January 4, 2010

GOVERNOR BARBOUR ANNOUNCES PIPE MANUFACTURING FACILITY IN MISSISSIPPI DELTA

Governor Haley Barbour announced today that Wilh. Schulz GMBH has selected Tunica County, Mississippi, as the location for its new pipe manufacturing facility.  The $300 million facility will create 500 jobs over the next five years.

"We are delighted Schulz has chosen a site in the Mississippi Delta as the location for its first North American production facility," Governor Barbour said in a press conference with company officials. "I am proud to welcome this industry leader to our state, and I commend company officials for their commitment to doing business in Mississippi and for the jobs they are creating."

Schulz, headquartered in Krefeld, Germany, is a global supplier of piping components.  Schulz's Mississippi division will be known as Schulz Xtruded Products, or SXP, and the company's new Tunica County facility will be its first production facility in North America. 

"The United States in general and Mississippi in particular is the perfect location for our 'crown investment' supplying the global markets," said Rainer Floeth, managing director and CFO of Schulz. "We were pleased to have worked with state and local officials on this project, and we look forward to doing business in the state in the years to come."

Governor Barbour said he would ask the Legislature to approve state assistance for the project as one of the 2010 Session's first orders of business.

"In today's highly competitive environment for new jobs, we are extremely excited about Schulz’s decision to select Mississippi," said Gray Swoope, executive director of the Mississippi Development Authority. "Schulz's new facility in Tunica County will employ state-of-the-art pipe manufacturing processes, and the company found the skilled and dedicated workforce necessary to make these operations a success here in Mississippi.  We looking forward to working with company officials long into the future to help this global company continue to thrive and grow here."

Schulz produces and supplies stainless steel and alloy steel seamless pipe products, including seamless and welded pipes, fittings such as elbows, tees, reducers, caps, bends and flanges, and specialized pipe components.  Established in 1945, the company is a recognized leader in the industry, specializing in serving the up- and downstream oil and gas sectors and the nuclear and fossil fuel power plant industry.  Schulz supplies pipe components to nuclear power plants in Germany, the United States, China, Taiwan, India, Finland, Brazil, South Korea and other countries.   The company also serves the water treatment industry, with a focus on desalination, as well as facilities in diverse areas of the chemical industry.

Schulz's latest development, metallurgical bonded seamless clad pipes in material compositions such as X-65, Cr-Mo/625 or P9/904, provide solutions for deepwater fields on the upstream side of oil and gas production and for refineries processing sour oil and gas on the downstream side of production, among other applications. 

The recent invention of a process to produce seamless extruded metallurgical bonded pipe is a breakthrough in the development of extrusion processes and material science.  Schulz has successfully executed test production of clad pipes using this new process and has received its first orders.  The company will produce these clad pipes exclusively in its new facility in Mississippi.
 
Schulz operates three production facilities in Germany and two in Brazil, in addition to 14 sales offices, representative offices and distribution facilities around the world, including a regional distribution center in Houston, Texas. 

View a rendering of the facility here.

For more information about the company, please visit Schulz's Web site at www.wschulz.com/english/index.php.