Month: December 2011

Hoosier Tire News Release from Marshall County Economic Development Corporation

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PLYMOUTH (Dec. 29, 2011) – Mayor Mark Senter and executives from Hoosier Racing Tire today announced a major new investment in Hoosier’s Plymouth production plant, which is expected to create a combined 20 new jobs in the near term.

Hoosier Racing Tire, Corp. will invest $8 million to construct and equip a new 37,000 sq ft expansion to their rubber mixing plant on site, integrating operations that have previously been outsourced to an Ohio based firm. 

Founded by Bob and Joyce Newton in 1957, Hoosier manufactures a sophisticated range of performance tires and is today the largest manufacturer of racing tires in the world.  The company’s corporate headquarters and distribution facility is located in nearby Lakeville, IN and the company’s manufacturing facility is in Plymouth.  Hoosier has steadily added staff and currently has over 400 employees, with the majority of these based in Plymouth.

“This is a major expansion for our company, and it speaks to our confidence in Hoosier Tire’s continued growth and viability in this area,” said John DeSalle, Vice President of Engineering and Manufacturing.  “Last year was good to us, and this is a timely investment.  Financing of the project was sourced from our long time partners at 1st Source Bank.”

The Indiana Economic Development Corporation offered Hoosier Racing Tire up to $140,000 in conditional Economic Development for a Growing Economy (EDGE) tax credits based on projected job creation.

The City of Plymouth will consider a tax abatement petition for real and personal property on January 11th.  At the filing of the petition on December 28th, DeSalle was commended by Mayor Senter and Plymouth Council members.  

“Hoosier Tire is important to our community in many ways,” said Mayor Senter.  “They are leaders in the field of racing because of an uncompromising commitment to excellence in their products and pure enjoyment of competition — both in the business world and on the track.  Plymouth is pleased to partner with them in this project, and hopefully on many ventures to come.”

“We have seen that companies like Hoosier Racing Tire are able to grow in Marshall County with decisive plans to outreach competition,” said Jennifer Laurent, Executive Director of Marshall County Economic Development Corporation.  “We welcome the expansion of the business and job creation, and also recognize a positive trend in local companies continuing to reinvest here as they weigh our assets against other locations.”

“NIPSCO’s Economic Development team was also a partner in making the project possible,” Laurent noted to Council members.  An existing electrical substation was required to be relocated by the building expansion plans, and NIPSCO participated in the cost and coordination of the move as well as necessary service upgrades.

Hoosier Racing Tire and Hoosier Tire & Rubber, historically two separate companies, will officially merge as one company to be known as Hoosier Racing Tire as of January 1, 2012.

Culver Garden Court Siding Progress

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We previously discussed efforts to make Culver Garden Court “Greener” than previous Garden Court projects.  Apparently our project architect, Brent Martin, took that a bit literally when selecting the color scheme as you can see as the siding installation progresses.  The siding is Certainteed’s Cedar Impressions and the color is Cypress.

There is a flurry of activity at the site now that the drywall and painting has been completed.  The vinyl tile has been installed.  The cabinets are in place.  This is allowing installation of door frames, plumbing fixtures, electrical devices and electrical fixtures.  On the exterior the siding is nearly complete as well as the soffit.  The gutters and downspouts are scheduled for completion this week as well.

Utilikilts for Christmas

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The working man’s skirt, a.k.a. the “Utilikilt” is so liberating, pledges its website, that “your burden will be lighter, your sense of freedom less impaired, and your sense of yourself, will have room to grow.”

I considered these as Christmas presents for the Easterday Construction crew, but I thought it might be a little chilly this time of year.  On the website there’s a picture of a guy wearing one while roofing…  I thought that might be a little more about our crew than most of our clients would want to see.  In any case, I thought it was an amusing idea to put out there.

Merry Christmas

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On a lighter note, I’ll give you my top three Christmas movies.  Anyone that knows me knows that my sense of humor is a little non-traditional and probably won’t be surprised by this list.  Suffice to say I trend toward the humorous over the “heart-warming”…

  1. A Christmas Story – Okay, okay… there are some heartwarming moments in this, but overall there’s a lot of humor.  This movie was adapted from a short story by Jean Shepherd.  If you haven’t seen it, TNT runs it on a 24hr loop for Christmas Day.  It’s worth a look.  It will be on in the background when we’re opening presents Christmas morning.
  2. Scrooged  –  I’m not always a big Bill Murray fan and he’s his typical over-the-top self here, but I still enjoy this retelling of A Christmas Carol.  Bobcat Goldthwait is even well cast here.
  3. Bad Santa – This one’s not for everyone and definitely not kiddie fare.  If you get the uncut version there’s a lot of violence and language, but there are some genuine laugh-out-loud scenes here.  Billy Bob Thorton stars in this, so as you can imagine it’s not a sugar cookie and gum drop movie.

Yeah, well, in reality they all have some sort of redeeming, heart-warming ending, but it’s all done with a bit of humor.

          In closing I wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy, Healthy and hopefully Prosperous New Year.  May you get your Red Ryder BB Gun and not a pink bunny suit (A Christmas Story) and not

a toaster

         to the jaw (Scrooged).  Hopefully no one steals your advent calendar chocolate either!  (Bad Santa)

Merry Christmas!!!

 

Energy from Footsteps

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A company in England has come up with a paving tile that harvests the energy from footsteps.  Pavgen has developed technology that converts the kinetic energy from foot steps into electricity that can be stored and used for a variety of applications.  The tiles are designed to compress 5 millimeters in order to collect the energy.

Pavgen pavers will be installed in the mall at the 2012 London Olympics and are expected to provide enough energy to power half the mall lights.  (See CNN story here.)

*  Image borrowed from CNN.com