Posted on 09/26/2017 12:44:42 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Global Fiberglass Solution, Inc., of Bothell, Wash., has selected the Maytag Plant 2 building for its fiberglass recycling operation and will invest $6 million and create 57 new jobs in the process.
Were pleased, we have been working with them for several months, Newton Development Corporation Executive Director Frank Liebl said. At first they were just going to make it a storage facility for the blades but after they saw the space they thought it was not only going to be a great place to store but to manufacture.
The company plans to create an innovative processing and manufacturing facility in Newton using recycled materials, mostly fiberglass, from decommissioned wind blades and other products. Liebl said instead of the waste ending up in landfills, the company repurposes the more than 15,000 pounds of fiberglass per blade into new, useful products including manhole covers, building panels and pellets.
It keeps the blades out of the landfills and repurposes everything, Liebl said. It is really a wonderful company. While GFS currently works with a company who takes down blades in Illinois and South Dakota, it is also starting to make connections with local companies that have fiberglass waste.
The move is bolstered by a recent award of direct financial assistance and tax benefits from the Iowa Economic Development Authority board. GFS is one of five companies to receive more than $48 million in new capital investments in the state.
Liebl said the company is working with Phoenix Investors, who owns and is refurbishing the building, to get the space ready with an expectation of some grinding work starting late this year and manufacturing to get underway at the start of 2018.
This is the first phase of their operations and we are hoping for an expansion to come in the future, city administrator Matt Muckler said. The company fits well into Maytag Plant 2, having relationships with other companies in the wind industry.
I called on Maytag, selling back up oil to be used when gas was curtailed. The N6 oil was shipped in railroad tank cars.
When Maytag closed, I bought it all back in tank cars.
mostly fiberglass, from decommissioned wind blades and other products.
I grew up in Newton Iowa, an unbelievably affluent city in the 1970’s and 1980’s. Malls, car dealerships, retailers and great restaurants were available from one side of the town to the next.
The town wanted for nothing.
Then Maytag left, for a variety of reasons, and moved to Mexico.
Now, the mall is closed. Car dealerships are closed. Much of the town is now in disrepair and the kids grow up with a prevalence of meth and marijuana.
But hey, they built a new prison there!
Sad.
The board hired a new president who couldn't stand small town life so he was chauffeured back and forth each morning and evening from his home in Des Moines. The company made stupid investments, including Hoover vacuums in Europe. They featured a sales promotion offering the winner a week in Paris. The ad was poorly written so a judge ordered a week in Paris for EVERYONE who bought a Hoover at Maytag's expense. Maytag introduced their new "top-secret" Saturn washer and dryer, which was a copy of a South Korean system. It was a costly flop that damaged their reputation. Just when Maytag needed help with improvements in production, the United Auto Workers slowed everything down with strikes, poorly assembled products that had to be repaired by dealers, etc. I was always taken with the attitude of the executives and purchasing guys. "WE are Maytag..." Now it's just a brand name owned by their arch competitor.
Hmmm
Recycled Fibreglass... I wonder if old fibreglass boats could be recycled...
A lot of people on the Coasts (and Chicago and Houston I guess) would consider Des Moines to be a "small town" too, right?
Iowa, more than just pork. /sarc>
You might be right.
Where in MN ?
Twin Cities Metro.
Freepmail coming.
And no one on either coast would consider the 30-45 minute commute from a Des Moines suburb to Newton a lengthy one.
How come all this displaced workers didn't retrain and become software engineers or neuro surgeons? /sarc
i knew a guy who worked in LA and had a two-hour commute *each way*.
I’m not a big fan of tariffs and protectionism, as approaches to sound economic policy. I worked for BMW North America for a decade, and believe me, I never had it so good from salary, to paid time off, to benefits as when I worked for them.
Our bread can be buttered on both sides.
Maytag had really outgrown Newton. The successful kids moved away after college, not wanting to follow in mom and dad’s factory footsteps, and for far too many of the kids that stayed, methamphetamine and marijuana were their favorite M&M’s, with damned few who could pass a drug test, much less be hired into a manufacturing plant.
I’ve been to Indiana from Florida, three times this year. Ummm, there are MANY, MANY factory jobs and NO ONE there to work. No young people. You state all the drug crap, what a crutch for the feeble minded. Another thing, we have militarized police here on the coasts(due to blacks), but they double on any white that can be “nabbed”(as whites have all the money-for now).
Here’s another, with NO ONE in Indiana to work(but tens of thousands of cars on the roads 24-7, here on the east coast with Urban origins), the retail price dichotomies are EXTREME! E.G., eggs are $0.39/dozen in Indiana, but $2.99/dozen here in north Florida. The Bushes and clintons have erased Reagan and severely damaged the country. And I recorded all of this on video.
If the products made in that plant were sold inside the USA then they wouldn't be subject to a tariff. This shows a complete misunderstanding of tariffs on your part. This ignorance is wide spread. You are not alone.
In Iran the woman is blamed for the rape and is shamed and/or killed. Maybe you should move there and become a Mullah. You have the requisite mind set.
Fixed.
Fixed.
I work in downtown Des Moines.
Hilarious to hear our traffic report talk about a delay on I 235 causing a 3 minute delay!
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