The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has concluded that construction of a 98-mile-long, $10.3 billion Morganza-to-the-Gulf hurricane levee system that will protect Houma and surrounding communities from storm surges "is economically justified, environmentally acceptable and engineeringly sound." The Times-Picayune reports that the conclusions are contained in a recent proposed design report/environmental impact statement released by Lt. Gen. Thomas Bostick, chief of engineers for the corps. The report contains minor changes from a version released in January by New Orleans corps officials. The new report concludes that the project will produce $1.40 in benefits for every $1 spent on its construction. That's up from the $1.31 in benefits estimated in the January version of the report. The new chief's report was required after the estimated cost of the new levee system skyrocketed in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. In 2007, Congress authorized spending $887 million on the...
Rick Koubek, dean of the LSU College of Engineering, is a little embarrassed to call IBM's decision to put a regional software development center in Baton Rouge a “game changer.” The phrase has become a Capital Region cliché since the deal was announced March 27, even showing up on the cover of this magazine.
Forte and Tablada Inc., a Baton Rouge-based engineering firm, announced this morning it has acquired Engensus LLC and Engensus Measurements LLC, a pair of engineering and technology companies also based in Baton Rouge. Financial terms of the deal, which became effective on Jan. 1, were not disclosed. The merger brings to four the number of subsidiary companies Forte and Tablada has acquired over the past six years. In 2007 Baton Rouge Land Surveying was added to the roster, and in 2010 Shreveport-based BBC was acquired. Engensus founders Joey Coco and Samuel Amoroso will assume leadership positions at Forte and Tablada. Coco, a member of the 2011 Baton Rouge Business ReportForty Under 40 class, will become a firm principal along with existing members of the Forte and Tablada team. Amoroso, who holds a doctoral degree in civil engineering, will help expand...
Baton Rouge-based Letterman's Blue Print & Supply Co. Inc. has acquired Sign Star of Lake Charles for an undisclosed price. Letterman's, which has offices in New Orleans, Lafayette and Lake Charles in addition to two locations in Baton Rouge, says all operations and employees of the former Star Sign will be relocated to its Lake Charles office. Letterman's says it is the state's largest full-service reprographics company. With a focus on architectural, engineering, industrial and construction sectors, the firm makes outdoor graphics including building and vehicle banners, trade show exhibits, and retail and jobsite signage. Founded in Baton Rouge in 1949, the company's two local offices are located at 344 Third St., Suite 101; and 4726 Government St.
Minnesota-based Mosaic has begun engineering and design work on a possible $700 million ammonia plant at the company's existing Faustina site in St. James Parish, LED reports. The project would create 53 new direct jobs paying an average of more than $83,000 a year, plus benefits, and LED estimates an additional 366 new indirect jobs would result from the expansion. An estimated 1,400 workers would be required for construction. Mosaic expects to make its decision in mid-2013. Construction would start in 2014, with operation likely to begin in early 2016. To secure the project, the state will offer Mosaic a Modernization Tax Credit of $3 million, claimed over a five-year period, and the services of the LED FastStart workforce development program. The company is expected to utilize the state's quality jobs and industrial tax exemption incentive programs. More details on today's announcement are available in the full release
Like many of us in Baton Rouge, John Graves, president of Evans-Graves Engineers, watched with interest as Hurricane Isaac approached Louisiana. But he had a lot more on his mind than maybe losing power, a few roof shingles or some trees.
When Baton Rouge-based Evans-Graves Engineers was recently competing for work on a levee project in Jefferson Parish, the firm's owner and president, John Graves, entered a meeting at which he'd pitch Evans-Graves' skills with a large paper bag under his arm. When it was his turn to speak to the board, Graves sat down and put the paper bag in front of them. "I told them, 'I've heard it been said that you're only as good as your last outing,' " Graves recalls. "And then I pulled this book out of the bag and said, 'This is our last outing.' " The book was The Fortress of New Orleans, a 245-page pictorial and technical account of the construction of the largest civil works project completed in U.S. history: the $14.5 billion levee system built around New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina. Evans-Graves managed about 80% of all the work that went into building the system, Graves says. The book, released on Aug. 15, is a large, coffee table–style book loaded with photos of...
