< PreviousWORLD REPORTS 20 JANUARY 2024 SITE SELECTION by ALEXIS ELMORE alexis.elmore@siteselection.com Going Green Suits Nissan I n November 2023, Nissan announced that its port city facility in Sunderland, England, would be going 100% electric. The company is investing $3.7 billion to expand its EV36Zero hub, making room for production of three new EVs and an additional gigafactory. “The EV36Zero project puts our Sunderland plant, Britain’s biggest ever car factory, at the heart of our future vision. It means our UK team will be designing, engineering and manufacturing the vehicles of the future, driving us towards an all-electric future for Nissan in Europe,” said Nissan President and CEO Makoto Uchida. With a total of three gigafactories on site, the company will manufacture the Qashqai, JUKE and LEAF EV models and three new EVs — the Hyper Urban Concept, Hyper Punk Concept and Chill-Out Concept — supporting Nissan’s goal of producing solely EVs in Europe by 2030. Energy For Essar Group I ndia-based multinational conglomerate Essar Group announced in December 2023 that a combined $661 million would be invested in India’s state of Gujarat for a new energy project and an expansion in the state’s city of Salaya. The company aims to the advance energy transition in India with the construction of a $360 million, 1-gigawatt green hydrogen plant. In addition, the company will invest $192 million to move forward with the phase two expansion of its Salaya Power Plant and $120 million in Essar Group’s Salaya Port capabilities. Essar anticipates these three projects will create more than 10,000 jobs. Connections Set In Darwin T wo years after NextDC announced plans to build an 8-megawatt data center in Darwin, Australia, work is fi nally underway. The $52 million, 32,290-sq.- ft. tier three facility will support the company’s growth eff orts for Australia’s northern digital gateway, housing 1,000 racks with capability to service more than 500 million residents. This location will be connected to a Vocus subsea cable, which connects Darwin to Jakarta, Indonesia, and Singapore, in additional to domestic cables. The fi rst phase of the facility will be completed in 2024, creating 200 new jobs in the region. The Darwin data center will join the company’s growing Australia portfolio. Rendering courtesy of NextDC Nissan’s EV36Zero hub will run on 100% renewable energy through Sunderland’s microgrid project and the company’s wind and solar farms. Photo courtesy of Nissan Essar Group operates several locations throughout Gujarat. Photo courtesy of Essar Group SITE SELECTION JANUARY 2024 21 INVesting in Separation I NV New Material Technology, a subsidiary of Shenzhen Senior Technology Material Company, has began construction of its Kepala Batas, Malaysia, battery separator factory. Located in the Penang Technology Park, the 66-acre site will produce over 43 billion sq. ft. of wet-process and coated separators per year. The company will invest more than $1.4 billion during both phases of construction, the fi rst phase anticipated to be complete mid-2025. As the project becomes fully operational, INV New Material Technology will have the largest low-carbon separation facility in the region. Made in Egypt C hina-based household appliance giant Midea Group announced it would bring its third Egyptian manufacturing facility to Sadat City, located an hour and a half northwest of capital Cairo. The $105 million project investment is being used to construct a 2.3 million-sq.-ft.-plus facility to produce smart household appliances like air conditioners, refrigerators, laundry machines and more. While the company broke ground in late November 2023, full construction will commence in 2024 with plans to be fully operational in 2025. Over 50% of the products produced at this facility will be exported to serve the global market. Got Renewable Fuel? Sweden Does S weden’s largest fuel company Preem has announced its $528 million investment in the redevelopment of its Lysekil refi nery to focus on renewable aviation fuel production. Construction on the project will begin in 2024, adding 317 million gallons of renewable production capacity when complete in 2027. This investment will help the company move from solely diesel production to renewable jet fuel and renewable diesel. The Lysekil facility redevelopment follows the company’s Synsat project investment which will be complete in 2024, bringing Preem’s total spend to $960 million between the two sites and bringing an overall production capacity of 660 million gallons per year. The company says that these facilities will increase its competitiveness and help meet future market demands. Midea Group will have invested $247 million in Egypt since 2010. Photo courtesy of Midea Group INV New Material Technology’s site will be located 14 miles from the North Seberang Perai port. Rendering courtesy of Penang Technology Park The Lysekil facility will enable the company to be the largest renewable aviation fuel producer in Northern Europe. Photo courtesy of PreemINVESTMENT PROFILE: SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY, CALIFORNIA Where Worker Training is On Fire From help with wages to entrepreneur classes, San Bernardino County checks every box. M anufacturers doing business in Southern California’s San Bernardino County have