The Continuous Cold Mill tower at ALCOA’s North Plant in Alcoa, Tennessee, located in the Southeastern United States. The tower, easily visible from US-129 and McGhee-Tyson Airport, is one of the first sites to greet travelers entering Blount County. The tower was built in 1987. (Photo: Wikimedia Commons.)

Posted by Heidi Schwartz

Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam and Economic and Development Commissioner Bill Hagerty, along with Alcoa officials, have announced the company will expand its rolling mill in Alcoa, TN, to meet the growing demand for light, durable and recyclable aluminum sheet for automotive production. The expansion at Alcoa’s facility represents a $275 million investment over the next three years and will add 200 permanent full-time jobs upon completion, as well as 400 jobs during the construction phase.

“I want to thank Alcoa for its new investment in East Tennessee and for 100 years of incredible service in Blount County,” Haslam said. “Our Jobs4TN strategy identifies key industry clusters where Tennessee holds a unique competitive advantage, and we are grateful Alcoa is expanding its presence and joining in our state’s continued growth in the automotive sector.”

“Innovation drives economic development, and Alcoa’s adaptability and growth over the past 100 years in our state is an ideal example of what can be achieved,” Hagerty said.  “I am pleased Alcoa recognizes Tennessee’s business-friendly climate, quality workforce and unique strengths within the global automotive industry.”

“Our Tennessee expansion is a great example of how Alcoa’s edge in technology and innovation is capturing growth opportunities in our value-added mid- and downstream businesses,” Alcoa Chairman and CEO Klaus Kleinfeld said. “More and more auto producers are turning to aluminum to increase the fuel efficiency and quality of their vehicles—we anticipate a quadrupling of auto sheet volume by 2015 and a tenfold increase by 2025.

The project will convert some of the plant’s can sheet capacity to high-strength automotive aluminum capacity as well as install incremental automotive capacity. The Blount County expansion is scheduled to be completed by mid-2015. When completed, the plant will be a key supplier both to the packaging and automotive markets. Much of the volume for the automotive expansion is already secured under long-term supply agreements.

“We’re excited to be part of Alcoa’s continued growth in Blount County,” Blount Partnership President/CEO Bryan Daniels said. “It means a lot to this community that they stayed true to their roots.”

“We are extremely proud of Alcoa and all that it does for this community,” Alcoa Mayor Don Mull said. “This expansion truly means a lot by showing Alcoa’s commitment to continue to build upon itself and grow its business here.”

“This is just another in a line of great business successes this county has experienced in the last 18 months,” Blount County Mayor Ed Mitchell said. “The major addition in jobs and capital investment really shows Alcoa’s confidence in the workforce of this area. We appreciate their commitment to expanding locally.”

“A huge thanks goes out to Alcoa for seeing the benefit of staying local and adding to the continued economic development Blount County enjoys,” Maryville Mayor Tom Taylor said.

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Posted by Heidi Schwartz

In the latest example of Missouri’s resurgent automotive industry, a major auto supply company based in China is planning to construct a new manufacturing plant in Riverside, Gov. Jay Nixon announced. A Michigan-based subsidiary of Yanfeng Visteon of China, Yanfeng USA Automotive Trim Systems supplies parts to companies such as General Motors and Chrysler and plans to build the new $45 million production facility and create 263 new local jobs.

“The historic expansions by Ford and General Motors during 2011 have transformed Missouri’s economy, putting our state on the map as the leader of the rebirth of the American auto industry,” Gov. Nixon said. “That momentum continues as we once again expand our network of automotive supply manufacturers in Missouri. Yanfeng’s decision to build a new production facility in Riverside and create 263 new manufacturing jobs is more excellent news for our state’s automotive industry sector and economy as a whole.”

Founded in 1994, Yanfeng Visteon has more than 90 production facilities worldwide and exports products to 16 countries. The company’s Riverside plant will manufacture interior trim components including door panels, floor consoles and instrument panels, for General Motors’ plants in Wentzville, MO and Fairfax, KS. The 258,000 square-foot facility is expected to be operational in early 2014.

