Industry Leader - Middle Tennessee Industrial Development

Industry Leader
Middle Tennessee Industrial Development Association
August 2009
MTIDA ELECT NEW EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE FOR 2009-2010
MTIDA held its Annual Meeting of the
Board of Directors on July 29, 2009.
Derek Church, Mt. Pleasant Power System and Bill Rogers, Caney Fork Electrical Cooperative were elected by the
Directors to serve on the Executive
Committee. They replaced Ronald Holcomb, Pulaski Electric System and
James Allison, Duck River Electric
Membership Corp. whose terms had
expired.
The new officers for 2009-2010 are
President: Frank Jennings, Middle TN
Electric Membership Corp.; Vice President: Steve Sax, Murfreesboro Electric
Department; and Secretary/Treasurer:
Jim Coode, Cumberland Electric Mem.
Corp.
Executive Director George
Shuff reported past year
activities to the Directors.
Ray Knotts, Senior Advisor, ECD TVA reported
on TVA’s activities.
On July 30th MTIDA held
an Economic Development Seminar and Golf
Tournament. We had a
very good turnout for both
with good positive feedback. Approximately 111
community people attended the seminar.■
L-R: Bill Shuff, Steve Sax, Bill Rogers, Ray Knotts, Frank Jennings, David
Crowell, Jim Coode; and Albert Kerstiens representing Derek Church.
MEAT IS ON THE MENU
Five Star Custom Foods will be
opening a new manufacturing plant
in Nashville. The Nashville facility
will be the second for the company,
which is expanding in the Southeast
and handles production now at a
Fort Worth, Texas, plant that employs 250.
Five Star bought the former food
service distribution center of Commissary Operations Inc., (Shoney’s)
which went out of business last
year.
The Five Star operations will be
ready by the fall and initially will
hire 70 to 100 people.
New positions will include material
handlers and maintenance mechanics, operations specialists and quality control technicians.
Over the next three years, the com-
pany plans to add 250 employees
and $20 million in capital investment. Local officials offered the
company incentives for training,
tax-based incentives, low-interest
loans and energy credits.
Availability of the former food service distribution building location
and Tennessee’s business-friendly
environment were among factors
behind Five Star’s choice of Nashville according to Five Star President Jeff Bledsoe.
Five star, founded in 2000, makes
and ships meat products, sauces and
non-meat ingredients for brandname food manufacturers and restaurant chains.
“You don’t see a Five Star brand
anywhere, but it’s likely that
you’ve consumed products that we
SINGER SEWS UP LAVERGNE
Singer Sewing has leased 122,600 square feet of industrial space in Lavergne. The company’s new space is
located at 1630 Corporate place, a little under two miles
from its headquarters.
Singer Corporation produces a range of consumer products,
including electronic sewing
machines. It is now part of SVP
Worldwide, which also owns the
Pfaff , Husqvarna, and Viking
brands, which is in turn owned
by Kohlberg & Company . Its
main competitors are Brother
Industries and Aisin Seiki - a
Toyota Group company that
manufactures Toyota, Necchi
and E&R Classic Sewing Machines. ■
Page 2
Industry Leader
SIX “Deal Ready™” CERTIFIED INDUSTRIAL SITES
Middle Tennessee Industrial
Development Association
(MTIDA) announced that six
industrial sites in Middle Tennessee have met the criteria to be
“Deal Ready™” Certified Industrial Sites. A certified site is guaranteed to meet or exceed the
criteria required by industries
seeking a site for immediate development. These six newly
certified sites are in the size range
most often sought by companies
looking for a new location.
When most developers think of
certified sites they picture large
mega-sites and super-sites of
1,000 acres or more. A trend has
developed to market huge sites as
certified for rapid development.
In early 2006, Middle Tennessee
Industrial Development Associa-
tion and West Tennessee Industrial
Association, MITDA’s counterpart
in the West Tennessee region and a
partner in the Deal Ready program,
announced the first Deal Ready™
Certified Sites, which ranged from
50 to 1,000 acres. This phase of
Deal Ready™ evaluated sites from
20 to 50 acres.
