Bentley updated on progress at Carpenter Technology

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Carpenter General Manager Ernie Jones shows where Turner Construction workers have moved dirt for the Carpenter Technology Athens North project. Courtesy of Holly Hollman
Gov. Robert Bentley was in Limestone County Wednesday where he was updated on progress at the Carpenter Technology Corporation Inc. site. News Courier/Lora Scripps
This rendering by architectural firm Barge Waggoner Sumner & Cannon shows how the 400,000-square-foot Carpenter Technology Corporation facility near Tanner is expected to look upon completion. The facility plans to hire between 200 and 250 employees. Courtesy photo

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September 20, 2012

Bentley updated on progress at Carpenter Technology

By Lora Scripps lora@athensnews-courier.com The News Courier Thu Sep 20, 2012, 02:00 AM CDT

— Gov. Robert Bentley was at the Carpenter Technology Corporation Inc. site on U.S. 31 Wednesday morning where he received an update on the $500 million specialty alloys facility being constructed in southern Limestone County.

Carpenter President and CEO Bill Wulfsohn and members of the Carpenter team, Turner Construction and architectural firm Barge Waggoner Sumner & Cannon spoke with city, county and state officials, as well as a number of area industry leaders, about progress on the project. Officials also were invited to tour the construction site.

Carpenter Technology began the search for a site of the new facility two years ago and after considering more than 300 locations, ultimately chose Limestone County.

“The reasons we chose to move here and to build our operations is because of the quality of life that exists in the community, the skills that exist in the community, the employee base that we could hire and of course the support we received from the state and local government to help make doing business here easy,” Wulfsohn said, adding the company has made a commitment to building what it thinks will be the greatest steel manufacturing facility in the country and world.

The Athens facility, which is being built in response to strong customer demand for premium alloy products primarily in the fast-growing aerospace and energy industries, will include remelting, forging and associated finishing and testing capabilities and is expected to be in operation by early 2014.

Officials said they knew they wanted to make 27,000 tons of premium product and knew they wanted to spend $500 million as well as be operational by April 1, 2014, and they believe Limestone County offered an optimum plant site.

Carpenter Technology plans on hiring more than 250 people at the plant and officials have already started the process.

Wulfsohn said the response that Carpenter Technology has received from the state and business community, as well as local suppliers and service organizations, has been “outstanding.” He said most of the suppliers that Carpenter Technology has selected have been from Alabama.

Wulfsohn said Carpenter is a company with a 123-year heritage that has been involved with aviation since the earliest days of the Wright brothers and also produces premium alloys for the defense, medical, transportation, energy and consumer industries. He added it is a company that values its employees. “They are the foundation of what makes us better,” he said.

He highlighted the fact that Carpenter is in the smallest-volume-highest-value portion of the overall market when it comes to steel. “We try to move to the most premium project,” he said. “What we call ultimate premium.” He added ultimate premium, high-end steel is what Carpenter is building the capabilities to produce in Limestone County.

Officials believe that in the future Carpenter could literally triple the size of what is being built right now.

There is already a great deal of progress at the Limestone County location. So far, Carpenter Technology has moved 225,000 yards of dirt, which is equivalent to an NFL football field 100 feet deep. The amount of rock excavated is 25 cubic yards, the same football field 12-feet deep, and 1,700 cubic yards or one football field, one-foot deep of concrete has already been poured.

Carpenter Technology is set to be home to the world’s largest radial forge, which will be put together onsite.

Since ground breaking, the site has also seen a total of 32,000 man-hours — almost all from Alabamians. On top of that, Turner Construction is now celebrating a safety record of 75,000 man-hours without a recordable injury.

Bentley said Wednesday that one of the pleasures of being governor is being able to be involved in the announcement of great companies in the state and being able to watch the companies’ progress. “Carpenter is such an outstanding company,” he said, adding he again wanting to welcome Carpenter to the state of Alabama. “We have great people here,” he said. “You will only be as good as the people who work for you. I will guarantee you that the people here in Alabama will be your best.” Bentley said as the governor of Alabama he might be a little prejudice, but that he is proud of the workers in this state. “People work hard and they take pride in the products they make,” he said. “They will take much pride in Carpenter.”

Bentley added that the Athens mayor, Limestone County Commission and economical teams have all worked with the state in a very cooperative way. “I think that is one think that is one thing that makes Alabama unique … We try to work cooperatively and welcome industry to Alabama.”

To find out more about Carpenter Technology, visit www. cartech.com.