“Yanfeng USA is pleased to expand its U.S. manufacturing presence with our planned new facility in Missouri,” said David Wang, President of Yanfeng USA. “Missouri offers Yanfeng USA an excellent business climate from which to serve our automotive customers, and we are excited to join the state’s strong community of automotive companies. We appreciate the support and assistance from the state of Missouri, the Kansas City region, and the City of Riverside throughout our year-long process of selecting a new location for this facility.”

A turning point for Missouri’s resurgent auto industry came in 2010, when Nixon called the state Legislature into special session to pass the Missouri Manufacturing Jobs Act, which contained new incentives specifically geared to Missouri auto manufacturers and suppliers. The Governor’s leadership in the Manufacturing Jobs Act, along with the administration’s direct and ongoing consultations with the leadership at Ford and General Motors, led to their major expansion announcements in 2011.

“Yanfeng is precisely the type of long-term, job-creating employer we want to attract to our Horizons development, not from across town or the state line, but from around the country and world,” said Kathy Rose, Mayor of Riverside. “We are honored that a Chinese manufacturer has chosen Riverside to be part of its global-sourcing business strategy. With this announcement, we believe our 260-acre industrial innovations and office development is just starting to provide the economic boost that we expect to contribute to Missouri and the entire Kansas City area.”

“Our Kansas City region is seeing significant new job creation from suppliers to the automotive industry due to the massive reinvestment from our local auto manufacturers,” said Bob Marcusse, president and CEO of the Kansas City Area Development Council. “As both Ford and GM expand capacity or add new products, opportunities are created with suppliers to those companies. Job creation and international investment from a company like Yanfeng USA Automotive Trim Systems also offers further evidence that our region can compete in a global marketplace and is a formidable business and lifestyle destination.”

The state of Missouri helped make Yanfeng USA’s expansion in Riverside possible through a strategic package of economic incentives, which the company can redeem if it meets the strict job creation and investment criteria.

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Posted by Heidi Schwartz

Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development Commissioner Bill Hagerty along with Meiwa Industry officials announced the company will open its first U.S. plant in Lewisburg, TN. The announcement by the automotive components supplier represents an investment of $6.1 million and will create 98 new jobs in Marshall County.

“Tennessee continues to prove it is a great place for a global company’s operations with our central location, strong transportation infrastructure and business-friendly climate,” Hagerty said. “I welcome Meiwa Industry to Tennessee and thank the company for its investment and confidence in the state’s quality workforce. We are focused on doing all we can to position Meiwa Industry for success and look forward to the project serving as a basis for long-term job growth in the area.”

“Thanks to the great effort of the city of Lewisburg, Marshall County, the government of Tennessee and everyone concerned as we celebrate the groundbreaking of our first U.S. plant,” Meiwa Industry President Toshihiko Shimizu said. “We look forward to providing lightweight, high-rigidity and eco-friendly interior parts for car manufacturers throughout North America.”

The company currently supplies products to Japanese car manufacturers, including Nissan, Toyota and Honda. Along with establishing a base for North American operations, the Lewisburg facility will allow Meiwa Industry to eventually extend its services to other carmakers in the future. The company is projected to begin initial operations in April 2014.

“Such wonderful news that Meiwa will be part of the Lewisburg family,” Lewisburg Mayor Jim Bingham said. “I welcome this fine company, and I look forward to working with them.”

“Meiwa is a quality company, and they are going to be a perfect fit for us,” Lewisburg Director of Economic Development Greg Lowe said. “This is only the beginning of a partnership that has been months in the making, and I cannot say enough about the partners that helped to make this happen from the state of Tennessee, Marshall County, TVA, MTIDA, South Central Tennessee Development District, South Central Workforce Board Alliance, Truette Construction, St. John Engineering and Dewey Gray Engineering Associates. The level of professional support we were able to put into practice on this project cannot be overstated.”

“TVA welcomes Meiwa Industry as they establish their first North American automotive parts manufacturing facility in Lewisburg, Tennessee,” TVA Senior Vice President of Economic Development John Bradley said. “TVA and Lewisburg Electric System are privileged to partner with the state of Tennessee, MTIDA, Lewisburg ECD, city of Lewisburg and Marshall County officials to assist with Meiwa’s site location decision and continued growth in the community.”

