Manufacturing is booming. And Louisiana’s Expansion and Retention Team is Taking Advantage.

Manufacturing is booming. And Louisiana’s Expansion and Retention Team is Taking Advantage.

Boosted by an exceptional business climate, Louisiana sets the table for economic development success with a flourishing manufacturing sector. Long a pillar of the state’s economic strategy, Louisiana’s business retention and expansion productivity has found heightened success in the post-pandemic landscape that has increased emphasis on shoring up global supply chains.

Louisiana’s unique logistical advantages and productive workforce have helped to set up a resurgence in manufacturing investment and job creation by many of the state’s well-established industries. Louisiana Economic Development has capitalized on this trend by leveraging competitive incentives, unparalleled access to global and domestic markets, customized workforce training and recruitment and an extensive inventory of certified sites to attract an impressive array of manufacturing expansion projects to the state’s business portfolio.

Among the noteworthy recent expansion projects in the state:

• CF Industries announced three Louisiana decarbonization investment projects: a proposed $2 billion world-scale, low carbon ammonia production facility in Ascension Parish, a $198.5 million plan to add carbon capture and sequestration capability to its existing ammonia production facility in Donaldsonville and a proposed $2 billion low-carbon clean ammonia production plant in Ascension Parish. The final project would be undertaken in partnership with POSCO Holdings, South Korea’s largest steelmaker.  
• BASF will invest $780 million to double capacity at its chemical manufacturing complex in Geismar, adding 37 new direct jobs and 147 new indirect jobs across three investment phases of an expansion plan first announced in 2018.
• Syrah Resources announced a $176 million expansion at its graphite processing facility in Vadalia, giving Louisiana a supply-chain foothold in the rapidly expanding market for electric vehicle components produced in the United States. The project is resulting in 36 new direct jobs and 52 new indirect jobs, and subsequent announcements have signaled hundreds of millions of dollars of additional investment and job creation in the works.
• Shell Catalysts & Technologies announced a $121.7 million expansion at its Port Allen flagship plant that will increase production of high-performance catalysts used to generate a less energy-intensive refining process; the project is resulting in 17 new direct jobs and 74 new indirect jobs.  
• Intralox, a leading producer of industrial and food conveyance systems, expanded its manufacturing workforce at two assembly and distribution centers, adding 80 new direct jobs.
• Prolec GE is investing up to $28.5 million to expand its Shreveport facility to manufacture electrical transformers used in wind farms, solar parks and other industrial and renewable energy applications. The project will create 153 new direct jobs and result in 162 new indirect jobs.

“Manufacturing growth is a powerful force for Louisiana’s overall economic development effort,” said Melody Lockwood, executive director of LED’s Business Expansion & Retention Group. “We prime Louisiana-based industries for success with effective logistics, ready access to abundant raw materials, a skilled workforce and strong support from state, regional and local government partners. LED’s Business Expansion and Retention Group is leading the way by driving an all-star roster of reinvestments that established industries are making across our state.”

CUTLINE:

A $198.5 million expansion of its Donaldsonville, La., plant – the largest ammonia production facility in the world – is one of three major Louisiana expansion projects the global manufacturer has announced in the past year. (Photo credit: Courtesy of CF Industries)