Roofing firm adds 135 jobs in Georgia
A roofing company plans to build a factory in the south Georgia city of Valdosta, investing $146 million and hiring 135 workers over the next six years.
GAF, a unit of privately held Standard Industries of New York, made the announcement Wednesday. Construction is supposed to start this fall, with production beginning in early 2024.
The company will make a plastic membrane called thermoplastic polyolefin roofing that is used mostly to cover flat roofs or low-slope roofs on commercial buildings.
GAF said the plant will allow it to serve customers more quickly. The company currently makes the same product in New Columbia, Pennsylvania; Mount Vernon, Indiana; Gainesville, Texas; and Cedar City, Utah.
“Adding another manufacturing plant in Georgia will help ensure that our customers get the GAF products they need as quickly and efficiently as possible” GAF CEO Jim Schnepper said in a statement.
The company said it chose Valdosta because of its vicinity to highway and railways, available workers and its location relative to other GAF operations. GAF already has other locations in Savannah, Statesboro and Cumming that employ a total of 225 people.
Boat maker expands plant in Tennessee
The Limestone Boat Company, owner of TN Composites and builder of Aquasport Boats, Limestone Boats and Boca Bay Boats, announced Wednesday it will double the staff and production at its plant in White Bluff, Tennessee to add more than 130 jobs over the next five years.
Ebbtide Holdings, LLC, doing business as TN Composites, said it will invest $23.1 million to expand its manufacturing operations in Dickson County to boost boat production to an estimated 14 boats a week by early 2025.
“Our strong business climate and skilled workforce make Tennessee the ideal location for TN Composites to thrive.,” Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee said in a statement Wednesday.
TN Composites Chief Executive Officer Scott Hanson said the investment should improve efficiency, technology and output.
“We’re proud to state that we will continue to establish the Limestone Boat Company as the leading employer of choice for a highly skilled workforce in a growing and recognized boat manufacturing region of the U.S.,” Hason said in a statement.
Fed vice chair pledges long-term inflation fight
Federal Reserve Vice Chair Lael Brainard said Wednesday that the central bank would need to see “several months” of low monthly inflation data to be convinced that rapid price growth was finally cooling, raising the odds that Fed leaders will again raise interest rates three-quarters of a percentage point when they meet this month.
“We are in this for as long as it takes to get inflation down,” Brainard said at an annual conference of the Clearing House and Bank Policy Institute.
Brainard repeatedly stressed the need for American consumers and businesses to believe the Fed is committed to bringing inflation down to its target rate of 2% after it touched a four-decade high, above 9%, this summer. She said interest rates “will need to rise further” to sufficiently slow demand in the economy to help curb price growth.
Her comments echoed remarks by Fed Chair Jerome Powell, who said in a speech last month that the central bank was committed to restoring price stability, even if it came at a cost to businesses and consumers.
Target extends contract for CEO for 3 more years
Target Corp.’s chief executive, Brian Cornell, will stay with the company at least three more years, a step necessitating a change in its retirement rules, the company said Wednesday.
The news came with word that one of Target’s top logistics executives is leaving just months after an inventory glut became the biggest problem of Cornell’s eight-year tenure.
Arthur Valdez, 52, joined Target as chief supply chain and logistics officer in 2016 after years at Amazon.com. Target described his departure as a retirement and said he will continue to play an advisory role through next April.
“Arthur brought deep expertise to Target, and his leadership drove significant innovation across our supply chain, fueling Target’s omnichannel growth,” Cornell said in a statement.
Valdez will be succeeded by Gretchen McCarthy, a senior vice president of global inventory management who has worked at Target for nearly two decades.
Valdez first signaled to Target executives that he was interested in leaving the firm in 2021, well before the company’s inventory ballooned this spring, a company spokeswoman said.
Cornell, 63, committed to remain as chief executive for approximately three more years. Target didn’t specify if Cornell could stay past that time.
— Compiled by Dave Flessner