, flooring, roll and cut paper, iron, steel, frozen poultry, soybeans and chemicals.

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Alabama Commercial Airports

Major Alabama Highways 82 Alabama Economic Development Guide 2015

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Alabama major rail service

Rail delivery times

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Alabamaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s waterway system

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Alabama Department of Commerce Alabama’s lead economic development agency George Kollitides, CEO and chairman of Remington Outdoor Co., one of the newest companies bringing a major presence to Alabama.

Alabama’s lead economic development agency continues to aggressively pursue the kind of game-changing industrial projects that the state is known for winning, but it’s also seeking to grow the state’s share of knowledge-based jobs in fields such as aerospace, automotive, health care, and biosciences. The record shows that the Alabama Department of Commerce is succeeding on both fronts, with significant project announcements made recently that will bring new investment and high paying, advanced manufacturing and research-related jobs to the state. In 2014, well-known companies such as Remington, GE Aviation, GKN Aerospace, and Baxter International all launched projects in different areas of the state. Under the direction of Secretary of Commerce Greg Canfield, the department works with economic development partners in all corners of the state to fulfill the objectives of Accelerate Alabama, the strategic economic development growth plan adopted by Governor Robert Bentley in 2012. During Accelerate Alabama’s first two years, companies from around the globe announced Alabama economic development projects involving more than 38,000 new jobs and nearly $10 billion in

capital investment. Accelerate Alabama identified 11 industry clusters whose growth prospects made them ripe for recruitment: aerospace and defense, automotive, agricultural products and food production, steel and metals, forestry products, chemicals, distribution and logistics, biosciences, information technology, enabling technologies (such as robotics and nanotechnology), and corporate operations. These sectors were selected because they offer higher-than-average wages and because they fit well with Alabama’s existing industry and workforce infrastructure. Commerce continues to collaborate with public and private economic development entities across Alabama to position the state as an ideal location for projects in a wide swath of industries. The department and its partners engage in an integrated teamwork approach that brings in additional state and local government agencies to demonstrate to prospects the level of support they can expect with a project in Alabama. Commerce also works with communities across the state to help them determine how they can become more competitive for new job creation and is involved in regional partnerships with neighboring states when an alliance approach makes sense in international economic development.

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In addition, Commerce is heavily involved in workforce development. AIDT, which became part of the department in 2012, is considered one of the best state workforce training agencies in the nation. The program offers comprehensive pre-employment selection and training, leadership development, on-the job training, continuous/process improvement assessments, maintenance assessments, and industrial safety assessments and training — all specific to each company’s needs. Commerce has an organizational structure designed in a way to help it meet aggressive goals and includes the following divisions:

Executive Division

The Executive Division facilitates teamwork across numerous state agencies and local and regional allies. The division establishes agency policy, oversees Commerce functions, and coordinates and markets special events held around the globe. Many of these events are held in conjunction with local communities and businesses. The agency’s deputy director is part of the executive division and leads all business information and research-related activities.

Business Development Division

This division identifies recruitment prospects to broaden Alabama’s economic base. The staff markets Alabama to the world, pinpointing companies that may have expansion projects in the Southeast over the next three to five years. The division’s chief objectives are to attract industry to Alabama, to promote foreign manufacturing investment in the state, and to support expansion and retention of existing businesses. The division works closely with economic development allies throughout the state as part of a team-

based recruitment effort. Marketing efforts are targeted and incorporate direct contact, pavilion events at selected trade shows, and business prospecting missions.

International Trade Division

The International Trade Division helps Alabama companies establish working relationships with export professionals, building knowledge that results in international business. The division accomplishes this mission through activities designed to complement the existing trade promotion programs of other state and federal agencies. The division’s activities include trade missions, trade shows, and catalog missions. Foreign buyers are encouraged to include Alabama in their U.S. itineraries, and the state’s exporters and importers receive mailings and special publications,

including the Alabama International Trade Directory. The division co-sponsors and supports a variety of export development activities in partnership with other Alabama organizations.

Business Information Division

The Business Information Division provides technical support and other services in the form of comprehensive data and statistics. The division produces the online Alabama Industrial Directory, designs custom proposals, targets companies for specific marketing events, and conducts surveys of new and expanding industries. Job announcement numbers are supported by data published in the division’s annual report.

