KALAMAZOO - Nationwide, there are 115 ethanol plants in operation, and another 80 are under construction.

Relatively speaking, the bio-fuel industry is a just a baby, with technology, hardware and the ethanol plant construction process growing up and maturing only in the last decade.

The building trades in Michigan have been in on the boom in ethanol plant building, with four operating ethanol plants, another two under construction. The ethanol boom has also helped the industry that supplies components to fabricate the plants - and one of the beneficiaries is piping fabricator W. Soule in Kalamazoo, which has operations in two locations in the city employing about 30 tradespeople.

In July, W. Soule expanded its operations and began fabricating stainless steel applications in the former Sprinkle Road General Motors Stamping Plant in Kalamazoo. In recent months a crew of about 15 Soule workers has been is toiling in a corner of the cavernous plant, manufacturing stainless steel components for the construction of ethanol plants in Iowa, South Dakota, Illinois and Marysville, Michigan.

The move to the abandoned GM plant gives the Soule workers room to maneuver their products with a 50-ton crane and the capability to fabricate stacks that are up to 125 feet tall. W. Soule's Quality Control/Project Manager Ned Hawkins, said the company has "seen a major boom in the last few years," with the burst of new ethanol plants in the Midwest, as well as increased work in other sectors in the Gulf Coast region.

"We do a lot of fabrication for the ethanol, chemical and power piping industries," said Hawkins. "We're doing a lot in Michigan, but we're fabricating for plants all over the country."

Diversification in the industry will no doubt prove helpful. Even though there are five more ethanol plants that are proposed or in the permitting process in Michigan, the bottom may have started to fall out on the ethanol construction boom here and around the nation.

"Lower ethanol prices, higher construction costs, and higher feedstock costs are causing some ethanol plants to slow down or halt construction of new facilities while other companies in the industry are seizing the opportunity for consolidation," the BioFuels Journal said in October.

Hawkins said Soule is well positioned for the future: new machinery at their plant has helped improved welds on their products, as well as speeding up production. "Welding technology has grown by leaps and bounds over the last few years," he said. And of course, having a quality workforce helps, too.

"We have a great crew here," Hawkins said. "There's a lot of production through here and the quality is second-to-none."

CLEANING UP A WELD on a stainless steel stack under fabrication at a W. Soule shop in Kalamazoo is Mike Emmons of Sheet Metal Workers Local 7. He's working in a massive building that once housed a General Motors stamping facility.

LEVELING A THREE-INCH carbon steel pipe in W. Soule's shop is Dan Inman of Plumbers, Pipe Fitters and HVAC Service Local 357.