Category Archives: Manufacturing

Football and Spices and Bars, Oh My!

By Business, Columbus, EMCC, Entrepreneurship, Foodservice, Other Manufacturing, Real Estate, Retail, Retail Entertainment, Starkville

GTR REGION – Courtesy of the Dispatch

1920 Hwy 45 in Columbus will soon be the home of a new sports bar called “Yo’Bar.” The venue is the brainchild of Ledrico Isaac, who has been working hard on the idea for nearly five years.  The place will have food and drink as well as a mechanical bull, karaoke, football games on the TV’s.

On a related note, The Elbow Room will re-open (under its original ownership) while they look for a buyer. They’re asking for just under $190K, including their recipes book.

Rex’s Direct Foods on Alabama St. was recently purchased by Slyvia Graham, a loyal customer who jumped at the chance to buy the store when the original owner decided to retire. She hopes to expand the variety of items on offer.

In Starkville, variety shop Tuesday Morning has moved to its new location at 402 Mississippi Hwy 12.

In Clay County:

Peco Foods will be holding a job fair this Saturday from 10AMto 2PM at the EMCC CMTE Building in Mayhew. Interested applicants should register with www.mdes.ms.gov.

The West Point Peco location is hiring maintenance technicians, management-supervisors, management trainees, experienced forklift operators, and refrigerator technicians.

Please click here for the original article.

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Paccar Planning to More Than Double Existing Space

By Business, Columbus, GTR LINK, Lowndes County BoS, PACCAR

Paccar Planning to More Than Double Existing Space

COLUMBUS, Miss. (WCBI) –

CEO of the Golden Triangle LINK, Joe-Max Higgins recently announced that Paccar plans to invest about $7 million in additional warehousing and shipping space, adding 150,000 square feet to their existing 100,000 logistics center facility. Once the Lowndes County Board of Supervisors approves the project, groundbreaking is expected to take place almost immediately.

Please click here for the full article/video.

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West Point Is Getting Bigger and Better for Business

By Business, Retail, West Point, Yokohama

West Point Is Getting Bigger and Better for Business

WEST POINT, Miss. (Courtesy of WCBI)

Hwy 45 Alternate in West Point has been enjoying the presence of several new businesses both large and small as of late. Mayor Robbie Robinson credits these venues for increasing commerce to the city, and therefore, increasing the tax base, to the benefit of the city and its residents: “We’ve had significant positive commercial development on Highway 45 South and West Point is the magnet. There’s so much activity down there. It’s attracted a lot of growth. In fact, our growth here in the city has been about 5% for tax base and we are very grateful for it,” said Mayor Robinson.

While a variety of new shops of all kinds have appeared recently, local resident and restauranteur Dorothy Floyd  feels that Yokohama’s nearby plant deserves much of the credit: “Since Yokohama came here we have begun to see the incline of businesses and people just had an upbeat, you know, they felt better about being here. Since Bryan left, you know, it’s like a death tone everybody was just down and out about businesses leaving. Yokohama came and then we have a couple of more companies come. . .“We began to see the business getting a little bit slow, and we realized how many other restaurants were moving to the highway and me and my husband, we sat down we had a long conversation about it. We said let’s give it a try and move to the highway, and it has been wonderful,” she went on to say.

Please click here for the original article.

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New Construction Abounds Along South Frontage Road

By Business, Charity, Golden Triangle, Manufacturing, Retail, Uncategorized

New Construction Abounds Along South Frontage Road

GOLDEN TRIANGLE – Courtesy of The Dispatch

The next time you’re taking a trip from Columbus to Starkville (or realms beyond), keep a weather eye out for the service road to your left. A number of construction projects, new and old, are cropping up there like flowers in Springtime.

1521 S. Frontage Road, just past the Macon/Meridian exit, will house the new combined West Point-Starkville-Columbus office location for Atmos Energy, which will replace their existing offices in those areas once it opens its doors (scheduled for this September); existing employees will be shifted to the new office.

Kingdom Vision International Church is working on adding to its new building at 2467 S. Frontage Road. They hope to open up the new multi-purpose center and gymnasium in late 2019.