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Lemelson and Gould are credited with some of the most important inventions of the 20th century. They’re equally famous for some of the most contentious patent disputes of the 20th century. Lemelson and Gould each spent decades fighting to uphold their patents and collect royalties from companies using them.

Even as a child, it was clear Lemelson had what it took to become one of the most prolific inventors in history. Barely out of knickers, he invented a lighted tongue depressor for his father (who was a doctor) and ran a gas-powered model airplane business out of his parents’ basement. By the time he died in 2005, Lemelson held more than 600 U.S. patents, fifth on the all-time list (number one is–no-brainer alert–Thomas Edison).

He’s credited with (or, more accurately perhaps, took credit for) inventing essential components for automatic teller machines, automatic warehousing systems, bar code readers, camcorders, computer hard drives, cordless telephones, fax machines, industrial robots, injection molding, integrated circuits, personal computers, rechargeable batteries, the Sony Walkman, video-cassette recorders and word-processing systems, among other advances.

In patent applications filed in the 1950s, Lemelson described robots that could perform industrial duties including riveting, quality inspection, measuring and welding. He envisioned a “flexible manufacturing system” involving machines with built-in cameras and “machine vision” — the ability to analyze and respond to what the robot “sees” in this digitized imagery.

Later in life, Lemelson specialized in what came to be known as the “submarine” approach to patent enforcement. Although he didn’t actually build many of the computer-driven machines and manufacturing systems his patents envisioned, Lemelson would wait until those systems were widely in use and then file a broadly written patent infringement claim against those using them. According to one of his former attorneys, Lemelson was uncanny at figuring out where an industry was headed and then placing a patent claim directly in its path. “In many cases, Lemelson didn’t patent inventions, he invented patents,” the lawyer told an interviewer.

In the mid-1980s, for example, Lemelson roiled the entire machine tool industry when he claimed that the heart of computer-integrated manufacturing–the idea of using computerized controls to run metalworking equipment–stemmed from his original theories in the ’50s. Lemelson’s relentless barrage of patent claims netted him more than 700 licenses from some of the biggest manufacturers in the world, including Alcoa, Boeing, Dow Chemical, GE, Ford, GM and U.S. Steel. He earned nearly $2 billion in royalties by the time he passed away.

Gordon Gould, a physicist who died in 1997, is now widely recognized as one of the first inventors of the laser. But it was only after a 30-year-long battle that he earned that recognition.

In 1957, Gould came up with the idea of deploying two mirrors as an optical resonator that could amplify light and direct it into a narrow, coherent, intense beam. He jotted down his findings in a spiral notebook, coining the famous acronym for his process of Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation–L.A.S.E.R.

Gould immediately shared his theory with a fellow professor at Columbia University, Charles Townes. Seven years later, Gould had to sit in the audience and watch as Townes stepped up to accept the Nobel Prize for his work on the maser and the laser. Many in the scientific community snickered when Gould produced his spiral notebook–which he had taken to a candy store in his New York City neighborhood in 1957 and had notarized–and filed his claim as an inventor of the laser. They called him “the candy-store scientist.”

They stopped laughing in the late 1970s, when Gould sold two-thirds of his anticipated royalties to a small California company named Patlex which had agreed to finance patent litigation on his behalf aimed at broadly enforcing Gould’s claims against just about every laser manufacturer (Gould’s first patent was upheld in 1977). Patlex caused an uproar at the Pentagon in the mid-1980′s when it started buying up small Israeli defense contractors involved in laser development. Ten years after it began its partnership with Gould (who joined the company as its chief scientist, along with astronaut Frank Borman, who became its chairman and CEO), Patlex started winning some huge settlements and licensing deals. Gould is estimated to have earned at least $30 million in royalties.

