I had the opportunity to tour and assess a recently mothballed auto plant in the Midwest recently with associate Jim Colson, President of Site Selection with AngelouEconomics. The mood was a bit somber as we walked through over 4 million square feet of dark and empty manufacturing space — space that just months ago was bustling with activity as SUVs streamed off the assembly line.
In the back of my mind as we walked through the plant, was the future of over 3,000 skilled workers that were put out of work due to this closure. Seemingly unreal, this scenario is being repeated all across the county leaving dozens of facilities empty and tens of thousands of workers in unemployment lines.
Prominent in my thinking as we assessed the facility was how it could be converted into new productive manufacturing space. Careful targeting, planning, retrofitting, and the right cooperative partnering can turn this liability into a new opportunity.
One clear path to capitalizing on this new opportunity will be to target renewable energy projects. The growth projections for renewables are impressive as I pointed out in our recent webinar, Location Trends of Today’s Thriving Industries (check it out in the last FooteNotes entry). Renewable energy capital investment in the U.S. is projected to top $325 billion by 2018!
Wind energy, solar, and biofuels projects could all be good potential targets for large manufacturing buildings. For example here are typical site selection criteria for a wind turbine manufacturing facility:
Wind Turbine Site Criteria
(Nacelle units [gearbox, generator and transformer components] & blade assembly)
• Access to market – wind farms
• Available labor (up to 1000 jobs) – machining and electronics skills with good quality
• Rail (more than one provider preferred)
• Sites (up to 200 acres)/available industrial buildings (up to 500,000 sq.ft./high ceilings)
• Free of earthquake or flood zones
• Training – college offering mechanical and electrical engineering degrees; plus machining and electronics
• Incentives and positive state/local policies.
Renewables and other emerging growth targets represent behemoth opportunities! Good prospecting, Everyone! Deane
