The biggest business expansions and new locations announced in the Chattanooga area in 2021 will add nearly 1,700 jobs at an array of businesses, including:
1. Steam Logistics will expand into a renovated John Ross building downtown as part of an $11.2 million investment that will allow the third-party logistics company to add 400 jobs.
2. NOVONIX/Pure Graphic, a manufacturer of anode material for batteries, launched a $160 million redevelopment of a former Alstom Power factory that will add 300 jobs.
3. Sese Industrial Services plans to invest $42 million to build a 300,000-square-foot factory in the Enterprise South Industrial Park that will employ 240 workers assembling electric vehicle axle components for Volkswagen's Chattanooga production plant.
4. Lodge Manufacturing, in its third expansion in the past decade, plans to add 239 new jobs by the end of next year in a $59 million investment to expand its cookware foundry in South Pittsburg.
5. GE Appliances' Roper plant added 150 employees this year to its 2,100-employee staff in Lafayette, Georgia, to boost production of its stoves and ovens.
6. Roadtec Inc., a division of the Chattanooga-based Astec Industries, invested $6.2 million and added 128 employees to expand its Chattanooga plant after relocating some production to Chattanooga that had previously been done in Tacoma, Washington.
7. Trident Transport, a freight brokerage company that expanded into a North Shore office in 2020, is adding 88 jobs this year to handle ongoing company growth.
8. Valmont Industries expanded its Jasper production site for steel poles and structures as part of a $15 million investment that adds 65 jobs.
9. Colonial Chemical Co., spent $13.8 million to add an R&D laboratory and tank farm at its New Hope facility, adding 44 jobs.
10. Nichols Fleet Equipment, which customizes truck-mounted equipment such as cranes, bodies, welders and air compressors on vehicle chassis, is expanding with a new plant in Chattanooga's Riverport industrial park. The $3.45 million investment will add 25 jobs.
Sources: Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce, company reports