MTIDA and WTIA realize that
companies who need smaller sites
are under just as much time pressure – maybe more – as large site
developers. They reviewed almost
four years of location data from
Tennessee Valley Authority and
found that 34% of site locations
occurred on sites of this size. These
smaller Deal Ready™ sites will
provide companies with all the
advantages of a professionally
certified site.
“This program will help assure
companies of every size that we
are ready to help them meet their
start-up deadline. Middle Tennessee is a prime location for food
processing, plastics, biofuels and
distribution/logistics. The Deal
Ready™ sites are ideal for these
and other industries as well,”
notes Bill Shuff, Executive Director of MTIDA.
A Deal Ready™ site must pass a
rigorous evaluation where more
than 100 types of site information
are reviewed. To qualify as Deal
Ready™, a site must be free of
ownership/use issues, free of environmental issues, and meet or
exceed the infrastructure requirements of typical industrial projects. In 2006, 30 sites of 50 to
1,000 acres in Middle and West
Tennessee were certified as having completely met all criteria.
The six new certified sites also
met these standards.
MTIDA, an economic development organization for Middle
Tennessee power distributors,
implemented the Deal Ready™
program to help Middle Tennessee
Mark Williams, Strategic Development Group, Inc.
communities attract more industries. MTIDA engaged the nationally known engineering and site
consulting firm Strategic Development Group, Inc. to serve as
the third-party evaluator to certify
the sites.
Mark Williams, President of Strategic Development Group, Inc.
who has assisted many corporate
clients in locating sites says,
“You can expect credibility,
speed in decision making and
reduced risk from a certified site.
I think MTIDA and WTIA are
really thinking ahead by certifying sites of 20 to 50 acres. We’re
not aware of any other group in
the country certifying sites of this
size, even though they are in demand.”
“The local economic developers
are to be commended for their
hard work to meet the certification requirements. Because of
their efforts to meet the Deal
Ready™ criteria, they have put
Middle Tennessee in a very
competitive position—we are
ahead of the game,” observes
Shuff.■
Page 3
Middle Tennessee Industrial Development Association
FRANKLIN COUNTY
RUTHERFORD COUNTY
Bill Shuff; Holly Weber; Mark Kimball, Murfreesboro Electric; Mayor Tommy
Bragg, Mark Williams, City Manager Rob Lyons; and Steve Sax, Murfreesboro
Electric.
MONTGOMERY COUNTY
Bill Shuff; Mayor John Piper; Mark Williams; and County Mayor Carolyn Bowers.
MAURY COUNTY
Bill Shuff; Mark Williams; and County Mayor Jim Bailey.
Bill Shuff; John Payne; State Rep. George Fraley; Mark Williams; County
Mayor Richard Stewart; Senator Eric Stewart; and City Admin. Beth Rhoton.
COFFEE COUNTY
Bill Shuff; Ted Hackney; Bill Comer, IBCC Chairman; Mark Williams;
Mayor David Pennington, Mayor Betty Superstein; and Senator Eric Stewart.
LAWRENCE COUNTY
Bill Shuff; Daniel Webb; Mark Williams; Larry Brown, Chairman of JECD
Board; and Steve Davis, representative for Lawrenceburg Power System.
Page 4
Middle Tennessee Industrial Development Association
BUSING UP IN GOODLETTSVILLE
Construction of the new Prevost
Tennessee Parts and Service Center in Goodlettsville is complete
and the facility is now open for
business.
Guy French, Service Director said
“Our services are now up and running. The move more than doubled
the size of our previous facility and
now, more than ever, we are ready
to meet our customers’ needs for
routine maintenance, cosmetic
upgrades, or major accident repairs.”
“Our staff is very enthusiastic
about the relocation from Whites
Creek to Goodlettsville,” says
Rose Baker, Nashville Branch
Manager. Because the new Nashville facility is custom-built, everything was done to Prevost specifications, including the design of its
service area layout, efficient parts
warehousing, and even to its
customer lounge “welcome
amenities” and conference or
training rooms.” she added.
