Brose North America, one of the world’s leading automotive suppliers, is investing $60 million to expand in Michigan, bringing approximately 450 new full time engineering and manufacturing jobs.

Brose, a supplier of mechatronic components and electric motor drives for vehicle bodies and interiors, will receive a $3.5 million Michigan Business Development Program incentive (subject to Michigan Strategic Fund board approval) to acquire the former Chrysler Mopar site on Bell Road in New Boston. Brose proposes to invest up to $60 million, creating 450 new jobs at the new facility as well as at the Auburn Hills and Warren locations. Huron Charter Township has offered support in the form of a 12 year property tax abatement to the project.

“Brose, with 650 employees currently in Michigan, is a global leader and vital to our automotive supply chain,” said Governor Rick Snyder. “The company’s decision to invest so heavily in Michigan is a strong statement of the great opportunities that, thanks to our business climate improvements, means Michigan offers growing companies one of the best business climates in the country.”

Governor Rick Snyder tours the Brose Fahrzeugteile skilled-trades apprentice center in Würzburg, Germany. From left to right: Brose Executive Vice President Reinhard Kretschmer, Snyder, MEDC President and CEO Michael Finney and Brose CEO Jurgen Otto.

Snyder met with Brose executives during his investment mission to Europe in March, when he and a Michigan delegation visited Germany and Italy to promote business opportunities in Michigan with major company executives and government officials.

“The support of the Michigan government was instrumental in our decision to open the new location here,” said Vice President of Finance for Brose North America Scott Trujillo.

The Brose Group has had a North American presence since 1993 with its U.S. headquarters and research and development center located in Auburn Hills and a manufacturing facility in Warren.

“Governor Snyder’s meeting with Brose executives in Germany underscored our strong relationship with the company and demonstrated again that Michigan is more business-friendly than ever,” said MEDC President and CEO Michael A. Finney. “The opening of the facility in New Boston will further strengthen Brose’s Michigan presence and provide additional high paying jobs for years to come.”

The Brose Group is the leading manufacturer of mechatronic systems and electric drives for about 80 automotive manufacturers and more than 30 suppliers. More than 19,000 employees work for Brose at 53 locations in 23 countries in all major automotive markets worldwide, generating a turnover of more than $5 billion.

There’s less than one week left to sign up at a discounted rate for the 10th Annual National Economic Gardening Conference, taking place at the Amway Grand Plaza hotel in Grand Rapids June 12-13.

The Michigan Economic Development Corporation and Pure Michigan Business Connect are hosting the conference, keynoted by Governor Rick Snyder. The cost for early bird registration (through 4/30/12) is $150 per person. To register after April 30, the cost is $175. Registration closes on June 11. Visit here to register.

Intended for economic developers, government officials and university researchers and instructors, the conference will give attendees the chance to engage in national dialogue on economic gardening with some of the movement’s leading experts and practitioners.

Speakers include Chris Gibbons, director of business and industry affairs at the City of Littleton and creator of the Economic Gardening economic development model, and Mark Lange, executive director of the Edward Lowe Foundation and a leader in entrepreneurism training.

Conference-goers can find plenty to do in Grand Rapids during their free time. Those who stick around on June 13 after the conference ends can enjoy Blues on the Mall, a free concert held every Wednesday at Rosa Parks Circle in downtown Grand Rapids. The city is also home to 28 public golf courses located within 15 miles of downtown, as well as six museums and more than 60 restaurants and nightclubs, all within walking distance of downtown.

To get a glimpse of many of the city’s most well-known landmarks, watch this award-winning lipdub performed to Don McLean’s “American Pie.” Spearheaded by 20-something director Rob Bliss last May in response to a Newsweek article which included Grand Rapids on a list titled America’s Dying Cities, the 10-minute lipdub was shot in one continuous take throughout the streets of Grand Rapids and included thousands of participants. The video – declared by critic Roger Ebert “the best music video ever made” – has been viewed more than 4.6 million times on youtube.

To learn more fun facts about GR, check out this infographic and visit the Grand Rapids Visitors and Convention Bureau website. And don’t forget to register for the 2012 National Economic Gardening Conference! 

Follow the Twitter hashtag #NEGC12 for conference updates, announcements, and news.

Great things are happening all around Michigan – and the nation is taking notice. Check out these cities who have made national Top 10 lists so far in 2012. Check out the infographic and tweetable links below.

Detroit ranks among Top 10 Emerging Sustainable Cities in US. Tweet This!

Grand Rapids named #1 best city in US to raise a family. Tweet This!

Traverse City ranks as one of America’s Top 10 places to retire. Tweet This!

Detroit ranks #4 in US for manufacturing jobs. Tweet This!

