September 25, 2026 · Johnson · St. Joseph · AES INDIANA

Amazon's Greenwood Robotics Plant, AES Indiana Phase 2, Indiana NRC Agreement State, and Samsung SDI New Carlisle: What Indiana Manufacturers Need to Act on Now

Amazon's Greenwood robotics plant, AES Indiana Phase 2, Indiana's NRC agreement state status, and Samsung SDI New Carlisle: four developments Indiana manufacturers must plan around now.

Daniel BurkePublished every day

Four separate developments landed on Indiana manufacturers' planning horizon this week, and each one has a concrete deadline or decision window attached to it. Amazon is paying at or above 40 to 60 percent above regional manufacturing medians for CNC operators, welders, and controls engineers at a new Greenwood facility. AES Indiana's Phase 2 rate increase is locked in for January with no stay in place. Indiana just became the 41st NRC agreement state, a designation that sets the table for SMR cost recovery on industrial electricity bills as early as 2028. And Samsung SDI has taken full control of the New Carlisle battery plant in St. Joseph County, with a chemistry question that nobody has resolved yet. Here is what each one means for your operation.

01Johnson

Amazon Pays $100,000 Average for the Same Roles You Are Filling Right Now

On September 24, Amazon announced it will invest more than $100 million to purchase and equip a 585,000-square-foot facility at 1175 Collins Road in Greenwood, Johnson County, just east of I-65. Three hundred jobs, average salary of nearly $100,000 per year, targeted for launch by 2028.

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02Statewide

AES Indiana Phase 2 Takes Effect in January. No Stay Is in Place.

If you are in AES Indiana territory, this is the number to put in your 2027 operating budget now. Phase 1 of a $71 million base-rate increase took effect July 27.

For the huddle: Given that AES Indiana's Phase 2 increase hits in January and any refund comes after the bill (not before) have we modeled what our blended industrial energy rate looks like under the new base rate plus tracker charges, and does our 2027 operating budget reflect that number?

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03Statewide

Indiana Is Now the 41st NRC Agreement State. What That Could Mean for Your Bill in 2028.

On September 24, Governor Braun and NRC Chairman Ho K. Nieh signed an agreement giving Indiana regulatory authority over nuclear materials at 213 academic, commercial, and medical facilities statewide. Governor Braun described this as part of Indiana's all-of-the-above energy cost strategy.

For the huddle: SEA 424 allows utilities to begin recovering SMR development costs from industrial ratepayers within three years (potentially by 2028-2029) for plants that won't generate power until the mid-2030s: have we mapped our energy contracts and rate structures to identify when and how that pre-construction cost recovery would hit our facility's bill?

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04St. Joseph

Samsung SDI Takes Full Control of New Carlisle. The Chemistry Question Is Unresolved.

On August 11, Samsung SDI disclosed it had acquired General Motors' entire 49.99% stake in SynergyCells, the $3.5 billion, 680-acre battery plant under construction in New Carlisle, St. Joseph County.

For the huddle: Samsung SDI's New Carlisle plant is pivoting to ESS battery production for the grid-storage market rather than EV cells: does any part of our supply chain, customer base, or logistics network have exposure to that shift, either as a potential supplier to the facility or as a competitor for the same industrial workforce Samsung SDI will recruit when construction resumes?

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05Johnson

Amazon's $100M Robotics Plant in Greenwood: Indiana Becomes Robot-Making Hub

Amazon announced September 24, 2026 that it will invest more than $100 million to purchase and equip a 585,000-square-foot advanced manufacturing facility at 1175 Collins Road in Greenwood, Indiana (just east of I-65 in Johnson County) creating 300 skilled manufacturing and engineering jobs averaging nearly $100,000 per year by end of 2028. The facility, Amazon's fourth robot-making plant globally and its second announced in five weeks following the August 2026 Austin, Texas announcement, will produce equipment for Amazon's North American fulfillment and robotics network using advanced fabrication, robotic welding, automated powder coating, and assembly capabilities supported by AWS and AI-powered smart manufacturing systems.

For the huddle: Amazon is paying ~$100K average for CNC operators, welders, and controls engineers in Johnson County: are we tracking how many of those roles overlap with our own open requisitions, and do we have a retention plan ready before their 2028 hiring ramp begins pulling from the same talent pool we depend on?

