IAMC Insider, Site Selection magazine, November 2003

Colorado-based ProLogis is embarking on 14 new facilities across Japan, all expected to be in service by the end of 2004. The company expects increased leasing demand from trucking companies that don't want to take on ownership risks. The locations include Nagoya, Tokyo, Kansai, Osaka and Narita Airport. Gregory Arnold, a Cranbury, N.J.-based senior vice president for ProLogis, is an IAMC member.

In an August 2003 ranking of top-performing manufacturing companies from 1999-2002, Industry Week looked at revenue growth, return on equity, profit margin, asset turnover, inventory turnover and return on assets. When their results were tallied, these IAMC member companies came out smelling like a rose: Merck & Co. (13.8-percent profit margin), Procter & Gamble (10.8), United Technologies (7.9), Anheuser-Busch Cos. (14.3) and Donaldson Co. (7.7).

In a harmonic convergence of IAMC corporate member companies, Wal-Mart Stores in July 2003 recognized Burlington Northern and Santa Fe Railway Co. (BNSF) as its Carrier of the Year, the fifth consecutive time that BNSF has garnered the honor. James O'Neil, assistant vice president of property and facility management for BNSF, is an IAMC member, as are his colleague Vann Cunningham, BNSF assistant vice president, and John Hay, real estate manager for distribution at Wal-Mart.

Hay and his Wal-Mart real estate colleagues will need all the service provider help they can get, as the company announced more major expansion plans on Sept. 29. In addition to some 50 million sq. ft. (4.7 million sq. m.) of new retail space to be added over the next fiscal year (bringing the company total to a staggering 656 million sq. ft. [61 million sq. m.], Wal-Mart will also construct three new regional general merchandise distribution centers and two new food distribution centers. Combined, those five facilities will add more than 5 million sq. ft. (465,000 sq. m.) of distribution space to the company portfolio.

Allen L. Pomerance, P.E., executive vice president of Chicago design and engineering firm A. Epstein and Sons International, has been appointed director of the company's aviation group. Pomerance heads the team on the Chicago Midway Airport passenger terminal and parking facility project, expected to be complete in 2004. He also served as project manager for the award-winning United Airlines terminal at Chicago O'Hare International Airport, completed in 1987. John Epstein, president of A. Epstein and Sons, is an IAMC member.

In September, RR Donnelley's book manufacturing facility in Roanoke, Va., was one of only two facilities to be recognized as "Elite Factories" by FORTUNE magazine. The facility, which churns out 3.5 million books a year, boosted its productivity by 20 percent between 2002 and 2003, while also becoming one of only three printing facilities nationwide to earn the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration's highest safety certification. F. Doyle Shea is manager of real estate and construction for Chicago-based RR Donnelley.