QUIZ

In what Southern state is Fort Knox located? (a) Tennessee; (b) Mississippi; (c) Virginia; (d) Kentucky; (e) Alabama. BONUS QUESTION: Name the metropolitan area Fort Knox is located.

(Scroll down for answer)

Alabama

Nucor Begins Production in Decatur, Ala.

Charlotte-based steelmaker Nucor Corp., has begun production at the former Trico Steel Co. site in Decatur, Ala. Nucor purchased the assets of Trico Steel this past summer for $117 million. After some retrofitting, Nucor began production of steel coils at the former sheet steel plant.

Plastics Company Expands

KW Plastics company in Troy, Ala. recently expanded its plant. The company, which recycles plastic that is then used to manufacture paint cans, will hire 150 to 200 new employees, and will reopen as KW Can. The company currently employs 80 people.

Pipe Manufacturer Investing $5M

Johns Manville is renovating an existing distribution center in Phenix City, Ala. for a pipe manufacturing and distribution facility. The company is investing $5 million in the project and will hire 150 to work in the new facility.

Arkansas

Packaging Company Buys 683,000 s.f. Facility

St. Louis-based Anchor Packaging, a maker of food contact containers and food packaging films, is launching a $20 million expansion of its facilities in Paragould, Ark. The company purchased a new 683,000-square-foot distribution facility. Anchor expects to employ 45 at the new facility.

Texarkana Lures Precision Roll Grinders

Precision Roll Grinders, a Pennsylvania-based company that employs highly-skilled machinists that refurbish reels, rolls and drums used by paper mills, is opening a new facility in Texarkana, Ark. The company expects operations to begin in January. Precision is investing $10 million in the deal and will initially hire 25 machinists. The company also has plants in Georgia and Kentucky.

Medallion Foods Adding Jobs

Medallion Foods, producer of corn-based snacks, announced this fall that it will install additional lines at its Newport, Ark. facility that will result in up to 140 new jobs. Medallion opened in Newport in 1987. The company makes tortilla chips and corn chips. After the expansion, employment at the plant will reach about 400.

Florida

New HQ for Manufacturer

Construction equipment manufacturer Ring Power Corp. will be moving into a new 400,000-square-foot headquarters in St. Johns County, Fla. in the spring of 2004. The company will hire 350 initially, but expects as many as 550 to work at the facility within three years. St. Johns is located near Jacksonville.

Financial Services Company Moves to Tampa from Maryland

Pierce, Hamilton & Stern, Inc., a financial services company from Bethesda, Md., has relocated its headquarters to Tampa. The firm will hire 100 new employees at professional positions and wages.

Florida Extruders Adding 100 Workers

Florida Extruders, a maker of a variety of aluminum products, is building a 500,000-square-foot plant near its existing facility in Sanford, Fla. The company will add 100 jobs at the new facility.

Coca-Cola Enterprises Opens Center in Temple Terrace

Coca-Cola Enterprises, the world's largest marketer, distributor and producer of nonalcoholic bottled and canned liquid drinks has opened a customer development center in Temple Terrace, near Tampa. The new center located in an 86,000 square foot facility and employs 135 staff members. The center will be responsible for handling all aspects of inside sales and customer support for the North American group of Coca-Cola Enterprises. Over the next few years, the company will hire 400 additional inside-sales and customer-support represenatives, as well as administrative support for the facility.

Company Relocates to Daytona

A manufacturer of customized motorcycles announced this fall it is relocating from Minnesota to Daytona Beach. Trike Motor Co., which makes three-wheel motorized vehicles, is relocating its headquarters and manufacturing facilities to Daytona and hiring 40 new employees at the new facility.

Airport Conveyor Company Expands in Central Florida

G&T Conveyor is expanding its presence in Central Florida by adding 200 jobs in the region. The Tavares manufacturer of airport baggage handling systems is expanding as a result of contracts generated by new security plans launched by airports throughout the American South and elsewhere.

