< PreviousWESTERN EUROPECompanyMetro AreaCountryInv. US $MillionJobsFord London United Kingdom 602 250Johnson Controls, Inc. Hannover Germany 136 Kuka Systems GmbH Augsburg Germany 118 Vistakon Ireland Limerick Ireland 109 Hilti Corp. Schaan Liechtenstein 98 Selected Corporate Facilities Investments, 2015-2017Top Cities 1 Berlin/Brandenburg Metro Area, Germany 2 Birmingham (West Midlands Metro Area), UK 3 Stuttgart Region, Germany 4 London Metro Area, UK 5 Hamburg, GermanyMACHINERY & EQUIPMENTGermany's machinery & equipment sector is No. 1 in Europe, with record turnover in the region of €225B in 2016. “With global machinery trade share of more than 16%, Germany’s M&E industry sector remains the world’s leading supplier of machinery,” says Germany Trade & Invest.88 2018 W O R L D ’ S M O S T C O M P E T I T I V E C I T I E SMACHINERY & EQUIPMENTASIA PACIFICCompanyMetro AreaCountryInv. US $MillionJobsFanuc Corp. Utsunomiya Japan 844 Gree Electric Appliances, Inc. Of Zhuhai Wuhan China 749 Fanuc Corp. Tokyo-Kanto Major Japan 544 Bhushan Steel Ltd. Dhenkanal India 446 Ningbo Aux Group Co.,Ltd. Ningbo China 330 Selected Corporate Facilities Investments, 2015-2017Top Cities1 Suzhou Metro Area, China2 Shanghai Metro Area, China 3 Pune Metro Area, India 4 Chengdu, China 5 Delhi National Capital Region, IndiaAsia Pacific cities and nations lead the world in robot installations.2018 W O R L D ’ S M O S T C O M P E T I T I V E C I T I E S 89MACHINERY & EQUIPMENTCompany Metro Area Country Inv. US $Million JobsAmsia Motors Ltd. Monte Alegre Brazil 560 Sany Heavy Industry Co., Ltd. Sao Paulo Brazil 227 Xcmg Construction Machinery Pouso Alegre Brazil 200 1,500Mhwirth AS Macae Brazil 68 200Deere & Co. Rosario Argentina 41 Selected Corporate Facilities Investments, 2015-2017Top Cities 1 Queretaro Metro Area, Mexico 1 São Paulo Metro Area, Brazil 3 Buenos Aires Metro Area, Argentina 3 Saltillo, Mexico 3 Monterrey Metro Area, MexicoLATIN AMERICA & CARIBBEANQueretaro State’s machinery & equipment sector is driven by the region’s strength in aerospace and automotive: A cluster of 85 aerospace companies and organizations has developed, employing 8,500, including a new operation launched in 2017 by Michigan-based Seco Tools.90 2018 W O R L D ’ S M O S T C O M P E T I T I V E C I T I E SSÃO PAULOBRAZILPHOTO: GETTY IMAGESSECTOR LEADER IN:his teeming inland metro of 12 million people might sometimes seem like its growth is out of control. But it’s more like a controlled ascent.In Citigroup’s “Hot Spots 2025” report benchmarking world cities on their future competitiveness, São Paulo was forecast No. 1 in improvement, moving up 25 spots to No. 36 out of 120 cities based on improving infrastructure. Global consultancy Arcadis calls this metro representing more than one-third of Brazil’s GDP a “city of endless opportunities," in part because of the need for renewal:“São Paulo relies on a city Strategic Master Plan which focuses on goals such as developing housing and transportation corridors for its millions of inhabitants,” says Arcadis. “With mass urbanization and aging infrastructure and assets, São Paulo continues to see opportunities for renewal. With 7.6 million vehicles and the busiest metro lines in the world, mobility is a key issue for local Paulistas.”But upward mobility is too.“ e city of São Paulo is the corporate and entrepreneurship capital of Brazil, hands down,” says Renato Byrro, Brazil-based software product developer for Site Selection parent company Conway Inc. “São Paulo does a tremendous job in making it easier to do business and succeed in any business eff ort. From rich supply chain to facilitated access to consumer markets, São Paulo is an oasis in a country that still struggles to support the private sector.“ e key factor driving the Paulistano business phenomenon is rooted deep in its culture,” Byrro says. “During Brazil’s colonization, São Paulo exploration was driven by the Bandeirantes: very ambitious and fearless pioneers. e positive sides of this historic trait remain in São Paulo’s culture. Its businessmen and workforce are keen at identifying business opportunities, agile to negotiate and close deals, and capable of executing and actually delivering results. Anyone who is willing to sell and close major deals in Brazil can’t avoid doing business in the city of São Paulo.” e cultural leadership extends to attracting talents beyond deal-making too.