Lemelson and Gould come to mind this week as the Obama Administration and Congress are trying to fix a 2011 change they made to U.S. patent laws which apparently has had unintended consequences. The America Invents Act, signed into law by President Obama, was intended to make it illegal to file a single lawsuit claiming a huge group of defendants had infringed on a patent in the same way–the kind of “submarine” attack that was Mr. Lemelson’s specialty.

The law appears to have backfired, giving rise to a cottage industry of shell companies that exist simply to file robo-lawsuits alleging that patents they have acquired are being infringed by any company deploying widely used software or electronic processes. These fly-by-night outfits–known in the legal community as “patent trolls”–have unleashed a plague of patent lawsuits since the 2011 law was enacted. Last year, they are said to have accounted for more than half of the 4,000 patent infringement suits filed in the United States.

The New York Times reports that one of these companies threatened to sue about 8,000 coffee shops, hotels and retailers claiming a patent infringement because they set up Wi-Fi networks for their customers. Another is claiming that hundreds of small businesses violated its patents by attaching a document scanner to their office computer system.

President Obama has ordered the Patent and Trademark Office to require companies to be more specific about exactly what their patent covers and how it is being infringed. The president also told the Patent Office to tighten scrutiny of overly broad patent claims; he said it should aim to curb patent-infringement lawsuits against consumers and small business owners who are using off-the-shelf technology.

We’ll see how that works out. We’re going to take a wild guess here and assume the president didn’t suggest that U.S. patent regulators seek guidance from the IRS on how to enforce their new responsibilities.

Memo to Al Gore: hold off on the Internet infringement claim. By the way, did we ever tell you we invented the chocolate eggcream in 1957?

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At a ribbon cutting ceremony, Carmel-based NextGear Capital celebrates plans to expand its headquarters. From left to right, Indiana Governor Mike Pence, NextGear Capital President Brian Geitner, Manheim President Sandy Schwartz and Carmel Mayor Jim Brainard.

Posted by Heidi Schwartz

NextGear Capital, which provides inventory financing programs for more than 17,000 automotive dealers across the country, has announced plans to expand its headquarters in New Carmel, IN, creating up to 169 new jobs by 2015.

The company will invest $19.5 million to lease and renovate a second Carmel office. NextGear Capital plans to use the new space to house its dealer services, auction services and business development center.

This announcement is the company’s second expansion in recent years. In 2009, NextGear Capital made plans to invest $6.4 million to add 12,000 square-feet to its Carmel headquarters, resulting in the creation of more than 60 new jobs.

“We are extremely excited to be expanding our corporate campus in Carmel,” said Brian Geitner, president of NextGear Capital. “We have seen solid growth in our customer base over the past couple of years, and this expansion will allow us to continue to provide the solutions necessary to service our customers as they continue to grow their business.”

The Indiana Economic Development Corporation offered NextGear Capital up to $1,300,000 in conditional tax credits and up to $60,000 in training grants based on the company’s job creation plans. The city of Carmel supports the project.

“I am pleased that NextGear Capital has invested in our community and is continuing to expand in Carmel,” said Carmel Mayor Jim Brainard. “Our focus and commitment to a high quality of life is always key in attracting and retaining business. This increased economic growth continues to provide excellent employment opportunities in our community.”

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Penske has opened a new truck rental, leasing and maintenance facility in Phoenix. (PRNewsFoto/Penske Truck Leasing)

Posted by Heidi Schwartz

Penske Truck Leasing held a grand opening event in Phoenix to introduce a new state-of-the-art facility. The $6 million building provides full-service truck leasing, consumer and commercial truck rental and contract truck fleet maintenance services.

This new location, which employs 55 associates, features five truck service bays, an automated wash bay and a three-lane commercial truck fuel island with bulk Diesel Exhaust Fluid (DEF) dispensation. The maintenance shop utilizes leading-edge wireless technology to enable Penske’s service technicians to connect vehicles for service automatically with diagnostic and analytic software. The location has also been built to service trucks with engines that run on Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) or Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG).

“We moved to this new location because we needed the space due to our growth,” said Rick Pytlik, Penske Truck Leasing Senior Vice President for the Western Region. “We’ve doubled the size of our building space and increased our acreage fivefold. We’re also now well positioned to accommodate future expansion of our operations.”