The new 58,000 sq. ft. facility, located at 800 South Cartwright Street, is equipped
with 13 service bays, 1 wash
bay, 20,000 sq. ft. parts warehouse area, two story office
area, and great parking spaces
(including some leased spaces
available for long term vehicle parking for Prevost customers). It is easily accessed from
Exit 97 off Interstate 65.
Prevost has been operating its
service center in Whites Creek,
TN for over 11 years, and the
growing local demand has triggered the need to expand and
relocate.
Prevost’s new Goodlettsville
TRANSFORMING CLAY
facility is one of six North
American service centers where
factory-trained experts provide a
full range of maintenance services and mechanical repair
solutions to get vehicles up and
running quickly.
Prevost is a leading manufacturer of premium intercity touring coaches and the world leader
NISSAN PARTS TO WILSON
The Clay County Partnership Chamber of
Commerce announced that V&F Transformer Corporation located in Bartlett, IL
will be occupying the forer Hevi Duty
Transformer Plant in Celina. The exact date
will be determined at a later date as the
economy and order rates recover and the
transfer schedule of machinery and equipment is completed.
V&F Transformer was founded in 1963 and
has transformer manufacturing interests in
both Mexico and China in addition to the
Bartlett, IL facility and are poised to grow a
significant presence in the Southeast market
of U.S. for the larger capacity transformer.
The Hevi Duty facility was idled in February
2008 and donated this year to Celina. The
building was subsequently transferred to the
Celina/Clay County Joint Industrial Development Board.
Initial employment is expected to be 16 employees and grow as the overall economy
recovers.
Presidents of V&F Transformer, Fran Foderaro said, “Dean and I would first like to
thank the entire board including Ray Norris
for all of their hard work and dedication in
helping to finalize this contract which will
only help stabilize employment in the town
of Celina.”■
in the production of bus
shells for highend motorhome and
specialty conversion.
Owned by
Volvo Bus
Corporation, it
has access to
the financial
strength, research capability, and manufacturing expertise of the group. Volvo
Bus Corporation is part of the
Volvo Group, the world’s largest
manufacturer of heavy-duty diesel
engines. Prevost has its main manufacturing facilities in Sainte-Claire,
Quebec, Canada and has six Parts
and Service Centers located in Canada and the United States. ■
Nissan North America has signed a design-build
lease with Opus Northwest LLC to construct the
automaker’s new North American redistribution
facility in Wilson County at the
Couchville Pike Business Center. The new 717,160 sq. ft.
Class A, state-of-the-art redistribution center is being constructed on 58.84 acres and will
serve as Nissan’s new national
parts and redistribution center,
supplying other parts warehouses
throughout North America. It
will also be an export center for
overseas distribution of parts.
The building is designed with the
flexibility to accommodate future expansion up to a total of
1.2M sq. ft. ■
CANDLE LIT LEWISBURG
The Will & Baumer Candle
Company broke ground in
the Lewisburg Business
Park.
began making plans to construct a facility for Will &
Baumer in Lewisburg next
to the Autom distribution
The company has been in and call center that has been
business manufacturing can- up and running for more
dles for churches all around than a year.
the world for more than 150 Construction for the $1.3
years in New York. Autom million project has begun
Church Supply recently ac- and production in the facilquired the company and ity is scheduled to begin in
February 2010. Will &
Baumer is expecting to
hire 6 to 8 employees
in its first year of operation and grow to 1319 by 2012.■
Page 5
Industry Leader
RUTHERFORD RELIGHTING MIDDLE TN
A partnership of American companies generated great news recently
for Middle Tennessee and Rutherford County with the announcement that it will bring jobs here
from China — not vice-versa — for
the manufacture of energy-efficient
LED lights.
This turning of the tables on the
international job market is proof
that when companies work together
they can create employment opportunities, instead of shipping them
overseas to take advantage of
cheaper labor and looser industrial
restrictions.
Officials with Washington-based
NCS Power, Clarksville's Aladdin
Mantle Lamp Co. and Murfreesboro's Davis Groupe announced
that 15 to 20 automotive suppliers
in the region will participate in the
partnership.
