The new line will preserve about 200 jobs and create 11 new ones that will pay an average of $64,000 a year
BATON ROUGE -- Honeywell International has chosen its north Baton Rouge plant as the site to manufacture a more environmentally-friendly chemical and refrigerant gas, Gov. Bobby Jindal said today.
Honeywell website discussing its new refrigerant, HFO-1234ze, which will be manufactured at their north Baton Rouge plant.In a Capitol news conference, Jindal said that the company will make a $33 million investment to modernize its plant to produce new the new "low-global-warming potential blowing agent and propellant."
The new line will preserve about 200 jobs and create 11 new ones that will pay an average of $64,000 a year, he said. Another 98 temporary jobs will be created during the construction phase.
The construction is expected to begin in December and finish in 2013, when the new product line is expected to be produced on a mass scale. Honeywell officials would not say how much of the new product is expected to be manufactured annually.
Jindal said the change in the product line comes in response to changing federal Environmental Protection Administration regulations and will insure the long-term viability of the Baton Rouge facility.
Jindal said the state is making about $2 million in concessions to the company in various tax incentives but will recoup that "in new state tax revenues."
"We are pleased that this investment will enable Baton Rouge to become the premier source of next-generation technology that enables low-global warming aerosol propellants, foam blowing agents and refrigerants," Honeywell President and Chief Executive Officer Andreas Kramvis said. "It is 99 percent safer" to the environment.
The new molecule that makes the product different is called HFO-1234ze, which will replace the fluorocarbons in existing products.
Company officials said they are now producing the new substance in small quantities in Honeywell labs in Buffalo, N.Y.
Jindal said company officials could have located the manufacturing site in Asia or Europe but instead chose the Baton Rouge plant because of the state's competitive business environment.
Company officials said the product made in Baton Rouge will be exported around the world where there is already "significant global demand."
"We hope to talk about more Honeywell investments (in Louisiana) as we go forward," Kramvis said.
Ed Anderson can be reached at eanderson@timespicayune.com or 225.342.5810.