Trendsetters in manufacturingWalter LancasterOccupation: General manager, Rock-Tenn Company.Claim to fame: Company recycles paperboard making such things as rolls for the carpet industry and partitions for glass bottles in cases. The international company is nearing its 100th anniversary and began recycling before it was popular.Quote: “We increase the sustainability of our forests by not pulling from them. We avoid filling up at least 1,000 cubic yards of landfill space daily and avoid cutting down 6,000 trees a day.”John ZeiserOccupation: CEO and president, Southern Champion Tray.Claim to fame: Maker of paperboard products, including food trays often used for fries, nachos or hot wings; cake boxes, doughnut boxes and pie boxes.Quote: “Overall, Chattanooga is a good place for manufacturers. Even though we sell nationally and internationally, some of our best customers are right here in Chattanooga. The city is a transportation hub, and the local government understands the necessity of a strong manufacturing base for a healthy economy.”Jeff RichmondOccupation: president, Roadtec Inc.Claim to fame: The mobile asphalt road building equipment division of Astec Industries with the second largest number of in sales among the 15 Astec companies with roughly $130 million in sales in 2009.Quote: “The manufacturing climate in Chattanooga is pretty good all things considered. I spent the first 40 years of my life and the first 15 years of my career in the Chicago area and I can tell you that I’ll take the manufacturing climate here over that part of the world anytime.”
Sam Campbell IV, president of Chattanooga Bakery, took over the reins of the Moon Pie baking company in 1990. At the time, sales of Moon Pies and other confections made at the North Chattanooga plant were strong, and business remains steady, he said.
“We’re richly blessed to have a wonderful bunch of people working for us,” Mr. Campbell added.
The family-owned company has about 150 employees on its payroll, a workforce that hasn’t varied much through the years as efficiency increases, Mr. Campbell said.
While manufacturing cities across the country continue to experience weakened sales, Chattanooga’s manufacturing base is humming along.
“We’re in a better position locally than most of the rest of the country,” said Ray Childers, president of the Chattanooga Manufacturers Association.
“We’re beginning to see a pickup in manufacturing activity,” he said. “Business does seem to be improving somewhat.”
The area along Manufacturers Road is proof. It’s home to Chattanooga Bakery and several other plants: Rock Tenn, manufacturer of corregated cardboard for boxes; Southern Champion, maker of paperboard for fast-food boxes such as pizza and doughnut boxes; and Road Tec, which makes mobile asphalt road building equipment.
Chattanooga Bakery, now 108 years old, has experienced growth in recent years, according to Mr. Campbell. In the past five years, three new items of note have been added to its product line, beginning with a new peanut butter Moon Pie introduced during the height of a peanut scare in 2009.
“We couldn’t have picked a worse time to introduce a new peanut butter product, but it was bad timing that turned out to have a silver lining,” Mr. Campbell said. “Retailers were having to pull peanut butter items off the shelves, so they were looking for something to replace them. Couldn’t have been better timing.”
Later in the year, the company introduced a mint Moon Pie, which has been “a grand slam home run,” Mr. Campbell said.
A year ago, Chattanooga Bakery completed the purchase of Betsy’s Cheese Straws, an Alabama-based company that sold its product in higher-end retail establishments. The acquisition marked the bakery’s entrance into the gourmet food industry where sales are making solid gains, Mr. Campbell said.