- "As of this time we cannot share details on the precise nature of Project Tim," according to the document, which the city of Durand has been distributing to residents. "... It will be a high-tech industrial development unlike anything that you have probably ever seen before."
The company's document describes a massive manufacturing facility unlike anything in Michigan — in terms of size — that promises to create 800 full-time jobs in "Phase 1."
The document describes a sprawling facility 6,200 feet long and 3,900 feet wide that would top 550 acres in size. (A square mile is 640 acres.) If built, the plant being proposed in Durand would be 50 percent larger than the 16 million-square-foot Ford River Rouge Complex. It also would be bigger than the tiny 499-acre nation of Monaco along France's Mediterranean coast.
At a whopping 1.5 robot-watchers per acre, it illustrates why "bringing manufacturing back" won't do shit to help employ manufacturing workers.
A 220-acre beet farm owned by Durand farmer Levi Zdunic is part of the 850 acres of land purchase options a real estate broker has amassed for "Project Tim," a large-scale industrial development.
Why a beet farm? The world needs more beets.
More specifically, Foxconn. This has been big news in Wisconsin, too, as we're also in the running.
The article today suggests it will be announced today.
Except for the environmental aspect of it. Manufacturing any kinds of electronics creates a hideous and highly toxic waste stream. I'm not sure how that squares with: Apple has never been very environmentally sound. Yeah, they try where they can, but, net-net, electronics are shitty for the environment in every single way, from manufacturing to packaging to e-waste. Either they know something about manufacturing that literally nobody else in the world knows, or they are whitewashing the "environmentally friendly" thing by still doing the electronics overseas, and maybe only doing assembly here. But then why would they need that much space? Hm... I'm about 50% convinced it is Apple. And: Doesn't seem like an Apple thing to me. (And "Project Tim" is just way too on-the-nose, right?) "A major component of this project is clean energy and the community can be assured that the company is not only willing to make sure it has a positive environmental impact but due to the nature of our funding source, this will be a key requirement," the document says. "Thus, any project that has an adverse impact on the community will not go forward until those issues are addressed."
It is being pursued by "...a small group of globally leading companies and experts..."
I dunno, man. Manufacturing was never my jam but green points/LEED points are embarrassingly easy to get. This could be the new flagship plant for the Cadmium Cookware Company and so long as their material handling and waste disposal protocols are clean they could be LEED Platinum. The standards I'm familiar with don't give a fuck if you're making napalm and mustard gas out of spent reactor fuel so long as it stays in the box. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acoustic_Kitty ...and that's the CIA, not a bunch of Michigan land development guys.Doesn't seem like an Apple thing to me. (And "Project Tim" is just way too on-the-nose, right?)
There has to be SOMEBODY who knows at least VAGUELY what this is supposed to be. There have to be architects, engineers and so on associated with the project, and those people have professional histories. Admittedly, this is like trying to find the link between 'Automated gene sequencers shipped to a Costa Rican island' and 'Literal dinosaurs' but somebody must know SOMETHING. In a dream last night, I imagined that it was a Tesla battery factory or something.
"What I can say is I think this particular project — as it's been presented to us — is going to be pretty much like nothing else anyone's ever seen," O'Toole said. "There's not going to be anything else it like in the world."Horvath and Durand City Manager Colleen O'Toole both declined to divulge the industry or type of plant the prospective company wants to build.
Right, but there has to be a publicly accessible document somewhere that has engineering/architectural credits for any planned structures. That could tell us something about what's planned. Though it seems like a foregone conclusion it will be a new Foxconn plant.