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The content was anything but. Lautman, principal of Lautman Economic Architecture and author of When the Boomers Bail (How Demographics will Sort Communities into Winners and Losers) told an audience of site selection professionals and economic development agency representatives that their entire industry is living on borrowed time. “The whole economic development game is running out of places to add value,” Lautman declared. “If you look at it honestly, our profession is in the process of going out of business.”

Lautman painted a stark and sobering picture of a barren economic development landscape in which an aging generation of Baby Boomers has failed to replicate itself in a way that ensures that economic growth will keep pace with population growth. “We are the first generation in history – maybe the first species in history – not to create enough children to replace ourselves, and we didn’t educate half of the kids we created,” he said.

According to Lautman, the emerging demographic “new normal,” coupled with long-term economic malaise and a federal government “that is out of business,” is creating a paradigm that will force communities into a fierce competition for the same small pool of skilled workers. “You always want your most productive group of people to expand and your dependent class to shrink, but we’re going the other way. The Baby Boomers – the most over-experienced people – are bailing into the most dependant class as they retire, the same class we’ve dumped our kids into,” he said. “It’s a disaster.” [Lautman said the demographic outlook is even bleaker for China. He predicted that an aging population in China soon will overwhelm the world's second-largest economic power and render it unable to take jobs from other markets. "China will flat-line by 2015," he said.]

This dynamic is having the biggest impact on what Lautman called “the hiring relationship.”

“In the past, employers had all the power in the hiring relationship. Now (prospective) employees have all the power. When the Boomers entered the job market, there were 10 of us applying for every open position. Now, 10 companies will be chasing after the same young professional,” he explained, adding that in the new normal it won’t be unusual for employers “to have 95 percent of their job offers rejected.”

The seismic shift in demographics “will change the calculus for site selection and economic development,” Lautman said. “It will change the way businesses operate and chart their futures.”

The most important change will be the elevation of quality of life as a primary factor in site selection decisions, he said. “Employers must be really careful about where they locate their facilities. They have to make sure where they locate is where the employees want to live,” Lautman said. “What is the DNA that makes those places attractive to (young professionals)? That’s the new game – talent attraction.”

“Employers are going to come to your communities because of who’s coming there and who wants to stay,” he added.

Lautman said economic developers also must rethink their approach to strategic planning and embrace regional strategies that avoid head-to-head competition for the same pool of skilled workers (he projected that it may cost more than $1 million to recruit just 10 prospects, forcing communities to pool resources). But he did not mince words in predicting that competition between communities inevitably will get nastier as the new demographic reality takes hold.

“You used to be able to grow your economy without hurting anyone else,” he said. “Today, the only way you can grow is by stealing (talented workers) from your competitors. You will need to be able to set up in places where you can steal talent from your competition, bring them there, set them up and not have them stolen back.”

Standard strategic planning models will have to be replaced with a more deliberative process that anticipates the new reality, Lautman said. “What we’re doing right now doesn’t work and it doesn’t involve the right people. It’s really a mess – there’s no one thing that works and no single way to approach it,” he said. “We need design partnerships to understand the kind of communities we have to build to attract talent.”

“It’s now a game of winners and losers, and it won’t take long to figure out who the winners are,” Lautman concluded.  “It’s either New Bedford Falls or Pottersville, there’s no in-between. It’s a zero-sum market now.”

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Posted by Heidi Schwartz

Gov. Steve Beshear joined company and local officials at Kobe Aluminum Automotive Products LLC in Bowling Green, KY to break ground on the company’s second expansion in recent months. Kobe Aluminum plans to add an 87,000-square-foot building, resulting in 100 new, full-time jobs and a capital investment of up to $66 million.

The news comes on the heels of another expansion announcement at the plant. In November 2012, Gov. Beshear and company officials announced Kobe Aluminum would invest $11 million in Bowling Green for the construction of a new 39,000-square-foot building on One Kobe Way in Bowling Green, creating 15 new, full-time jobs.

