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Business Development Update

Apr 11, 2017

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This week’s focus for Business Development Tuesday is Valfilm.

(Until there is a public announcement, the following information is for internal use only.)

Valfilm Brazil:
Founded in 1976, Valfilm is a family-owned Brazilian company associated with VALGROUP, which specializes in developing, manufacturing, and marketing polyethylene packaging. With more than 30 years in the market, Valfilm is considered to be one of the largest and most efficient organizations in the segment. The company operates two divisions – one for rigid plastic products and one for flexible plastic products; there are five Valfilm plants operating in Brazil.  Listed below are some of their major customers:

  • 3M
  • Bunge
  • Cargill
  • Coca-Cola
  • Nestle
  • P&G
  • Unilever
  • Walmart

In February of 2015, Valfilm North America, Inc. (a wholly-owned subsidiary of VALGROUP Packaging Solutions), purchased the Dow Chemical Inc. plant located on North Main Street in Findlay. Prior to that, Dow had owned and operated the plant since 1959. The plant now produces a variety of polyethylene films including cable wrap film, shrink films, films for lamination, automotive adhesive film, barrier films, and products for the construction and home improvement industries.

Valfilm Findlay services more than 400 customers and will be selling worldwide from this location. After the purchase, Valfilm added a new production line to the plant, which was up and running in summer 2015. Valfilm’s Findlay plant will be the site of the company’s first Wind for Industry® project.

Jim Northrup will be the project manager for the Valfilm project, and design work is underway. The two-turbine project will supply approximately 80% of the plants current electricity needs. 

Jeff has sample products from Valfilm’s Findlay plant available to review in the WAR room.  Please take a moment to check out their end product and view their website to learn more about our new customer: http://www.valfilm.com.

Education and Community Update

Apr 6, 2017

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Findlay High School’s Project Compass visited the NFWC for a tour and presentation on 4/5. The 25 sophomores learned more about wind energy and the possible career paths in wind, engineering, construction and O&M.

New Office Construction Update

Apr 5, 2017

With the pour of the second floor today, wanted to share a couple of photos for a mid-week update.  Will include more details in Monday’s update and video.

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Telebelt truck inside the new office structure

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Concrete work on the mezzanine platform

Book List Update – Hank Doster

Apr 4, 2017

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ATTENTION: In light of his recent completion of the OE book list, Hank has taken on a house plant. 

Business Development Update

Apr 4, 2017

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This week’s focus for Business Development Tuesday is Mennel Milling.
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They were founded in 1886 by two families who purchased their first mill in Fostoria, Ohio.  Today, 131 years later, the company is still privately owned.  The CEO, D. Ford Mennel, represents the fifth generation of Mennel leadership. 

The company currently has five flour mills producing a full range of hard, soft, and spring wheat flours, ten country grain elevator locations handling wheat, corn, and soybeans, two trucking companies, and a truck repair garage. They recently renovated a 23,000 sq. ft. space for their corporate office in Fostoria near their mill site.
 
In July of last year, Mennel announced the purchase of General Mills Martel bakery and mix packaging facility.  This plant is now the focus of One Energy to bring a 3.0 MW project to the site which is located approximately 14 miles northeast of Marion, in Marion County.  Today, their annual electricity consumption is estimated at just under 11,000,000 kWh.  Our two turbines would produce approximately 70% of their electricity needs. 

This project is very interesting to OE because:

  • FAA clear
  • In AEP territory
  • Available land to site in a very rural area
  • Company is actively looking at ways to control their energy costs 

Mennel is looking at both the PPA and CAPEX options for this Martel project.  Also, the concept of our Wind for Industry®  solutions have already been presented to their Board with favorable comments to proceed.  An IE was completed for their Fostoria location, but for siting and FAA reasons, this site will not be pursued at this time.
 
Kurt Ohlrich, the CFO, and Dave Marty, the VP of Operations, visited our site last Friday as we continue to have dialogue with them on next steps.  We first met with Kurt Ohlrich and Ford Mennel in December of last year, when they toured our site.
 
Feel free to visit their site at www.mennel.com  to learn more details about what they do.  Also, the IE for the Martel location can be found in dropbox at Projects – Development/Mennel Milling/Martel/Initial Evaluation/AS Sent or a hard copy is located in my office.

Watch the WHALE BOARD to see the progress of this project.