Belgian consulting company chooses W.Va. for U.S. base




A new Belgium-based company has selected Charleston for its first United States operations, Gov. Joe Manchin announced Wednesday.

Industrial Projects Services USA Corp., which operates offices throughout Europe, provides assessment, strategies consultation and project management services to the steel, aluminum, chemical, petrochemical, pharmaceutical, automotive, energy and paper industries. The company, which has offices throughout Europe, will be housed at the Charleston Area Alliance in downtown Charleston until a permanent site is selected next year.

“IPS USA Corp.’s engineering, planning and project management services will be a valuable asset in helping our state’s industries grow,” Manchin said in a press release. “We’re making significant progress in our efforts in Europe. We thank Industrial Projects Services for its investment and welcome the company to our community.”

The company will employ 10 engineers and architects and invest $3 million within three years by building its own competence center, which will provide space for training employees and other industry professionals and conference space for industry events.

IPS USA Corp.’s parent company, Group-IPS S.A., was founded in 1992 and has managed projects for Arcelor, Corus Aluminum, Coil, Toyota Motor Europe, Volkswagen and others.

After initially being contacted by the West Virginia European Trade Office, Luc Tasiaux, company founder and operational manger, visited West Virginia in early April. While visiting, Tasiaux met with the West Virginia Development Office and West Virginia University about the possibility of educational collaborations for the competence center. Later in April, Manchin met with Tasiaux during his Europe marketing trip.

“Group-IPS S.A. first chose West Virginia because of its strategic location amidst the industry of the state itself and that of surrounding states,” said Wouter Zwart, junior project engineer for Group-IPS. “Furthermore, the proximity of West Virginia University implies a large pool of engineers to sustain growth of our company. We are confident that the unique character of one of America’s smaller states is its strength and we’re looking forward to doing business in West Virginia. “