Georgia

Company Relocates from Pennsylvania to Augusta

Rutgers Organics, a producer of fine chemicals, is relocating its manufacturing facilities from Pennsylvania to an existing plant in Augusta, Ga. The added production will result in 20 new jobs at the Augusta facility.

Simmons Putting Plant in Waycross, Ga.

Atlanta-based Simmons Co., the privately-held manufacturer of Beautyrest mattresses, is opening a 215,000-square-foot plant in South Georgia. The new plant, which will locate in Waycross, will employ 225 and is expected to be operational in the spring of 2004. The company is investing $12 million in the new factory, which is replacing one that it operates in Jacksonville, Fla.

Caterpillar Announces Opening of New Engine Facility in Georgia

Perkins Shibaura Engines, a joint venture between Perkins Engines, a Caterpillar Inc. company and a world leader in the manufacture of off-highway diesel and gas engines, and its longtime small engine partner, Ishikawajima Shibaura Machinery Co., announced plans in September to open a new small engines manufacturing facility in Griffin, Ga. Production at the new Griffin plant will begin in May of 2004. About 25 employees are expected to work at the plant when it opens.

Kansas

Kansas to get 7E7 Work

Boeing officials confirmed in late November that the aviation giant will build the flight deck and part of the fuselage of the new 7E7 Dreamliner at its facilities in Wichita. The 7E7 is Boeing's newest jetliner and is expected to be flown for the first time in 2008. Kansas approved a $500 million bond to lure the assembly factory for the new jet to Wichita. No decision on an assembly facility has been made, however.

Company Chooses Central U.S. Location: KCK

PNA Construction Technologies has chosen Kansas City, Kan. for a new facility that will manufacture concrete flooring products. The company chose KCK because the market is located between its two other facilities in North Carolina and California. PNA will hire 30 at the plant initially.

Northern Ireland Company to Open Facility in Junction City

UPU Industries Ltd, a subsidiary of Steve Orr Ltd of Northern Ireland, will invest $14 million in a new facility in Junction City, Kan. The company will hire 70 workers to produce high performance round bale netting. During the last five years UPU has developed significant sales of agricultural blade crop products in the United States market, and exports to more than 23 countries.

Kentucky

Perot Systems Lands in Bowling Green

Perot Systems, an information technology services company headquartered in Plano, Tex., is hiring 375 over the next three years at a new facility in Bowling Green, Ky. The company, partially owned by Ross Perot, Jr., provides technology services and business solutions to more than 400 companies throughout the world.

Call Centers Adding Jobs

Honeywell International is expanding its Louisville area call center. The company is adding 130 new positions. National Patient Account Services is also expanding its Louisville call center. That center is adding 100 new jobs.

Louisiana

StarTek, a technology solutions company headquartered in Denver, has announced plans for a 400-seat technical support center in Alexandria, La. The in-bound call center will be expandable to 700 workers.

Pineville to Gain 100 Jobs

Plastipak Packaging will construct a new manufacturing facility in Pineville to supply Procter & Gamble's Fabric and Home Care Division with containers for their growing HDL (heavy duty liquid detergent) business. The long-term agreement enables Proctor & Gamble and Plastipak Packaging to jointly expand production to support their North America HDL business in Pineville. The new plant will be located on 62 acres and will include a facility totaling over 500,000 square feet as part of phase one construction plans. An estimate of the investment in the facility is $45 million. The company will hire 100 employees.

Packaging Operation Moving to St. James

Imperial Sugar is relocating its packaging facilities from Houston to St. James Parish, La. The company, which makes Imperial and Dixie Crystal sugar brands, will add 25 new jobs to its current work force of 345 in St. James.

Maryland

Infotech Company Selects Annapolis

Real User Corp., an information security company, has selected Annapolis for its headquarters. The company expects to create over 100 new jobs in the deal. Real User relocated its headquarters from Washington, D.C. and Northern Virginia to the Chesapeake Innovation Center in Annapolis, the nation's first technology accelerator focusing on homeland security.

