Opinions Forging Ahead Two landmark projects highlight economic momentum in West Michigan
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Forging Ahead
By Greg Main
President & CEO,
Michigan Economic Development Corp.
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We’re well on our way to becoming the advanced battery capital of the world, and it’s the result of our aggressive state strategy combined with federal Recovery Act investments through our partnership with President Obama and his administration.
Recently, the President visited Compact Power in Holland to celebrate the construction of the company’s new lithium-ion battery plant. The facility, expected to create approximately 440 direct jobs and more than 800 spin-off jobs in West Michigan by 2015, is part of the state’s long-term strategy to make Michigan a center for advanced battery research and production. We project 62,000 new jobs will be created in Michigan in the advanced battery industry in the next 10 years.
Michigan saw the opportunity for an advanced battery industry well before any other state and developed a clear strategy to foster and grow the industry. Our efforts have not gone unnoticed. In his speech at Compact Power, President Obama said the new facility represented a turning point in the national manufacturing sector, symbolizing a new future for the region, state and country.
Compact Power, a subsidiary of LG Chem, won a $151.4 million U.S. Department of Energy grant last August to begin production of battery cells for electric vehicles — one of 13 Michigan-based projects awarded more than $1.35 billion in Recovery Act funding to support advanced battery and electric vehicle manufacturing and development. The new Compact Power facility will be able to manufacture up to 20 million battery cells a year, enough for about 150,000 battery packs for the Ford Focus electric vehicle and the Chevrolet Volt.
In just the past year, 16 advanced automotive battery and battery technology companies have committed to projects in Michigan and will create tens of thousands of jobs by 2020. Obama told the crowd assembled in Holland that Compact Power’s plant will prove that America is headed in the right direction. “We have been through tough times before, and at our best we’ve risen to the challenges we face by tapping the drive and the talent and the ingenuity that has always been at the heart of America’s success,” Obama said. “This is a symbol of where Michigan is going, this is a symbol of where Holland is going, and this is a symbol of where America is going.”
There was more good news in West Michigan to celebrate. Whirlpool an-nounced a few weeks ago it would locate its global headquarters in a new campus to be built in Benton Harbor. This announcement culminates more than six years of state, local and corporate efforts to revitalize the city.
Whirlpool’s decision to stay in the Twin Cities region demonstrates the state’s ability to partner with world-class corporations to assist in business expansion plans, and leverage these ventures into broader community development. This expansion creates real opportunities for the rebirth of Benton Harbor. Whirlpool plans to invest $86.8 million to consolidate its world headquarters. The project is expected to retain up to 2,336 total jobs, including 868 directly at the company.
Whirlpool’s announcement comes on the heels of the public debut of the 530-acre Harbor Shores development on Lake Michigan that straddles both Benton Harbor and St. Joseph. The development, built on top of several old factory sites, includes condominiums, townhouses, commercial and retail space, a riverwalk, a marina and a golf course designed by Jack Nicklaus.
Though Whirlpool has been a vital presence in Southwest Michigan for nearly 100 years, the company wouldn’t have chosen to stay if it felt the region had no future. In fact, both Obama’s visit and Whirpool’s commitment to Michigan represent quite the opposite: Whether it’s cutting-edge green jobs or traditional manufacturing, it’s clear that companies are choosing to do business in West Michigan because of our highly skilled workforce and competitive business climate. The Whirlpool and Compact Power projects are merely a preview of the job creation and investment to come.