TEMPE, Ariz.–(BUSINESS WIRE)– First Solar, Inc. (NASDAQ: FSLR) today announced it is restructuring its operations in response to deteriorating market conditions in Europe and to reduce costs and align its organization with sustainable market opportunities. As part of this program, First Solar will close its manufacturing operations in Frankfurt (Oder), Germany, in the fourth quarter of 2012.
Additionally, the Company will indefinitely idle four production lines at its manufacturing center in Kulim, Malaysia, on May 1, 2012. These actions, combined with other personnel reductions in Europe and the U.S., will reduce First Solar’s global workforce by approximately 2,000 positions, about 30 percent of the total.
4/10/2012
Gestamp, $11 billion international company, locating to former South Charleston Stamping and Manufacturing Plant
Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin today announced Gestamp, an $11 billion international company, will create hundreds of new jobs and invest a minimum of $100 million at the former South Charleston Stamping and Manufacturing Plant.
“This is a tremendous opportunity not only for the Kanawha Valley but for the entire State of West Virginia,” said Gov. Tomblin. “This was a collaborative effort between Gestamp, Park Corporation, the City of South Charleston, the Kanawha County Commission and the State of West Virginia. We all worked together to make this opportunity a reality. This project truly validates the efforts and hard work of so many people. This is a great day for West Virginia!”
Gestamp is an international group dedicated to the design, development and manufacture of metal components and structural systems for the automotive industry.
“Immediately the City of South Charleston will see employees moving onto the site, applications being accepted and investment made in the local economy,” said Jeff Wilson, President and CEO of Gestamp.
The site, owned by Park Corporation, contains more than one million square feet under roof and over 30 acres at its South Charleston stamping facility.
from: http://www.governor.wv.gov/newsroom
The Michelin Group will build a new Earthmover tire plant in North America on its current site in Anderson, South Carolina.
The new facility will manufacture giant-off-the-road radial tires for the North American market and other regions of the world. Construction of the new plant will begin within weeks, and the first tires will be produced in late 2013. The Michelin site in Anderson currently produces semi-finished products and rubber compounds for the Group’s North American plants.
The Group also announced today that it is expanding its existing Earthmover tire facility in Lexington, South Carolina.
The two projects represent a $750 million investment (USD) and will create up to 500 new jobs.
Source: http://www.michelin.com/
JEFFERSONVILLE, Ind.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Mar. 27, 2012– Amazon.com, Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) announced plans today to locate a new fulfillment center in Jeffersonville, Indiana, creating up to 1,050 new jobs by 2015 and approximately $150 million in investment in the state.
“This is Amazon’s fifth Indiana facility, and the company is employing thousands of Hoosiers. We’re grateful for every one of those jobs,” said Governor Mitch Daniels. “These facilities will serve customers across the country, further cementing Indiana’s position as the country’s logistics capital.”
The Jeffersonville facility will be Amazon’s fifth fulfillment center in Indiana, bringing its total footprint in the state to more than 4 million square feet. Amazon currently operates facilities inIndianapolis, Whitestown and Plainfield.
“Indiana is home to thousands of Amazon employees, and we look forward to bringing additional jobs to the state this fall,” said Dave Clark, vice president, Amazon global customer fulfillment. “We’re grateful to state officials for their business-friendly approach, which supports our continued expansion in Indiana.”
The Seattle-based company expects to open the new facility this fall.
The Indiana Economic Development Corporation offered Amazon.com.indc LLC up to$2,000,000 in conditional tax credits and up to $300,000 in training grants based on the company’s job creation plans. These tax credits are performance-based, meaning until Hoosiers are hired, the company is not eligible to claim incentives. Also, the IEDC and theIndiana Department of Transportation will allocate funds to improve Cox Road. River Ridge Development Authority has approved additional property tax abatement through the enterprise zone and will support infrastructure improvements.
“We are very excited to have a corporate citizen like Amazon here at the River Ridge Commerce Center. Their presence here is further testament of River Ridge being the Midwest’s premier development site,” said Mark Robinson, president of the River Ridge Development Authority.
“We are extremely excited to have Amazon join our business community,” said JeffersonvilleMayor Mike Moore. “An addition like this shows Jeffersonville is at the forefront of a national rebound.”
The announcement of Amazon’s decision to locate its newest facility in the southeast Indianacity adds to the state’s growing transportation and distribution industry. Indiana is home to more than 4,700 miles of mainline rail track, three international airports and more than 11,000 total highway miles. Each year, more than 1.1 billion tons of freight travel through Indiana, making it the fifth busiest state for commercial freight traffic in the nation.
CNN.com reports T-Mobile USA will cut 1900 positions and close 7 of its 24 call centers around the country.
Report by The Boston Consulting Group Finds Improved American Competitiveness and Rising Costs in China Will Accelerate Shift of Production in a Broad Range of Industries
CHICAGO, IL, Mar 22, 2012 (MARKETWIRE via COMTEX) — Improved U.S. competitiveness and rising costs in China will put the United States in a strong position by around 2015 to eventually add 2 million to 3 million jobs and an estimated $100 billion in annual output in a range of industries, according to a new report by The Boston Consulting Group (BCG).
