Monthly Archives: January 2012

Hospital Unveils Computer-Assisted Surgical Suite

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Guests tour the new computer-assisted surgical suite at Methodist Hospitals' Southlake Campus in Merrillville on January 31, 2012.

Methodist Hospitals unveiled its new $1.5 million multi-specialty computer-assisted surgery suite during an event today at the Gary-based hospital’s Southlake Campus in Merrillville.

Hospital executives say the new technology will help surgeons in performing more effective spinal, neuro and orthopedic surgeries.

“It is one of the most advanced multi-specialty computer assisted surgery suites of its kind in a 200 mile area including Indiana, Illinois and Michigan,” said Jared Slibeck, sales representative from Stryker Navigation, the company behind the technology driving the suite.
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Construction Begins on Modern Forge Facility in Merrillville

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Chester Inc. Architectural & Construction Services (Valparaiso) has broken ground on a $17 million state-of-the-art forging facility for Modern Drop Forge Company at their new site in Merrillville.

Modern Drop Forge announced last August that it would move from Blue Island, IL, to Merrillville, bringing approximately 240 jobs to Northwestern Indiana.

The site encompasses 40 acres with 230,000 square feet of building area for the production and distribution of high-quality, closed die forging products. When complete, the site will include a 60,000-square-foot forge shop with eight forging production lines, engineering and general offices and a die shop. Completion is slated for December 2012.

To attract the company, the Indiana Economic Development Corporation offered Modern Forge up to $2 million in performance-based tax credits and up to $200,000 in training grants based on the company’s job creation plans. The city of Merrillville has approved additional property tax abatement at the request of the Lake County Economic Development Department, and the Northwest Indiana Regional Development Authority (RDA) provided $2 million in assistance from its economic development fund.

JW Marriott Indianapolis Wins Two Awards

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White Lodging (Merrillville) was honored with two prestigious awards at the America’s Lodging Investment Summit (ALIS) this week in Los Angeles.

The JW Marriott Indianapolis received ALIS’s “Development of the Year” award for 2011, selected from a pool of 20 major developments. The hotel, which opened in February 2011, beat finalists from Chicago and New York City and was chosen based on on-line votes from attendees of the ALIS conference.

Hotel Business magazine also recognized the JW Marriott Indianapolis Development as its “New Construction Deal of the Year.” The upcoming issue of the magazine will include more details about the recognition.
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Construction Advancement Foundation to Host “Field Trip” for High School Guidance Counselors

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The Construction Advancement Foundation of Northwest Indiana (CAF) is inviting high school guidance counselors from around the region on a “field trip” to showcase the cutting-edge facilities, extensive skills and comprehensive training offered by the area’s building trades. The day-long event on Wednesday, February 15th includes a tour of four building trade apprenticeship facilities, a union job site walk-through.

The field trip is free for high school guidance counselors.

“Northwest Indiana is home to some of the nation’s best union tradespeople and top union training facilities,” says Dewey Pearman, CAF’s Executive Director. “Together with the region’s union contractors, they provide critical talent and services for some of the world’s largest corporations, such as BP and ArcelorMittal. And these trades also provide a lucrative potential career path for area students.”
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Illinois Manufacturer Expanding in Fort Wayne

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Kinetek, a Deerfield, IL-based designer and manufacturer of motor, control and system solutions for commercial and industrial markets announced today that it has established an AC motor business unit.

Headquartered in Fort Wayne, Indiana, the new business unit – Kinetek Advanced AC Solutions – will design and develop AC and other brushless motor products for manufacturing at Kinetek facilities around the world.

Patrick Delaney, president of Kinetek Advanced AC Solutions, said formation of the new unit leverages Kinetek’s AC motor engineering talent. “We have built a strong team with considerable expertise and experience at Kinetek’s research & design center (KRDC) in Fort Wayne. We are aggressively expanding this team to execute design and application of single, multi, and variable speed NEMA 48 and 56 frame AC motor products.”
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Notes: Porter Hospital Opening Ahead of Schedule

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The opening date for the new Porter Hospital has been moved up three months to August 25th.

Porter’s Chief Executive Officer Jonathan Nalli recently announced that the construction of the new 266-bed Porter hospital at the corner of Ind. 49 and US 6 is three months ahead of schedule and that the transfer of patient care activities will now occur on Saturday, Aug. 25, rather than the originally projected date in late November.

