Audio clip
J. Ed Marston
With plans to upgrade both its Chattanooga plants, Dixie Industries aims to double its work force and add about 120 jobs in the city, officials said Thursday.
The company, which does specialty forging, will invest $5.5 million in a three-year expansion, said Ed Seiler, director of operations improvement for Dixie parent Columbus McKinnon Corp.
“With the economy the way it is, we’re doing some consolidation,” he said, adding the company is to close a facility in Iowa.
Mr. Seiler said plans are to add 100 jobs in Chattanooga the first year and about 20 in the second. He said a few others will be added in the third year. Mr. Seiler said the jobs will average about $16.31 an hour.
Dixie Industries has operations at East 14th Street and Orchard Knob Avenue. It forges such items as hooks, tiedowns and other metal products, supplying the forestry, logging, and towing industries.
David Kissell, Dixie’s general manager, said both facilities will receive upgrades. Those will include improving the electrical infrastructure and adding equipment.
Chuck Giesige, Columbus McKinnon’s vice president, said Chattanooga met all of the company’s needs.
“In making our decision we considered the quality, efficiency, productivity and customer-oriented focus of the work force,” he said.
Tom Edd Wilson, the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce’s chief executive, said at the Mayors Business and Industry Appreciation Breakfast the project was a competitive one.
Mr. Wilson said the 120 existing jobs at Dixie Industries were at risk prior to the decision to expand here.
Hamilton County Mayor Claude Ramsey noted Dixie has been employing residents for nearly 100 years.
“These are good, family-wage jobs,” he said.
Mayor Ron Littlefield said every jobs counts in tough economic times.
“We’ll do our part to provide the government services,” he said.
J.Ed. Marston, the Chamber’s vice president of marketing, said incentives were offered Dixie for its expansion, though he did not know the terms.
Job openings are expected in the early fall, according to the company. Slots will be posted at the Southeast Tennessee Career Center, it said. Applicants must apply at the center at 5600 Brainerd Road, Eastgate Town Center, Suite 5, next to the YMCA branch.
Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy Rick D. West, the Navy’s highest ranking enlisted officer and a Northwest Georgia High School graduate, addressed the breakfast group.
Mike Pare, the deputy Business editor at the Chattanooga Times Free Press, has worked at the paper for 27 years. In addition to editing, Mike also writes Business stories and covers Volkswagen, economic development and manufacturing in Chattanooga and the surrounding area. In the past he also has covered higher education. Mike, a native of Fort Lauderdale, Fla., received a bachelor’s degree in communications from Florida Atlantic University. he worked at the Rome News-Tribune before ...
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