Vehicles Keep Kentucky Moving

There were nearly 90 new Kentucky locations or expansions by automotive companies in 2002. Some investments, like Ford's equipment upgrades at its two plants in Louisville, were about shoring up and keeping operations, while others added both jobs and facilities.
        Dana Corp., which operates 14 facilities across the state, is investing $27.4 million and creating 150 new jobs at its plant in Elizabethtown, a community hard by Interstate 65, which is on an even par with Interstate 64 as an auto corridor all its own.
        "Work force is definitely one of the top factors that keeps us coming back to Kentucky," says Phil Zmuda, senior manager of real estate transactions for Dana's Asset Management Group, citing state training resources as an added value.
        In November 2002, Asahi Forge announced its intention to build a $19-million, 65,000-sq.-ft. (6,039- sq.-m.) press forging plant in Richmond, on Interstate 75 just south of Lexington. Tax credits and proximity to Lexington were the top attractors for the firm, which will employ 37 people in the making of gears, bearings, joints and transmission parts.
        Take a drive from north from Richmond to Cincinnati, and you'll almost see as many Michigan license plates as native tags. It's just one more hint of the free-flowing automotive commerce that both passes through and catches hold in the state. There's no denying that Northern Kentucky thrives on being part of the Cincinnati metro, but draws as well on the automotive conduit that Kentucky has become.
        Mubea, a German manufacturer of automotive parts, is building on its 500-employee base and $100 million of investment over the past 9 years with plans for adding 145 more positions at two newly announced facilities to be built over the next two years. Company officials credit both the incentives offered by the state and by Northern Kentucky Tri-ED, and the internal growth momentum driven by a joint venture with Japan-based Chuo.
        "The central location and infrastructure here is excellent," says Helmut Simon, General Manager, Hose Clamps Division, Mubea, Inc. "We have a lot of people traveling back and forth and the nonstop Delta flight to Frankfurt is excellent for us. In other areas, you fly in, have to change planes and still have to drive two hours before you reach your final destination."
        The DHL hub is also growing at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport. A $200-million project is underway to double global package-handling capacity, making the new hub the largest in DHL's global network.
        The area is just as well known, however, for its airplane engines as its car parts. GE's jet engine unit has long been headquartered in Cincinnati, but that city is losing a division of one of its other longtime corporate citizens, Cincinnati Machine (CM). The company's aerospace and after-market services business will relocate to an existing facility in Hebron and invest some $5 million in the location near the airport. Plans call for a 33-percent expansion of the 150,000-sq.-ft. (13,935-sq.-m.) facility. The move was made at the behest of CM's new parent company, UNOVA Manufacturing Technol-ogies, based in Chesterfield Township, Mich., which was formed by the merger of CM and Lamb Technicon.