Kalamazoo named among the nation’s Top 10 beer cities. Tweet This!

Detroit ranks #1 in US for tech job growth. Tweet This!

Lansing ranks #9 hardest working city in U.S. Tweet This!

Grand Rapids ranked #5 US city where manufacturing is booming. Tweet This!

Grand Rapids ranks #8 in US for manufacturing job growth. Tweet This!

Lansing ranks #1 in US for manufacturing job growth. Tweet This!

Ann Arbor ranks #7 best city in US  for finding a job. Tweet This!

Participants in Michigan Shifting Gears, a unique career training program developed by the Michigan Economic Development Corporation and Sensei Inc., don’t fit the typical image of student trainees.  Most are seasoned professionals who’ve enjoyed successful careers in big Michigan businesses – businesses that took a direct hit in the global economic downturn.   Now they’re faced with starting over at a time when they thought they’d be hitting their stride.

Michigan Shifting Gears is an innovative, low-cost initiative designed to help transitioning professionals make the move to new opportunities in small businesses and entrepreneurial start-ups.

“Michigan needs the skills these professionals have acquired in a lifetime of work, retooled to meet the demands of innovative ventures that are kick-starting the state’s economy,” said Michael Finney, President and CEO of the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC). “Michigan Shifting Gears will help them understand the entrepreneurial environment and re-package their skills to take advantage of great jobs in Michigan companies.”

First launched in 2009 in partnership with Ann Arbor SPARK, Michigan Shifting Gears is now open to transitioning professionals from all over the state.  The next session of Michigan Shifting Gears begins on April 30 in Lansing, with registration open through April 23.

The April 30 session also marks the launch of Shifting Heroes, a new feature of the program designed to integrate returning veterans in to the Shifting Gears experience, and help them re-imagine and re-frame the skills they acquired in the service for jobs in the private sector.

“Returning veterans often need help translating their valuable skills into the language of employers,” said Amy Cell, MEDC’s Senior Vice President of Talent Enhancement.  “When veterans sign up for Shifting Gears, they will be paired with an employed veteran volunteer who will partner with businesses to assist our Michigan Heroes transition to the next phase of their careers.
Participants in Michigan Shifting Gears receive professional career assessment and career coaching, attend eight days of workshops and networking events, and take part in a three-day small business simulation.  Each student is paired with a volunteer mentor from the entrepreneurial community who works one-on-one to help them improve their small business skills and communicate effectively during the hiring process.  Each participant also must complete an 80-hour pro bono internship with a small, early-stage Michigan business.

Participation fee for the intensive 16-week Michigan Shifting Gears program is $500.     Visit here to learn more about the pre-requisites for enrolling in Michigan Shifting Gears, and here to register for the April 30 session.

Michigan Shifting Gears has an impressive success rate to date, with 49 percent of participants landing new jobs within three months of completing the program.

“I had a wide breadth of experience at General Motors and I wanted to be able to leverage my skill set in a start-up or small company,” said David Newhouse, a Shifting Gears graduate who now serves as president for InterClean Equipment, Inc. “Shifting Gears enabled me to gain a greater awareness and sensitivity for the issues a small company faces.”

It’s only April, but Michigan trees are budding, flowers are blooming, and asparagus is popping up early on the state’s produce farms.  Michigan’s asparagus growers are looking to hire hundreds of farm workers in the next two weeks to begin harvesting this year’s crop.

To help growers find the workers they need, the State of Michigan Workforce Development Agency is teaming up with the Michigan Asparagus Advisory Board to host an Asparagus Industry Job Fair this Thursday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. at St. Joseph Parish Hall, 2349 W. Jackson Rd. in Hart, Mich.

“Michigan’s asparagus growers help feed the nation, create jobs, and boost the state’s agricultural economy,” said Belen Ledezma, Director of Migrant, Immigrant and Seasonal Worker Services for the Workforce Development Agency, State of Michigan.  “This year growers are in danger of losing their crop and the benefits it brings unless they can hire enough workers to harvest it.  Our job fair will give people an opportunity to see what it takes to do the job and earn some extra springtime cash.”

The typical asparagus season in Michigan runs from mid-April through June.  Michigan growers are looking to hire up to 229 workers immediately, with more openings expected in the coming weeks.

Michigan asparagus, unlike asparagus from other states, is hand-snapped above the ground, yielding a more tender and flavorful product.  Workers harvest the asparagus while riding specially-designed picking carts.  The job is physically demanding, and workers must have the ability to sit in a bent position for long periods of time, the strength to lift up to 25 lbs., excellent reach and coordination, and a willingness to work outdoors in all kinds of weather.