Exceed Technologies and Mississippi Alarm arecurrently building new structures at 2787 S. Frontage Road, and they hope to move in by mid-October.

A bit further on, nearer the GTR Airport exit, Stribling Equipment is building their own new facility. They sell heavy equipment, and have found the need for a more centalized, larger location in order to better serve their customers. They hope to complete the move by January.

Sunbelt Rentals opened its Columbus location 645 Highway 45 S., this past June. It offers rental construction equipment for everyone from large contractors to individual homeowners who need some special tools for their favorite project.

Please click here for the original article.

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Israel is Getting its First Missile Defense Canister from Our Own Stark Aerospace

By Business, Golden Triangle, Government-related, Manufacturing, Mil. Manufacturing, Military, Stark Aerospace

Israel is Getting its First Missile Defense Canister from Our Own Stark Aerospace

GOLDEN TRIANGLE REGION – Courtesy of the Dispatch

Stark Aerospace CEO Tom Ronaldi, flanked by Mississippi and Israeli officials, thanks guests for attending a commemoration event for the delivery of a missile defense canister to Israel - Alex Holloway, Dispatch Staff

Stark Aerospace CEO Tom Ronaldi, flanked by Mississippi and Israeli officials, thanks guests for attending a commemoration event for the delivery of a missile defense canister to Israel – Alex Holloway, Dispatch Staff

Stark Aerospace, with its facility near Golden Triangle Regional Airport, recently commemorated the delivery of the first Arrow 3 missile defense system to our Isreali allies. The unit is part of a system designed to shoot down incoming missiles. The project is a joint effort among Israel Aerospace Industries, Boeing, and Stark.

CEO Tom Ronaldi remarked that Stark has grown to 111 employees, nearly doubling its workforce as compared to this time last year; most of that increase has been in the form of welders, but they’ve also expanded their portfolio of executive, engineering, and other professional jobs. He also stated that they’re doing all the can to use local materials whenever possible: “One of the opportunities we see locally here is we try to source close to where we’re doing our work,” Ronaldi said. “Right now we’ve got 75 percent of the material cost coming from within two hours of Stark. We’ve tried very hard to share the wealth, as it was.”

Moshe Patel, head of the Israel Missile Defense Organization of the Israel Ministry of Defense, spoke about the joint program, which is funded by the US and Israeli governments in order to help protect them both: “We are combining the defense of Israel with bringing jobs to places like Mississippi,” he said at Monday’s ceremony. “Together it makes a big difference to us. As a government, we are very glad we have this capability here. On one hand, we can expedite our production capability, and on the second hand, money that is allocated us is being brought back to have more jobs in the United States for the defense of Israel. It’s a win-win situation.”

Boaz Levy, IAI executive vice president, spoke of the new system’s vast improvement over previously existing technology: “The Arrow 2 is for a lower altitude,” Levy said. “The Arrow 3 is actually intercepting ballistic threats deep in space.”

“This is one of the most advanced systems in the world, but it needs a canister and we’re manufacturing that canister right here,” Governor Phil Bryant said. “Seventy percent of the materials used in the manufacturing of the canister come from Mississippi, so you’re looking at Mississippi steel and a lot of Mississippi technology that goes in this. . .It is amazing, I think, in the last decade where we have been able to come to protect not only America but the world by our manufacturing.”

Please click here for the original article.

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Need a Flight to the Coast on Short Notice? Aurora Flight Services May Have Your Answer

By Aurora Flight Services, Business, Columbus, Golden Triangle, Manufacturing, Rotary Club

Need a Flight to the Coast on Short Notice? Aurora Flight Services May Have Your Answer

GOLDEN TRIANGLE REGION – Courtesy of The Dispatch

Columbus Rotary Club member John Davis chats with Aurora Flight Sciences Vice President Greg Stewart – photo by Slim Smith, Dispatch Staff

Aurora Flight Sciences Vice President Greg Stewart recently spoke with the Columbus Rotary Club in Columbus. His company was sold to Boeing last year, and is already reaping the rewards: “We weren’t a small company before the sale,” Stewart told his audience. “We had about 500 employees. But Boeing is huge, about 77,000 employees. One of the biggest things about that is suddenly we have access to the resources of a company that size. It’s been less than a year since the sale, and we’re already seeing the benefits of that . . . “There were areas before the sale where we were competitors and, a lot of times, Boeing had the advantage because of their superior resources,” he went on to say. “Now that we are partners, we’re seeing new opportunities.”