Administrative Division

This division provides support in the areas of information technology, telecommu-

nications, payroll/personnel, accounting/ budgeting, purchasing, and supply/ property inventory.

Small Business Development

Alabama’s Small Business Office of Advocacy helps provide tools to small businesses to help them get started. A small business advocate collaborates with other small business development organizations throughout the state to streamline available resources.

The Alabama Film Office

The Alabama Film Office promotes the state of Alabama to the motion picture, television and video industry for onlocation productions and coordinates requests for location assistance within the state. In 2013, production companies spent $57 million in the state as 75 projects were filmed.

KEY CONTACT Greg Canfield || Alabama Department of Commerce || Alabama Center for Commerce 401 Adams Avenue || Montgomery, AL 36130 || (334) 242-0400 or (800) 248-0033 || Fax: (334-242-5669) || www.madeinalabama.com

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adeca

Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs

Managing economic incentives and community development grants

Raytheon broke ground at Redstone Arsenal in 2011 on the $70 million, 70,000-square-foot Raytheon Redstone Missile Integration Facility, which opened in 2014.

An arm of the Governor’s Office, the Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs was created by the Legislature in 1983. The department’s mission is to “Build Better Alabama Communities” using a broad range of grants, incentives and programs aimed at community development. ADECA administers provisions of the Alabama Enterprise Zone Act, which authorizes state tax incentives to encourage employers to locate or expand within designated zones. Credits are available for income, franchise, sales and use tax. Birmingham, Montgomery and Prichard are designated as Enterprise Zones, along with 25 counties: Barbour, Bullock, Butler, Cherokee, Clarke, Clay, Covington, Dallas, Escambia, Etowah, Jackson, Lawrence, Lowndes, Macon, Mobile, Monroe, Perry, Pickens, Pike, Randolph, Russell, Sumter, Talladega, Tallapoosa and Wilcox. AlabamaSAVES is a $60 million revolving loan program created by ADECA to help industrial and commercial businesses finance

energy-saving facility improvements. Launched in 2012, the department administers a $31.3 million State Small Business Credit Initiative program designed to increase access to credit for small businesses at financial institutions participating in the program. Businesses with up to 500 employees are eligible to participate. Three ADECA grant programs are often used to help Alabama communities with economic development projects: • Community Development Block Grants support local efforts to attract and prepare for new or expanding industries, rehabilitate neighborhoods, provide water and sewer service or fund other infrastructure improvements that support business development or enhance the quality of life. • Grants from the Appalachian Regional Commission are awarded to encourage economic development and improve the quality of life of Alabamians living within 37 north Alabama counties considered part of the Appalachian mountain region. • Delta Regional Authority grants en-

courage the development of new jobs and help with basic community improvements in a rural region that includes 20 counties in south Alabama. ADECA’s Workforce Development Division administers Workforce Investment Act funding to support Alabama employees and businesses through a network of career centers that provide employment assistance, job training, adult education and other services. Other ADECA programs support state and local law enforcement, traffic safety, juvenile justice, victim services, home weatherization, energy conservation, parks and recreational trails. The department also helps manage the state’s water resources and distributes state and federal surplus property. In response to devastating tornadoes that struck Alabama on April 27, 2011, Gov. Robert Bentley designated ADECA to serve as the state coordinating agency for long-term community recovery. ADECA is administering $73.8 million in special Community Development Block Grant funds to help communities rebuild public facilities and infrastructure damaged by the storms. Visit www.adeca.alabama.gov for more information about the department’s programs. For news and updates, follow ADECA on www.twitter.com/adeca or like ADECA on Facebook at www.facebook. com/ADECAgov.

KEY CONTACTS

Jim Byard, Jr., Director || Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs || P.O. Box 5690 || Montgomery, AL 36103-5690 (334) 242-5591 || Fax: (334) 242-5099 Terri Adams, Chief || ADECA Energy Division || (334) 242-5292 Bea Forniss, Chief || ADECA Community and Economic Development Division || (334) 242-0492 Steve Walkley, Chief || ADECA Workforce Development Division || (334) 242-5300

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aidt

alabama’s workforce training agency

Workforce development provided by AIDT is among the strongest incentives for businesses choosing to locate or expand in Alabama.

