Belgium-based Industrial Projects Services USA (IPS USA) Corp. has selected Charleston, W.Va., for its first U.S. operations location. IPS USA provides assessment, strategic consultation, design and project management services to industry sectors that include steel and aluminum, chemical, petrochemical, pharmaceutical, automotive, energy and paper.

The company initially will locate in the Charleston Area Alliance incubator in downtown Charleston, while a permanent operations site is selected during the next year.

IPS USA Corp. will employ 10 engineers (civil, electrical, mechanical, automation and biological) and architects in Charleston. It will make a total investment of $3 million within three years by building its own competence center. This competence center will provide space for training IPS USA Corp.’s employees and other industry professionals, as well as offering a site for industry events, such as lectures and meetings.

IPS USA Corp.’s parent company, Group-IPS S.A. (www.group-ips.com), operates competence centers throughout Europe. Group-IPS S.A. was founded in 1992, and has managed projects for customers such as Arcelor, Corus Aluminum, Coil, GlaxoSmithKline, Schering-Plough, Toyota Motor Europe and Volkswagen.

“The setup of Industrial Project Services USA Corporation could never have taken place as fast without the help of the West Virginia Development Office in Charleston,” said Wouter Zwart, junior project engineer for Group-IPS. “Whatever our questions or problems were, we always received quick and to-the-point answers.”

“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 Zwart. “Since in our line of business we have a high degree of mobility, it is important that we are located centrally with regard to the industry in order to serve our clients as quickly and efficiently as possible. Furthermore, the proximity of West Virginia University implies a large pool of engineers to sustain the growth of our company..”

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