Despite a difficult economic year, Chattanooga manufacturers in the past 12 months announced expansions that are adding about 520 jobs locally, according to J.Ed. Marston, Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce vice president of marketing.
Likewise, several service firms’ expansions are adding another 412 jobs, he said.
“Most of our new jobs come from existing industries,” Mr. Marston said, pointing to a planned Chattem Inc. expansion to be complete later this year.
Chattem, a 131-year-old Chattanooga manufacturer of over-the-counter health care aids, has acquired four new product brands from Johnson & Johnson, including Act mouthwash, and will be moving the manufacture of that product from Michigan and overseas to Chattanooga, according to Chattem Chief Financial Officer Robert Long.
The expected 70 new jobs will bring the company’s employee number to more than 500, he said.
Additionally, Chattem soon will be ramping up marketing and distribution of an over-the-counter version of Allegra, an allergy medication, for its new parent company, French pharmaceutical giant Sanofi-Aventis.
Meanwhile, Arch Plastics is adding 60 jobs to meet an increasing demand for more pharmaceutical bottles.
Arch Plastics Facility Manager Shital Rali said some of the 60 new workers already are at work at the 4-year-old Polymer Drive plant that makes bottles for products, such as pills, shampoos and hydrogen peroxide. At full strength, the plant will have 100 workers, officials said.
Mr. Rali and Arch Plastics President and CEO Charles Amin said Chattanooga’s central position in a diverse transportation hub was a primary reason for the plant’s location and expansion here. The city has three interstates, two major railroads and access to 1,600 miles of navigable waterways.
Those expansions, along with almost a dozen others, are very hopeful signs to local business officials.
“It’s been a strong level of investment, and the fact that it happened in one of the worst economic downturns we’ve seen in decades shows just how strong Chattanooga is,” Mr. Marston said.
Noting that the Chattanooga area has lost a number of manufacturing jobs — 1,400 in the past year and more than 18,000 in the last two decades — Mr. Marston said Chamber officials have seen a leveling off in the manufacturing sector since the beginning of the year.
As the Chattem and Arch expansions show, he said, the good news hasn’t just been related to the automotive industry and the new Volkswagen and VW supplier jobs.
“We’re seeing expansions by companies in a lot of different sectors,” he said. “We have a more diverse base than many cities, and we can handle (tough economies) better.”
IVC U.S. Inc. expansion
* A vinyl floor manufacturer based in Belgium will start building a $70 million vinyl floorcovering plant in Dalton, Ga., this year.
* The plant is expected to create about 115 new jobs and open in 2011.
* The firm will invest some $70 million to construct a new 520,000-square-foot facility that will produce 5,000 sheet miles of vinyl floor coverings each year.
* IVC Group Chairman Filip Balcaen, referring to a distribution facility the company launched to test the waters in the American market, said it has some ambitious goals for the coming years. “Our foothold in the market and in Dalton is a vital part of our plans to achieve them,” he said.
* IVC US Inc.’s parent company, the IVC Group, is a privately owned Belgian company established in 1997 with headquarters in Avelgem, Belgium.
* IVC Group is the largest residential sheet vinyl manufacturer in Europe, manufacturing high quality flexible fiberglass flooring in Belgium and Luxembourg, with sales across the globe.
Source: IVC and the Dalton-Whitfield Joint Development Authority
Dixie Industries expansion
* With a nearly 100-year history in Chattanooga, Dixie industries plans to double its work force and add about 120 jobs at two local plants on East 14th Street and Orchard Knob Avenue.
* The company does specialty forging, and it will invest $5.5 million into the three-year expansion.
* Dixie products include hooks, tiedowns and other metal products supplying the forestry, logging and towing industries.
Source: Dixie parent company Columbus McKinnon Corp.