Asparagus workers typically are paid on a piece rate, with skilled harvesters earning more than $10.00 an hour.  Workers are guaranteed to make at least Michigan’s minimum wage of $7.40 an hour.

“Last year, Michigan growers mowed off more than a million pounds of asparagus because we lacked an adequate workforce to harvest it,” said John Bakker, President of the Michigan Asparagus Advisory Board.  “It is our hope that this job fair will help us avoid that outcome this year.”

To read news coverage of the asparagus job fair, visit here and here.

Michigan consumer goods companies interested in reaching new customers in the fastest growing economy in the world will have an opportunity to take part in a new exporting pilot program offered through a partnership between the export services company Export Now and the Michigan Economic Development Corporation.  

The Pure Michigan Export Now pilot program will help consumer-product companies in the state sell their products directly to Chinese consumers via the world’s largest Internet-based sales platform. The program will be detailed in four informational forums taking place around the state in April.   

“Export Now’s unique combination of services further broadens the state’s Pure Michigan Business Connect program by reenergizing the focus on exporting and economic gardening,” said MEDC President and CEO Michael A. Finney. “This unique exporting program builds on Governor Rick Snyder’s mission to China last fall, where we met with government officials and business leaders to bring new job-creating investments here and open doors for Michigan businesses.” 

Export Now provides an end-to-end IT and logistics solution that enables Michigan companies to sell on China’s e-commerce platform, www.tmall.com, as easily as selling on similar and familiar U.S. e-commerce platforms at home. Michigan companies will be able to participate in the first-ever mass marketing of Michigan goods to China in a single place through the Pure Michigan department in the online store. 

With support from MEDC and Export Now, the first 100 Michigan companies to sign up for the program will pay only $1,000 and use the service for one year, two-thirds less than the usual $3,000 charge. Michigan companies will ship goods on consignment to an Export Now depot in California, where shipments are consolidated and forwarded to Export Now’s Shanghai distribution center. All companies pay a transaction cost with each sale.  

Visit here to learn more about Pure Michigan Export Now.

By Michelle Elder

It’s a new day in Detroit. One filled with high-tech startups. Cutting edge medical research. One-of-a-kind restaurants. World-renowned museums. And affordable, desirable real estate. Detroit is turning into one of the nation’s hottest places to live – and much of the driving force behind this trend is a young creative workforce eager to make an impact on the city they call home.

Detroit has many challenges and pent-up demand for many types of services and needs, making it ripe for all types of opportunities. I think this is why this city is a magnet for so many young people.  These people are the Detroit Doers. They are hard-working, innovative, entrepreneurial, and most importantly, they are impatient and passionate about Detroit’s future so they do things now to address a problem. These people aren’t just Doers, they are givers and they provide so much to our community. 

Consider this partial sampling of Detroit Doers’ giving activities:

• Emily Doerr, Hostel Detroit – Safe affordable accommodations.
• Bobby Smith, En Garde Detroit – Fencing program that offers Detroit youth discipline, structure and places Detroit as a fencing destination on the international map.
• Marlowe Stoudamire, Detroit Harmonie – Funding for social entrepreneurs.
• Justin Jacobs, Come Play Detroit – Recreational sports leagues.
• Kerry Doman, After 5 Detroit – Interactive socializing website for young professionals.
• Deirdre Groves, Challenge Detroit – Program to attract young talent to the city.
• Charlie Cavell, Pay It Forward – Internships to unemployed Detroiters.
• Mike Han, Street Culture Mash – Urban art program.
• Amy Kaherl, Detroit Soup – Forum for entrepreneurs to pitch business ideas
• Sandra Yu, Detroiters Working For Environmental Justice – Advocates for cleaner communities. 

And the list goes on. What do all these people have in common? They are all in their 20s and 30s. They aren’t waiting for someone to tell them when or how; they are positively impacting the city right now.  They are also speakers of LiveWorkDetroit! events (meet them at our event this tomorrow, March 31).

College students are mobilizing across the state too. This year, students led initiatives like Catalyst, Project Volunteer, Detroit Partnership, Revitalization & Business. The MEDC’s LiveWorkDetroit! Student Ambassadors (LWDSA) program also launched this year, providing college students leadership and professional development opportunities while making a difference for Detroit. With over 50 students representing 14 colleges in- and out-of-state, LWDSA are the Detroit Doers in the field, representing LiveWorkDetroit! and bringing the message to campus that Detroit’s cool factor is soaring: it was recently ranked 6^th happiest city in America for young professionals and the hottest place in the country for young professionals. 

I for one am proud of the collective efforts of these young social entrepreneurs; they are the heart of the city and with each beat of their hearts, the city grows stronger every day.

Michelle Elder is a Program Manager for Talent Programs at the Michigan Economic Development Corporation (MEDC) and leads the MEDC’s strategy for retaining and attracting college graduates and young professionals.