“I was fortunate to be here in November to announce a significant expansion for Kobe Aluminum, but this one is even better, with 100 more jobs and a $66 million investment on the way,” said Gov. Beshear. “We are proud to have Kobe here in the Commonwealth and especially happy to see the company’s continued growth and success.”

Kobe Aluminum Automotive Products LLC, a joint venture of Kobe Steel Ltd., Mitsui & Co. Ltd. and Toyota Tsusho Corporation, has been a corporate citizen in south central Kentucky since 2005. The plant currently has more than 270 full-time employees and has invested more than $100 million in its Bowling Green facility since opening its doors.

There are 11 Kobe Steel subsidiaries in the United States, but the Bowling Green location is the only U.S. facility to forge aluminum suspension products for the automotive industry. The new, 87,000-square-foot addition makes room for new furnaces, casting machines, forging presses and advanced presses used to meet increasing demand for high-quality precision aluminum components for the automobile industry.

“Kobe Steel had many options when we decided to establish this business in Bowling Green,” said Susumu (Sam) Koike, KAAP president and CEO. “We have had great experiences working in Kentucky, and we have never regretted our decision. The Commonwealth made the decision for additional investment easy by offering financial incentives. I assure you, we do not take these incentives for granted and will do our best to fulfill our employment obligations to make this incentive program both a business success for KAAP and an economic success for Kentucky.”

“We are excited to break ground and expand our operations in south central Kentucky once again,” said Gregory Head, KAAP corporate secretary. “KAAP has grown and prospered here because Kentucky understands our needs and respects our customers. We look forward to many more years of collaboration with state and local officials and opening new opportunities for the exceptional people we are fortunate to employ. Our desire is to become a preferred employer in south central Kentucky.”

To encourage the additional investment and job growth in Bowling Green, the Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority (KEDFA) preliminarily approved the company for tax incentives up to $300,000 through the Kentucky Enterprise Initiative Act (KEIA), which allows approved companies to recoup Kentucky sales and use tax on construction costs, building fixtures, equipment used in research and development and electronic processing equipment.

Kobe Aluminum previously received preliminary approval for its initial expansion project in the amount of $325,000 through the Kentucky Business Investment program, which is expected to be increased at the time of final approval to reflect the increased job growth and investment. A separate KEIA approval in the amount of $144,000 was also previously granted.

“I am thrilled with the latest expansion for Kobe, it affirms our community as a central automotive supplier,” said Sen. Mike Wilson, of Bowling Green. “We are blessed with great geography and even better people.”

“Our community has been fortunate over the years to play a major role in Kentucky’s automotive industry, and companies like Kobe Aluminum Automotive Products are the main reason why,” said Rep. Jody Richards, of Bowling Green. “I cannot thank its leaders enough for investing so much, and for the faith they have put into our second-to-none workforce.”

“Kobe has been a great corporate citizen for the past eight years, and we look forward to continuing this relationship long into the future,” said Bowling Green Mayor Bruce Wilkerson. “We congratulate them on their decision to expand here again and send well wishes for their continued growth.”

“It’s another great day in south central Kentucky when we can announce an expansion project like this one at Kobe,” said Warren County Judge-Executive Michael Buchanon. “This company is a great example of how businesses thrive in our region, and we thank them for continuing to invest here.”

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The FAA currently is evaluating six U.S. sites as potential test flight centers for Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV), also known as drones (the Wright-Patterson facility in Ohio is a leading contender). Most of our elected representatives in Washington are gung-ho for the idea, especially in districts with manufacturers who would thrive if the demand for “domestic” drones takes off. Thus far, they’ve been stymied by a handful of civil-liberties and air-safety fuddyduddys who wonder whether filling our skies with robot planes will fatally compromise our right to privacy, to say nothing of the occasional commercial airliner they may bump into.

While we’ve been watching the skies, it looks like the ground may have shifted under our feet.

The plans for mass-producing driverless cars aren’t even on the drawing boards of the major automakers, but a new survey shows that an astounding 60 percent of U.S. motorists are ready to welcome robot cars on American roads.