Plans call for employing 100 to 250
people to make, market and distribute light emitting diode lights
within six to 18 months, before
hiring 1,000 people over two
years and finally creating 2,000
jobs in three to four years.
Jimmy Davis, who founded Davis
Groupe with his wife, Lisa, 12
years ago, said companies that
can build car parts are already
capable of manufacturing LED
lights, simplifying the transition
process and allowing companies
to avoid constructing new facilities.
The Davis Groupe, which is located on Butler Drive in Murfreesboro, has manufactured
lighting products for Nissan, Subaru and Toyota and will be one
of the primary makers of LED
products. It plans to conduct a
pilot program on new lighting
products at General Mills' Pillsbury plant here, officials said.
This is exactly the type of innovation and investment America
needs to rebuild its economy and
put people back to work while
competing on the international
stage. Tennessee's economy has
already been buoyed by Hemlock
in Clarksville and Volkswagen in
Chattanooga, and this development furthers Tennessee's burgeoning role as alternative energy
capital of the nation.
At a time when energy efficiency
is being encouraged in state and
local government, as well as in
private homes, and products such
as vehicles, LED lighting will be
designed to increase durability
and savings, cutting the demand
for electricity and eliminating
waste connected to fluorescent
tubes such as hazardous mercury
vapor and ballasts.
The partnership could also take
advantage of the Tennessee Small
Business Investment Act, which
created a $120 million pool from
insurance company assets to provide capital for such business
ventures.
State Sen. Bill Ketron, RMurfreesboro, who sponsored the
act and played a role in helping
this venture come together, said,
"We're going to relight Middle
Tennessee."
With unemployment at 11 percent
in Rutherford County for the first
time in decades, we certainly
need something to light a new
path for our economy.
It is encouraging to see business
people work together to bring
jobs home, finally reversing the
trend of big business going across
borders in search of lower production costs.
We have no doubt Middle Tennessee has the people capable of
making this a successful business
enterprise, and we congratulate
this partnership for making Rutherford County the hub of its operations.■
RUBBERMAID BREAKS GROUND IN SHELBYVILLE
Newell Rubbermaid Office Products will
build a new 155,000-square-foot packaging
center next to its distribution center on Railroad Avenue.
"The packaging center is designed to ...
meet the needs of continuous improvement,
to provide jobs and work and expansion for
many years yet to come," said Jim Cunningham, senior human resource manager for the
company in Shelbyville.
The facility will package several Newell
Rubbermaid office products, for example
putting pens or highlighters into blister
packs.
Last fall, the company announced a restructuring which will result in the closure, by
the end of this year, of the manufacturing
plant on Sharpie Way, resulting in a loss of
300 jobs. The manufacturing capacity is
planned to be relocated to Maryville. But at
the same time, the company announced its
plans for the new packaging center, which
will employ about 120.
"We are excited here in Shelbyville and
Bedford County," said County Mayor
Eugene Ray. "We know that this is something that doesn't happen every day in the
economy we're living in."
before the last employees leave the Sharpie Way
manufacturing location, which had been a Shelbyville landmark for generations, as Empire
Pencil Company, then Berol, and finally Sanford. ■
Both Ray and Shelbyville Mayor Wallace
Cartwright recalled
going to visit with
Newell Rubbermaid
president and CEO
Mark Ketchum in the
Atlanta area.
"We really hated to
give up the main plant
down there," said Cartwright, "but we were
certainly appreciative
of everything that they
were doing to try to
keep the distribution
center here, and the
addition and all that
from left, R.M. Mackey of Forcum Lannom Contractors LLC; Shelbyville Mayor
was planned."
Wallace Cartwright; Bedford County Mayor Eugene Ray; Aaron Milhorn, senior
It will be November
manager of Newell Rubbermaid's distribution center next door; and Jim Cunningham, Newell Rubbermaid's senior human resources manager in Shelbyville.