an ally in the county’s Workforce Development Department (WDD). Crown Technical Systems in Fontana, for example, is hiring local workers, upskilling them, and using On-the-Job Training (OJT) funds from a WDD incentive program to cover half of their wages. Does that sound too good to be true? It isn’t. The designer and builder of industrial power distribution equipment has been using this program to grow its workforce, and thereby its business, for a number of years. Michele Yoshida, talent acquisition manager for Crown Technical Systems, tells Site Selection that the county’s OJT program “has allowed us to bring on transferrable and relatable skills. We have been able to leverage those funds to help our employees excel in their new roles and earn industrial certification.” Crown has grown into one of the nation’s leading suppliers of power equipment, including industrial-grade control panels and switchgear. “Over the years, by taking advantage of the county’s support services and incentives, we have been able to grow our headcount and our business partnerships,” says Yoshida. “Also, because we participate in the county’s job fairs, our 22 JANUARY 2024 SITE SELECTION Michele Yoshida A welder works at Crown Technical Systems, a Fontana company that regularly uses On-the-Job Training Program funds from the county to hire and train workers. Photo courtesy of Crown Technical Systemsbrand awareness in the community is growing.” Yoshida says Crown collaborates with the county Workforce Development team, the Fontana Chamber of Commerce, local trade and technical schools, and a variety of community partners. “We also like the graduates we see from San Joaquin Community College, Universal Technical Institute and Intercoast College,” says Yoshida. “ e skilled labor we are able to fi nd from these local institutions does a good job of meeting our hiring needs. Being located close to Riverside County is a big advantage too, as that enables us to pull labor from the south.” Crown relocated from nearby Ontario to Fontana years ago and currently occupies a ,-sq.-ft. plant. “We are bursting at the seams. We have a total of employees,” says Yoshida, noting that the company also operates plants in Garland, Texas, and Vaughan, Ontario, Canada. She credits local government with helping the fi rm grow. “ e City of Fontana has been very helpful to the company. So has the San Bernardino County Workforce Development Department,” she says. “One of the nice things about this location is that engineers who live in the Inland Empire can work closer to home. In Southern California, most engineering jobs are in Los Angeles and Orange County. Crown gives these engineers an opportunity to shorten their commute and enjoy more time with their families.” Hotlines and Other Helpers Brad Gates, Director of the San Bernardino County Workforce Development Department, says success stories like Crown’s validate the county’s work. “ e On-the-Job Training Program is a very good service,” he says. “We help employers hire and train new employees. Businesses agree to hire an individual and train them on the job for three months. In exchange, we reimburse the business for % of the new hire’s wages for three months. is is a very popular program. It is especially helpful for small businesses. It lessens the risk of hiring someone, and it benefi ts the new employee. ey are being trained on the job which is a win-win situation.” “Over the past year Crown has hired new workers through this program” says Gates. Another successful initiative at the WDD, says Gates, is the county’s Layoff Aversion Program. “We work with small businesses that are struggling,” he says. “We have business experts who are under contract to provide direct coaching services to help these small businesses overcome SITE SELECTION JANUARY 2024 23 by RON STARNER ron.starner@siteselection.com We have some amazing partnerships. California State University-San Bernardino and Loma Linda University are two of them.” — Brad Gates , Director, San Bernardino County Workforce Development Department We have some amazing partnerships. California State University-San Bernardino We have some amazing partnerships. California State University-San Bernardino 24 JANUARY 2024 SITE SELECTION whatever challenge they are facing. Over the last three years, we have had 66 businesses go through the program, which saved and retained over 850 jobs. We are pioneers nationally in the creation of that program.” Innovation like that is why the San Bernardino County Workforce Development Department perennially is recognized as one of the best workforce agencies in the U.S. Gates cites local employer KeHE, a national distributor of organic foods, as another success story. Based in Chino, KeHE uses the county’s Customized Recruitment Program to fill open positions. “We put on a recruitment event to host the business at one of our recruitment facilities and do whatever is necessary to help them fill their vacant positions,” says Gates. “We host up to 20 employers at a time and convene hundreds of job seekers in a room where they meet and match with jobs that suit them. We’ve been able to help businesses large and small grow their workforce through these job fairs, and they are open to anyone.” Local employers also take advantage of a Human Resources Hotline and labor market