Rolls-Royce considering Ohio as site of jet plant

BYLINE: Frank Bentayou, Plain Dealer Reporter

Ohio's invitation from the world's second-largest aircraft engine maker to bid on a major industrial facility by early 2007 came less than seven weeks before a new administration begins running the state.

But a spokesman for the Ohio Department of Development as well as a member of Governor-elect Ted Strickland's transition team both said Monday that the department is prepared to respond to the new interest British manufacturer Rolls-Royce Plc. has expressed in Ohio.

In a statement Monday from the company's American headquarters in Chantilly, Va., Rolls-Royce said it is "expanding its aerospace manufacturing operations and is looking at several possible sites" in the United States and abroad.

It listed eight U.S. states - Georgia, Indiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, Ohio, South Carolina, Texas and Virginia - as "in the running."

And U.S. spokeswoman Mia Walton, senior vice president for corporate communications of Rolls-Royce Jet Engines, told The Plain Dealer, "Ohio already is an important state for us."

She pointed out that the company's global energy business has its home in Mount Vernon, and "we also have a budding fuel cell business in North Canton," a presence the industrial giant cemented earlier this year. The states have 60 days, Walton said, to submit their proposals, "and the clock started Friday" when each respective development office received the company's invitation.

Merle Madrid, ODOD's spokeswoman for technology-related development issues, would say little about the substance of the request for bids, citing confidentiality issues.

The two-months' time for the proposal, he said, was not unusual "when a company is in the position to begin locating a facility."

Akron Mayor Don Plusquellic, who serves as co-chairman of Strickland's Economic Development and Workforce transition team, said that he had received no briefing regarding the Rolls-Royce bid invitation from the current development office.

But he stressed that "we do not have the luxury of not responding to something like this" and said he was confident the current and outgoing ODOD personnel would start the ball rolling soon.

Meanwhile, the Department of Development will be in transition, since its director, Lt. Gov. Bruce Johnson, has announced he will step down Friday.

Outgoing Gov. Bob Taft said he would not appoint a new lieutenant governor. Tom Carton, the Development Department's assistant director, will replace Johnson as director for a little more than a month.

Rolls-Royce's Walton said, "We are positioning our businesses for future" growth, specifically in the business of manufacturing "a range of gas turbine products."

Beyond that, she pointed out that "large commercial aircraft engines are more than half of our business globally."

Rolls-Royce said customers for its turbines include some 600 airlines, 4,000 corporate and utility aircraft and helicopter operators and more than 2,000 marine customers, including 70 navies. The company said it has 54,000 gas turbines in service worldwide.

Walton said executives would review all eight American proposals and any from abroad and make a decision about where it will build in 2007.

To reach this Plain Dealer reporter: fbentayou@plaind.com, 216-999-4116