A 204-acre parcel of land in West Baton Rouge Parish has been certified under an LED program that ensures potential developers can begin building on it within 180 days. BRAC and the West Baton Chamber of Commerce made the announcement this morning. The site—located north of Interstate 10 on Court Street, midway between La. 415 and La. 1—is the first in the parish to attain certification through the LED program. The certified sites program was created in early 2010 to identify and prepare information on property so that companies can quickly and easily evaluate the merits of a site. A certified site either has all utilities and infrastructure in place, or has approved engineering plans to provide the utility infrastructure within 180 days. In the past, LED says, Louisiana frequently lost new deals to other states because companies require their relocation or expansion to be operational in 14 months or less. BRAC began working to certify sites in the Capital Region at the...
Almost seven years ago to the day, a system of hurricane levees and floodwalls built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers infamously failed to protect New Orleans—crumbling in the face of a storm weaker than it was designed to repel, causing the deaths of more than 1,300 citizens, and inflicting crippling infrastructure wounds from which the city is still struggling to heal, The Times-Picayune reports. Yet as Isaac, predicted to make landfall as a Category 2 hurricane, approached a new corps system designed to withstand a Category 3 storm, local officials expressed nothing but confidence. "It's like comparing apples and oranges," says Garret Graves, chairman of the Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority. "Unfortunately, there were some very painful lessons learned in [Hurricane] Katrina." Post-Katrina investigators say those lessons spanned the entire culture of storm protection—including engineering and construction, the politics of funding, and the...
Jacobs Engineering Group announced this morning that it has been awarded a contract from Methanex Corp., the world's largest methanol supplier to major international markets, to provide engineering, procurement and construction services for a $550 million methanol production facility in Geismar. Financial terms of the contract were not released. The plant is relocating from Santiago, Chile. In February, Jacobs was awarded a contract to engineer the plant move. Financial terms of that deal were also kept private. Though the firm is headquartered in Pasadena, Calif., it is working on the plant move and construction from its offices in Baton Rouge and Santiago. The plant is expected to be operational in the second half of 2014. Plans to dismantle the idled Chilean factory and ship it to Louisiana—where it will be reassembled to capitalize on the lowest U.S. natural-gas prices in almost a decade—were announced in January. Relocation is cheaper and faster than building a new...
The July 30 announcement that The Shaw Group is being acquired for $3.04 billion by CB&I, a Netherlands company with U.S. operations in The Woodlands, Texas, came as a surprise to employees, state economic development officials and even analysts who closely follow the local, 30-year-old company.
Increasing student demand for an engineering degree and the heightened workforce need for more engineers are illustrated in the LSU College of Engineering's latest national enrollment rankings, the university says. The newly released 2012 edition of Profiles of Engineering & Engineering Technology Colleges published by the American Society of Engineering Education places LSU's College of Engineering in the top 8% of 348 schools in the country for number of degrees awarded. ASEE annually publishes the leading data on engineering colleges in the United States, including both individual college statistics and national trends. LSU says a strong focus of the state's flagship university is to raise the rank and profile of LSU among peer institutions nationwide, and the College of Engineering exemplifies that charge. "These higher rankings are proven evidence of the impact the flagship College of Engineering program has on the state and is now respected nationally," says LSU Chancellor...
A 204-acre "development ready" site in Port Allen is slated for certification under the Louisiana Economic Development's Certified Sites Program. LED officials say the site—known simply as "All Star" for its ownership affiliated with the All Star Automotive Group—is located north of Interstate 10 on Court Street, about midway between La. 415 and La. 1. The site is one of three LED certified sites in the Capital Region, including a 60-acre site at the Donaldsonville Industrial Park and a 44-acre site at the Pointe Coupee Port and Industrial Park. LED says the All Star site certification is pending a third-party review by an engineering firm. For a site to be certified, LED goes through the due diligence of conducting surveys for cultural artifacts, sensitive wetlands, endangered species, soil compaction and historical factors. Each site also is ensured to have adequate infrastructure for utilities commonly needed for industrial use. After certification, LED says potential...
There's a common misconception that we don't make very much in America anymore, and that most of the jobs where people actually build stuff have been shipped off to China. But don't tell that to the business managers, marketing pros, engineers, machinists and welders of Baton Rouge's Orion Instruments.
Levee from Morganza to the Gulf is 'economically justified,' says corps
The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has concluded that construction of a 98-mile-long, $10.3 billion Morganza-to-the-Gulf hurricane levee system that will protect Houma and surrounding communities from storm surges "is economically justified, environmentally acceptable and engineeringly sound." The Times-Picayune reports that the conclusions are contained in a recent proposed design report/environmental impact statement released by Lt. Gen. Thomas Bostick, chief of engineers for the corps. The report contains minor changes from a version released in January by New Orleans corps officials. The new report concludes that the project will produce $1.40 in benefits for every $1 spent on its construction. That's up from the $1.31 in benefits estimated in the January version of the report. The new chief's report was required after the estimated cost of the new levee system skyrocketed in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. In 2007, Congress authorized spending $887 million on the...