Additionally, Nalli stated that Porter will be modifying both the system and hospital name to more accurately fit its new presence in Northwest Indiana.

“We are very happy to announce that after much research and the input from a wide variety of constituents, it has been decided that the new system name will be officially changed from Porter, to Porter Health Care System. And, the name of the hospital will be modified from Porter, Valparaiso Hospital Campus to Porter Regional Hospital,” he said.

Indianapolis-based Republic Airways has hired a CEO for its Frontier Airlines unit in preparation for shedding the business.

Hoosier businesses are bullish on 2012.

More than a dozen people have reportedly been injured in a partial collapse at the construction site of Cincinnati’s new casino.

Progress Rail is holding a job fair in Muncie on February 4th.

A “destination” disc golf course is hosting its first tournament in Richmond.

Tourism in Northwest Indiana is projected to increase in 2012.

Charlotte Firm Gets $75 Million NIPSCO Contract

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The Babcock & Wilcox Company announced today that its subsidiary Babcock & Wilcox Construction Co., Inc. (BWCC) has been awarded a contract worth more than $75 million to provide construction services for the installation of environmental equipment at Northern Indiana Public Service Company’s (NIPSCO) R.M. Schahfer Generating Station in Wheatfield, IN.

The Charlotte, NC-based company will erect and install two B&W-designed wet flue gas desulfurization (FGD) absorber vessels, and associated reagent slurry preparation and dewatering equipment for the plant’s 465 megawatt (MW) Unit 14 and 515 MW Unit 15 coal-fired utility boilers. BWCC also will procure and erect the absorber and dewatering island structural steel for the wet FGD systems.

B&W previously announced it would design and supply the wet FGD units and related components for the project.

“B&W’s environmental project capabilities – from equipment design and manufacturing, to project management and construction services – position us to provide our utility customers with solutions to meet all of their emissions control upgrade needs,” said BWCC President Pete Waanders. “We appreciate NIPSCO selecting B&W to execute this significant project.”

Start-up of Schahfer Unit 14 is scheduled for fall 2013 and Unit 15 for fall 2015.

Lotion Manufacturer to Move Facility from Arizona to Indianapolis

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Sunshine Manufacturing, LLC, a subsidiary of New Sunshine, LLC, announced plans today to relocate a manufacturing facility from Tempe, Ariz. to Indianapolis, creating up to 180 new jobs through 2015.

The company, which produces tanning products and lotions, plans to occupy a 105,000-square-foot facility to serve as the company’s primary manufacturing facility in North America. The facility is expected to be operational this spring.

New Sunshine, which employs more than 220 full-time employees across three locations nationwide, plans to begin hiring new manufacturing and administrative associates in Indianapolis this spring.
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NEI Regional Partnership, OrthoWorx Announce Partnership

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The Northeast Indiana Regional Partnership and OrthoWorx announced a formal collaboration today with the Partnership agreeing to join OrthoWorx and OrthoWorx joining the Partnership. This decision was reached after several months of dialogue between the two organizations focused on identifying issues of common interest.

OrthoWorx is a Warsaw-based organization established to work collaboratively with industry and community stakeholders to build on the region’s strengths to assure that the area continues to be the Orthopedic Capital of the World.

The Northeast Indiana Regional Partnership is a public-private partnership focused on generating business leads and building regional capacity through product development and effective regional collaboration.
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Notes: Clean Air Rules to Increase Electric Rates

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New clean air rules could increase Indiana’s electricity costs by 14% by 2020.

The analysis is from the State Utility Forecasting Group, a state-funded panel of researchers based at Purdue University.

Director Douglas Gotham says Indiana is expected to experience larger price increases than projected on a regional or national level. About 85 percent of the electricity used in Indiana is generated by coal-fired power plants, compared with about 45 percent nationwide.

Gotham predicts Indiana rates could rise by 34 percent overall by 2020 when other factors are included such as costs associated with ongoing new plant construction.

Memorial Coliseum in Fort Wayne ended 2011 in the black despite a tough economy.

Former Baltimore Ravens defensive coordinator Chuck Pagano is the new head coach of the Indianapolis Colts.

Jeffersonville’s Redevelopment Committee is considering a forgivable loan program aimed at restaurants.