The report, titled “U.S. Manufacturing Nears the Tipping Point: Which Industries, Why, and How Much?,” is the latest in BCG’s ongoing study of the emerging reshoring or “insourcing” trend, conducted by its Operations and Global Advantage practices. It is being published today on www.bcgperspectives.com .
The report expands upon earlier BCG research released last year on the changing economics that are starting to favor manufacturing in the U.S. The first formal report, “Made in America, Again: Why Manufacturing Will Return to the U.S.,” published in August, explained how 15 to 20 percent annual increases in Chinese wages and other factors were rapidly eroding China’s manufacturing cost advantage over the U.S. Then in October, BCG released a second set of findings identifying seven broad industry sectors that it said were most likely to reach a “tipping point” over the next five years — a point at which China’s shrinking cost advantage should prompt companies to rethink where they produce certain goods meant for sale in North America.
The second formal report elaborates on those findings and explains the reshoring trend more fully. For example, it projects how much production work is likely to shift from China to the U.S. in each of the seven tipping-point sectors: transportation goods, appliances and electrical equipment, furniture, plastic and rubber products, machinery, fabricated metal products, and computers and electronics. It also predicts that production of 10 to 30 percent of U.S. imports from China in these sectors, which in 2010 accounted for nearly $200 billion worth of products, could move to the U.S.
The combination of manufacturing work returning from China in these sectors and increased U.S. exports due to improved global competitiveness is expected to create 2 million to 3 million U.S. jobs by the end of the decade. The job gains will come directly through added factory work (600,000 to 1 million jobs) and indirectly through supporting services, such as construction, transportation, and retail.
“Rising Chinese wages are only part of the reason America is poised for a manufacturing renaissance,” said Harold L. Sirkin, a BCG senior partner and coauthor of the report. “The U.S. manufacturing sector has gotten a lot more competitive over the past decade. And in recent years, companies have been paying much closer attention to the total costs of delivering a product made in China compared with making it closer to the end customer.” When higher U.S. productivity, logistics, and the many indirect risks and costs of sourcing products in China are taken into account, Sirkin said, more companies will find it makes good economic sense to make many products in the U.S. for consumption in North America.
Through its research, BCG has identified many companies — large and small — that have added or are planning to add U.S. production after assessing the total costs and risks. The latest report cites several, including ET Water Systems, a maker of irrigation controls; high-end cookware manufacturer All-Clad Metalcrafters; electronics manufacturing services company AmFor Electronics; and Farouk Systems, a maker of hair irons and dryers.
“This trend is still in the early stages,” stressed Michael Zinser, a BCG partner who leads the firm’s manufacturing work in the Americas. “But we expect it to accelerate as the new math of manufacturing increasingly favors the U.S. and as federal, state, and local governments provide more support for companies considering opportunities to reshore work.”
In another sign of growing American manufacturing competitiveness, foreign companies are adding capacity in the U.S. to serve both the domestic market and export markets. Electrolux recently decided to build a new plant in Memphis, Tennessee; and Bridgestone, Toyo Tires, and Continental Corporation all have announced plans to add U.S. capacity to manufacture vehicle tires. “Companies are unveiling moves with increasing regularity,” noted Justin Rose, a BCG principal and coauthor.
Strong productivity is a key to America’s improved export competitiveness. Productivity growth has been higher in the U.S. than in Western Europe, for example, while the dollar has depreciated against the euro over the past decade. Adjusted for productivity, the average U.S. worker is around 35 percent cheaper than the average Western European worker. A decade ago, the same U.S. worker was only 12 percent cheaper. “We expect this gap will continue to widen, giving the U.S. one of the lowest manufacturing cost structures in the industrialized world,” said Douglas Hohner, another BCG partner who focuses on manufacturing.
The global production shift is still in the early stages, and the full impact of the changing cost structures may not be felt until the end of the decade. Still, companies should reassess their global manufacturing footprints now, especially if they are in an industry nearing the tipping point.
Sirkin, whose most recent book, “GLOBALITY: Competing with Everyone from Everywhere for Everything,” deals with globalization and emerging markets, added: “The decisions companies make today on where to add new production capacity will influence their competitiveness for the next 20 or 30 years. These decisions must be based on the total cost of making a particular product at a particular place — not just today but well into the future. We firmly believe this process will lead many companies to take a fresh, hard look at the U.S.”
To download a copy of the report, please go to www.bcgperspectives.com .
SOURCE: The Boston Consulting Group
TUCSON, Ariz.–(EON: Enhanced Online News)–OptumRx, a leading pharmacy benefits management (PBM) organization and one of the Optum
companies of UnitedHealth Group (NYSE:UNH), said it will create at least 400 new jobs in Tucson over the next 12-18 months.
The new OptumRx office, currently undergoing renovation, is expected to be ready for occupancy by mid-year, with recruiting for the new customer service positions expected to begin no later than the fourth quarter.
The company will be hiring for Customer Service Advocates and a variety of positions involving training, workforce management and quality management.
