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Wilson Greatbatch moving headquarters from Buff to DFW


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I didn't ask about Buffalo.

 

If global warming keeps up, we'll be able to catch up to Houston and Dallas, whose climates are classified as "humid sub-tropical." Sounds refreshing.

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  • 4 weeks later...

http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20120626/BIZ/306269939/1031/BIZ

 

'If someone had asked Hook three years ago to predict where the company’s newest plant at would be built, he would have said near the corporate offices near Buffalo, N.Y. But Indiana officials’ aggressive attempts to win the project paid off, the Greatbatch president told elected officials, employees and invited guests. State and local organizations offered the company more than $3 million in incentives to build the plant in Allen County.'

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West Seneca West is where I went to high school.

 

Yup, I worked at Bell Aerospace Textron. When I was hired in 1984, I was about the only person there without gray hair. They had been shrinking like you said since the 60s. In the next 4 years, a lot of younger people got hired as all the WWII guys started retiring, but I felt it was inevitable, and the company was pretty much done by '89.

Textron... What do they do? I noticed our new electric carts at work have "Textron" name plates on them... Do the make controls of some sort... Or is this a division of the company?

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I didn't ask about Buffalo.

Do you know what you are even talking about?... Right now the humidity in Anchorage is 80% and in BFLO it is 47%. It is gonna be 91 in Chicago today and probably warm around the Great Lakes... Yet, how many hours behind eastern time is AK?

 

Anyway... Yearly average humidity for Anchorage is 73% in the am and 63% in the pm. Buffalo is 80% in the am and 63% in the pm... Virtually the same. Chicago is actually on par with 80% and 62% in the pm... True not a whole lot lower, but 1% is 1% if you are splitting hairs thinking your morning humidity detector cany can tell a 7% difference... Again, only in the morning as the kicker!! :wallbash:

 

Sum up... You are telling me you can tell the difference between 7% change in relative humidity AND to boot only in the am! What are you a morning bird?

 

You are off your rocker... You don't have to slam something just for the sake of slamming something.

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http://www.journalgazette.net/article/20120626/BIZ/306269939/1031/BIZ

 

'If someone had asked Hook three years ago to predict where the company’s newest plant at would be built, he would have said near the corporate offices near Buffalo, N.Y. But Indiana officials’ aggressive attempts to win the project paid off, the Greatbatch president told elected officials, employees and invited guests. State and local organizations offered the company more than $3 million in incentives to build the plant in Allen County.'

 

Indiana is quite in the "cat bird seat." That is they have always ben rural with an economy revolving around ag. You have Indianapolis, true, but never fell into the trappings of the other northern industrial ciites. Gary is probably the only trouble rust belt area... Yet, it is so small and even today can leach off the Chicago and Illinois industrial corridor. A prime example of Indiana's global postioning are the ports of Indiana (Ohio river & Lake Michigan) with avenues to the world while others (fed & Illinois) pick up the infrastructure tab... Indiana stands to lose 2 billion dollars a year economically without a partnership with Illinois... YET, Indiana will "cannibalize" jobs from other areas. Again, Indiana has quite the "cat bird seat" without having to deal with the trappings of past industrial growth.

 

A good position to be in I suppose... They know it and agressively use it to their advantage.

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Textron... What do they do? I noticed our new electric carts at work have "Textron" name plates on them... Do the make controls of some sort... Or is this a division of the company?

 

Textron does a lot, but are heavily into defense contracting, esp. Bell Helicopter. Textron is the parent company to a lot of other companies like that. Bell Aircraft started in Buffalo and Wheatfield and was humongous in WWII and after - something like 40,000 employees here.

 

Of course, as time went on that got smaller and smaller and now there is nothing in WNY.

 

The carts you are talking about are Textron EZ Go. Textron also owns Cessna, among other things.

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Textron does a lot, but are heavily into defense contracting, esp. Bell Helicopter. Textron is the parent company to a lot of other companies like that. Bell Aircraft started in Buffalo and Wheatfield and was humongous in WWII and after - something like 40,000 employees here.

 

Of course, as time went on that got smaller and smaller and now there is nothing in WNY.

 

The carts you are talking about are Textron EZ Go. Textron also owns Cessna, among other things.

 

I see... We used to have an EZ Go... They are now all Cushmans... Do they own Cushman (I think Nebraska?) too?

 

I think I recall seeing a Textron plant in Illinois, around Freeport (towards the Galena area)... They see pretty big!

 

BFLO was quite the aerospace capital of the world... First to leave was Curtiss for Columbus... Not to get to heavy into a political discussion... But there are a number of dynamics leading to BFLO's demise than just the tried and true canned reason (taxes). Not entitled in anyway, but BFLO and WNY played a major part in the two WW's and later conflicts... Yet, especially the role in WWII should have been rewarded by the private sector for its patriotism... But that is another argument.

Edited by ExiledInIllinois
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I see... We used to have an EZ Go... They are now all Cushmans... Do they own Cushman (I think Nebraska?) too?

 

I think I recall seeing a Textron plant in Illinois, around Freeport (towards the Galena area)... They see pretty big!

 

BFLO was quite the aerospace capital of the world... First to leave was Curtiss for Columbus... Not to get to heavy into a political discussion... But there are a number of dynamics leading to BFLO's demise than just the tried and true canned reason (taxes). Not entitled in anyway, but BFLO and WNY played a major part in the two WW's and later conflicts... Yet, especially the role in WWII should have been rewarded by the private sector for its patriotism... But that is another argument.

 

I can't remember the exact number, but something like 1 in 4 or 5 workers in WNY were employed by Bell or Curtis during WWII.

 

Yeah, Textron is pretty huge. I still have a decent amount of stock in my 401(k) and it's done great over the years.

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