NewsCommunity Welcomes WL Plastics at GroundbreakingThe Snyder High School band performed Tuesday for more than 120 people at a groundbreaking ceremony for the new WL Plastics facility. “We are absolutely excited about coming here to Snyder, about building this plant in Snyder.” said WL Plastics Chairman Bob Kaminski. “Your leadership here has done an outstanding job representing Snyder. “In fact, Snyder, Texas could give Dallas, Texas a lesson in economic development.” Kaminski was one of several representatives from the company to attend Tuesday’s groundbreaking ceremony. He credited everyone who worked on the deal that brought WL Plastics to Snyder. That was a common message Tuesday Morning. “I had the pleasure of taking the lead role to locate the plant in Snyder,” said company director Mike Dahl. “We have been extremely impressed with the community. I think the community should be proud of its economic development corporation. To open the program, Development Corporation of Snyder Executive Director Bill Lavers asked those in attendance to raise their hands if they were DCOS board members. Then he asked those who were elected officials, members of civic clubs – until all the hands under the tent were raised. “You are who helped make this happen,” he said. Snyder Mayor Terry Martin talked about the future partnership between the city and WL Plastics. “his is a memorable occasion, forming a partnership that will be permanent and long lasting,” he said. “Everyone out here, and many more in the community are responsible for making today possible.” “We’re very excited about being here.” Dahl said. “We’ve been extremely impressed and can’t wait to get the plant built.” Work has already started on the site, which will soon be home to more than 30 employees. WL Plastics is locating in the city’s new industrial park, located behind the Beacon Lodge. The park has room for additional industries and will soon have rail access. WL Plastics’ plant is scheduled to open later this year. Little known site proves crucial to Air Force missionby Airman 1st Class Charles V. Rivezzo 10/17/2011 - SNYDER, Texas – A site many people have never heard of, located more than 75 miles away from Dyess Air Force Base, Texas, rests a secure facility that provides Air Force aircrews some of the most advanced training throughout the armed forces. The Snyder Electronic Scoring Site, which falls under the 7th Operations Support Squadron, was established in 2002. The site provides ‘real world’ airpower threat-reaction training to aircrews to ensure the survivability of personnel and equipment in actual battle situations. “We’re the bad guys on the ground,” said William Clingenpeel, site manager. “We send up signals that simulate tracking radar, antiaircraft artillery and surface-to-air-missiles. It’s the aircrew’s job to avoid us, get in there and do their damage.” The primary customers of this site include the B-1 Bomber and B-52 Stratofortress, as well as training aircraft such as the F-15 Fighter and EC-130 transport plane. “Snyder ESS equipment and the professional team running the systems are crucial to the success of the weapons school syllabus,” said Lt. Col. Jeffrey Haynes, 77th Weapons Squadron commander. “They provide invaluable training for teaching our graduates proper defense of the B-1 in a threat-heavy environment.” What makes the facility tick is equipment units like the Multiple Threat Emitter System, smaller Mini-MUTES, threat reaction analysis indicator system, route instrumentation integration system and the integrated tactics assessment system. The MUTES is a threat simulator that consists of 20 transmitters, 19 of which are used to simulate more than 70 different electronic threat systems. The Mini-MUTES, which are geographically separated from the main facility at four remote locations, are used to create a multiple threat signal environment characteristic of integrated air defense systems. “Both systems transmit signals that are interpreted by bombers as antiaircraft weapons, surface-to-air missiles and tracking radar,” Clingenpeel said. Computer-based systems collect the data and evaluate an aircrew’s response to signals sent by the MUTES, thus giving aircrews insight on how they performed on their training sortie. “The training this site provides our aircrews is vital to their success while engaging in overseas contingencies,” said Frank Easley, range manager. “Our main priority is to bring our guys home. We want to ensure they’re prepared for any situation they could ever encounter.” In addition to the electronic warfare threat simulators, the site has mock-up targets with heat sources the aircrews use to test on-board sniper pod equipment. Mock-up targets such as SA-2 Surface-to-Air Missiles and 2S6 M Self Propelled Air Defense Vehicles are scattered throughout the main facility and remote locations. “Our main facility along with the remote sites creates a 3,200 square mile range for aircrews to operate within,” Easley added. “It gives our aircrews’ vast insight to what they can expect when penetrating enemy airspace that is equipped with these types of counter measures.” “Bottom-line, the Snyder ESS team is a critical part of Team Dyess; ensuring our nation maintains Global Reach-Global Power with the lethal B-1,” Haynes said. Employment ApplicationDownload the Employment Application New Manufacturing Facility Estimated Economic Impact ReportDownload the Estimated Impacts of a New Manufacturing Facility on the Economy of Scurry County, Texas WL Plastics Press ReleaseThe DCOS Board of Directors, Executive Director, City Manager and Mayor are excited to announce with WL Plastics Inc. the location of a new manufacturing facility in Snyder Texas. WL intends to break ground on their state of the art polyethylene pipe extrusion facility in mid-November. The Snyder facility will be WL Plastics second Texas location, and sixth location in North America. WL Plastics will employ 30-40 people at capacity and will make an $11million plus investment in the new Snyder facility. The DCOS has purchased property adjacent to the Beacon Lodge to develop a new rail served industrial park with public access. WL Plastics was the catalyst needed to collaborate with BNSF to increase rail access to Snyder and Scurry County. Michael Dahl, Director of WL Plastics said “We are excited about bringing this operation to Snyder. We investigated quite a number of communities to determine the right location, and feel that Snyder is our best fit – geographically this is a desirable location, but people are a big part of the equation too, and we have been very impressed by this community… and the WL team should fit right in.” “We look forward to working with Snyder Development Corporation and WL Plastics to provide service to the Snyder industrial park,” said Vann Cunningham, BNSF assistant vice president, Economic Development.“This facility will help create jobs and will bring the energy and environmental advantages of freight rail service to a new business in Snyder.” Bill lavers DCOS Executive Director ” WL Plastics’ team involved in site selection have been incredible to work with. They have been true partners, creative, honest and resourceful throughout our negotiations. WL Plastics is a great fit for Snyder with the product they produce, worker skill-set, and the community partner they want to be. Opportunities and relationships like this are difficult to find in the highly competitive economic development market. There have been thousands of hours invested by a lot of people in Snyder and Texas. Snyder’s citizens and community leaders have really shown what West Texans are made of, a true go getter spirit! Snyder was not even being considered at the onset and we collectively made a decision to fight, and win. I am honored to represent Team Snyder and its taxpayers and thank WL for their investment in our community.”
Western Texas College Holds Top Graduation Rate in TexasOctober 10th, 2011, the second TAB’s Higher Education Conference was held in Dallas, Texas. On the agenda were topics such as outcome-based funding, the appropriate role of business and the legislature in holding institutions accountable for results, and holding institutions of higher education accountable for increasing completion rates. During the opening presentation, a Powerpoint slide was displayed that showed Western Texas College at the top of the list for graduation rates. The Development Corporation of Snyder would like to congratulate Dr. Mike Dreith, President of Western Texas College and the administration and staff for this accomplishment. You can see the slide below:
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