“Despite major hurdles in urban planning and development that plague its population, the city of São Paulo is the top-of-mind destination to most Brazilian young workers, especially among the most well educated," Byrro says. “From competitive compensation to challenging opportunities, they fi nd in São Paulo the means to develop a successful career and grow as individuals.”Adam BrunsSite SelectionMagazine 23.5475° S 46.6361° Welev. 2,493.4 ft.BRTUTC-32nd4th5th4th2nd1st3rd 2018 W O R L D ’ S M O S T C O M P E T I T I V E C I T I E S 91NORTHAMERICAMACHINERY & EQUIPMENTCompany Metro Area Country Inv. US $Million JobsDaikin Industries Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX United States 410 Williams Brothers Trucking, Inc. Wrens, GA United States 350 15Anderton Machining, LLC Jackson, MI United States 313 49Holtec International Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, PA-NJ-DE-MD United States 260 235Detroit Diesel Corp. Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI United States 208 245Selected Corporate Facilities Investments, 2015-2017Top Cities 1 Chicago-Naperville-Elgin, IL-IN-WI, USA 2 Detroit-Warren-Dearborn, MI, USA 3 Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land, TX, USA 4 Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington, TX, USA 5 Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Roswell, GA, USANearly 31% of all corporate end-user facility projects tracked since 2001 in the Chicago metro area by Site Selection magazine’s Conway Projects Database have a manufacturing component. Home to more than 363K manufacturing jobs, the region accounted for more than 60% of the state’s manufacturing employment, establishments, and output in 2016.92 2018 W O R L D ’ S M O S T C O M P E T I T I V E C I T I E SMACHINERY & EQUIPMENTCompanyMetro AreaCountryInv. US $MillionJobsGeneral Electric Calabar Nigeria 250 2,300Bico-Liebherr Nairobi Kenya 218 Knauf Gips KG Lagos Nigeria 70 Kenol Nigeria Ltd./ Meksan Transformers Lagos Nigeria 50 Baker Hughes Inc. Oran Algeria 45 Selected Corporate Facilities Investments, 2015-2017Top Cities1 Dubai-Sharjah-Ajman Metro Area, UAE2 Nairobi Metro Area, Kenya 2 King Abdullah Economic City, Saudi ArabiaAFRICA & MIDDLE EASTQatar 1UAE 2Philippines 3Vietnam 4Indonesia 5India 6Sweden 7South Korea 8China 9The Netherlands 10Thailand 11Slovokia 12Czech Republic 13Belgium 14Saudi Arabia 15Poland 16Bulgaria 17United States 18Denmark 19Italy 20Hong Kong 21Singapore 22United Kingdom 23Spain 24Germany 25Greece 26Switzerland 27Canada 28France 29Japan 30Romania 31Australia 32Brazil 3315%6.8%3.7%2.1%1.4%10.2%5.2%3.3%1.8%6.1%3.4%3.7%2.1%1.0%9.8%5.1%2.2%1.6%5.4%3.4%1.8%3.6%2.0%1.0%9.6%5.0%2.2%1.5%5.3%3.3%1.8%3.5%1.9%-2.4%34 Ukraine13431172620242923 141019281832716121325272156114219383022 5322018 FORECAST CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY VALUE2018 W O R L D ’ S M O S T C O M P E T I T I V E C I T I E S 93METALSike energy the metals and metalworking sector is not one usually associated with city environments — no matter how many collision repair shops you may drive by. But the metals sector’s reach is wide, encom-passing not just manufacturing and processing, but R&D and headquarters. And its importance to other sectors goes beyond just transportation, to such thriving industries as medical devices, petrochemi-cals, power, food and beverage packaging and ma-chinery/construction. Market research fi rm Lucintel says the industrial pipe market alone (though steel and iron are just a part of it) will grow by 2.5 percent a year to reach $21.7 billion by 2023.“New trade agreements between Japan and the EU, and the implementation of the TPP [Trans Pacifi c Partnership] will likely cause signifi cant shifts in existing trade fl ows,” says Dan Levine of Oxford Economics. “In addition, the Kobe steel scandal in Japan, and major steel mergers in the UK (plus Brex-it concerns) all point to the potential for realignment within this sector as production shifts among many competing locations.Even as the UK’s West Midlands region diversifi es its economic base with big corporate project wins in fi nancial services, among other sectors, Birmingham is still known for its cluster of Jaguar Land Rover plants and all the metals-associated industrial activity that entails. In fact, this year’s rankings give a nod to the UK’s historical role in developing metals as an industry in the fi rst place, with the East Riding of