A Foxconn Technology Group corporate jet landed at Southwest Michigan Regional Airport on Wednesday, June 12th. That same day the same plane or a similar one touched down at Madison, Wisconsin, three days after landing in Milwaukee. Foxconn is the Taiwanese electronics company that is purportedly seeking to build a $30-million plant that will employ roughly 500 workers to manufacture smartphone display screens, and the competition to be the place that wins that facility is heating up substantially.
Ironically, Wednesday, June 12th was also the day that the Michigan State Legislature passed into law a package of tax incentive bills — the Good Jobs for Michigan package — aimed at creating jobs exactly like those involved in the speculative new manufacturing plant under consideration in several states.
Now, Congressman Fred Upton is entering the sweepstakes, having penned a letter to Foxconn Technology Group Founder and Chairman Terry Gou, and sent yesterday, Friday, July 21st.
Upton cites Michigan’s Great Southwest as being “uniquely qualified to become the home of your new display-making factory.” His letter adds, “This region has all of the key components for your investment to prosper: a solid manufacturing sector, a steadfast workforce, and robust economic development organizations (such as Cornerstone Alliance and Southwest Michigan First).”
Upton’s letter, dispatched to Foxconn corporate headquarters in New Taipei City, Taiwan, expresses his “strong support for siting your new display-making factory in Southwest Michigan.” The congressman points to “Our reputation as a leader in research, development, and manufacturing,” which dates back more than a century. He reminds Gou that there are 20 “Fortune 1000” companies headquartered or physically present in Southwest Michigan operating in diverse sectors such as medical devices, pharmaceuticals, design-based manufacturing, packaging, and agriculture.
Addressing the obvious need for the assistance of economic development teams, Upton’s letter says Cornerstone Alliance and Southwest Michigan First “will be able to guide your company through the early stages of growth, and ensure you have the resources and workforce required to adapt to changes in the marketplace.”
According to stories in the Milwaukee Sentinel, “Manufacturing liquid crystal display panels, as Foxconn is expected to do in the United States, requires huge amounts of water.” That may be a major selling point for our region due to the proximity of Lake Michigan, and is also one of the reasons that southeast Wisconsin is under intense scrutiny. Stay tuned.
The photo accompanying this story on Moody on the Market.com is from a Foxconn pavilion at the 13th Western China International Fair five years ago in May of 2012.