IT networking giant Cisco this week released the results of its study on the importance of high-tech gadgets to today’s car buyers. Not surprisingly, the Cisco survey found consumers completely enamored with the latest computer-driven automotive capabilities, from cars that park themselves to voice-activated menus for nearby Chinese restaurants.

But the real eyebrow-raiser in the survey was the response to Cisco’s question asking drivers whether they’re ready to trust driverless cars to drive them around.

The results are fascinating. Three nations with emerging automotive markets — and, presumably less experience with driving — gave driverless cars the biggest thumbs up. About 95 percent said yes in Brazil, 86 percent in India and 70 percent in China. They were followed by the U.S. at 60 percent, Russia at 57 percent and Canada at 52 percent.

But in Japan, the nation that has the most experience with robots of any kind, only 28 percent of respondents indicated they would be inclined to slide into the passenger seat of a driverless car. Also, when the risk-taking is expanded from the individual to the family, enthusiasm predictably declines for the driverless car. Fewer respondents in the Cisco survey said they were willing to put their kids in a robot vehicle.

The Cisco survey results may reflect the shape of things to come. Driverless cars probably will be tooling down a highway near you sooner than you think.

The psychological roadblock to the driverless vehicle apparently was shattered by the Google car. The Internet search giant’s robot test vehicle thus far has logged more than 300,000 miles without incident. Google says the technology for a true “fully autonomous driverless car” is still about five years away. Motor Trend, the car magazine, predicts that driverless cars will be in mass production by 2025.

The Cisco survey also revealed that consumers’ trust for automated vehicles extends beyond the steering wheel: the study found that 74 percent of drivers would be fine with their car tracking their driving habits if they could save on insurance and maintenance costs; 65 percent said they would be willing to share their height, weight, driving habits and entertainment preferences with car manufacturers in return for a more “custom” driving experience.

In the same week that Cisco’s survey results were released, the National Transportation Safety Board has proposed to lower the federal blood alcohol level threshold for drunk driving from .08 to .05, a drop of more than a third from the current standard.

Coincidence? We think not. Obviously, there’s some sort of a master plan falling into place here:

STEP 1: Track our movements with drones.

STEP 2: Take our car keys away.

STEP 3: Ply us with alcohol and entice us to recline in the ergonomically designed passenger seat of a driverless car that knows we can be lulled into a mindless sense of euphoria by the smell of Corinthian leather and the sound of Bohemian Rhapsody coming out of 16 speakers.

STEP 4: Deposit us at mass “rehabilitation” centers that have secretly been constructed on former ballistic missile launch sites in the Great Plains.

STEP 5:

(transmission interrupted, contact with human terminated)

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Posted by Heidi Schwartz

Subaru Canada, Inc. (SCI) announced that its Impreza line of cars will be produced in its North American plant beginning in 2016. Subaru of Indiana Automotive, Inc. (SIA), the North American manufacturer of Subaru vehicles, will expand its plant in Lafayette, IN to produce the popular compact sedans and hatchbacks, creating 900 new jobs in the process.

Fuji Heavy Industries, Ltd. (FHI) will invest $400 million to build the Impreza at its North American production facility, SIA, and increase the plant’s capacity by approximately 100,000 vehicles annually. The expansion will involve construction to develop SIA’s space by over half a million square feet. The project will also involve the installation of new state-of-the-art equipment—primarily in the paint and body assembly sections—as well as changes to improve overall process flow, including the addition of 900 jobs to its workforce.

“Our associates are very excited about the opportunity to build the Subaru Impreza at SIA and will remain committed to the same high level of quality, safety and teamwork that goes into every Subaru built at SIA,” stated SIA’s executive vice president, Tom Easterday.

“FHI’s decision to move production to SIA illustrates their confidence in Subaru’s North American market ,” said Shiro Ohta, president and CEO of Subaru Canada, Inc.

Construction of the planned expansion is slated to begin this fall and is expected to be completed by the end of 2016. Construction continues on the $75 million expansion project announced last May, which will increase SIA’s capacity from 156,000 to 180,000 Subaru units annually without overtime.

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