Alabama has one of the strongest workforce training programs in the world, in support of Alabama’s commitment to new and expanding industries. AIDT has long been recognized among the nation’s top workforce training programs by industry observers. Just this year alone they have been ranked as one of the top 5 workforce development agencies in the country by 3 different national surveys and reports. AIDT was the first state government workforce training program in the world to earn ISO 9001:2000 certification for quality and continuous improvement and recently earned an ISO 9001:2008 certification. AIDT has assisted new and expanding companies in recruiting, assessing and training more than 500,000 job seekers. AIDT training typically produces a workforce that employers recognize for high performance achievement — a result of both the technical assessment and training AIDT trainees receive and the process by which they are selected. From automotive to aerospace and to robotics and shipbuilding to biomedical, AIDT researches and identifies the needs of each company served and uses that information to develop a full range of technical pre-employment selection programs uniquely customized to each company. In a continued effort to meet the needs of industry, AIDT operates several industry specific centers of excellence throughout the state to include the Alabama Robotic Technology Park (Robotics and Technology), The AIDT Maritime Training Center (Maritime Industry), The Alabama Workforce Training Center (Trades

and Crafts) and the Alabama Aviation Training Center (Aviation).

AIDT services include: • Identification of needed employee skills and knowledge, training criteria and curricula content definition, and required behavior and performance criteria the company expects of employees. • Recruitment of trainee candidates for potential employment. AIDT interviews and enrolls in training those acceptable by the company. • Provides program development, instructors, equipment, consumable supplies, and training aids such as manuals, workbooks, videos and films. AIDT ser-

AIDT held a grand opening celebration for the Alabama Aviation Training Center (AATC) on June 24, 2014. The AATC, located in Mobile, will train workers for the Airbus Assembly plant.

vices are provided at no cost to trainees or employers. • Job seekers who meet the selection criteria designed by AIDT and the employer are enrolled in job specific, pre-employment training for detailed assessment of attitude, character, work ethic, literacy, teamwork and technical learning ability. A division of the Alabama Department of Commerce, AIDT also provides leadership development, on-the-job training, industrial maintenance assessment, industrial safety assessment and process improvement assessment.

KEY CONTACT

Ed Castile, Director || AIDT || One Technology Court || Montgomery, AL 36116-3200 (334) 242-4158 || Fax: (334) 242-0299 || TDD: (334) 242-0298 || E-mail: info@aidt.edu || www.aidt.edu Alabama Economic Development Guide 2015 89

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atn Alabama Technology Network

Experts in technical assistance and innovation work directly with Alabama’s existing industry to increase productivity, profitability, and competitiveness.

The Alabama Technology Network provides the most innovative technical assistance and training to continually improve Alabama’s businesses and industries. As part of the Alabama Community College System, the network’s 19 sites are located at 15 community colleges and the state’s three research universities — Auburn University, the University of Alabama and the University of Alabama in Huntsville. ATN’s team of experts helps solve the needs of industry and business through innovative, sustainable, cost-effective solutions. ATN can conduct detailed needs as-

sessments, outline potential solutions based on the results, and then provide technical assistance to help you solve those problems or identify those who can. Services include lean enterprise, quality services training, continual improvement methods, environmental health and safety training, industrial maintenance training, sustainability in manufacturing, and innovation engineering. According to 2013 independently conducted customer surveys, ATN helped retain 604 jobs and create 136 jobs, helped increase and retain sales totaling more

KEY CONTACT

than $110 million, generated workforce investments of $38 million, and saved costs totaling over $5.5 million. ATN is an affiliate of the National Institute of Standards and Technology’s Manufacturing Extension Partnership, which provides hands-on assistance and training to smaller manufacturers. In addition to its training services, ATN partners in presenting the Alabama Manufacturer of the Year awards. These awards recognize the state’s top manufacturers, in three size categories, for their accomplishments.

Chester Vrocher, Acting Executive Director || Alabama Technology Network || PO Box 302130 || Montgomery, AL 36130-2130 1-877-428-6457 toll free || www.ATN.org

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edaa

economic development association of alabama

An association of professionals committed to Alabama’s economic development Blast furnace at Nucor Steel in Tuscaloosa. The business-friendly atmosphere and availability of a well-trained workforce have attracted many steel companies to Alabama.

