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SITEL Operating Corp., a global provider of outsourced customer care services, has announced plans to open a contact center facility in Glasgow that will create approximately 580 full-time positions.

The new facility will provide customer service and technical support via phone, e-mail or chat to Sitel clients in the entertainment or technology industries, most of which are Fortune 500 companies.

With facilities in 28 countries, Sitel provides contact center services in 32 languages.  On average, the company handles three million interactions per day through a worldwide workforce of more than 67,000.

Sitel President and CEO David Garner said the company looked at options in Texas, California, New Mexico and New York before selecting Glasgow for its newest facility. In the end, Garner said, Glasgow’s strong labor force and proximity to Sitel’s Nashville headquarters were key factors in the decision.

AT&T has announced plans to establish a customer care center in Louisville, creating more than 350 new jobs that will result in an annual payroll of some $10 million.

The new operation will consist of a 36,383-square-foot customer care center within the company’s existing location in downtown Louisville.

Employees in the new Louis-ville positions will assist AT&T high-speed Internet subscribers in need of technical support for their service. The jobs are part of an initiative involving the relocation of customer service positions that had previously been outsourced.

UPS’s first Boeing 747-400 arrived at the company’s global air hub in Louisville last month for its public debut, ready to begin fulfilling the global mission emblazoned on its fuselage – “Synchronizing the world of commerce.”

UPS will fly the jumbo freighter on its long-range international routes, primarily into the Asia-Pacific region. Regular destinations for UPS’s first 747-400 will include Hong Kong; Incheon, South Korea; Sydney, Australia; and Shanghai, where the company is building its China air hub. Ultimately, the company will use the aircraft on its “around the world” flights with stops in Cologne, Germany; Dubai, United Arab Emirates; and Mumbai, India.

UPS will take delivery of three new 747-400s in 2007 and five more in 2008. In addition, the company will acquire five more of the aircraft from other carriers by 2010, bringing the total fleet size to 13.

While variants of the Boeing 747 have flown for nearly four decades, the 400 series planes are updated with the latest flight technology, including the Airplane Health Management system, which allows the aircraft to diagnose its own problems while in flight and transmit notifications to aircraft maintenance operations on the ground.

Norton Healthcare has broken ground for a new hospital in northeast Jefferson County that will be the first new hospital to be built in Louisville in more than two decades.

Norton Brownsboro Hospital is being built on a 15-acre site adjacent to Norton’s outpatient facility that opened last summer. The five-story, 285,000-square-foot community hospital will employ a staff of approximately 300 when it opens in late 2009 and will eventually operate with about 500 employees.

The 127-bed facility will feature all-private rooms that are configured to provide extra room for families and visitors. Other features include patient views of hospital gardens, music therapy services, and computer stations through the hospital for guests. Messer Construction and TMG-The Mardrian Group are handling construction management services for the project.

With 45 percent of the market share, Norton Healthcare ranks as Louisville’s leading hospital and health care system and is the city’s second-largest employer. The not-for-profit system is the largest in Kentucky and includes four hospitals in Louisville, eight immediate care centers, 9,500 employees, more than 200 employed medical providers at some 50 locations, and nearly 2,000 physicians.

Construction is under way on the University of Louisville’s new $40 million medical center, a facility designed to bring together a broad range of medical specialties that are now housed in various locations around the city. The 193,000-square-foot facility will include four operating rooms, two endoscopy suites, a full-range imaging center, out-patient rehabilitation center, continence center, pharmacy and optical services, in addition to the medical offices, which will represent nearly all of the university’s clinical specialties. University President James Ramsey said the new facility, which is scheduled to open next summer, is expected to help recruit new physicians and researchers to the UofL School of Medicine.

Progress Rail Services Corp. is in the process of hiring 100 workers for a new plant in Mayfield that will rebuild locomotives. Progress has purchased the former Ingersoll-Rand building and property in Mayfield for $3.4 million and plans to invest another $4 million for equipment and improvements to the 255,000-square-foot facility. (Ingersoll-Rand closed its Mayfield plant, which produced air compressors, in 2001.) The company has been approved for a $3.8 million tax credit by the Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority.