One new project they are working on is the aircraft equivalent of a service such as Uber or Lyft – On-demand flights; they hope to be able to use small, unmanned passenger aircraft for this purpose. “Imagine that you need to get to the (Gulf) Coast all the sudden,” Stewart said. “What we are working on is a system like Uber. You order a flight, go out to the airport, get on the plane and you’re on the coast in an hour. You’re the only person in the plane.”  This project along has called for them to add a hundred fifty new employees.

“[The merger with Boeing has] taken some time for us to adapt to, but on the other side, the opportunities it has presented have been more than we could have dreamed of. It’s been a great move for both companies,” he added.

Please click here for the full article.

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International Paper Keeps Going On Strong in Columbus

By Agribuisiness, Business, Charity, Columbus, Environmental Concerns, Manufacturing, Other Manufacturing, Quality of Life, Salvation Army

International Paper Keeps Going On Strong in Columbus

COLUMBUS – Courtesy of The Dispatch

David Phillips, Columbus Mill manager for International Paper – Photo by Mary Pollitz

Columbus Mill Manager David Phillips recently spoke to the Rotarians at Lion Hills Center in Columbus about his facility, which was acquired by International Paper a couple of years ago, and the company’s plans for the future. They have begun a new initiative called “IP Way Forward,” having already invested $135,000 within the local community as a way of giving back to the good people of Columbus. Their initiative calls for the company to focus on “[I]nvesting in people, sustaining forests, improving the planet, innovative products and inspiring performance.” This includes helping out the less fortunate by assisting with education, hunger, and medical programs.

Kellum Kim, mill communications manager said that they wish to continue the good works done by Weyerhauser, the prior owners of the mill, with regards to the community in Lowndes County: “People that know Weyerhaeuser, know that they did a lot of great things in the community, they just did more behind the scenes,” Kim said. “What we are really trying to change is getting more hands-on, (and) get more of our team members involved.”

“Part of the IP Way Forward is to provide value for stakeholders,” Phillips said. “One of our stakeholders is the community and so we want to make sure we are providing value for the community that our employees live in.”

Kim added: “It’s all about investing in our communities and being a good steward of our communities and what we can do to make our community a better place for everyone in Lowndes County.”

The mill currently has about 325 full-time employees, including thirty who were brought on board this year. They also contract up to a hundred workers per day, and their average pay rate is about $28/hr. Philips noted that the mill is largely self-sustaining, as they generate all of their own power by harnessing the steam generated by burning tree bark that might not otherwise be useful; they also use the surrounding 65-acre marsh to treat their wastewater.

International Paper and their Columbus Mill are giving back to their local community while making products that we use every day — and THAT’S Good for Business!

Please click here for the original article.

 

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Joe Max Higgins on Bringing Industry to Starkville

By Business, Clay County Supervisors, Golden Triangle, GTR LINK, Manufacturing, Oktibbeha County BoS, Starkville, Starkville Board of Aldermen

Joe Max Higgins on Bringing Industry to Starkville

STARKVILLE – Courtesy of the Dispatch

GTR LINK CEO Joe Max Higgins recently met with the Starkville board of aldermen, Oktibbeha County board of supervisors and Oktibbeha County Economic Development Authority to talk about the issue of trust. He feels that economic development depends on it.