Page 6
Middle Tennessee Industrial Development Association
SMOOTH RIDE IN PULASKI
International Steel Solutions
announced that it has signed a
commercial agreement with
Magneti Marelli Cofap for the
Marketing, Sales, Design and
Manufacturing of Ride Controls
products in North America. In
addition, ISS signed a License
and Technology Assistance
Agreement with MMC in order
to be provided with proprietary
information for the manufacturing of Ride Control Systems in
its USA facility in Pulaski Tennessee.
Magneti Marelli Cofap is the
business division of Magneti
Marelli company, which designs and produces shock absorbers for a wide range of
automotive applications worldwide.
Magneti Marelli, a company
belonging to the Fiat Group,
designs, produces and distributes advanced systems and
components for the automotive
industry. With its 46 production
facilities (56 production units),
9 R&D centers and 27 application centers in 18 countries,
28,000 employees and a turnover of 5 billion in 2007, the
group supplies all the leading
carmakers in Europe, North and
South America and the Far East.
The business areas include
Electronic Systems, Automotive
Lighting, Powertrain, Suspension Systems and Shock absorbers, Exhaust Systems, Aftermarket Parts & Services, Plastic
Components and Modules and
Motorsport.
International Steel Solutions, is
a Michigan Company specialized in the design, manufacturing and sale of ride control
components for the North
American Market. From its
manufacturing and engineering
facilities located in Pulaski Tennessee, ISS delivers products
for the Ride Control OEM, OES
and independent service markets.■
VOLKSWAGEN LIKES COFFEE
Volkswagen has awarded a
$147 million contract to M-Tek
of Manchester. M-Tek will supply interior door panels for a
mid-size sedan to be built at
VW’s new plant in Chattanooga.
About 60 to 70 M-Tek employees will benefit from continued
employment thanks to the contract. About 20 of those employees will work in a final
assembly operation at the VW
plant. Operations at the plant,
located at the Enterprise South
Industrial Park, are expected
to begin in early 2011.
facturers of door trim panels,
rear shelves, trunk trim, dash
insulators and plastic injection
trim for a number of auto assembly plants
M-Tek is a wholly owned subsidiary of the Kasai Kogyo
Co., Ltd, a Japanese automotive parts manufacturer of over
forty years, with facilities located throughout North America, Europe, and Asia. Manu-
M-Tek has about 900 employees altogether. It is a supplier
for the Nissan plant at
Smyrna, Tennessee, as well as
for Honda and General Motors.
VENTURE IN TULLAHOMA FITS LIKE A GLOVE
Dr. Willie Wilson is a man who has
seen the world from the bottom to the
top. He has gone from mopping floors
at McDonalds to owning franchises.
Now he is bringing his entrepreneural
style and work ethic to Tennessee. His
company Omar has purchased Oak
Glove in Tullahoma.
Omar has plans to modernize and
expand the Oak Glove operations. The
Oak Glove operation is over 100 years
old and is the originator of the disposable PVC medical glove. Omar’s improvements include fixing the roof
and boosting the efficiency of the
existing equipment. Wilson said the
plant’s two production lines are being
refurbished, 15 new employees have
already been hired, and Omar will
spend about $3 million to establish a
third manufacturing line. As the sales
increase Omar has plans to add up to
100 jobs.
As the owner of the Chicagobased medical supply company
Omar Inc., which he founded in
1997, Wilson last year began
lookin for a U.S. manufacturer
that could make the type of disposable gloves his firm sells to
restaurants, hospitals and other
industrial clients.
The M-Tek deal is the first of
what are expected to be many
supplier contracts with Volkswagen that should provide
thousands of jobs in Tennessee beyond the approximately
2,000 workers the automaker
will have on its own payroll.■
30 YEARS IN THE PACKING
His staff found that the Oak
Gloves plant in Tullahoma was the
only U.S. manufacturer left, as
most gloves of this type are now
made in China, where even Omar
has an investment in a facility.
“We were bringing in 30 million
to 40 million gloves annually from
China, but we felt like the way
costs have been going up in China
that we could make gloves here
and create some jobs for Americans”, Wilson said.■
Clark Container, Inc. of Lyles, Tennessee recently celebrated their 30th year in business as printers and converters of high quality flexible packaging products. At a
company event marking the occasion, Daryl Phillips of
Hickman County Economic Development presented a
token of the county’s appreciation of this outstanding
corporate citizen to President and CEO Larry Chilton. Clark Container is served by Dickson Electric.■
Page 7
Industry Leader
ZERO ADDS UP AT NISSAN
Nissan North America, Inc. (NNA) announced
it has been conditionally approved by the U.S.
