Features

A new generation of commercial transport changes the rules of where facilities supporting this bellwether industry are located. Airbus has opened a new, 650-employee facility in Broughton, Wales, where wings for the A350 XWB will be manufactured. Boeing has not yet determined where it will build its new 737 MAX airliner. Renton, Wash., has been home to 737 production for decades, but the aerospace giant is also considering other locations.

You load 16 tons and what do you get? A high-tech wind turbine gear box bound for Colorado.

A sudden wave of capital into plastics and chemicals manufacturing opens doors of opportunity for innovative startups.

Churn Stokes Upturn: At the confluence of fun and money, water recreation can be an economic catalyst for downtown riverfronts.

Online sales are booming for many retailers such as Macy’s. As its online business has grown, Macy’s has put together a regional logistics approach with three large, strategically placed distribution centers.

Say what you will about intermodal freight’s ability to help regional economies. One thing’s for sure: It helps railroads’ economies.

The most powerful utility economic development teams are backed by corporations that don’t just move power around. They wield it.

Peruvian firm Li3 Energy, Inc., in May closed on its acquisition of 60-percent ownership in a group of six private companies that own the Maricunga Project in northern Chile, believed to be one of the top 10 lithium projects in the world.

The number of practical applications developed thus far for graphene can fit on the head of a pin … a very tiny pin.

Alpina Foods’ new dairy manufacturing plant in Batavia, N.Y., isn’t built yet, and already it’s been expanded — twice.

Alcoa’s CSO says if you’re not uncomfortable yet, the goal isn’t high enough.

Power utilization and monitoring of environmental factors are key issues for data centers.

States that exempt or abate property and sales taxes on computer and telecom equipment will soon make the short lists of data center site selectors.

The return of bicycle manufacturing to American shores might seem improbable with nearly 99 percent of all bikes sold in the U.S. now made in China, Taiwan or other low-wage Asian countries.

The top sustainable territories know how to balance regulation with incubation, renewable energy with renewed company commitments.

A Procter & Gamble executive explains how industrial participation
facilitates research and commercialization, benefiting regional research centers.

Xcellerex: The Made-to-Order Factory

The headlines about public-employees unions obscure another labor topic: The UAW’s new push to organize at foreign-owned automotive plants.

When German silicon producer Wacker Chemie AG originally announced the selection of Cleveland, Tenn., as the site of a new US$1-billion, fully integrated polysilicon factory in February 2009, it represented the second solar industry announcement for the state that winter.

There is a science to site selection. But rarely do the specifics of science itself so directly impact a location
choice.

Wind energy production activity was light and variable in much of 2010.

Amsterdam Airport Schiphol is considered the gold standard of 21st century airport cities, the one frequently cited as the paradigm by airport executives hoping to turn their own facilities into engines of regional economic growth. Well over 60,000 people work at nearly 70 businesses sited at or adjacent to Schiphol, from aerospace companies to air […]

As Steelcase prepares to move out of its Corporate Development Center, a landmark Grand Rapids building beckons new users.