Columbus picked for firearms manufacturing plant

The Miami Herald ^ | Sat, Aug. 16, 2003 | Associated Press

[FreedomCalls]

COLUMBUS, Ga. - German gun manufacturer Heckler & Koch will build a firearms plant here that will employ 200 people initially and eventually up to 500, officials said.

"This has been an eight-year effort," Mike Gaymon, president of the Greater Columbus Chamber of Commerce, said Friday of the state's efforts to lure the plant.

Heckler & Koch makes weapons such as submachine guns, assault rifles and handguns for both civilian and military markets, including armed forces in Germany and Spain.

The company's U.S. headquarters are in Sterling, Va.

Officials said the initial construction phase is to cost about $20 million for the plant in Muscogee Technology Park.

Another gun maker, Glock, based in Austria, has North American headquarters in Smyrna. Glock pistols are used by 65 percent of American law enforcement agencies, according to the company's Web site.

[Euro-American Scum]

Another gun maker, Glock, based in Austria, has North American headquarters in Smyrna. Glock pistols are used by 65 percent of American law enforcement agencies, according to the company's Web site.

I wasn't aware the Georgia site was involved in manufacturing. I thought it was a domestic distribution site.

[GatekeeperBookman]

http://www.hkpro.com/contents.htm

USP Compact .40 is THE handgun. Zero recoil. Over 20,000 rounds till service.

http://www.hkpro.com/uspc.htm

The USP Compact
Universale Selbstlade Pistole
Cal. 9mm x 19/.357 SIG/.40 S&W/.45 ACP

My wife can out-shoot your wife!

[GatekeeperBookman]

ON the list PLEASE.

[glock rocks]

My understanding is that all Glock manufacturing is done in Austria. The Smyrna plant assembles, tests and distributes.

[Cacophonous]

I would be curious as to what concessions and enticments Columbus made to attract them.

[THEUPMAN]

Ga. gives Daimler a deadline

By RHONDA COOK
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution


The state of Georgia has told DaimlerChrysler AG it will wait longer for a commitment to build cars in Georgia but not forever.

State officials have given DaimlerChrysler until the end of this year to decide if it will build a $754 million van plant on state-owned property in Pooler near Savannah.

If there is no commitment, state officials will begin looking for someone else to use the land, which already has undergone $60 million in improvements, according to a letter sent to the German carmaker by Glenn Cornell, commissioner of the Georgia Department of Industry, Trade and Tourism.

Cornell said Friday the letter to DaimlerChrysler was not an attempt to "force the issue" but was only a report of where the state was in preparing a site that the carmaker has said it is considering.

Last month, DaimlerChrysler announced that it was delaying a final decision, as European sales of the Sprinter van continued to slow and the company nixed plans for a $1.6 billion assembly plant in Windsor, Ontario. However, DaimlerChrysler did not say that the Georgia project was dead.

"It's a great site, and we feel like there are [other] projects that would fit well on the site," Cornell said. "The letter was never intended to be any kind of forcing of the issue. It was simply to lay out the groundwork. ... It's prudent for us to look at all the various aspects of the project. We've talked with them about this. They understand, and they agree. It's just the right thing to do and the right way to do business."

The carmaker has been offered $320 million in state and local financial incentives. The van plant would be Georgia's single largest economic development project, by employing 3,300 people and adding more than $250 million to the region's economy. Sprinters now are built in Dusseldorf, Germany.

Georgia taxpayers are spending $60 million on grading for a factory pad, building "drainage structures" and constructing a four-lane road to the site. That work is supposed to be finished in October.

At the same time, the state has stopped work on putting in rail lines to the site, designing and building visitor and training centers, extending utilities and building two other roads, Cornell wrote.

"While our commitment to the project is unchanged, the delay has forced us to re-examine our position regarding the long-term availability to the property," he wrote. "We have a responsibility to the citizens of the state to realize an acceptable return on the investment made by Georgia on behalf of DaimlerChrysler."

Cornell wrote that it will be difficult to protect state funding to the project without a commitment from the company, especially because the 2004 General Assembly will be looking for cuts to offset falling revenue.

"Our sincere hope is that the company will make a decision in the next few months to proceed with the project," Cornell wrote. "At the present time, we do not have plans to market the site to other users. However, as we reach the end of the year without a decision from DaimlerChrysler, we will be compelled to again evaluate our position on this issue."

Trevor Hale, a spokesman for DaimlerChrysler, could not confirm Friday whether the firm's officials had received the letter, but he said "nothing has changed" in regard to the discussions with Georgia.

When the delay was announced, the world's third-largest automaker did not rule out putting a 2.3 million-square-foot plant on Georgia's coast, but it also has not said when the deal might be back on the table.

[Shooter 2.5]

Good question.

Texas is a "right to work" state so you don't have to join the Unions. It also has good schools and colleges. It has inexpensive land and Fort Hood is here.

They probably looked at Texas during the summer and ran like hell.

[Shooter 2.5]

"The end of the Cold War put an end to the G11.

What put an end to the G11 is the ammunition would crumble under the pressure of the magazine spring rendering the rifle useless.

[Rocky Mountain High]

Switch to decaf.

[Bedford Forrest]

Is it impossible for Ruger, Colt, Remington and Marlin to go after these big ticket US govt. contracts? I don't get it. I realize that bidders have to show big capitalization to win such contracts but why couldn't that be accomplished through preferred stock flotations, revolving credit lines with US lenders, etc? I don't know about Colt's creditworthiness these days but the others have got to have high ratings. And whatever happened to competitive prototype testing? Sounds like HK has already got their deal wired - is this the payoff for having the Brits on board in Iraq? Bring back the M-14 and the 1911, Made in America, dammit.

[Panzerfaust]

I believe the Koch sounds like "coke". I have a friend with a German wife, who I think once lived near Oberndorf where they are made, so I'll ask her the correct way to say it.

[Atlas Sneezed]

"H&K is betting on the sunset of the AWB."

I wish I could agree with you, but all indications are that they don't care a whit about the civilian market. They probably just want to be able to sell to agencies that value sthe "made in USA" label.

It would be awfully nifty to get a semi-only G36, however.

[Atlas Sneezed]

Is it pronounced "hek-ler and coke", "hek-ler and cook", or "hek-ler and cock"?

---

The "O" is like in "Coke", but the "ch" is a little softer, like "ach du lieber!"

[Yasotay]

It would be awfully nifty to get a semi-only G36, however.

Take a look at the SL8-1 ... I only wish it had a larger then 10 round magazine available.

[Yasotay]

What put an end to the G11 is the ammunition would crumble under the pressure of the magazine spring

Are you sure about that? I could imagine that was a problem, but H&K didn't solve that?

[Shooter 2.5]

Positive.

It proved to be impossible to solve the problem. Another poster even mentioned Cook-offs atributed to the ammo.

[AdamSelene235]

Hmmmnnn.

I wonder if we will have domestically produced STG's in the near future?

[coloradan]

They might indeed become domestically produced, but will We The Peasants be able to buy them? Not if the Republicans buckle and "strengthen" the AWB.

[gieriscm]

It's up to us to ensure that the Republicans don't cave. Don't wait for the NRA to do it. Sunset The AW Ban!