Department of Energy for a $1.6 billion loan to
modify its Smyrna, Tenn., manufacturing plant
to produce zero-emissions vehicles and stateof-the-art lithium-ion battery packs to power
them.
The loan, announced by the U.S. Department
of Energy, is among the first three loans under
the Advanced Technology Vehicles Manufacturing Loan Program (ATVMLP), a $25billion program authorized by Congress under
Section 136 of the Energy Independence and
Security Act of 2007. The loan will help Nissan produce electric vehicles, which emit no
gases and are powered only by electricity.
The ATVMLP is designed to accelerate the
development of vehicles and technologies that
increase U.S. energy independence, create
cleaner means of transportation and stimulate
the American economy. Companies receiving
the loans go through a rigorous financial and
technical qualification process and must put
collateral in place before approval.
Construction at Smyrna is scheduled to begin
by the end of this year, after an environmental
assessment is completed. Production is
planned to start in late 2012.
Nissan is committed to being a leader in zeroemissions mobility. It will offer electric vehicles in the United States and Japan beginning
in 2010. The first vehicles for the U.S. market
will be built in Japan before production is
shifted to Smyrna.
Nissan’s electric vehicle will comfortably
seat five people, drive on any American road
or highway and have an initial range of 100
miles before recharging.
In North America, Nissan's operations include automotive design, engineering, consumer and corporate financing, sales and
marketing, distribution and manufacturing.
Nissan is dedicated to improving the environment under the Nissan Green Program
2010, whose key priorities are reducing CO2
emissions, cutting other emissions and increasing recycling. ■
The modifications of the Smyrna manufacturing plant include a new battery plant and
changes in the existing structure for electricvehicle assembly. When fully operational, the
vehicle assembly plant will have the capacity
to build 150,000 zero-emissions vehicles a
year and the new plant will have an annual
capacity of 200,000 batteries.
MTIDA ANNUAL GOLF TOURNAMENT
Second Place Winners
First Place Winners
Don Lowe, Alan Beaty, Bob Murray, Daniel Webb
Bill Walter, John Payne, Randy Wilmore, Tom McAuley
In spite of the weather, everyone seemed to have
a good time. Thank you to all who participated
and making another MTIDA Annual Economic
Development Seminar and Golf Outing a big
success.
Middle Tennessee Industrial Development Association
2009-2010 Executive Committee
PRESIDENT
Frank Jennings, President
Middle TN Electric Membership Corp.
555 New Salem Road
Murfreesboro, TN 37129
MEMBERS
David Crowell, General Manager
Shelbyville Power System
P.O. Box 530
Shelbyville, TN 37162-0530
VICE PRESIDENT
Steven Sax, General Manager
Murfreesboro Electric Department
P.O. Box 9
Murfreesboro, TN 37133-0009
Derek Church, Manager
Mount Pleasant Power System
P.O. Box 186
Mt. Pleasant, TN 38474-0186
SECRETARY/TREASURER
Jim Coode, General Manager
Cumberland Electric Mem. Corp.
P.O. Box 3300
Clarksville, TN 37043-3300
Bill Rogers, General Manager
Caney Fork Electric Coop.
P.O. Box 272
McMinnville, TN 37111
Ray Knotts
Regional Development Manager
Tennessee Valley Authority
P.O. Box 292409
Nashville, TN 37229-2409
Middle Tennessee Industrial
Development Association
2108 Westwood Avenue
Nashville TN 37212
The MTIDA Industry Leader is
published by the
Middle Tennessee Industrial
Development Association
2108 Westwood Avenue
Nashville, TN 37212
Phone: 615.269.5233
Fax: 615.269.5184
WATS: 800.227.6628
Email: mtida@mtida.org
Website: www.mtida.org
Executive Director:
George W. Shuff, III