data made available by the county’s WDD. “With our 1-800 line, any business can call this number, talk to an expert, and receive free advice on any human resources matter they may be facing,” says Gates. “Through this program, we are able to serve hundreds of local businesses every year.” Gates’ department also regularly produces local labor market reports that are free and available to the public. “We just completed a report, which is well organized and goes through each industry sector in the county and shows our current employment and job growth in each sector. It also shows median wages in each sector. The summary page is very helpful to review,” he says. Giving It the Old College Try At 1 million strong, San Bernardino County today has the largest labor force in its history. “We are the first county in California to recover all jobs lost due to the pandemic,” notes Gates. “That demonstrates the strength and resilience of our region.” In a county of 2.2 million people spread out over 20,000 square miles (largest in the country), it also pays to have good partners. Gates says the WDD has plenty of those in the form of local colleges and universities. “We have some amazing partnerships,” says Gates. “California State University-San Bernardino and Loma Linda University are two of them. They have amazing programs. CSU-SB has one of the top cybersecurity programs in the country. We have to compete to keep their graduates here in the region. They get recruited to work for the Department of Defense in Washington, D.C. Through this great program, we have been able to develop an apprenticeship program in cybersecurity in the region.” Gates says his agency also works with Chaffey College and the In-Tech Center to train people to be industrial maintenance mechanics. “They graduate and immediately get hired with great jobs at great manufacturing companies,” he adds. “We also work with the Alliance for Education at the high school level. The Alliance works to make connections between employers in the community and our area high school students. The Alliance is turning career pathways into apprenticeships for good-paying, in-demand jobs.” From Startup to Success Story Sometimes, workforce development means taking a good idea and turning it into a job-creating engine. That’s exactly what Monica Robles is doing at her Asociacion de Emprendedor@s, an innovative program that works with Spanish-speaking entrepreneurs throughout the region. Robles, founder and president of the organization, says the program — the first of its kind in California — was launched in 2016 in Orange County “when I created the curriculum SITE SELECTION JANUARY 2024 25 as a business workshop for women who suffered from domestic violence and who needed to be able to support themselves. I focused the curriculum around three pillars: empowerment of the individual, leadership development and business legal compliance.” The results have been astounding. Demand for entrepreneurial training grew so quickly that, two years later, Robles expanded it to San Bernardino County. “The Mexican Consulate let us teach the program on their campus in San Bernardino. We held our first graduation here in March 2018,” says Robles. “We will have 400 graduates in San Bernardino this year. As of December 2023, we have graduated 1,258 people across all four of our counties: San Bernardino, Riverside, Orange and Los Angeles.” The real measurement of success, however, comes in the form of smiles that Robles sees on the faces of her graduates. Ofelia Calderon is one of them. “She had been working as a seamstress for 20 years in Hollywood,” says Robles. “But she was not just sewing clothes. She was designing them. When she came to me, I told her that she was a fashion designer. It took her a while to accept that and believe that. Today, after going through our training, she is one of the most successful Hispanic fashion designers in the country. She has been invited to participate in fashion shows in New York, Paris and Atlanta. She designs beautifully colored Mexican dresses, and she now has eight people working for her. All she was lacking was self-confidence when she first came to me. Now her business is a beautiful success story.” What’s next for Robles and her team? Continuing to expand the program, she says. “When the Economic Development Department of San Bernardino County found out about our program, they wanted to bring it to county residents in the High Desert region, so we brought it to Apple Valley in 2023,” says Robles. “Next, we will go to Victorville. There is a hunger for this kind of information in the Hispanic community. There was nothing in Spanish before we launched the first training program in 2016. The entrepreneurial spirit is alive and well among Spanish-speaking people. Ultimately, I want to serve the whole state of California.” This Investment Profile was prepared under the auspices of San Bernardino County. For more information, contact the County’s Economic Development Department at 909-387-4700. On the web, go to www.SelectSBCounty.com. Asociacion de Emprendedor@s equips people with the skills they need to take their business idea from startup to successful commercialization. Photos courtesy of Asociacion de Emprendedor@s Monica Robles is Founder and President of Asociacion de Emprendedor@s.Next >