This website requires certain cookies to work and uses other cookies to help you have the best experience. By visiting this website, certain cookies have already been set, which you may delete and block. By closing this message or continuing to use our site, you agree to the use of cookies. Visit our updated privacy and cookie policy to learn more.
This Website Uses Cookies
By closing this message or continuing to use our site, you agree to our cookie policy. Learn More
This website requires certain cookies to work and uses other cookies to help you have the best experience. By visiting this website, certain cookies have already been set, which you may delete and block. By closing this message or continuing to use our site, you agree to the use of cookies. Visit our updated privacy and cookie policy to learn more.
Assembly Magazine logo
search
cart
facebook twitter linkedin youtube
  • Sign In
  • Create Account
  • Sign Out
  • My Account
Assembly Magazine logo
  • Home
  • Magazine
    • Current Issue
    • Digital Edition
    • Archives
    • Specs Book
    • How-To-Guide
    • Buyers Guide
  • Exclusives
    • Plant of the Year
      • About Plant of the Year
      • Nomination Form
    • Capital Spending
    • State of the Profession
  • Industries
    • Aerospace
    • Appliance
    • Automotive
    • Medical Devices
    • DFMA Assembly
    • Green Manufacturing
    • Lean Manufacturing
    • Electronics Assembly
    • Machinery Assembly
  • Technologies
    • Adhesives
    • Assembly Presses
    • Automated Assembly
    • Dispensing
    • Motion Control
    • Screwdriving and Riveting
    • Plastics Assembly
    • Robotics
    • Test and Inspection
    • Welding
    • Wire Processing
    • Workstations
  • Columns
    • Assembly in Action
    • Automation Profiles
    • Medical Device Assembly
    • On Campus
    • Shipulski on Design
    • The Editorial
    • XYZ
    • Moser on Manufacturing
    • 21st Century Assembly
    • Mind Your Ps and Qs
  • New Products
  • More
    • Web Exclusives
    • Classifieds
    • eNewsletter
    • Blog
    • Market Research
    • Store
    • Product Spotlight
    • White Papers
    • Integrated Showcase
    • Custom Content & Marketing Solutions
    • Monthly Quiz
    • Sponsored Insight
  • Multimedia
    • Assembly Radio
    • Assembly TV
    • Image Galleries
    • Webinars
    • Interactive Spotlights
    • eBooks
  • Events
    • Calendar
    • The Assembly Show
  • Contact
    • Contact Us
    • Advertise
  • InfoCenters
    • Collaborative Robot Revolution
    • Factory of the Future
Home » Going All-In for Assembly Plants
IndustriesColumnsThe EditorialMachinery AssemblyElectronics Assembly

Going All-In for Assembly Plants

editorial.jpg
April 1, 2019
John Sprovieri
KEYWORDS site selection / tax incentives
Reprints

Remember Super Bowl XLIV between the New Orleans Saints and Indianapolis Colts? With the Saints trailing 10-6 at halftime, Saints coach Sean Payton made one of the gutsiest gambles in NFL history, calling for an onside kick to start the second half. The Saints recovered the ball and drove down the field for the go-ahead touchdown. The team went on to win 31-17.

It was the sort of move that makes you a genius if it works or an idiot if it doesn’t. Across the country, governors are taking similar gambles on assembly plants. Sometimes, they pay off. Other times, they don’t.

In July 2017, Foxconn pledged to invest $10 billion to build a sprawling manufacturing complex in Wisconsin to make liquid crystal displays for computers, televisions and dashboards. As originally conceived, factory was to employ 13,000 people and create an additional 22,000 ancillary jobs.

To land the factory, Wisconsin offered $3 billion in tax breaks over 15 years—the largest tax package the state has ever offered. The package would later become an issue in Wisconsin’s 2018 gubernatorial election.

Now, Foxconn is reconsidering its plans. Rather than manufacture LCDs, the company wants to create a “technology hub” that would consist of research facilities along with some assembly operations. Instead of a manufacturing workforce, Foxconn intends to hire mostly engineers and researchers. The company already fell short of its job creation quota in 2018 and failed to qualify for any tax incentives.