Joey Coco
On the first day of the MBA program, Joey Coco's class defined “an entrepreneur” as someone who brings disparate resources together to create value.
A big deal
Rick Koubek, dean of the LSU College of Engineering, is a little embarrassed to call IBM's decision to put a regional software development center in Baton Rouge a “game changer.” The phrase has become a Capital Region cliché since the deal was announced March 27, even showing up on the cover of this magazine.
Standing tall
(less than 100 employees)
GOTECH
Looking ahead
James M. "Jim" Bernhard Jr.
B.R. engineering firm acquires two local companies in merger
Forte and Tablada Inc., a Baton Rouge-based engineering firm, announced this morning it has acquired Engensus LLC and Engensus Measurements LLC, a pair of engineering and technology companies also based in Baton Rouge. Financial terms of the deal, which became effective on Jan. 1, were not disclosed. The merger brings to four the number of subsidiary companies Forte and Tablada has acquired over the past six years. In 2007 Baton Rouge Land Surveying was added to the roster, and in 2010 Shreveport-based BBC was acquired. Engensus founders Joey Coco and Samuel Amoroso will assume leadership positions at Forte and Tablada. Coco, a member of the 2011 Baton Rouge Business Report Forty Under 40 class, will become a firm principal along with existing members of the Forte and Tablada team. Amoroso, who holds a doctoral degree in civil engineering, will help expand...
B.R. firm acquires Lake Charles company
Baton Rouge-based Letterman's Blue Print & Supply Co. Inc. has acquired Sign Star of Lake Charles for an undisclosed price. Letterman's, which has offices in New Orleans, Lafayette and Lake Charles in addition to two locations in Baton Rouge, says all operations and employees of the former Star Sign will be relocated to its Lake Charles office. Letterman's says it is the state's largest full-service reprographics company. With a focus on architectural, engineering, industrial and construction sectors, the firm makes outdoor graphics including building and vehicle banners, trade show exhibits, and retail and jobsite signage. Founded in Baton Rouge in 1949, the company's two local offices are located at 344 Third St., Suite 101; and 4726 Government St.
Multinational company eyes St. James for $700M ammonia plant
Minnesota-based Mosaic has begun engineering and design work on a possible $700 million ammonia plant at the company's existing Faustina site in St. James Parish, LED reports. The project would create 53 new direct jobs paying an average of more than $83,000 a year, plus benefits, and LED estimates an additional 366 new indirect jobs would result from the expansion. An estimated 1,400 workers would be required for construction. Mosaic expects to make its decision in mid-2013. Construction would start in 2014, with operation likely to begin in early 2016. To secure the project, the state will offer Mosaic a Modernization Tax Credit of $3 million, claimed over a five-year period, and the services of the LED FastStart workforce development program. The company is expected to utilize the state's quality jobs and industrial tax exemption incentive programs. More details on today's announcement are available in the full release
Civil works
Like many of us in Baton Rouge, John Graves, president of Evans-Graves Engineers, watched with interest as Hurricane Isaac approached Louisiana. But he had a lot more on his mind than maybe losing power, a few roof shingles or some trees.
B.R. firm details construction of New Orleans' massive levee system in new book
When Baton Rouge-based Evans-Graves Engineers was recently competing for work on a levee project in Jefferson Parish, the firm's owner and president, John Graves, entered a meeting at which he'd pitch Evans-Graves' skills with a large paper bag under his arm. When it was his turn to speak to the board, Graves sat down and put the paper bag in front of them. "I told them, 'I've heard it been said that you're only as good as your last outing,' " Graves recalls. "And then I pulled this book out of the bag and said, 'This is our last outing.' " The book was The Fortress of New Orleans, a 245-page pictorial and technical account of the construction of the largest civil works project completed in U.S. history: the $14.5 billion levee system built around New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina. Evans-Graves managed about 80% of all the work that went into building the system, Graves says. The book, released on Aug. 15, is a large, coffee table–style book loaded with photos of...
