News
Robert Stackpole: The Global Appeal of Alabama’s Southern Charm
By: Robert Stackpole, director of the International Trade Administration’s Export Assistance Center in Birmingham, Ala. In a business sense, Alabama can’t be pointed out in one location on a map. As the Alabama Department of Commerce is proud to point out, Alabama is everywhere. Our Southern state is a global leader, exporting goods to…
2013 New & Expanding Industries Report highlights solid year of economic development in Alabama
MONTGOMERY, Alabama – Companies launching operations in Alabama or expanding existing facilities in the state announced nearly 17,000 new jobs and more than $4.4 billion in capital investment during 2013, according to a report released today by Governor Robert Bentley and the Alabama Department of Commerce. The 2013 New & Expanding Industries Report outlines another…
World Trade Week events kick off in Mobile May 22-23
MOBILE, Alabama – Companies looking to expand their business to overseas markets can get advice on how to diversify their client base through exporting at a World Trade Week symposium in Mobile later this month. World Trade Week events kick off with a networking reception at 5:30 p.m. Thursday, May 22, where attendees can interact…
AIDT, partners open Alabama Workforce Training Center in Birmingham
BIRMINGHAM, Alabama – AIDT helped build Alabama’s auto industry workforce, and the top-rated job-training agency has worked to provide Mobile’s shipbuilders with skilled welders. Now, AIDT and several partners are opening a center that will assist construction and manufacturing firms in Alabama’s largest metro area. The Alabama Workforce Training Center at 3500 Sixth Avenue South…
Verizon Wireless to hire 400 in Alabama as it expands activities
MONTGOMERY, Alabama – Technology leader Verizon Wireless announced today that it plans to hire more than 400 full-time employees in Alabama this year, with most of the new jobs located at the company’s state headquarters in Huntsville. “Today’s announcement that Verizon will create over 400 jobs in Alabama is a testament to the strength of…
Hoar Program Management selects Alabama firms for key role in Airbus project (update)
MOBILE, Alabama – Hoar Program Management, the firm overseeing construction of the Airbus A320 family Final Assembly Line at Mobile Aeroplex, said today that it has awarded two Alabama-based firms the final general contractor packages on the project. B.L. Harbert International and Rob’t J. Baggett Inc. join Birmingham-based Brasfield & Gorrie, which in February was awarded the first general…
Auto supplier Engineered Plastic Components plans $7.3 million facility in Leeds
BIRMINGHAM, Alabama – Auto supplier Engineered Plastic Components Inc. said today that it plans to invest $7.3 million to open a manufacturing facility in Leeds with 110 jobs by the operation’s third year. The Grinnell, Iowa-based company has purchased a 75,000-square-foot office/warehouse facility in the Birmingham suburb for its first Alabama location, which also will…
How the Hackleburg Wrangler plant got a second life after deadly April 27, 2011 tornado
HACKLEBURG, Alabama – Inside the Wrangler distribution center in this Marion County community, a conveyer system two miles long carries cartons of jeans along a twisting path through the gleaming new facility that has risen from the rubble of April 27, 2011. Manager Wade Hagedorn walks through the 369,000-square-foot center as workers wearing radio frequency…
In Marion County, teamwork pays off with I-22 Gateway Industrial Park
MARION COUNTY, Alabama – A 462-acre industrial park off the future Interstate 22 stands as a symbol of cooperation in this northwest Alabama county, and officials believe that this teamwork approach will help the region along the state’s newest superhighway land new jobs and investment. Until recently, the Interstate 22 Gateway Industrial Park had a…
Hyundai showcases Alabama assembly plant at Sonata debut in New York (video)
MONTGOMERY, Alabama – Hyundai showcased its Alabama assembly plant as the global automaker debuted the redesigned 2015 Sonata sedan with a splashy event today at the New York International Auto Show. With Hyundai Motor America President and Chief Executive Officer Dave Zuchowski on the stage at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center, the company’s Montgomery…