New York Company Relocates to Maryland

United Industrial Corp. announced in the fall quarter it has closed its New York office and relocated its corporate headquarters to Hunt Valley, Md. The company has over 1,000 employees at existing facilities in Maryland.

Mississippi

Viking Range Building Center in Starkville

Mississippi-based Viking Range Corp. is building a 37,000-square-foot R&D center near Mississippi State University in Starkville. Work at the new facility will center on the company's refrigeration products.

Casket Company Adds Second Shift in Mississippi

Batesville Casket Co. is adding 50 jobs to its facility in Batesville, Miss. that will fill a second production line. The company makes hardwood caskets that are sold all over the U.S.

Future Pipe To Expand in Harrison County

Future Pipe Industries will double the size of its original investment and triple the size of its original facility on Mississippi's Gulf Coast. The international pipe manufacturer with operations in Europe, the Far East, and the Mid East, will increase the size of their plant from 40,000 square feet to 140,000 square feet in two phases. Future Pipe's capital investment will increase from $7.5 million to $14 million over the two phases. The company announced that 300 jobs will be created over four to five years.

Missouri

Jobs Move From Colorado to KC

American Century is moving about 145 jobs from Littleton, Colo., to its existing operations in Kansas City. The mutual fund company is consolidating the Littleton facility to KC. American Century is headquartered in Kansas City.

Solae Expands in St. Louis

Solae, a soy processing, research and development company is investing $25 million to consolidate operations in the city of St. Louis rather than move to Indiana or Illinios. The expansion will retain 375 jobs and add 10 at the company's St. Louis facility.

Canadian Company Expanding Missouri Facility

Toronto-based Polytainers, Inc., is expanding its Lee's Summit, Mo. plant. The plastic injection molding plant will benefit from a $10 million makeover and Polytainers will add 100 new jobs.

North Carolina

Semiconductor Manufacturer Opens Research Center Near RTP

Infineon Technologies, which operates a chip plant in Richmond, Va., has opened a 100,000-square-foot research center in Cary, N.C., which is located in the Raleigh-Durham MSA and near the Research Triangle Park. The company has hired 75 workers as of this writing but expects to increase total employment to over 400.

IBM Ramping Up at RTP

After years of job cuts, IBM's still significant presence in North Carolina's Research Triangle Park will get a boost soon. IBM recently announced it will hire about 10,000 new workers in 2004 and the Raleigh-Durham area expects many of those will be at RTP. Even after years of cuts, IBM employs over 13,000 workers in RTP. Its Triangle operations remain the company's largest in the U.S.

Goodrich Consolidates Division to North Carolina

Goodrich is closing facilities in Ohio and New Jersey and is consolidating those operations at a 60,000-square-foot building in Monroe, N.C. The new facility will house Goodrich's aerospace systems remanufacturing operations. The plant will also serve as a parts distribution hub for the company's military and commercial aviation clients. Goodrich is based in nearby Charlotte.

GE Nuclear Energy Relocates to N.C.

GE Nuclear Energy is relocating its worldwide headquarters from San Jose, Calif. to Wilmington, N.C. GE/NE is one of several California-based companies that have relocated headquarters from California to the South this year. The company is hiring 200 workers for the new facility.

RJ Reynolds to Bring 1,000 New Jobs to N.C.

The merger of RJ Reynolds and Brown and Williamson will result in 1,000 new jobs in the Winston-Salem, N.C. area. The expansion could generate a $40 million to $50 million investment by the cigarette maker.

Lowe's Moves Into First Building Near Charlotte

The first phase of a $320 million customer-service center being built by Lowe's has been completed. This fall the company moved into a $90 million, 400,000-square-foot facility that will house as many as 1,500 workers. Eventually, Lowe's expects to house up to 8,000 new employees at its new center located near Charlotte in Mooresville, N.C.

Cabinet Manufacturer Expands in N.C.

