Two of the owners of the Chicago-based plastics recycling company met with about 35 community leaders Thursday to offer a “before” glimpse at their plant at 1561 N.W. 11th St.

The company plans to renovate the former Amcast building, a 100,000-square-foot vacant manufacturing facility on the city’s largely industrial northwest side, and have the company up and running by the end of this year.

Perpetual Recycling is an environmentally friendly company that promises to bring 55 new jobs to the area.

Elkhart is seeking a final $5 million for a $25 million railroad overpass project.

A long-planned trash-to-ethanol plant in Northwest Indiana doesn’t appear to be happening.

Tourism contributed $1.6 billion to Lake County in 2010.

The Fort Wayne Air National Guard base may know if it’s on the chopping block as soon as today. UPDATE: The Department of Defense confirms it is scheduling the A-10 wing based in Fort Wayne for elimination.

Engine maker Cummins had a record year in 2011.

Green County Hospital has announced a $6.5 million expansion.

Monon100 runs from Indianapolis to Chicago, linking the Indiana GigaPoP with Internet2, a national research and education network. The Indiana GigaPoP, a partnership of Indiana University and Purdue University, serves as the network hub for the state’s colleges and universities.

“This bold new step will keep Indiana at the forefront of network capability in the United States and open up remarkable possibilities for sharing information and knowledge essential to maintaining the economic vitality of our state and region,” said IU President Michael A. McRobbie. “The inability to share massive data sets is one of the greatest barriers currently facing U.S. researchers and innovators. This advanced high-speed network will help overcome this barrier and give Indiana’s scientific and medical research community a powerful tool in its continuous quest for scientific discovery.”

Monon100 is named after the Monon rail line that connected Indiana’s higher education institutions to the rest of the world through Chicago. In a similar way, Monon100 will provide wide-open connectivity between institutions of higher education in Indiana, increasing capabilities for researchers and providing new opportunities for collaboration, which could in turn lead to new discoveries in science and medicine.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis will be the first school to connect directly to Monon100. The link will be a resource available to all Indiana GigaPoP members, including Purdue, Notre Dame and IU.

“The IU-led Indiana GigaPoP drives down the costs and increases the connection speeds for research and education in Indiana, and the unprecedented new capacity of the Monon100 link means we can do even more,” said Brad Wheeler, IU vice president for information technology and chief information officer. “The Indiana GigaPoP has been an outstanding value in joint purchasing among Indiana’s colleges and universities via the I-Light network.”

“A network as fast as Monon100 dramatically improves researchers’ ability to handle very large data sets,” said David Jent, IU associate vice president of networks. “It’s not uncommon for scientific instruments used to study things like human genes and climate change to produce data sets of one petabyte or greater. To move a data set this large on our current network connection takes 10 or 11 days. On Monon100 it will take just over 24 hours.”

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.

Orthopedic surgeon Dr. Judson B. Wood demonstrates the use of the computer assist technology in knee replacement surgery.

This technology uses an infrared Surgical Navigation Camera and Smart Instruments along with unique tracking software to assist in guiding surgeons and their instruments through the patient’s anatomy.

“It’s like having a global positioning system in the operating room,” said Elian Shepherd, Spinal Surgeon and Medical Director of the Spine Care Center at Methodist Hospitals. “Computer assisted technology gives us valuable and accurate information on the relative position of instruments, anatomy and surgical targets. It may lead to improved patient outcomes.”

The computer software builds a virtual 3-D digital model of the patient’s anatomy. During surgery, the infrared camera communicates with the sensors mounted on the patient and instruments, and the software continuously calculates and displays the location of the surgical instruments relative to the patient’s anatomy in real time.

“Potential benefits to the patient are numerous,” said Dr. Shepherd. “Computer assisted technology may allow for minimally invasive techniques which may lead to smaller incisions, shorter post-operative rehabilitation and less blood loss.”

Computer assisted surgery does not replace the surgeons’ skills, but with this technology they are provided important data and given an enhanced visualization of the anatomy. This enables them to more accurately place and align implants and navigate their instruments through delicate anatomy.

