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| Global Spotlight focuses on employees
from the Mitsubishi Group, who are excelling in their respective fields around
the world. In each issue we will get to know different employees, who will tell
us about their hometowns, businesses, culture, and past-times. |
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| Childersburg, Alabama is a small
town located in east central Alabama approximately 35 miles from Birmingham,
the largest metropolitan area in the state. Childersburg is 469 years old. The
town celebrates a birthday every September commemorating the oldest continuously
occupied town in America. In the year 1540 the Spanish Conquistador Hernando
Desoto met with Native American Chief Coosa in the area of present day Childersburg.
When Desoto left the area to continue his travels he left several of his men
in Childersburg to build a settlement. This settlement started so many years
ago survives today as present day Childersburg. |
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| NASCAR, golf, spelunking, hiking,
and canoeing are just a few of the activities available in the Childersburg area.
Talladega Superspeedway is home to two NASCAR races each year and is famous for
being one of the fastest race tracks. If golf is in your plans the Childersburg
area has several great courses such as the links style course FarmLinks or Coosa
Pines. Coosa Pines is conveniently located across the street from our company.
Desoto Caverns provides an opportunity to venture deep underground to explore
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| cave. Talladega National Forrest is home to hiking trails and Mt. Cheaha, the
highest point in Alabama. Alabama has mapped The Alabama Scenic River Trail for
canoeing, and Childersburg is home to one of the official campsites. You can
easily see that residents of the Childersburg area have many opportunities to
enjoy Alabama’s natural beauty. |
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In 2005 Nippon Oil Corporation through
its subsidiary Nippon Oil (USA) Limited decided to build Nippon Oil Lubricants
(America), LLC (NOLA) in Childersburg, Alabama. NOLA is the first lubricants
and grease manufacturing plant in North America for the Nippon Oil Group. I was
fortunate to join NOLA in March 2006 as one of the first American employees.
The next nine months were filled with learning a new job, construction, hiring
staff, trial blending, and becoming acquainted with the Japanese Leadership Team.
Over five hundred VIP guests, customers, suppliers, and friends joined NOLA on
December 5, 2006 for our grand opening ceremony.
NOLA was designed and constructed to minimize contamination and flushing oil
use. This is accomplished |
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by using dedicated lines and a pigging system.
NOLA has achieved ISO 9001 and ISO 14001 certifications. Japanese/Korean major
automotive manufacturers have been locating new facilities in the Southeast US
in recent decades. NOLA is positioned to be an industry leader for supplying
new generation lubricants and grease to the Automotive Manufactures. NOLA also
manufactures the ENEOS line of products Nippon Oil’s corporate brand. NOLA
is committed to supplying products through Safe Operations, Quality, and Environmental
Harmony.
Next time you’re in Sweet Home
Alabama stop by Childersburg and say “Hi”. |
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Do you know that Audrey Hepburn and
Jean Claude Van Damme were born in Belgium and spent their childhood here?
In Belgium, there are three official languages: Dutch in the northern part of
the country (Flanders), French in the south (Wallonia), and German in the southeast.
Our capital, Brussels, is officially bilingual (French and Dutch). Next to these
three languages, English has always been very important. As a result, all these
languages are part of the standard curriculum in school. By the age of 15, all
Belgian youth is quadrilingual.
It is always said that Belgium is famous for its good food. Known and loved all
over the world is our Belgian chocolate. In 1912, praline chocolate was invented
in Belgium. Nowadays we produce 172,000 tons of chocolate per year, which is
sold in more than 2,130 chocolate shops all over the country.
Contrary to their name, french fries also originated in Belgium. The name actually
refers to the description of the manner in |
| which the potato is cut. But our country
isn’t famous only for its food. We have over 800 different beers to go
with it. And one of those beers is the famous Trappist of the abbey of Saint
Sixtus of Westvleteren, since 2005 continuously elected as the best beer worldwide. |
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| Due to its central location and well-established
transportation network, many multinationals have established their headquarters
in our country. Also, important organizations like NATO and the European Union
have their principal seats here. In addition, Belgium is ranked first as the
most preferred country for setting up a European distribution center, in the
European Distribution Report from Cushman & Wakefield Inc. In fact, in the
last five years, Belgium has been chosen as a location for new logistics operations
in Europe in almost 50% of the cases. |
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| Our company was established in 1989
and headquarters are based in the Port of Antwerp, which has the biggest transportation
volume in Europe for fruit, steel, chemicals, project cargo, and forest products.
The port also has 25% of the market share in the European containerized market.
We celebrated our 20th anniversary this year and on a regular basis, staff activities,
for example, the annual New Year party and the large scale quiz competition,
are organized. Staff members and their friends and family can strive for the
first place and can win some nice prizes. Also, every year our forwarding department
defends NYK’s honor during a volleyball tournament between companies located
in the Port of Antwerp. |
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