The fastest-growing U.S. MSA, Tampa Bay accounted for 10 percent of the entire nation's job growth between from June 2000 through July 2001, asserted Hillsborough County Commission Chair Pat Frank (pictured above).

BRANDON, Fla. -- Coca-Cola may have lost the Blimpie account, but that hasn't slowed the company's expansion in the Tampa, Fla., metro.
        The world's largest marketer, distributor, and producer of soft drinks has just celebrated the grand opening of a 33,000-sq.-ft. (2,970 -sq.-m.), 210-employee shared service center in Hillsborough County.
        In addition, Coca-Cola Enterprises has announced that it will later this year open another separate operation in Hillsborough County. The new 58,000-sq.-ft. (5,220 -sq.-m.), 400-to-500 employee facility will handle general accounting and transaction processing functions for the company's North American operations. The new Tampa operation is being created to streamline the company's accounting services, Coca-Cola officials explained.
        As with the shared service center, the accounting operation will be located in Regency Corporate Center in the city of Brandon. Coca-Cola Enterprises chose the Tampa area for the accounting center after a nationwide search, company officials explained.
        "A major factor in the decision to move these services to Brandon was the tremendous cooperation we received from Gov. [Jeb] Bush and the state of Florida, Enterprise Florida, Hillsborough County and the local Chamber of Commerce's Committee of One Hundred," said Pat Mannelly, Coca-Cola Enterprises senior vice president and chief financial officer. "It was obvious to our company that this state and this community is committed to ensuring the area's economic vitality."
        Said Bush, "A function of government is to encourage job growth and ensure that tax and regulatory systems foster a competitive business climate."

The two new facilities will join other Coca-Cola facilities in Hillsborough County that include the company's Florida Division office and a production facility; both facilities are located in Tampa.
        "We are proud this icon of a company has established such a strong presence in Florida," Bush said. "The company's contributions to the Tampa Bay region have been significant - both in terms new jobs created and capital investment. Their decision to locate in Florida was based on our inviting business climate and skilled work force."
        The state's work force has grown with particular speed in the Tampa metro area, noted Hillsborough County Commission Chair Pat Frank.
        "The strong collaborative relationship between the state, the county and the private sector is a critical reason why Hillsborough County's unemployment rate continues to be well below the state and national average," Frank said. "It is no wonder the Tampa MSA has been named 1st in job growth in the nation - 10 percent of the entire country's job growth between June 2000-July 2001 was in Tampa Bay - and that Hillsborough County is leading the MSA, with 54 percent of that employment growth."
        Coca-Cola's expansion in the Tampa area isn't yet done, company officials suggested.
        "The financial investment in Hillsborough County through this new facility is just one way that we are showing our long-term commitment to this area," Jay Ard, Florida Coca-Cola Bottling Co. vice president and general manager, commented at the grand opening of the Brandon shared services center. "We will continue to invest in our local facilities and in our numerous community initiatives. We are proud to be involved at every level in this community and others in Florida and look forward to strengthening our partnerships as we move forward."

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Chambly is linked with the city of Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu by the Chambly Canal (pictured above), which runs for some 12.5 miles (20 km.) along the west bank of the Richelieu River. Photo credit: Parks Canada photo by Jean Audet

CHAMBLY, Quebec -- The largest created the largest: That was part of the picture when U.S.-based Cargill picked the Quebec city of Chambly for a new plant.
        Food and agriculture giant Cargill, with its US$50 billion-plus in annual sales, is the largest private U.S.-based corporation. And the company's 600-employee, $28.2 million meat processing facility ranks as the largest investment ever in Chambly, a city of some 21,000 residents just east of Montreal.
        Cargill's 130 000-sq.-ft. (11,700-sq.-m.) plant will process beef and pork products. Those products will be distributed to Provigo and Loblaws supermarket outlets throughout the Montreal region.
        The Canadian city on the Richelieu River was picked in part because of the quality of the area's labor and infrastructure, along with its proximity to the Montreal market, explained Cargill's Mark Nicholls.
        "With its strategic location, Chambly boasts some very attractive features, like access to a large market and a dynamic, growing community," said Nicholls, who will be the new plant's general manager. "We thank the Quebec government and the city of Chambly for their solid support in helping make this project a reality."