If Wisconsin’s all-in bet on Foxconn winds up a busted flush, it would hardly be the first time. Many states have played that hand.

In 2004, state and local governments offered computer maker Dell $281 million in incentives to build an assembly plant in Winston-Salem, NC. The factory was expected to create 1,700 jobs and 6,500 ancillary jobs. Alas, the factory closed just four years after it opened in 2005. At its peak, it employed 1,400 people, and no more than 500 indirect jobs were created. Dell had to pay pack $26.5 million in incentives.

If Winston-Salem officials felt burned by the deal, it didn’t stop them from getting right back on the horse. In July 2010, Caterpillar accepted $73.5 million in incentives to locate a new assembly plant in the city. The factory opened in November 2011, and, though it’s had some ups and downs, it’s still running. The plant was originally built to make wheels and axles for mining equipment, but now focuses on railroad components. It was supposed to create more than 500 jobs, but at its peak, it employed 438. Today, the workforce is closer to 160, and Cat has had to renegotiate the incentives.

That’s how it is in the high-stakes game of bidding for assembly plants. You win some; you lose some. What looks like a promising market today can fall off the table tomorrow. Officials never want to lose an opportunity for hundreds of manufacturing jobs, but neither do they want to be left holding the bag when a project fails to deliver. What would you do?

subscribe to assembly

Recent Articles by John Sprovieri

ASSEMBLY Capital Spending Report 2019: Manufacturers Continue to Invest in Technology

What’s New From the ASSEMBLY Show

System feeds parts for ear protection devices

Robots assemble hydraulic valves

Right-to-repair law could affect product design

Sprovieri200
John has been with ASSEMBLY magazine since February 1997. John was formerly with a national medical news magazine, and has written for Pathology Today and the Green Bay Press-Gazette. John holds a B.A. in journalism from Northwestern University, Medill School of Journalism.

Related Articles

The Editorial: Assemblers Go Off-Grid to Cut Costs

Moving Forward: New Plant Assembles Engines for Heavy Trucks

Moving Forward: Canon Opens New Plant for Cartridge Assembly

Assembly Innovations: All-In-One Assembly System

Related Directories

Xuron Corp.

American Hakko Products Inc.

DEPRAG Inc.

Design Tool Inc.

Subscribe For Free!
  • Print & Digital Edition Subscriptions
  • Assembly eNewsletters
  • Online Registration
  • Subscription Customer Service
  • Mobile App

More Videos

Popular Stories

lordstown motors

Electric Truck Manufacturer Buys GM’s Lordstown Assembly Plant

Bobcat manufacturing

Bobcat Announces Manufacturing and Assembly Facility Upgrades

Wearable Device 11-27

Wearable Lets Users Control IoT-Enabled Devices With Brain Waves

Breaking and Industry News

Airstream Manufacturing Expands With $50 Million Factory

Rayovac 11-20

Energizer Moving VT Battery Manufacturing Facility to Former Rayovac Plant

Upcoming Assembly Events and Webinars

Events

January 1, 2030

Webinar Sponsorship Information

For webinar sponsorship information, visit www.bnpevents.com/webinars or email webinars@bnpmedia.com.

View All Submit An Event

Poll

Cloud Computing

Are you using cloud computing at your assembly plant?
View Results Poll Archive

Products

Welding: Principles & Practices

Welding: Principles & Practices

This text introduces students to a solid background in the basic principles and practices of welding.

See More Products
assembly buyers guide

Assembly Magazine

assembly dec 2019

2019 December

The 2019 December Assembly features our Capital Spending Report, plus much more. Check it out today!
View More Create Account
  • More
    • Assembly Plant of the Year
    • Manufacturing Group
    • List Rental
    • Organizations
    • Connect
    • Want More?
    • Polls
    • Privacy Policy
    • Subscribe
    • Survey And Sample

Copyright ©2019. All Rights Reserved BNP Media.

Design, CMS, Hosting & Web Development :: ePublishing