Would you invest $1.5 billion in Oregon?


Here's somebody who won't. They're headquartered here, but they're building in Indiana:

Oregon-based battery parts producer Entek plans to invest $1.5 billion in a new manufacturing campus in Terre Haute and create 642 jobs by the end of 2027, officials announced Tuesday.

The investment will support the growing electric vehicle industry in Indiana, the company said.

Entek, based in Lebanon, Oregon, makes battery separators for lithium-ion battery manufacturers.

Plans for the project include four buildings totaling 1.4 million square feet in the Vigo County Industrial Park.

And their home base is 80 miles down the road from lawless, tax-insane Portland. Up this way, it would be even further out of the question.

Comments

  1. Your point is probably correct in general but in this specific case it probably has nothing to do with investment climate or rating the health of the states. Former Gov Granholm of Michigan (DOE Secretary) and Biden are putting serious money into electrifying the auto industry through the Inflation Reduction Act. Making cars is not, shall we say, Oregon's strength. In addition to the Big 3 still pretty heavily Michigan based, Indiana is a lot better positioned to supply plants in Great Lakes states and in Tennessee, Kentucky and other SE auto plant states.

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    1. Thanks for your thoughts. But Entek has been making battery parts in Lebanon, Oregon for many decades. They have gone into cars made elsewhere quite easily. I believe that at one point every battery in every GM car contained separators made by Entek in Oregon.

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    2. The scale change from supplying batteries that only start cars compared to supplying what is slated to become an entire electric vehicle industry is like a cat scratch compared to the Grand Canyon. I took a masters in engineering management which focuses a lot on operations research decisions like this one. That convinces me that there would have to have been overwhelming advantages in Oregon to bring that new plant here, given the shape and size of the new and growing market to be served, which is a very very different proposition from where Entek began. Companies do not have loyalty to their “home town” pride or any of that. See, Boeing. There are plenty of consultants who are expert at playing off states and cities against each other to extract the most concessions from the rubes — but the ones that start with the greatest natural advantages have to offer the least. Oregon does not have the money to play poker at that table, nor any good reason to do so, because we hold a weak hand compared to the Midwest in auto electrification.

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  2. Someone in Salem that’s responsible for business development has been sleeping on the job

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    1. Too much Pappy’s makes one sleepy.

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  3. Let us not forget that Salem was asleep when our largest employer, Intel, went east and invested $20 billion in new facilities in Ohio. Coulda...shoulda....but was caught flat-footed. A shameful embrrassment!

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