Grassroot U.S. Industrial Plant Construction Surpasses $60 Billion

---

Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas). A good barometer of the health of the industrial construction industry is to monitor grassroot plant construction. To say that the industry is healthy would be an understatement. With 601 grassroot industrial plants currently under construction in the U.S., the industry is running on all cylinders! Supporting robust growth for industrial construction in 2006, the number of plants under construction in the U.S. has doubled since 2003. See related September 16, 2003 news article - Over 300 Industrial Plants Currently Under Construction in the U.S. The 601 plants currently under construction will employ about 89,000 salaried and hourly workers.

Click on the image at right to view a chart showing the breakdown of spending

This report takes into account only grassroot plant construction and doesn't include other capital expenditures for expansions, upgrades, modernizations, additions, or rebuilds. Grassroot plants are defined as plants that are being constructed from the ground up, with no previous site improvements. Plants under construction include projects that have achieved financing, board approval, and have broken ground or begun civil/site preparation activities. Once construction is underway, there are various milestones that are achieved along the way including civil/site prep, structural erection, building construction, mechanical/equipment installation, electrical/instrumentation, insulation/coatings, and start-up testing, to name a few. Once a plant is commissioned and is operational it is no longer considered under construction.

To engineer and construct these 601 new plants it will require more than $60 billion in total investment. There are eight projects under construction with TIVs greater than $1 billion. Project’s range from billion dollar grassroot coal-fired power plants, like the Elm Road Generating Station currently under construction in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, to smaller projects, such as Independent Renewable Energy Corporation’s new biodiesel plant under construction in Perdue Hill, Alabama. Construction duration can vary from six months all the way up to five years for large-scale projects. Construction on We Power LLC’s Elm Road Generating Station began in June 2005 and is not expected to be complete until late 2009.

The Industrial Manufacturing Industry leads the way with 176 plants currently under construction. Second is the Food & Beverage Industry with 90 plants, followed closely by Pharmaceutical & Biotech with 84; the surging Alternative Fuels Industry with 82 plants; and the Power Industry with 79 plants under construction.

The Great Lakes Region is the most active region with 116 plants under construction.

For a listing of plants currently under construction contact Industrial Info’s Member Center at 1-800-762-3361.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is a Marketing Information Service company that has been doing business for over 23 years. IIR is respected as the leader in providing comprehensive market intelligence pertaining to the industrial processing, heavy manufacturing, and energy-related industries throughout the world.