West Baton Rouge gets its first development-ready site LED certified
A 204-acre parcel of land in West Baton Rouge Parish has been certified under an LED program that ensures potential developers can begin building on it within 180 days. BRAC and the West Baton Chamber of Commerce made the announcement this morning. The site—located north of Interstate 10 on Court Street, midway between La. 415 and La. 1—is the first in the parish to attain certification through the LED program. The certified sites program was created in early 2010 to identify and prepare information on property so that companies can quickly and easily evaluate the merits of a site. A certified site either has all utilities and infrastructure in place, or has approved engineering plans to provide the utility infrastructure within 180 days. In the past, LED says, Louisiana frequently lost new deals to other states because companies require their relocation or expansion to be operational in 14 months or less. BRAC began working to certify sites in the Capital Region at the...
Army Corps of Engineers unfazed by approach of Isaac
Almost seven years ago to the day, a system of hurricane levees and floodwalls built by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers infamously failed to protect New Orleans—crumbling in the face of a storm weaker than it was designed to repel, causing the deaths of more than 1,300 citizens, and inflicting crippling infrastructure wounds from which the city is still struggling to heal, The Times-Picayune reports. Yet as Isaac, predicted to make landfall as a Category 2 hurricane, approached a new corps system designed to withstand a Category 3 storm, local officials expressed nothing but confidence. "It's like comparing apples and oranges," says Garret Graves, chairman of the Louisiana Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority. "Unfortunately, there were some very painful lessons learned in [Hurricane] Katrina." Post-Katrina investigators say those lessons spanned the entire culture of storm protection—including engineering and construction, the politics of funding, and the...
Jacobs lands contract to engineer and build Methanex facility in La.
Jacobs Engineering Group announced this morning that it has been awarded a contract from Methanex Corp., the world's largest methanol supplier to major international markets, to provide engineering, procurement and construction services for a $550 million methanol production facility in Geismar. Financial terms of the contract were not released. The plant is relocating from Santiago, Chile. In February, Jacobs was awarded a contract to engineer the plant move. Financial terms of that deal were also kept private. Though the firm is headquartered in Pasadena, Calif., it is working on the plant move and construction from its offices in Baton Rouge and Santiago. The plant is expected to be operational in the second half of 2014. Plans to dismantle the idled Chilean factory and ship it to Louisiana—where it will be reassembled to capitalize on the lowest U.S. natural-gas prices in almost a decade—were announced in January. Relocation is cheaper and faster than building a new...
Shaw sale aftershocks debated
The July 30 announcement that The Shaw Group is being acquired for $3.04 billion by CB&I, a Netherlands company with U.S. operations in The Woodlands, Texas, came as a surprise to employees, state economic development officials and even analysts who closely follow the local, 30-year-old company.
Contract extension for NASA facility in N.O. includes LSU
A five-year extension of an agreement to support and develop the National
LSU College of Engineering ranks in top 8% nationally for graduates
Increasing student demand for an engineering degree and the heightened workforce need for more engineers are illustrated in the LSU College of Engineering's latest national enrollment rankings, the university says. The newly released 2012 edition of Profiles of Engineering & Engineering Technology Colleges published by the American Society of Engineering Education places LSU's College of Engineering in the top 8% of 348 schools in the country for number of degrees awarded. ASEE annually publishes the leading data on engineering colleges in the United States, including both individual college statistics and national trends. LSU says a strong focus of the state's flagship university is to raise the rank and profile of LSU among peer institutions nationwide, and the College of Engineering exemplifies that charge. "These higher rankings are proven evidence of the impact the flagship College of Engineering program has on the state and is now respected nationally," says LSU Chancellor...
State readies industrial site for development in Port Allen
A 204-acre "development ready" site in Port Allen is slated for certification under the Louisiana Economic Development's Certified Sites Program. LED officials say the site—known simply as "All Star" for its ownership affiliated with the All Star Automotive Group—is located north of Interstate 10 on Court Street, about midway between La. 415 and La. 1. The site is one of three LED certified sites in the Capital Region, including a 60-acre site at the Donaldsonville Industrial Park and a 44-acre site at the Pointe Coupee Port and Industrial Park. LED says the All Star site certification is pending a third-party review by an engineering firm. For a site to be certified, LED goes through the due diligence of conducting surveys for cultural artifacts, sensitive wetlands, endangered species, soil compaction and historical factors. Each site also is ensured to have adequate infrastructure for utilities commonly needed for industrial use. After certification, LED says potential...
The return of manufacturing
There's a common misconception that we don't make very much in America anymore, and that most of the jobs where people actually build stuff have been shipped off to China. But don't tell that to the business managers, marketing pros, engineers, machinists and welders of Baton Rouge's Orion Instruments.