Yorkshire ranked No. 5 and cutlery capital Sheffi eld, aka Steel City, ranked No. 4.History and legacy hover over the rankings across all global regions. Does the heritage and clang of metal ring any more loudly than in places such as Chicago and Detroit; Croatia and the Czech Repub-lic; or the automotive-driven locations of Chengdu, China, and Pune, India, home to the $3-billion, 10,000-employee Kalyani Group conglomerate known for its metals engineering expertise?At the same time, new strength in the sector is coming from places such as the UAE, where metals (especially those produced by Emirates Global Aluminum and Emirates Steel) are among what leaders have called “diversifi cation anchors” in the Abu Dhabi Economic Vision 2030 blueprint. And Mexican cities dominate our Latin America rankings due to their growing use by automotive and aero-space investors in the country, beginning with the engineering and industrial capital of Monterrey.Dan Levine says while underlying demand is expected to remain strong, changing trade policies have the potential to cause realignment in the metals industry.“For example, to the extent that U.S. tariff s are a ‘success,’ steel and aluminum prices in the U.S. will be artifi cially high. erefore, if ‘successful,’ U.S. tariff policy will result in increased domestic metal production but only at the expense of U.S. steel and aluminum customers who now must pay more for these basic metals.” Indeed the production invest-ments are already happening in such locations as Century Aluminum’s major investment in Kentucky, for which company leaders gave full credit to the the imposition of the tariff s.As the World Economic Forum puts it, “the geo-political and international security landscape evolves rapidly, with relationship shifts, new crises and pro-tracted confl icts spilling over into interstate relations, global economic aff airs and investment patterns. e mining and metals sector, and its value chains and geographies, sit at the core of this constantly chang-ing geopolitical reality.”94 2018 W O R L D ’ S M O S T C O M P E T I T I V E C I T I E SEASTERN EUROPE & CENTRAL ASIAMETALSCompany Metro Area Country Inv. US $Million JobsYunnan Construction Engineering Group Co., Ltd. Tursunzoda Tajikistan 1,600 1,200Daewoo International Corp. Mary Province Turkmenistan 1,000 Tosyali/Toyo Kohan Mersin Turkey 500 Prec-Cast Sarszentmihaly Hungary 416 300Mmk, Ooo Tek Magnitogorsk Russia 391 Selected Corporate Facilities Investments, 2015-2017Top Cities 1 Breznicki Hum, Croatia 2 Slatina, Romania 2 Ostrava, Czech Republic 2 Bruntal, Czech Republic 2 Budapest Metro Area, Hungary 2 Ptuj, Slovenia 2 Szekesfehervar, HungaryCroatia’s metals sector has grown from 3,000 fi rms employing 27,000 in 2007 to 5,800 fi rms employing 62,200 people today. The sector boasts income of €4.6B, or 10% of Croatia’s GDP. 2018 W O R L D ’ S M O S T C O M P E T I T I V E C I T I E S 95WESTERN EUROPEMETALSCompany Metro Area Country Inv. US $Million JobsNorsk Hydro Haugesund Norway 515 Amag Austria Metall AG Braunau am Inn Austria 349 450Rittal Corp. Frankfurt Rhine-Main Germany 284 290Siemens East Riding of Yorkshire United Kingdom 220 1,000Tata Steel Ltd. Amsterdam Netherlands 212 Selected Corporate Facilities Investments, 2015-2017Top Cities 1 Birmingham (West Midlands Metro Area), UK 2 Berlin/Brandenburg Metro Area, Germany 3 Frankfurt Rhine-Main Metro Area, Germany 4 She eld, UK 5 East Riding of Yorkshire, UKGermany is No. 7 in global steel production (43.4 million tons) & No. 6 in steel use in fi nished products (41.7 million tons). SOURCE: WORLD STEEL ASSOCIATION 201896 2018 W O R L D ’ S M O S T C O M P E T I T I V E C I T I E SMETALSASIA PACIFICCompanyMetro AreaCountryInv. US $MillionJobsJSW Steel Ltd. Jagatsinghpur India 8,265 Steel Authority Of India Ltd. Khammam India 5,000 Tata Steel Ltd. Kalinganagar India 3,532 Shree Uttam Steel And Power Ltd. Satarda India 3,000 Inner Mongolia Chuangyuan Metals Corp. Holingol China 2,952 Selected Corporate Facilities Investments, 2015-2017Top Cities1 Suzhou Metro Area, China2 Chengdu, China3 Ho Chi Minh City Metro Area, Vietnam 4 Pune Metro Area, India 5 Wuxi Metro Area, ChinaProducing more than 831M metric tons of steel in 2017,China dwarfed No. 2 Japan (104.7 million) and No. 3 India (101.4 million) and outshone No. 4 United States (81.6 million) by a factor of 10.2018 W O R L D ’ S M O S T C O M P E T I T I V E C I T I E S 97Next >