Wind Power Factory opens in East Tulsa

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Factory doubling in size, ahead of schedule:
http://www.tulsaworld.com/business/article.aspx?articleID=20081002_49_E1_Awleok949146

quote:
Factory plans big expansion

by: KYLE ARNOLD World Staff Writer
10/2/2008  12:00 AM

DMI Industries, which makes wind turbine towers, aims to add 225 jobs by mid-2009.


DMI Industries, a maker of wind turbine towers, will double its work force and expand operations at its Tulsa factory.

DMI plans to add about 225 jobs by the middle of 2009, capitalizing on a booming wind energy industry as the country faces higher energy prices.

"Certainly, the demand for wind energy is helping us grow," said John Erickson, the CEO of DMI's parent company, Otter Tail Corp. of Minnesota. "As a nation, we only use about 1 percent wind energy now and many think it will grow to 15, 20 or 25 percent."

The Tulsa factory makes the 300-foot towers that hold wind turbines for companies such as General Electric.

U.S. Rep. John Sullivan of Tulsa and Oklahoma Secretary of Commerce and Tourism Natalie Shirley joined company officials for the announcement Wednesday.

The move comes sooner than expected for a company that entered Oklahoma just over a year ago.

DMI purchased a buildling planned for Griffin Wheel — a railcar manufacturer that never moved in — off of Interstate 244 last August and opened the factory in March. The first tower from Tulsa shipped in May.

Erickson said the demand for the wind towers was immediate after the factory opened.

The industry has been especially busy in recent months with support from investors such as the oil magnate Boone Pickens. The centerpiece of his Pickens Plan involves supplanting the natural gas used to generate power with electricity from wind turbines, then using the natural gas to fuel vehicles. Pickens has invested more than $2 billion in turbines for a wind farm in the Texas Panhandle.

DMI Industries uses about 300,000 square feet of the factory, but it plans to expand to take up the site's entire 500,000 square feet.

DMI President Stefan Nilsson said the company had always planned to expand operations in Tulsa, but the plant's success speeded that up.

With the expansion, DMI will have about 450 employees in Tulsa.

The factory's general manager, Kevin Ishmael, said DMI would need to hire hundreds of workers, especially for skilled positions such as welders.

DMI will also expand capacity at its factory in West Fargo, N.D.

The combined expansions will cost about $30 million.



Kyle Arnold 581-8380
kyle.arnold@tulsaworld.com

If the city ever throws more money at a private industry, let it be this one.