Foreign-Trade Zone 59Lincoln, NE; Application for Expansion of Manufacturing AuthoritySubzone 59A, Kawasaki Motors Manufacturing Corp., U.S.A., Plant, Lincoln, NE (Motorcycles, Personal Watercraft, All-Terrain Vehicles, Utility Work Trucks, Industrial Robots)

DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE

Foreign-Trade Zones Board

[Docket 33-99]

Foreign-Trade Zone 59--Lincoln, NE; Application for Expansion of

Manufacturing Authority--Subzone 59A, Kawasaki Motors Manufacturing

Corp., U.S.A., Plant, Lincoln, NE (Motorcycles, Personal Watercraft,

All-Terrain Vehicles, Utility Work Trucks, Industrial Robots)

A application has been submitted to the Foreign-Trade Zones Board

(the Board) by the Lincoln Foreign Trade Zone, Inc., grantee of 59,

requesting an expansion of the scope of manufacturing authority to

include new manufacturing capacity under FTZ procedures and requesting

authority to expand the boundary of FTZ Subzone 59A at the Kawasaki

Motors Manufacturing Corp., U.S.A. (KMM), plant in Lincoln, Nebraska.

It was formally filed on June 25, 1999.

Subzone 59A was approved by the Board in 1980 with authority

granted for the manufacture of motorcycles, jet skis, and four wheel

all-terrain vehicles (Board Order 163, 45 FR 58637, 9-4-80). The

subzone was subsequently expanded in 1994 (Board Order 712, 59 FR

66891, 12-28-94) and currently consists of a single, 305-acre site with

a total of 1.13 million square feet of manufacturing and warehouse

space. The Board later approved the manufacture of off-road, utility

work trucks and industrial robots with 6 or more axes of motion under

FTZ procedures for the U.S. market and export (Board Orders 744 and

745, 60 FR 30517, 6-9-95) .

The applicant is now requesting authority to expand the subzone

boundary to include an adjacent 27-acre parcel and to expand the scope

of FTZ manufacturing authority to include increased capacity for the

production of motorcycles, personal watercraft , all-terrain vehicles,

utility work trucks, and industrial robots. Under the current expansion

plan, the KMM plant's

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capacity will be approximately doubled (to 225,000 units per year) with

the addition of 1.07 million square feet of production area. The

activity will involve fabrication, welding, molding, and assembly using

domestic and foreign-origin components. The application indicates that

the expanded operations will reduce the current level of foreign-

sourced components used in the manufacturing process. Foreign-sourced

components and materials (about 40 percent of the finished vehicles'

material value) include: plastic parts, rubber belts, fasteners, air

and liquid pumps/compressors, data processing equipment (numerical

controllers) and parts, optical readers, valves and switches, electric

motors and transformers, parts of industrial robots, transmissions/gear

boxes, clutches, diodes, transistors, semiconductors, liquid crystal

devices, measuring instruments, spark-ignition/diesel engines,

transmissions, calipers/brake parts, wheels, tires, parts of rubber,

articles of agglomerated cork, paperboard/cardboard boxes, glazers

putty, caulking, glue/adhesive, plastic tubes/pipes/fittings,

reflective sheet, polyurethane and PVC sheet/film/laminates, plastic

knobs/handles/gaskets/washers/seals/fasteners, V-belts, decals, printed

materials, cargo nets, non-electrical graphite/carbon items, safety

glass, mirrors, profiles/tubes/sections/couplings/wire of alloy, cast

or stainless steel, chain, fasteners, steel/copper springs, brake

cables, aluminum tubes/pipes/fittings/fasteners, articles of lead, base

metal articles, heat exchangers, filters, bearings and related

assemblies, gears, transmission shafts, torque converters, pulleys,

ball/roller screws, sprockets, flywheels, propellers, electric motors,

commutators, capacitors, fuses, switches, resistors, stators, rotors,

inductors, transformers, electromagnetic couplings, batteries, ignition

components, starters, alternators, voltage regulators, lighting

equipment, horns, audio components, radios, cassette players,

navigational equipment, alarm systems, electronic components, fiber

optic and coaxial cables, wire, parts of motor vehicles (Heading 8708),

hulls, flat panel displays, measuring and process control instruments,

thermostats, gauges, and clocks (duty rate range: free-15%,

16 cents+2.5%).

FTZ procedures exempt KMM from Customs duty payments on the foreign

components used in export production (15% of shipments). On its

domestic sales, the company can choose the duty rate that applies to

the finished motorcycles, personal watercraft, all-terrain vehicles,

utility work trucks, and industrial robots (free-2.8%) for the foreign

components noted above. The request indicates that the savings from FTZ

procedures will continue to help improve the facility's international

competitiveness.

In accordance with the Board's regulations, a member of the FTZ

Staff has been designated examiner to investigate the application and

report to the Board.

Public comment on the application is invited from interested

parties. Submissions (original and three copies) shall be addressed to

the Board's Executive Secretary at the address below. The closing

period for their receipt is September 10, 1999. Rebuttal comments in

response to material submitted during the foregoing period may be

submitted during the subsequent 15-day period (to September 27, 1999).

A copy of the application will be available for public inspection

at the following location: Office of the Executive Secretary, Foreign-

Trade Zones Board, Room 3716, U.S. Department of Commerce, 14th Street

& Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20230.

Dated: June 28, 1999.

Dennis Puccinelli,

Acting Executive Secretary.

[FR Doc. 99-17639 Filed 7-9-99; 8:45 am]

BILLING CODE 3510-DS-P