Economic development requires teamwork among businesses, communities, organizations and government agencies. Since 1968, the Economic Development Association of Alabama (EDAA) has facilitated that teamwork among groups trying to attract new businesses — providing a forum for discussion of specific issues affecting economic development — and programs training and expertise to create successful development programs. The EDAA membership consists of individuals involved in economic development from many different areas and disciplines. EDAA members are economic development professionals, attorneys, engineers, architects, state agency personnel, utility employees, bankers, contractors, real estate agents and educators, municipal and county officials.

A voluntary member association, EDAA conducts workshops and seminars covering the ideas, principles, practices and ethics of economic development. Most of the EDAA educational programs focus on enhancing the skills of economic development professionals by providing them with new tools to address the challenge of remaining one of the nation’s top states in economic development. In addition, EDAA works with other organizations in the state to improve Alabama’s economic development environment. Strategic alliances with the Alabama Department of Commerce, Alabama Department of Economic and Community Affairs and the Economic Development Partnership of Alabama enable EDAA to provide its membership with substantive skills. EDAA is diligent in addressing state

and federal legislation and regulatory issues impacting economic development in Alabama. With a full-time lobbying presence when the Alabama Legislature is in session, EDAA is a leader in forming economic development policy and legislation for its members. Legislative efforts on the state level in recent years have seen EDAA lobby for adequate funding for state recruitment efforts and worker training programs. EDAA actively seeks innovative solutions to challenges that could negatively impact the state’s economic development efforts. EDAA holds multiple networking opportunities, provides members with a newsletter, publishes a membership directory, conducts two major conferences each year, and holds bi-monthly workshops. Currently, EDAA has over 450 members.

Rural Initiative: CLT

EDAA has established a formal economic development training program for elected officials — Community Leadership Training (CLT). This is an important component of EDAA’s efforts to ensure Alabama’s competitive advantage. For more information, or to schedule, contact: EDAA (334) 358-7401

KEY CONTACT

Jim Searcy, Executive Director || Economic Development Association of Alabama || 210 Medical Center Drive || Prattville, AL 36066 (334) 358-7401 || Fax: (334) 358-7402 || E-mail: info@edaa.org || Web site: www.edaa.org || jim@edaa.org Alabama Economic Development Guide 2015 91

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edpa

economic development partnership of alabama

A private, non-profit organization, EDPA works with companies looking to locate or expand within the state and assists companies and communities within the state to improve their competitiveness. For more than 20 years, the Economic Development Partnership of Alabama has been a catalyst for economic growth in the state. During that time, the Partnership has been involved in Alabama’s greatest economic development successes. A totally private, non-profit organization, EDPA is uniquely positioned to partner with state, local and private entities involved in Alabama’s economic development efforts. In 1993, EDPA assisted in the effort to attract Mercedes-Benz. Now, EDPA is led by Mercedes-Benz U.S. International’s former president Bill Taylor, who brings his industry experience to economic development. EDPA provides services to companies looking to locate in the state, encourages emerging business development and assists companies and communities that want to improve their competitive edge. EDPA is supported by more than 70 leading companies from various sectors that are committed to the state’s long-term economic growth. The organization’s board of directors is comprised of top business leaders in Alabama. By aligning its resources with the Governor’s Office, key state agencies and institutions of higher learning, EDPA works to market Alabama and to provide prospective companies a smooth site selection process and tools for a sustainable operation in Alabama. EDPA actively assists companies searching for a location. Equally as important, EDPA works to provide resources and networks for existing industries and communities in Alabama. To encourage innovation, commercialization and emerging business development, EDPA works closely with institutions of higher learning in the state. The Partnership joined with state research universities to create Alabama Launchpad, which hosts an annual statewide competition to fuel the development of high-growth companies in Alabama and an annual conference that celebrates the achievements of innovation and entrepreneurship in the state. By participating in collaborative efforts in Alabama, EDPA works to foster a cooperative spirit among the diverse organizations involved in the many areas that affect the state’s growth.