Golden Triangle Development LINK CEO Joe Max Higgins and SV Industrial Park — Photo by Alex Holloway, Dispatch staff

From his perspective, he needs to know that he and the LINK can trust that they know what the area’s county and local officials expect, so as to make sure that proposals for economic investment will get heard and acted upon. He stated that, in Lowndes and Clay counties, he has a pretty good grasp on that; for Oktibbeha, not so much: “I do (know) in the other places,” Higgins said. “I don’t have that comfort here. . .there’s some of you that I don’t know how you’re going to vote and it’s scary,” he added.

On the flip side, Higgins stated that local leaders will need to know that they can trust the LINK to keep the cities’ and counties’ best interests in mind when bringing them new prospects and proposals: “We don’t go after and heavily incentivize deals that don’t pay more than our county averages,” Higgins said. “You can’t make your place be a better place by going after jobs. You need to go after good jobs.”

District 3 Supervisor Marvell Howard spoke on the importance of such trust: “We’ve just got to trust Joe Max and his team. To this point, they’ve been good about keeping us in the loop,” Howard said. “But as things speed up, we’re not going to be able to call everybody together every time. He’s going to have to be comfortable that we trust him enough to say, ‘Joe Max is not going to bring us a bad deal.'”

 

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Columbus Superfund Site Cleanup Well Under Way

By Agribuisiness, Business, Columbus, Environmental Concerns, Health & Medicine, Manufacturing

Columbus Superfund Site Cleanup Well Under Way

COLUMBUS – Courtesy of The Dispatch

EPA Region 4 Director Franklin Hill – Photo by Mary Pollitz

The EPA recently brought together local officials at each of ten Superfund cleanup sites across the country in order to recognize the solid progress on each of them, and the Kerr-McGee site here in the Memphis Town area of Columbus was one of them. In part, they celebrated the fact many of the 42 officially-recognized recommendations from a list put together last year were things that the KMG cleanup crew had been doing for as long as seven years already: “We’re already on the cusp of that . . . We’re already taking early actions in this community,” said EPA Region 4 Superfund Director Franklin Hill.

Kerr-McGee once had a wood treatment plant here that was in operation from about 1928 to 2003; the resulting waste product, creosote, contaminated the site and local grounds, making it one of the 1,800 Superfund sites in the US, and one of the top 30 “priority” SF sites which are being given special attention and expedited funding.

Hill went on to say, “We did that collectively … and this community [of Columbus] was at the forefront of it. This community are the people who held us to task. … Even though we slipped schedules from time to time, they would remind us when we were slipping schedules.”

“We no longer want to clean up the site and walk away from it and leave it and it becomes just an open field,” Hill said. “We’d like to see that property return to the tax rolls. We’d like to see that property make a contribution to the local municipality and government, and we’d also like to see the community realize a benefit from their community being revitalized from years of the plight that’s been associated with the site that’s basically (been) dormant in this community since 2003.”

Please click here for the full article

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Lowndes County Port to Receive ~$450K Port Expansion Grant

By Business, Columbus, Manufacturing, MDOT

Lowndes County Port to Receive $450K Port Expansion Grant

COLUMBUS – Courtesy of The Dispatch

Will Sanders

The Mississippi Department of Transportation recently authorized a grant worth roughly $476,317, to be used to add a 250-foot crane rail extension to the Lowndes County Port in order to increase its capacity.

“We’re very fortunate that MDOT allows this grant every year,” said Will Sanders, director for the Port Authority. “Without these types of funds, we would not be able to continue these economic development projects every year.” He went on to say that the port will initially increase its current tonnage by at least 20 percent, and that they may eventually double the current amount.

SDI General Manager Madhu Ranade remarked that “It will improve the barge unloading capabilities,” Ranade said. “So we can get our raw materials faster to the plant. With the increased capacity, we may consider bringing in other materials there as well. It is a benefit to us, our key raw materials come in through that part of the port. Just having that extra crane would make the unloading go a lot faster and smoother. It’s a good situation for the port as well as for us.”

“These improvements will make the Lowndes County Port more efficient and allow for increased through-put,” said Golden Triangle Development LINK CEO Joe Max Higgins in a prepared statement. “The more product moved on the Tenn-Tom, the stronger the waterway becomes as an asset for our region.”

Please click here for the full article.

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