Our teams may be not be playing, but Michigan will have a key presence at the NCAA Final Four men and women’s tournaments this weekend in New Orleans and Denver. The hard maple court these basketball battles will be fought on began as rough lumber last fall at Connor Sports Flooring Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.

The 7,200 square foot court was built in the small town of Amasa, population 250, in Iron County. The plant employs 125 workers from the surrounding area, manufacturing 750 playing courts annually for schools, gymnasiums and NBA teams.

This Michigan company was recently featured in USA Today and CBS Sports will present an hour-long documentary April 1 on the making of the floor and its journey to New Orleans – including its origins in Amasa.

So forget the backboards or the television cameras, this weekend while you are watching the NCAA Final Four. Pay attention to the Pure Michigan court.

GERMANY – Gov. Rick Snyder today announced that Hark Orchids L.P., an orchid propagation company headquartered in Lippstadt, will invest approximately $5 million to establish its first facility outside of Germany in Kalamazoo. 

“Hark’s choice of Michigan for its first U.S. facility tells others across the globe that Michigan holds great opportunities for their business expansion,” Snyder said. “This announcement comes as we wrap up a very busy, productive week with companies in Italy and Germany. Our message that Michigan is more business-friendly than ever is showing real results that will mean new jobs for people across our state.” 

Founded in 1904, Hark Orchids is a family-owned company offering hybridization, cultivation and propagation of orchids. Hark plans to establish a 30,000 square-foot lab and climatic chambers facility, investing approximately $5 million. The investment will create up to 80 jobs in the next three to five years. The Michigan Economic Development Corp. and Southwest Michigan First supported the project with cash grants totaling $750,000. 

Earlier in the day Snyder met with executives from BASF at its headquarters in Ludwigshafen to thank the company for its strong commitment to Michigan and make the case for additional investment and jobs in the future. 

New Jersey-based BASF Corp. was formed in 1986 and is the North American affiliate of Germany-based BASF AG, one of the world’s leading chemical companies. Michigan BASF operates eight facilities and employs some 1,400 associates at facilities in Wyandotte, Livonia, Southfield, Mattawan, Lincoln Park, Wixom, Rochester Hills and Troy. 

Today’s announcement by Hark was one of the more public highlights of Snyder’s eight-day investment mission in Italy and Germany, where he and a Michigan delegation have met with Italian and Germany government officials and major company executives to promote business opportunities in Michigan. The group will return home on Saturday.

The mission is Snyder’s second since taking office in 2011. Last September he led an eight-day trade mission in Asia, where he and a Michigan delegation met with Japanese, Chinese and Korean government officials and major company executives to promote business opportunities in Michigan.

Gov. Rick Snyder, second from right, meets with officials of Hark Orchids L.P. From the left are Anja Hark-Bormann, Oliver Bormann, Ingrid Hark, Fritz Hark, Snyder and Karl-Heinz Lapornkik.

Governor Rick Snyder and Dr. Dieter Zetsche, Chairman of the Board of Management of Daimler AG/Head of Mercedes-Benz Cars

STUTTGART, Germany – Michigan is more business friendly than ever and eager to establish productive relationships with European businesses, Gov. Rick Snyder said today in an address at a supplier reception at the Mercedes Classic Center in Stuttgart.

“Michigan is blessed with a number of strong, productive and long-standing relationships with German-based companies, and to those companies, we say thank you for your continuing contributions to our state,” Snyder said. “To those of you looking to expand your global presence or enter the North American market, Michigan is the place to be. We have been busy reinventing Michigan, breaking some bad habits of the past and embracing new opportunities for our future. We see many great opportunities ahead for all of us to do more business together.”

Earlier in the day Snyder and the entire Michigan delegation of state, university and local officials and economic developers visited Daimler’s training center in Untertürkheim-Brühl. Snyder also met with Dr. Dieter Zetsche, chairman of the Board of Management and head of Mercedes Benz Cars, at the Daimler AG headquarters.

Daimler is one of Michigan’s largest German employers with about 3,000 employees in the state. The company has made significant investments in its 3.3 million square foot Detroit Diesel operation in Redford since 2000.  Its $500 million investment in the “Redford Renaissance” helped to make it one of the leading Daimler truck engine plants in the world. In addition, Farmington Hills is home to the headquarters of Mercedes Benz Financial Services.

Snyder arrived in Turin, Italy on Sunday for an eight-day investment mission to strengthen relationships and attract new job-creating investments. He will spend Friday in Ludwigshafen and Lippstadt, where he and Michigan business owners and local economic developers will meet with executives from several German companies before returning to Michigan on Saturday.