Ultracraft, a maker of cabinets in Liberty, N.C., has announced it is investing over $4 million in an expansion. The company is adding over 50,000 square feet and hiring an additional 125 workers.

GlaxoSmithKline Opens New Plant

A new GlaxoSmithKline plant has opened in Zebulon, N.C. The 220,000-square-foot facility, where respiratory products will be produced, will house 250 workers. GSK currently employs more than 1,000 workers in Zebulon.

TransUnion to Employ 300 in Charlotte

Wilmington, Del.-based TransUnion, a financial services company, is adding 150 new positions in Charlotte as a result of its acquisition of Atlantic Assurance Group. TransUnion is consolidating two former AAG offices in Charlotte that employ 150 and will add another 150 workers, making its Charlotte office its Southeastern hub.

Cabinet Maker Adds 50 Jobs in Lincoln Co., N.C.

RSI Home Products, which manufactures bath cabinets, is adding 50 new jobs at its Lincoln County plant. The company is adding space to its 900,000-square-foot facility and investing almost $8 million in the expansion.

Acquisition Results in 72 New Jobs in Anson Co., N.C.

B&H Polymers has purchased Nationwide Recyclers in Polkton, N.C. to recycle polyester. The purchase will result in 72 new jobs and a $4 million investment in Anson County. The new company will change its name to B&H Recyclers, LLC.

Lucent Restructuring Again, Moves Jobs to Charlotte

Lucent Technologies is closing a plant in Missouri and relocating the work to an existing plant in Charlotte. About 60 of the 175 workers in Missouri will relocate to the Charlotte facility, which currently employs about 300.

Bank of America Hiring 340 in Charlotte

Charlotte-based Bank of America is adding 340 jobs at its home-equity division. The company already employs 2,000 at its facility in Gateway Village. B of A employs almost 14,000 in the Charlotte MSA.

Oklahoma

Quad/Graphics Opens in OKC

Quad/Graphics opened its 218,000-square-foot printing plant in Oklahoma City in the fall quarter. The facility employs 100 workers, but expects to expand to its original announcement of several years ago of 1,000 workers within three years. The plant is Quad's first west of the Mississippi River.

Best Buy Expands in Ardmore

Best Buy's Ardmore, Okla. distribution center is expanding from 450,000 square feet to 600,000 square feet. The project will be completed in the spring of 2004. The company plans to expand the facility to 1 million square feet in the near future. After the expansion is completed, the center will serve 120 Best Buy stores.

Boeing Adding 500 Jobs in Tulsa

Oklahoma's Boeing facility in Tulsa has been chosen to receive at least 500 new jobs beginning as early as next year to provide the fixed and moveable leading edges of the wing of the company's 7E7 Dreamliner. No assembly location has been chosen as of yet by Boeing for the 7E7.

OKC Company Adding Jobs

Food distributor Ben E. Keith Co. is moving its operations from a 97,000-square-foot facility to a new 285,000-square-foot facility it is building in Oklahoma City. The expansion will include 25 new jobs.

Oklahoma's MidAmerica Industrial Park Turns Two Deals

American Cast Iron Company (ACIPCO), a Birmingham, Ala.-based manufacturer of iron and steel products, is opening a foundry formerly owned by Mid-American Casting Corp. The foundry is located in the MidAmerica Industrial Park located in Pryor Creek, Okla. The foundry has been renamed American Castings. ACIPCO employs more than 3,000 people in the U.S. and will begin production at MidAmerica with about 150 employees. Also, RAE Corp., a manufacturer of air conditioning and heating coils, has purchased King Coil, which is located in MidAmerica. The company will expand the existing operations and add 150 jobs.

South Carolina

AvCraft Aviation Lands in Horry County

Virginia-based AvCraft Aviation has signed a 10-year lease for a substantial portion of the former Air Force hangar facilities at the Myrtle Beach International Airport. AvCraft will perform completions and maintenance functions on the Dornier 328 as well as other regional airline, corporate jet and turboprop-powered aircraft. About 100 jobs are expected to be created.