Bill Taylor, president of the Economic Development Partnership of Alabama

KEY CONTACT Bill Taylor, President || Steve Sewell, Executive Vice President || Economic Development Partnership of Alabama 500 Beacon Parkway West || Birmingham, AL 35209 || (205) 943-4700 or (800) 252-5453 || Fax: (205) 943-4703 www.advantagealabama.com 92 Alabama Economic Development Guide 2015

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bba birmingham business alliance

The Birmingham Business Alliance is the lead economic development agency for the state’s largest city and seven surrounding counties.

The Birmingham Business Alliance (BBA) is the lead economic development agency for the state’s largest metropolitan region, the seven-county Birmingham-Hoover MSA, which encompasses Bibb, Blount, Chilton, Jefferson, St. Clair, Shelby and Walker counties. The Birmingham region’s economic base is highly diversified. It includes a wide range of manufacturing and has evolved into an internationally recognized center of medical technology and research, health care delivery, and finance and insurance. Birmingham’s largest employer with 23,000 employees and anchoring the region’s medical community is the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). UAB is a leading research institution that has an economic impact of $5 billion on the region and is home to the third largest public hospital in the country. UAB shares a landmark partnership with Birmingham’s Southern Research Institute, a contract research organization with seven FDA-approved cancer drugs. Known as the Alabama Drug Discovery Alliance, the part-

nership leverages each institution’s worldclass experience to expedite drug delivery in areas such as oncology, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer’s, diabetes and many others. Another major partner with UAB and a key to Birmingham’s entrepreneurial growth is Innovation Depot, the Southeast’s largest technology incubator, which houses more than 90 startups in its 140,000-square-foot facility in downtown Birmingham. It has been named Technology Incubator of the Year and designated a Soft Landing for international companies by the National Business Incubation Association. These world-class institutions and landmark partnerships helped catch the attention of Evonik Industries when it was looking to open its first research and development center in the United States. In 2014, Evonik, a global leader in specialty chemicals, and Alabama Governor Robert Bentley announced the company would open an Innovation Center in Birmingham to conduct R&D on materials for medical devices and technology for Evonik’s clients, which include some of the largest pharmaceutical and medical device companies in the world. In addition to being a premier destination for life science R&D, the Birmingham region is a top transportation hub that continues to build on its already strong infrastructure. The Birmingham-Shuttlesworth International Airport recently completed a $201 million terminal modernization project. A major interstate interchange, Interstate 22, is near completion in downtown Birmingham and will directly connect the area to Memphis and the western portion of the United States. Also, in 2014, ground was broken on the first portion of the 53-mile I-422, or the Northern Beltline, which will complete the inter-

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state loop around Birmingham and increase opportunities for economic growth throughout the region. Alabama’s only Fortune 500 company, Regions Financial Corp., is based in Birmingham, along with construction aggregates company Vulcan Materials Co., national retailers Hibbett Sporting Goods and BooksA-Million, and mining giants Drummond Co. Inc. and Walter Energy. The region is home to numerous construction companies named to Engineering News Record’s list of the country’s top 400 contractors and a hot technology start-up scene recognized internationally by the National Business Incubation Association and nationally by Forbes and CNNMoney. Birmingham is home to 68 international companies and most of the workforce for two of the premier automotive assembly plants in North America — Mercedes-Benz in Vance and Honda in Lincoln. At the core of the region’s growth is the emergence of downtown Birmingham, which is in the midst of a renaissance and was recently named one of the Top 10 Best Downtowns in 2014. In addition to UAB, Southern Research Institute and numerous office and technology employers, downtown Birmingham is home to a new Westin hotel and entertainment district adjacent the Birmingham-Jefferson Convention Complex, the new Regions Field baseball park for the Class AA Birmingham Barons and the nationally acclaimed 19-acre Railroad Park. Those downtown anchors have attracted more than 1,700 multifamily and loft units under construction and a long list of restaurants, bars, breweries and entertainment options. For more information, visit www.birminghambusinessalliance.com.

Rick Davis, senior vice president of economic development || Birmingham Business Alliance 505 20th St. N., Suite 200 || Birmingham, AL 35203 || (205) 241-8136 || rdavis@BirminghamBusinessAlliance.com 94 Alabama Economic Development Guide 2015