Financial incentives are part of that support.
        Quebec is providing the largest share of financial aid. Provincial assistance includes $2.44 million in equity investment and grants.
        Cargill's coming to Chambly "shows once again Quebec's strengths in bio-food processing and its ability to attract investments of this scope," said Pauline Marois, Quebec's deputy premier and minister of state for the economy and finance. "Food processing activities are crucial to Quebec's economy."
        Cargill's new plant in the Chambly Industrial Park, she added, "will generate direct tax receipts of over $2.5 million over five years." In addition, Emploi Quebec is contributing $188,000 for training the Cargill plant's employees.
        "Manpower training is a key component in securing the arrival and development of this new business," said Agnes Maltais, Quebec minister for employment. "The financial participation of Emploi Quebec is essential to this project that will stimulate the local labor market and bolster the agri-food industry in Quebec."
        Financial assistance is also coming from the city of Chambly, which is investing $350,000 in putting infrastructure in place at the plant site.

The plant will grow to 600 employees over a four-year span, Cargill officials said. Four hundred of those 600 positions will be filled by local-area hires, they added.
        "This is the largest investment in Chambly's history, and we are very enthusiastic about the opportunities it presents," said Chambly Mayor Pierre Bourbonnais, Chambly's opportunities with the Cargill plant may grow bigger. The Chambly plant might be enlarged, company officials said, if business is running strong after the facility's first year of operations. Expansions could create from 200 to 300 additional jobs at the plant, they explained.
        Minneapolis-based Cargill is certainly no stranger to expansion. The company began its existence in 1865 with a single grain elevator. Today, Cargill has more than 1,000 facilities that house some 90,000 employees in 70-plus countries. Descendants of those 19th-century founders, who began business with a real estate portfolio that included only one lone grain elevator, still own some 85 percent of Cargill.

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• TOKYO -- Zexel Valeo Climate Control (ZVCC) has announced that it will invest $90 million in opening two new plants that will manufacture automobile air-conditioner compressors. A Tokyo-based joint venture between Germany's Bosch Automotive and France's Valeo, ZVCC will locate one of the new plants in the Czech Republic, while the other will be located in either Mexico or the United States, company officials explained.
        ZVCC officials haven't yet announced a specific location for the plant in the Czech Republic. A frontrunner in the speculation, however, will likely be the Czech city of Zebrak. ZVCC in late 1999 announced that it would locate a compressor factory in the city near Prague. Beginning in 2003, that new factory in Zebrak will manufacture some 1 million compressors for Volkswagen and PSA Peugeot Citroen.
        The other plant that will be built on a Mexican or U.S. site will have a first-year capacity of more than 800,000 units, ZVCC officials said.
        The new plants are part of ZVCC's goal to move from No. 5 to No. 2 in the automotive air-conditioner market, company officials explained. ZVCC has set a goal of more than doubling its annual compressor sales by 2006. Its 2006 sales goal is 10 million units. Sales of that magnitude would increase the company's share of the global market to 20 percent from its current 8 percent.

MDS Pharma Services' expansion will enhance its capabilities as "the largest early-phase clinical research organization in the world," said company President and CEO Doug Squires.

• TORONTO - One of the world's largest contract research organizations, Toronto-based MDS Pharma Services has announced 2002 expansion plans that will span three continents.
        Company officials announced that MDS Pharma Services will expand its bio-analytical facility in Zurich, Switzerland, from 18,000 sq. ft. (1,620 sq. m.) to 32,000 sq. ft. (2,880 sq. m.). 2002's expansion plans, they added, also call for establishing a new MDS Pharma Services facility for central laboratory operations, which will be located in an as-yet-undisclosed location in Asia. The company has already broken ground in Lyon, France, for a three-story, 24,000-sq.-ft. (2,160-sq.-m.) facility that will focus on safety pharmacology.
        In addition, MDS Pharma Services this year is relocating three of its seven early-phase clinical research units and increasing bed capacity in each. The unit in Neptune, N.J., will increase from 32 to 68 beds, while the unit in Phoenix, Ariz., will increase from 72 to 120 beds. The company earlier this year relocated its Hamburg, Germany, unit, expanding it from 24 to 60 beds.
        "With more than 750 beds in our clinical research facilities, MDS Pharma Services is the largest early-phase clinical research organization in the world," said company President and CEO Doug Squires. "Our increased capacity will allow us to accommodate an even greater number of clinical studies with enhanced scheduling flexibility and a rapid study start-up."
        "The expansion of our facilities and technology is in response to our clients' needs for worldwide drug discovery and development capabilities," Squires added.