Big Deal in Laurens County

Plastics manufacturer Sterilite Corp. announced in late November it is building a two million-square-foot manufacturing and distribution facility in Clinton, S.C., which is located in Laurens County near Greenville. The Townsend, Mass.-based company is investing $65 million in the facility and expects to employ 600 at the new plant when fully operational.

Beach Fiber Locates in Williamsburg County

The newly created Beach Fiber Corp. is locating in the former Elastic Corp. facility in Hemingway, S.C. The company manufactures high tenacity filament yarn for the industrial fabric market. Beach Fiber plans to create 50 jobs and invest about $1.5 million in the deal.

Patterson Dental Announces New Distribution Center

Patterson Dental Co. announced in November the location of a new 100,000-square-foot distribution and logistics center in northeast Richland County near Columbia. The new $10 million facility is expected to employ 75 to 100 personnel.

Tennessee

Health Product Manufacturer Expanding in Memphis

New York-based Kaz, a maker of home health care products, is moving its distribution operations from Hudson, N.Y. to Memphis in a development that will create 400 new jobs. The company is also expanding its existing Memphis operations by 200,000 square feet to include a manufacturing line of its products.

HQ Moves from Oregon to Memphis

A manufacturer of high quality backpacks, luggage and handbags has moved its corporate headquarters from Bend, Ore., to Memphis. Glimpso, LLC, was founded in Oregon in 2002 and sells its products at Wal-Mart, Target, Kohl's, Family Dollar and Payless, among other retail outlets.

Huish Expands in Dyersburg, Tenn.

Huish Detergents is adding 100,000 square feet and 100 jobs to its laundry detergent plant in Dyersburg. The company makes All, Wisk and Surf brands.

Texas

Harley-Davidson Financial Expanding in Plano

Chicago-based Harley-Davidson Financial Services has leased 61,000 square feet of office space in Plano, Tex. in an expansion of its operations there. The company, which is a subsidiary of the famous motorcycle manufacturer, expects to employ up to 200 in the next three years at the new space.

Frisco, Tex. Beats Houston for Deal

Tenet Healthcare Corp. is locating its new central region business center in Frisco, located north of Dallas and not in Houston as previously reported. The Santa Barbara, Calif.-based health care giant has signed a lease on 55,000 square feet of office space in Frisco and will hire 270 at the facility.

Pharm Supplier Expands in Taylor, Tex.

Laboratory Tops, Inc., a maker of epoxy resin work counters and sinks for pharmaceutical manufacturers, is expanding its plant in the City of Taylor, Tex. The company is adding 30,000 square feet of space at its 85,000-square-foot plant and adding 200 workers.

Cabinet Maker Building 500,000 s.f. Plant

Trio Industries, a cabinet manufacturer, is constructing a 500,000-square-foot plant in Mesquitte, Tex. The company will employ 320.

ACS Hiring 600 in Austin

Affiliated Computer Services, a Dallas-based Medicaid claims processing company, has hired 600 workers in Austin and expects to hire as many as 1,000 by the end of the year. The company recently garnered a Medicaid contract previously handled by Electronic Data Systems.

Stanley Works Opens Plant in Garland

Stanley Works has opened a door manufacturing plant in Garland, Tex., located in the Dallas/Fort Worth MSA. The company has leased 80,000 square feet and hired 75 workers.

CertainTeed Picks Sherman, Tex.

CertainTeed Corp., is spending over $150 million in the retooling of a 545,000-square-foot facility in Sherman, Tex. The company will manufacture fiberglass duct liner at the plant and hire 200.

Samsung Expands in D/FW

Samsung Telecommunications announced this fall it is expanding its presence in Richardson, Tex. The company will lease over 120,000 square feet of space in the D/FW market. Samsung develops wireless and PDA devices in Richardson.

Nextel Adds Jobs in Temple, Tex.

Nextel, which opened its facility in Temple in 2001 with an annoucement to create 500 jobs, started the 2003 year with nearly 800 employees. Since February, the telecommunications company has added over 120 jobs.