The company expects the facility to be fully staffed by the end of next year to help ensure OptumRx is prepared to serve millions of additional
UnitedHealthcare employer and individual health plan participants.
When hiring begins, people with health care or customer service experience are encouraged to apply online. (If the embedded link is not working, copy
and paste this URL in your browser: http://careers.unitedhealthgroup.com/Data/Campaign/Optum-Locations/Tucson.aspx.)
excerpted from http://eon.businesswire.com/news/eon March 22 2012
Total Hiring in 2012 Will Create 1,000 jobs
The positions are needed as Volkswagen Chattanooga continues to ramp up capacity to meet customer demand for the new U.S.-produced Passat. This comes on top of an announcement earlier this year of 200 additional jobs at the Chattanooga plant, bringing the total new jobs in 2012 to 1,000.
“This is a clear sign that the plant ramp-up has been successful and is a validation that the Passat is of the highest quality,” said Frank Fischer, CEO and Chairman of Volkswagen Chattanooga. “Our plant was designed to be flexible in order to respond to market demand and I’m proud that we’ve achieved this so quickly. This is a good day for Volkswagen and for the people of Chattanooga,” Fischer said.
The Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga currently employs more than 2,700 people, about 2,200 by Volkswagen and an additional 500 by Aerotek, the company’s staffing partner.
“We have made a commitment to this market, both in terms of products and investment. Our original commitment to invest $4 billion into the U.S. market continues to grow, with a parts depot announced last week and now another further commitment to employment here in Chattanooga,” said Jonathan Browning, President and CEO of Volkswagen Group of America, Inc. “Quite plainly, we need more Passats to meet the market demand and I’m glad that we can respond so quickly by adding staff in Chattanooga,” Browning said.
“We promised a world-class work environment when we came to Chattanooga,” said Hans-Herbert Jagla, Executive Vice President of Human Resources. “That commitment, along with our confidence in the market strength of the Passat, allowed us to accelerate the implementation of our third team. We came to Tennessee with a commitment to hire 2,000 people and we are proud that we are now growing our team to over 3,000.”
Candidates for professional positions like Production Supervisors, Engineers, and IT Specialists should apply online with Volkswagen at www.vwjobschattanooga.com.
DENVER – March 21, 2012 – SCL Health System, a faith-based, not-for-profit health care organization, today announced it is moving its system headquarters from Kansas to Colorado, creating 750 new jobs in the Denver metropolitan community over the next four years.
“Since 1873, when the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth first opened Saint Joseph Hospital in Denver, we have been committed to Colorado and its communities,” said Michael A. Slubowski, President and Chief Executive Officer, SCL Health System. “We are pleased to increase our presence in a state that is such a significant part of our history. Colorado is a welcoming environment for business and is known for its commitment to improving the health of its residents. That commitment to health matches our mission.”
The move is expected to contribute significant long-term job creation in the Denver metropolitan area. In addition to the more than 8,000 associates currently employed by SCL Health System in Colorado, the health system plans to create 750 full-time, permanent jobs in the region through new hires and relocations from the system’s previous system headquarters in Lenexa, Kan. The positions will primarily be accounting and billing, information technology and system services (senior executives and administrative). Approximately 200 positions will be located in the system services office in Denver and up to 550 full-time positions will be located in Broomfield. SCL Health System employs approximately 15,000 people in four states.
“This move gives our health system closer proximity to the hospitals and clinics we operate in the Western United States, and the presence of Denver International Airport allows for frequent and easy travel to and from our care sites,” Slubowski added.
In Colorado, SCL Health System operates four care sites (St. Mary Hospital & Regional Medical Center in Grand Junction and three Exempla hospitals: Saint Joseph in Denver; Lutheran Medical Center in Wheat Ridge; and Good Samaritan Medical Center in Lafayette), one safety net clinic (Marillac Clinic in Grand Junction) and one youth residence (Mount Saint Vincent Home in Denver). In 2010, SCL Health System provided more than $130 million in community benefits for Colorado including free care for the poor, health professional education, research, donations, community health improvement initiatives and subsidized health services.
SCL Health System currently leases more than 221,000 square ft. of commercial space in Denver, Lakewood and Broomfield. Its system headquarters office is located near the corner of Speer Boulevard and Interstate 25 in downtown Denver. The system’s Information Technology organization occupies space near the intersection of Colfax Avenue and Simms Street in Lakewood, and the Revenue Service Center occupies space in Broomfield near Highway 36 and Wadsworth Boulevard.
source: http://www.sclhealthsystem.org
Newly Expanded Columbus Boulevard Philadelphia Pa Walmart Store Adds 200 New Jobs
PHILADELPHIA, March 1, 2012 – The wait is over for residents of Philadelphia eager to see their Walmart at 1675 S. Christopher Columbus Blvd. bring savings on a full line of groceries and a wide assortment of new products and services. The store’s expansion also brings 200 new jobs to the community.
The store will employ approximately 550 associates, including 200 new positions created by the expansion.
from http://walmartstores.com/pressroom