Ian E. McFadden, President and CEO of Methodist Hospitals, introduces the new computer-assisted surgical suite during a press conference in Merrillville today.

“The new computer assisted surgery suite will enhance the patient experience at Methodist Hospitals. It will allow residents of Northwest Indiana the opportunity to receive the best care available without having to travel out of the area,” said Ian McFadden, President and CEO of Methodist Hospitals.

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.

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.

“A development project of this scale literally ‘takes a village’ and to be recognized by our peer group is a testament to the entire White Lodging team’s mission, which is to maximize the value of each and every asset,” said Deno Yiankes, president and CEO investments and development division.

The ALIS is the largest hotel investment conference in the world. More than 2,200 industry leaders attended the conference in January 2012.

Both awards follow Marriott International’s award of “Full Service Opening of the Year” to the JW Marriott Indianapolis.

“Perhaps the most satisfying part of this project is knowing we successfully fulfilled the City’s and our owner Dean White’s vision of transforming downtown Indianapolis’s hospitality and convention market for years to come,” Yiankes said.

The JW Marriott Indianapolis offers more than 1,000 guest rooms in a 33-story tower, and more than 100,000 square feet of onsite function space. The hotel is connected by a skybridge to the 749,000 square foot Indiana Convention Center. Guests have three onsite, distinctive dining options, a full-service Starbucks, a state-of-the-art fitness center, an indoor pool and a multi-million dollar public art plaza available to them.

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.”

The average wage and benefit package of a union tradesperson in Northwest Indiana is approximately $55 an hour, more than twice the average hourly wage statewide. Moreover, the union hall system allows workers to move around the country to take advantage of work elsewhere if activity in Northwest Indiana slows.

And the work is out there. Despite the overall slowdown in construction nationwide, in 2011, clients in the energy, automotive and manufacturing sectors requested that more than $8.7 billion in industrial maintenance and construction projects be completed solely under the terms of the National Maintenance Agreement (NMA). The NMAs, negotiated and administered by the National Maintenance Agreements Policy Committee Inc., are a series of collective bargaining agreements utilized by more than 2,000 industrial contractors who employ members of 14 building trades international unions.

The $8.7 billion in 2011 requests was more than twice the amount of work ($4.3 billion) requested in 2010, according to Steve Lindauer, NMAPC Impartial Secretary and CEO. “The growth in 2011 was phenomenal, but I truly believe it’s just the beginning,” he says.

The concentration and excellence of the building trades in Northwest Indiana provides students from around the region with a unique opportunity for a high-paying construction career – a fact that CAF will demonstrate on this field trip. “We hope to give guidance counselors a new, fresh perspective on a career in the building trades,” Pearman says. “It isn’t just about hammering nails or bending pipes any more. Many of these jobs today are high-tech, training-intensive positions in booming fields such as green energy. And they offer high wages and benefits to support a home, a family – all of the American Dream.”

For more information on the field trip, contact Kevin Comerford at 219-764-2883 or Kevin@cafnwin.com.

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.”

KRDC was established in 2010 commensurate with Kinetek’s acquisition of the commercial refrigeration motors product line of GE Energy’s Industrial Solutions Division. The research and design facility features top-of-the-line equipment including dynamometers, circuit board test equipment, performance and life test racks, and a UL recognized test lab.

The formation of an AC motor business unit represents a significant milestone for Kinetek, said Randy Bays, Kinetek chief executive officer. “This is an exciting step for us. We have a great team in Ft. Wayne that brings a tremendous range of brushless and AC motor and control technology experience. The combination of our Ft. Wayne design expertise and low cost global manufacturing platform will provide tremendous value and benefit to Kinetek and our customers.”

Bays noted that customer demand for alternative solution providers, driven by considerable consolidation in the motor industry, influenced Kinetek’s decision to invest in this business expansion. “Our design, manufacturing, and application experience uniquely positions us to provide high value AC solutions like HVAC, pump, and other OEM specific products.”

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.

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.