New Plant Startups Decline in First Four Months of the Year in the Southwest Region

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas). In the first four months of the year grassroot plant startups in the United States’ Southwest Region have fallen short of the pace set during the same months of 2006 with seventeen new plants beginning commercial operations compared to twenty nine plants in those months last year. This decline in activity initially appears dramatic, although the forecast of new plants planned to startup in the remainder of the year, 78 plants, is significantly more than the actual number of startups during the last half of 2006 which totaled 42 plants.

Click on the image at right to view a Southwest Region state comparison of new plants online 2006 vs. 2007.

An estimated 65% of the planned grassroot plant activity identified for the remainder of the year is already in some phase of engineering or construction easily surpassing the last year’s performance by at least 17% presuming current plant startup schedules remain on course. Another 27 plants identified are in the planning phase and even a small number of these coming to reality would put plant startups well ahead of last years results.

The biggest change in grassroot plant activity is the number of plants planned in the Alternative Fuel Industry which historically wasn’t a factor in this region of the country. Two new plants came online earlier this year already in this industry segment with another twelve planned by the end of 2007. Interest in bio-diesel and ethanol has grown in recent years as refiners and consumers alike have sought cleaner or at least more environmentally friendly transportation fuels. The investment to construct these plants on average costs more than $72 million each although the employment opportunity is minimal considering the size of the investment as much of the process is technologically simple requiring on average 20 to 25 people to operate.

The Power and Industrial Manufacturing Industries will play leading roles in new plant startups this fall with a combined 35 new plants expected to come online by the end of the year employing an estimated 5,600 people. State by state comparisons show Texas will be home to an overwhelming majority of the new plant startup activity with 54 plants; Oklahoma and Arkansas combined are expected to see 25 new plants this year employing an estimated 1,900 people. This surpasses Louisiana with current projections of 16 new plants offering over 1,100 jobs.

Despite the continued escalating cost of feedstock and energy resources in the region, the industrial community seems to be generally accepting of these inflated costs and growth is still on the mind of many. Industrial Info tracks and updates changes for over 4,400 industrial plants located in the Southwest Region of the United States, which consists of Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma and Arkansas. As new plants come online, important operational details about each plant location including physical addresses, driving maps, product descriptions, and much more is available online as part of Industrial Info’s Southwest Online Plant Directory. Click on the link at right to try out a free demo.

Industrial Info Resources (IIR) provides marketing communication services ranging from industrial database solutions to market forecasting, custom analytics, and specialty promotions that support high-level image campaigns.