New Plant Startups in the Southwest During the Third and Fourth Quarters are Forecasted to Surpass Last Years Results by 20%

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Researched by Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources, Incorporated; Houston, Texas). The Southwest market region is flexing its muscle for industrial project activity, with thirty-five grassroot plant startups planned for the last half of this year. This is compared to just twenty-eight new plants during the same time period last year. These new plants cover nine different industries, potentially representing over 5,100 new job opportunities for the region. Although, the region is primarily made up of oil and gas, petrochemical, and refining industries, the largest number of new plant startups during this period will be Industrial Manufacturing, with fifteen new plants representing an estimated $1.5 billion in new construction.

These additional plants would bring the region's total number of operational manufacturing sites to almost 4,400 operational plants, each available with detailed management and contact information and driving instructions through Industrialinfo.com's Online Plant Directory (OPD).

Texas will see the majority of these new plants with 24 planned in that state, followed by Oklahoma with five new plants. Some of the activity in Texas includes plans by Kehe Food Distributors to start up a new $20 million food distribution center in Midlothian this fall and the planned startup of Cielo Wind Power LLC's 160 megawatt Noelke Hill wind farm in the Panhandle. Louisiana is expected to be unusually quite this Fall, with only three new plant startups. Volatile energy markets have made it very difficult for Louisiana to attract new plant owners, as it has been especially hard-hit by the escalating cost of natural gas and electricity in recent years.

Click the image to the right to view a graph showing these plant startups by industry and geography.

The Food & Beverage sector follows Industrial Manufacturing with the second largest number of planned startups, with six new plants representing an estimated investment of over $160 million and 550 new jobs. Although, the Pharmaceutical industry is only planning to see three new plants start up, it will also create nearly 600 new job opportunities.