Plant Design Industry

The News Review:

- Plant shutdowns give autoworkers holiday blues
- Bosch offering buyouts at plants in Anderson Charleston
- South Carolina approves construction of coal-fired plant
- Facility Group ex-chief sentenced
- Magna Plans Russian Factory to Make Auto-Body Parts
- Volkswagen Group of America Announces Start of Construction for …

Plant shutdowns give autoworkers holiday blues
The Associated Press 
“It changes my attitude of Christmas from materialism to spiritualism” he said. “There’s no spending for gifts or anything because we don’t know how long our reserves are going to have to last. “Brian Williams 39 who supervises an assembly line at the Chrysler plant in Twinsburg said he was concerned that talk the Bush administration is considering an “orderly” bankruptcy for the automakers would hurt vehicle sales as buyers wonder who would service their new cars. “This country is going into a tailspin. People are going to be afraid to go out and purchase something. I think it hurts everybody” he said between puffs of a cigarette before heading to work. Williams said he would use the extra time off for a vacation.

Bosch offering buyouts at plants in Anderson Charleston
Greenville News SC 
The German conglomerate did the same thing at its 2100-worker plant in Charleston earlier this month. Becky MacDonald a spokeswoman at Bosch’s North American headquarters in Farmington Hills Mich. said Wednesday she didn’t have any information about how many jobs her company aims to cut out of the South Carolina plants. “Our plan at this point is to offer the voluntary severance program and then we’re going to look at what our customer demand is and go forward from there” MacDonald said. At the BMW Manufacturing Co.

South Carolina approves construction of coal-fired plant
SmartBrief DC 
25 billion plant on the Great Pee Dee River would begin generating electricity by 2013. Critics of the plan advocate for investment in alternative energy rather than coal-fired plants.

Facility Group ex-chief sentenced
Atlanta Journal Constitution  USA 
The Facility Group’s return to respectability begins today Parker said with the appointment of a new chairman. Moultrie former president Nixon Cawood and former executive vice president Charles Morehead were accused of conspiring to bribe former Mississippi Gov. Ronnie Musgrove in hopes of winning the contract to finish building a meat-processing plant. The $55 million factory closed within three months of opening in 2004. Mississippi Beef Processors sued the Facility Group in Cobb County Superior Court last month for failing to deliver a fully operational plant. At least $70000 in campaign donations from Facility Group executives and staffers flowed into Musgrove’s re-election coffers. Musgrove who lost the election hasn’t been indicted and insists he did nothing wrong.

Magna Plans Russian Factory to Make Auto-Body Parts
Bloomberg 
andaffiliate Kia Motors Corp. Construction of the St. Petersburg stamping plant will startnext year under a memorandum of understanding signed yesterdayDaniel Witzani a spokesman for the Aurora Ontario-basedcompany?s European business said today in a telephone interview. Magna is adding factories and engineering centers in easternEurope and Asia as sales slump in North America. The supplier got49 percent of its revenue through three quarters of this yearfrom North America down from 56 percent in all of 2005. The company has confidence in the Russian market and expectsthat the slowdown in demand will end by the time productionbegins Witzani said.
Related from Champcarnews: Magna Closing Ontario Auto-Parts Plants as Sales Drop (Update3)

Volkswagen Group of America Announces Start of Construction for …
MarketWatch 
announced today that construction is set to begin on the paint facility forits Chattanooga plant. The company also announced that Walbridge has beenselected as the general contractor for the $30 million facility and willoversee construction for one of the three primary plant buildings. This $30million is the first major portion of the company’s $1 billion investment inthe new plant. “The paint facility is one of the more complex aspects of plantconstruction and only a limited number of companies have the expertisenecessary. After receiving strong proposals and finalizing the negotiationswe determined that Walbridge brings the experience necessary to execute thiscritical task” said Frank Fischer CEO-designate for Volkswagen’s Chattanoogaproduction facility. As part of Volkswagen’s commitment to a diverse workforce and supplierbase the extensive bidding process required every bidder to identify that itwould subcontract with at least ten percent minority or women owned businessesand Walbridge’s submission exceeded this target. “We are committed to a local and diverse supplier and employee base and weare pleased that Walbridge shares that commitment” said Fischer.