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SITE SELECTION
EUROPE'S 1998
FACILITIES RACE
• EUROPEAN
CHAMPION:
THE UNITED KINGDOM
• GERMANY GRABS
THIRD PLACE
"Despite Germany's problems, it's still the economic center of Europe," Bright says. "It's the biggest, richest market with the greatest output, and it borders on the Eastern European states, which are growing in significance." More than half of '98 German investments were in manufacturing (new and expanded facilities combined), compared with about 30 percent of UK projects. But Germany also lured 14 new headquarters facilities, more than any country except Britain.
Indeed, since German unification, more than 300 U.S. firms alone have announced commitments to invest about $8 billion in eastern Germany. Advanced Micro Devices, Coca-Cola, Dow Chemical, General Motors Corp. and Motorola are some of the big companies making location moves there. Visit www.iic.de for more details on eastern Germany.
Everyone knows that German companies such as BMW, Mercedes, Siemens and others continue to invest heavily in other parts of Europe and the United States. But Germany also attracts a lot of new facilities, and it landed 196 major projects last year.
Above right: Highly skilled workers are required to make musical instruments like these, being crafted in eastern Germany.
Germany produces more chemicals than any other European country, and a new initiative is under way to lure still more chemicals companies to the Ruhr industrial heartland (see sidebar article).
Of course, investors considering Europe's biggest market will find infrastructure, support services and other business essentials in eastern Germany different from those in the more developed western regions. Still, great progress is being made. "The Industrial Investment Council covering eastern Germany has done a first-class job," Bright says.
Left: U.S. and other investors have poured into eastern Germany in recent years. Pictured is Chemnitz formerly known as Karl-Marx- Stadt, a city of some 275,000 residents.
Potent Location Mix Brewing in North Rhine-Westphalia |
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In the chemicals business, a manufacturing site needs to have, well, the right chemistry. Chemicals firms that wish to expand in Europe should investigate ChemSite, a public-private partnership between Degussa-Huls AG, the government of North Rhine-Wesphalia, local communities and others to market 640 acres (257 hectares) of industrial sites in the Ruhr region ideally suited to the needs of chemicals manufacturers.
According to the EIM, chemicals companies invested in 203 new and expanded facilities in Europe last year, with Germany landing 19 of those projects -- third-best among European countries. "ChemSite offers complete, fully integrated industrial sites, excellent infrastructure, highly trained employees, attractive government incentives and speedy approval procedures," says Dr. Margarete Gersemann, head of marketing, Huls Works Marl. (Marl is a 148-acre, 60-hectare site especially suited for basic and specialty chemicals production.) "And here in western Germany, you can be very close to your customers. You can reach more than 50 percent of Europe with a one-day truck drive." Bayer, BP Chemicals and Degussa-Huls AG are just a few of the high-profile chemicals companies already operating at the Marl site. Flexible personnel policies are another ChemSite strength. "You can hire people for a day or a month, then keep them or give them back if you wish," Dr. Gersemann says. "And don't be afraid of our works councils and unions. Both are partners in ChemSite, and they have one goal: to create jobs. In fact, they have made a commitment not to lose an investment because salaries are too high." The date of the last strike at Marl? 1972. What was that again about German workers being too expensive and German work rules too rigid? |
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