Progress Rail Services is a major supplier of products and services to the rail industry in North America, with plants in 10 states, Canada and Mexico. The Alabama-based company currently operates plants in Louisville, Decoursey and Russell, Ky., and has sales offices in Louisville, Decoursey and Paducah.

The Mayfield plant is expected to be operational by the end of this year.

FKI Logistex is moving its Maysville operations to Danville as part of the company’s strategy to streamline its U.S. production.

That strategy involves consolidating like processes into one location, which in turn will reduce costs, said Richard Braatz, vice president of operations for FKI Logistex North America.

The Maysville plant manufactures conveyor parts and assembles live roller case conveyers.

FKI is adding new positions to its 270-member staff in Danville and is increasing its investment in automation at the 238,000-square-foot facility there as part of the consolidation plan.

The company has operated in Maysville for eight years and employs 30 workers, all of whom have been offered the opportunity to relocate to the Danville plant. Most, however, have declined that option, according to a FKI spokesman.

FKI’s 50,000-square-foot facility in Maysville is owned by the Maysville-Mason County Industrial Authority. Gene Weaver, executive director of the industrial authority, told The (Maysville) Ledger-Independent that work is already in progress to find a new tenant for the building.

FKI expects the consolidation to be complete by the end of the summer.

Wind Energy Corp., a young high-tech company that develops next-generation wind turbines, has announced plans to locate a manufacturing facility in Morgantown.

The company is acquiring a 133,200-square-foot facility on 17 acres in Morgantown and expects to begin manufacturing by the end of the year. The facility will bring 260 new jobs to the south-central Kentucky region within five years and represents an investment of more than $6.1 million. Wind Energy also plans to expand its headquarters in Elizabethtown by adding 35 full-time high-tech or executive positions.

Unlike traditional, propeller-driven turbines that require a minimum of eight to 12-mile-per-hour wind speed and an average of one acre of clear land for each turbine, the Wind Energy product will be designed to operate in as little as four miles per hour of wind velocity without motor assist. In addition, the Wind Energy turbines are not harmful to birds.

The product is intended to be a distributed “green” power source for a variety of users, helping to relieve the strain on the national electric grid and providing electric power to developing regions globally.

The Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority has granted preliminary approval to Wind Energy for tax benefits up to $3.4 million under the Kentucky Rural Economic Development Act, which provides incentives to attract and expand manufacturing employment in the state.

KEDFA also approved $595,000 for Wind Energy’s corporate headquarters in Elizabethtown.

The Continental Basketball Association has awarded a professional basketball franchise to Pike-ville and the Kentucky Expo Center for the 2007-08 season. The East Kentucky Miners will play at the East Kentucky Expo Center in Pikeville.

The Continental Basketball Association is a professional men’s basketball league that traces its origins back to 1946. The league views itself as a minor league that develops talent for the National Basketball Association and is affiliated with USA Basketball, the sport’s governing body in the United States.

 “The East Kentucky Miners fit in perfectly with what the CBA is trying to accomplish in the way of expansion cities being a certain size and being in prime locations,” said CBA Acting Commissioner Jim Coyne.

The new team will be led by head coach Kevin Keathley, 29, a native of Floyd County, Ky., who most recently served as assistant coach of the Rio Grande (Texas) Silverados of the American Basketball Association. Last year, Pro Basketball News touted Keathley as one of the top 10 young coaches in America.

The East Kentucky Miners are owned by Trinity Sports & Entertainment Group, Inc., a professional sports and entertainment holding and management company headquartered in Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

GSI Commerce Inc., a Pennsylvania-based company that provides e-commerce solutions to retailers, manufacturers, entertainment companies and professional sports organizations, has opened a new fulfillment center in Richwood that will employ more than 500 full-time employees as well as 500 seasonal workers.

At 540,000 square feet, the new center is GSI’s largest facility to date and at full capacity will ship more than 110,000 orders per day during peak season. In addition to standard fulfillment activities (receiving, storage, picking, packing, shipping and returns processing), GSI also provides customized packaging, gift wrapping, gift messaging, gift cards, cell phone activation, tennis racket stringing, promotional inserts, bundling, kitting and product customization such as monogramming and engraving.