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06Statewide

Conexus Indiana Opens Rising 30 Class of 2027 Nominations Through December 1

Conexus Indiana opened nominations September 22, 2026 for the Rising 30 Class of 2027: the seventh annual program recognizing young professionals age 30 or younger in Indiana's advanced manufacturing and logistics sector, which employs more than 800,000 Hoosiers and represents roughly one-third of Indiana's GDP. Nominations are open through December 1, 2026, with honorees notified by mid-January 2027; the program is presented by Katz, Sapper & Miller (KSM), with Jordan Mayer, partner in KSM's Manufacturing & Distribution Services Group, urging employers to nominate rising leaders.

For the huddle: The Rising 30 nomination deadline is December 1: do we have a rising leader on our team who is 30 or younger and deserves external recognition, and have we thought about what nominating them signals both internally about how we value talent development and externally about our company's profile in Indiana's AML community?

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Questions for Your Morning Huddle

Q: My facility is in AES Indiana territory. How do I find out what the Phase 2 rate increase actually costs us? A: Pull your current rate schedule and identify your rate class. The residential average of $8.50 per month does not apply to industrial accounts. Your actual increase depends on your rate class and load profile. Request your tariff sheet from AES Indiana directly, or pull it from the IURC tariff database, and map the Phase 2 rate against your 12-month billing history to get a dollar figure you can put in your 2027 operating budget.

Q: We have skilled trades on staff in the Indianapolis metro area. When do we actually need to worry about Amazon's Greenwood hiring ramp? A: The facility targets a 2028 launch, but candidates evaluate options before a facility opens, not after. The time to build a retention case for your top CNC operators, welders, and controls engineers is now, before Amazon begins visible recruiting in your labor market. A retention plan you build in 2026 is a negotiation. A retention plan you build after an employee gets an offer is a reaction.

Q: What does Indiana becoming an NRC agreement state actually do to my electricity bill? A: The designation itself does not change your bill. It gives Indiana regulatory authority over nuclear materials at facilities statewide and signals that the state's infrastructure supports SMR development. The cost-recovery pathway that could eventually appear on industrial bills requires a separate utility petition under SEA 424, subject to IURC review. No Indiana utility has filed such a petition. The scenario worth modeling is a potential SMR cost-recovery line item appearing on industrial electricity bills in the 2028 to 2029 range, if a utility files in the next 12 to 18 months.

Q: We have suppliers tied to the Samsung SDI New Carlisle plant. What should we be watching for? A: Watch for Samsung SDI's formal capital announcement for the New Carlisle facility. That is the decision that sets the actual production timeline, equipment fit-out plan, and hiring calendar. The pivot to ESS battery production was announced, but the equipment required for LFP chemistry production is different from what the facility was originally specified for, and that capital decision has not been finalized. Until Samsung SDI commits capital, the production and hiring timeline remains open.

One More: Conexus Rising 30 Deadline Is December 1

The Conexus Rising 30 nomination window is open for the Class of 2027. Nominees must be 30 or younger and active in Indiana's advanced manufacturing or logistics sector. The deadline is December 1, which is six weeks earlier than last year. If you have a rising leader on your team who deserves the recognition, that deadline is real and it will not move for you.

Three Actions Before Your Next Team Meeting

First, model your facility's blended industrial electricity rate under AES Indiana's Phase 2 increase. Use your actual rate class, not the residential average. Put the dollar figure in your 2027 operating budget and mark your calendar for the March 2027 IURC hearing. That is the earliest the rate picture could change.

Second, identify your top two or three people in CNC operations, welding, and controls engineering. Build a retention case before Amazon's 2028 hiring ramp begins pulling from your labor market. A retention plan built now is a negotiation. A retention plan built after someone gets an offer is damage control.

Third, if you have supply chain, logistics, or workforce exposure to the Samsung SDI New Carlisle facility, set a flag for Samsung SDI's formal capital announcement for that site. That announcement is the actual decision point. Everything before it is open.

And if you have a rising leader on your team, nominate them for Conexus Rising 30 before December 1.

For a deeper look at how Indiana electricity cost structures are building toward 2027, see Indiana Coal Retention Costs, AES Indiana Rate Increase, and a Transmission Gap Until 2032: What Manufacturers Need to Do Now.

If you are an Indiana C&I operator and want to map your facility's exposure to AES Indiana's Phase 2 increase and the SMR cost-recovery scenario, you can request a TEG Energy Decision Blueprint here.

Watch this TEG Daily on YouTube: TEG-PENDING-YOUTUBE-URL

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