Lincoln Area Businesses Continue to Prosper Novartis Announces Addition to Lincoln Facility Product Portfolio T he Lincoln area continues to see substantial growth among its existing companies, a credit, according to officials, of a strong workforce and an aggressive package of new state incentives.    Novartis Consumer Health, Inc. announced earlier in 2006 that new brands will be added to its production portfolio, increasing volume by 60 percent at the Lincoln site.    Adding such products as Excedrin®, Comtrex® and others acquired by Novartis from Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) in 2005 will result in approximately 100 new professional scientific and manufacturing jobs at the site, located east of Lincoln.    Novartis officials worked closely with members of the Lincoln economic development team and representatives of the Nebraska Governor's office and Nebraska Department of Economic Development.    "This says a lot about the company's confidence in our facility and our capabilities and it's definitely a reward for the hard work and dedication of our employees," said Marlene Leuenberger, Site Leader for Novartis Consumer Health in Lincoln.    "This is tremendous news for Lincoln and the State of Nebraska as a whole," said Jason Smith, Vice President-Economic Development of the Lincoln Chamber of Commerce. "The management team at Novartis is to be commended for their hard work during the competitive process in promoting the Lincoln plant as the site for this expansion. They are great partners here in the region and contribute significantly to the economic vitality of our community.    "The combination of work ethic, available work force, location relative to major markets and a strong partnership of organizations focused on maintaining a 'business friendly' environment make these kinds of announcements possible. The fact that Novartis could have located these capabilities anywhere in the world is proof that the Lincoln work force continues to be world class in all areas of business and industry. Bio-sciences and their affiliated production facilities represent one of the major opportunities for the Southeastern region of our state."    The Novartis Consumer Health facility is located just east of the Lincoln city limits on Highway 6. There are 511 regular associates and over 100 seasonal temporary associates currently working at the three-shift, five-day a week operation. The Novartis OTC business unit employs 4,050 associates worldwide and is headquartered in Parsippany, N.J.    The Novartis announcement comes on the heels of a number of expansion announcements in the Lincoln area including: Kawasaki, State Farm, Molex, Husqvarna, Tenneco Automotive, Gallup, World's Foremost Bank (Cabela's), Allied Insurance (Nationwide) and TAG/TMI (a Perot Systems Company).    Lincoln Area Development Partnership (LAD) Chairman, Mary Simmons of Aquila, added that the new state incentive package, Nebraska Advantage, was critical to securing most of these expansions.    "We have a renewed interest and enthusiasm for economic development in this state," Simmons said. "The excitement that has been generated by the passage of this aggressive incentive package has led to numerous successes and more on the horizon."    The Nebraska Advantage is a series of incentives that includes tax credits for job creation, investment and research and development. Additionally, the state enhanced its training program and created sales tax exemptions for manufacturing equipment as part of the program. There are also additional programs available for non-metropolitan Nebraska.    The Partnership is a group made up of eight counties in Southeast Nebraska, dedicated to marketing the Lincoln area and SE Nebraska as the premier place in the Midwest for companies to locate or expand. For more information, call 402-436-2373 or www.lincolnpartners.org. — Jason Smith, CEcD