Thursday, August 20, 2009

New Geography Of Globalization

I will provide a brief update on yesterday's post about the shrinking geography of global supply chains. Because proximity helps to mitigate risk, a corporate headquarters is moving from Georgia to Pittsburgh:

Fenner Dunlop Americas will move its corporate offices from Scottdale, Ga., to Pittsburgh in November, the company announced. The decision stems from the significant manufacturing investments made in the last few years to coincide with the company’s long-term strategy in North America. The Fenner Dunlop business combined with the newly formed Fenner Dunlop Conveyor Services now has the majority of its assets in the northern part of the continent. The new head office will be closer to Fenner Dunlop’s North American manufacturing bases in Ohio and Canada for belting products, as well as key locations of the company’s newly acquired service businesses and major customer regions.

Pittsburgh is a good base for Eastern Rust Belt (including Ontario) operations. I imagine we will see more of this kind of corporate migration in the near future. Along those lines, keep a close eye on the V&M Star investment deal in Warren that is currently at an impasse. Didn't you hear about the proposed $1 billion investment?

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