GSI launched its e-commerce business in 1999, initially targeting the sporting goods category. The company now encompasses seven additional retail categories (apparel, health and beauty, consumer electronics, entertainment, home, jewelry and luxury goods, and toys) and provides service to more than 60 partners.

The Richwood fulfillment center is the third Kentucky facility for GSI. The company also has fulfillment centers in Louisville and Shepherdsville.

Gov. Ernie Fletcher’s request for emergency assistance for businesses harmed by the lowering of Lake Cumberland has been approved by the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). The water level was lowered by 43 feet earlier this year to facilitate repairs to Wolf Creek Dam, which was found to be eroding.

Lake Cumberland is Kentucky’s third-largest lake and an economic engine for central and southern Kentucky – both for tourism and the region’s renowned and irreplaceable houseboat manufacturing industry.

The SBA action will make low-interest disaster loans available to eligible businesses in 15 counties of the greater Lake Cumberland area: Adair, Casey, Clinton, Clay, Cumberland, Knox, Laurel, Jackson, Lincoln, McCreary, Pulaski, Rockcastle, Russell, Wayne and Whitley.

Eligible small businesses may qualify for loans up to $1.5 million. Interest rates are available at 4 percent with loan terms up to 30 years. The SBA sets loan amounts and terms according to each applicant’s financial condition.

SBA applications and information are available by calling (800) 659-2955. Loan applications also can be downloaded at www.sba.gov/services/disasterassistance.  Completed applications should be mailed to: U.S. Small Business Administration, Processing and Disbursement Center, 14925 Kingsport Road, Fort Worth, Texas 76155. Completed loan applications must be returned to SBA no later than Mar. 26, 2008.

Twenty high-tech start-up companies in Kentucky have been tapped to share nearly $1.9 million in state matching funds as part of an initiative to attract and support high-tech small businesses.

State matching funds are awarded to companies that win grants in Phases 1 and 2 of the federal Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer Research (STTR) programs. Kentucky is the first state to match both phases of the federal grants.

The matching grants range from $69,999 to $100,000 per company for the Phase 1 research, which tests the feasibility of a concept or technology. Kentucky also has started matching federal awards for Phase 2 research and development, during which a company works toward making the technology ready for commercialization. The maximum state match for Phase 2 federal awards is $500,000 per year for up to two years.

The 20 Kentucky firms receiving matching funds specialize in human health and development, information technology and communications, bioscience, energy and environmental technologies, and materials science and advanced manufacturing.

Companies eligible for the matching funds must be located in Kentucky or commit to relocating to Kentucky within 60 days, after which they can begin receiving the matching grant. The companies must also agree to remain in Kentucky for at least five years.

The opportunity for recipients of Phase 1 and Phase 2 federal awards to earn up to $1.1 million in matching funds from Kentucky has drawn attention to the program from high-tech firms in other states that are interested in relocating to Kentucky.

Advanced Dynamics Inc., a high-tech start-up from Utah, is the first to move to the commonwealth as part of the program. The company specializes in integrated and high-fidelity modeling and simulation for aerodynamics, structural mechanics and other applications.

Links to the online guidelines and application form for the Kentucky program are posted at www.ThinkKentucky.com/dci/SBIR .

A federal program that provides a substantial tax credit to employers who hire members of qualified groups has been extended and expanded, according to the Kentucky Office of Employment and Training (OET), which administers the program in Kentucky.

The Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC) was recently extended by the federal government through Aug. 31, 2011. In addition, changes in the program will significantly increase the number of Kentucky jobseekers eligible for WOTC.

WOTC provides employers with up to a $9,000 tax credit per eligible hire for individuals who meet certain criteria. Among those now eligible for the WOTC program are certain welfare, food stamp, and Supplemental Security Income recipients; veterans; 18- to 39-year-old residents who live in areas designated as federal empowerment zones, enterprise communities, rural renewal communities, and renewal communities; people with disabilities; and ex-felons.

To qualify for the tax credit, employers must submit a form to the OET requesting certification within 28 days of the eligible worker’s first day of employment and receive from OET a form certifying that the individual was eligible when hired. Employers may not claim the tax credit for hiring former employees or relatives. For more information, go to www.oet.ky.gov or call (502) 564-7456.