TOP INDUSTRIES

lthough down somewhat in total numbers, the transportation equipment sector again reigns as the top industrial category in 2005, according to the Conway Data New Plant Database. Totals show the industry had 549 projects, a drop of more than 10 percent from the 613 registered in 2004.

   True to form, automobile-related facilities dominate this category. While announcements of some major global assembly plants have been pending for several months, North America can lay claim to the largest new project actually under way. In fact, Toyota‘s RAV4 SUV plant in Woodstock, Ontario, is already earmarked for a capacity increase even though construction just began in October 2005. The company announced on Feb. 7 of this year that the plant’s annual production capacity would get a 50 percent boost to 150,000. Investment will increase from US$650 million to US$950 million. Production begins in 2008 and total employment at the plant will reach 2,000.

   “This announcement is a vote of confidence by Toyota and the consumers and demonstrates that auto manufacturing is alive and well in Canada,” said Ray Tanguay, president of Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada (TMMC).

Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada’s choice to expand in Woodstock was predicated in part on the talent pool at its successful operation in nearby Cambridge (above). The US$650-million Woodstock announcement in mid-2005 has now been supplemented by an additional $300-million investment that Toyota announced in early February 2006.

   The Woodstock facility is Canada’s first greenfield auto assembly plant in 20 years. It is being constructed on a 1,000-acre (400-hectare) site, an area 2.5 times larger than the company’s site in Cambridge, Ontario. Toyota has built vehicles at its Cambridge plant since 1988. TMMC built more than 306,000 units at that facility in 2005.

   Following the project’s announcement last June, Jim Wiseman, vice president for corporate affairs for Toyota Motor Manufacturing North America, told Site Selection that there was little doubt where the facility was going to go.

   “We really did not seriously consider other sites,” he said. “From the get-go, this was Canada’s project to lose.”

   EADS North America‘s KC-330 tanker production and Airbus Engineering Center in Mobile, Ala., with a potential eventual investment of $600 million, is the sector’s next largest project on the continent. The Mobile site won out in a multi-state chase that also saw Florida, Mississippi and South Carolina as finalists.

   Construction began on the engineering center at the end of January and it is set to open in January 2007. It will employ at least 150 engineers at full capacity and is the first step in a potentially larger-scale industrial site if an order is received to modernize the U.S Air Force’s aerial refueling tanker fleet.

   Brookley Industrial Complex, which includes the Mobile Downtown Airport, is the site of the EADS project. The engineering center, which will support continuing engineering work on commercial Airbus models and military derivative aircraft, will be co-located with the future production facility on a 130-acre (53-hectare) tract.

Tom LaSorda, Chrysler Group President and CEO (second from left) celebrates the production of the all-new 2007 Dodge Caliber with Nate Gooden, UAW Vice President; Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich; Dennis Williams, Director of UAW Region Four; Frank Ewasyshyn, Chrysler Group Executive Vice President of Manufacturing; Kurt Kavajecz, Belvidere Assembly Plant Manager and Belvidere Mayor Fred Brereton (L-R). The Belvidere Assembly Plant is the first Chrysler Group manufacturing plant to use a body shop that is comprised entirely of robotics. The Belvidere site received major investment early in 2005.

   DaimlerChrysler‘s plan to upgrade two Missouri assembly plants takes the prize as the top expansion project announced in 2005. The firm’s Chrysler Group will invest up to $1 billion to re-tool two St. Louis-area facilities in Fenton. The St. Louis North factory assembles the Dodge Ram pickup while the St. Louis South Plant handles the Chrysler Town & Country, Dodge Caravan and Dodge Grand Caravan minivans. The plants currently employ about 5,500, but the company has not announced if the expansion will create new jobs. The company says the improvements will give the plants much-needed flexibility to react rapidly to consumer demands.

   DaimlerChrysler also makes the list with some major tune-ups of some of its factories in the Midwest. These expansions include an investment of more than $506 million to retool its stamping and assembly operations in Sterling Heights, Mich. The upgrade helps the company retain more than 5,000 jobs at the facility. The company also invested $419 million for an upgrade of its Belvidere, Ill., plant.

   Among the world’s other top transportation equipment projects, Hyundai is building a $500-million plant adjacent to an existing plant near Chennai. Hyundai says the plant will produce 150,000 units annually. Final decisions are still forthcoming from Seoul on a possible new Hyundai plant in the Czech Republic, as well as a highly courted Kia plant in North America.

   Bell Helicopter Textron Canada is investing $572 million over 12 years to upgrade its Mirabel plant in Quebec. The plant will be responsible for development of the fuselage, avionics, integration and certification of four new commercial models planned by Bell. The company will begin delivering the new helicopters in 2007.

Brookley Field in Mobile, Ala., was chosen by EADS as the assembly site for its aerial refueling tanker, provided the company gets a U.S. Dept. of Defense contract to assemble it. Work on an engineering center has already begun. And partner Northrop Grumman is proceeding with its own production facility adjacent to the EADS site.