Back home, we've grown used to seeing factories shut down.
But yesterday, we got some good news. An Italian wind turbine manufacturer announced that it's building a plant in my hometown.
MUNCIE, Ind. - An Italian company that manufactures wind turbines plans to bring more than 450 jobs to the Muncie area, officials announced Wednesday. Brevini USA will move its U.S. headquarters to a business park near Interstate 69 in western Delaware County and build its first U.S. factory at the site, state and company officials announced at a news conference...... The Muncie-area business development group Energize-ECI Inc. said Brevini would invest more than $60 million and create about 450 jobs with annual pay averaging more than $46,000.
Brevini USA will move its U.S. headquarters to a business park near Interstate 69 in western Delaware County and build its first U.S. factory at the site, state and company officials announced at a news conference......
The Muncie-area business development group Energize-ECI Inc. said Brevini would invest more than $60 million and create about 450 jobs with annual pay averaging more than $46,000.
I think that there's a (lamentable) lack of understanding of industrial cluster theory as a an economic development strategy back home, but I think that this could be the start of something big. Wind turbines are large, and it makes a lot of sense to cluster manufacturing process to avoid shipping tons of metal around the country.
And the location of Muncie is ideal, because it's on a major interstate, and there's going to be a rail spur to the site.
Reading this was a pleasant surprise. I know what getting in early did for Pamplona and Vittoria when the boom in Spanish wind came. It can be a huge growth industry. My only concern is that the "demand destruction" being wrought by the market crisis will put backward pressure on green energy projects like windpower and the push for plug in hybrids like the Volt. And I'll give my consent to any government that does not deny a man a living wage-Billy Bragg
Polymarin will move into the former Levi Strauss distribution center on I 530. Both Polymarin and LM Glasfiber value the inland water shipping capability that the Port of Little Rock provides via the Arkansas River and its connections to the Mississippi and the Gulf of Mexico. As the Dutch said while fighting the Spanish: "It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."
Unfortunately, it's also the home of Mordor-like entrenched lobbies and their media slaves. Al Gore isn't powerful enough to get his paid ad played after the last debate, but the oilers and coalers were OK.
Readers here can't imagine what it's like to see your entire life's work finally being vindicated, yet knowing the biggest battles are yet to come. (Or can they?) "Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage." - Anaïs Nin
And that doesn't include the expansion of component suppliers, whose ramp-up is not calculated as yet.
hell, even Deutsche WindGuard has a north american presence, and is looking for qualified techs. "Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage." - Anaïs Nin
Or the onsite construction workers?
What have i left out? (Ohh, the lawyers and dealmakers.) "Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage." - Anaïs Nin