Downtown Waco Site for Experience Works

Experience Works, the nation's largest provider of training and employment services for low-income, senior workers, announced this fall it is opening a regional service center in downtown Waco, Tex. The company will employ 30 initially.

Virginia

Dollar General Expands in South Boston

Dollar General, which opened a distribution center in South Boston, Va. in 1997 is once again expanding that facility. The giant retailer added 500,000 square feet to the center in 1999 and announced in November it would expand the warehouse again. This latest expansion will add 100 new jobs to the 600 already working at the facility.

Expansion in Danville

Essel Propack is spending over $10 million to expand its operations in Danville. The company looked at moving its operations to Mexico but will instead expand its work force with 53 new jobs in Danville.

Lumber Manufacturer Expands in Wythe County

Musser Lumber Sales is expanding its existing operations in Wythe Co., Va. The company is investing $3 million to expand lumber production and will add about 45 new workers at the plant.

Lockheed Spending $30M in Suffolk

Aerospace/aviation giant Lockheed Martin is locating a new R&D facility in Suffolk, Va., part of the large Hampton Roads MSA. The technology center will employ 50 persons initially in 50,000 square feet of new space.

Two Announcements Made in One Day in Martinsville/Henry Co., Va.

Defense contractor MZM, based in Washington, D.C., is buying a shell building in Martinsville and adding 150 new jobs. MZM provides information technology services to the federal defense and intelligence communities. The company recently secured a new contract with the U.S. Army National Ground Intelligence Center in Charlottesville, Va. MZM is investing $5 million in the deal. On the same day in early November that MZM announced its project, Globaltex, an international provider of chenille and textured yarn for upholstery products, announced it was investing $5 million in Henry County. The company is moving into a 77,000-square-foot building and will hire 154 workers.

HCA Adding Jobs in Virginia

Health care concern HCA is expanding in Chesterfield County, Va. The company is adding 160 jobs at its Patient Account Services Center. The company employs over 10,000 workers in Virginia.

West Virginia

High Tech Co. Relocates from Pittsburgh to WV

ebSource LLC, a high technology company, has relocated its Pittsburgh office to Wheeling, W.V., creating as many as 50 jobs with average salaries of $60,000. The company offers small businesses remote servers that avoid the costs of installing and maintaining local computer networks and connecting offices in multiple locations, telecommuters and employees on the road. ebSource CEO Kirk Mechlin said that high-speed connectivity in Wheeling was just as good as that found at its former office in Pittsburgh. The company chose a building in downtown Wheeling for its new operations.

Insurance Center Sets Up Shop in Summersville, W.V.

Global Contact Services announced in the fall it is adding its third facility in West Virginia that will house 200 new workers. GCS provides insurance services and products and employs more than 800 West Virginians. The new center, as with the other two, will be staffed by licensed insurance agents ready to answer media-generated inquiries.

Aerospace Manufacturer Opens in W.V.

This fall, FCX Systems celebrated the grand opening of the company's new 46,000-square-foot facility in Morgantown, W.V. FCX designs, manufactures and sells solid state frequency converters worldwide for commercial aviation, private, government, corporate and industrial lab applications. It has hired 70 workers at the new facility.

Cabinet Manufacturer Announces New Plant in W.V.

American Woodmark Corp., a supplier of kitchen cabinetry to the new construction and remodeling industry, is building a new 250,000-square-foot manufacturing plant in Hardy County, W.Va. The plant, to be located on a 40-acre site in the Robert C. Byrd Industrial Park, represents a $27 million investment by AMC. The company operates plants in six Southern states. The new Hardy County plant will house 300 workers.

QUIZ ANSWER

Fort Knox is located in Meade County, Kentucky. Where is Meade County? It's in the Louisville, Ky. MSA. Pat yourself on the back if you got that bonus question. Fort Knox is a large contributor to the Louisville area economy. Its payroll exceeds $600 million annually.