< Previous38 MI S S I S S I P P I D E V E L O P M E N T G UI D Ehe next time you trust your brakes to stop your car quickly, you may want to thank a worker in the Mississippi Delta region.On October 15, 2018, Gov. Phil Bryant and leaders from Hunter Engineering broke ground on the automotive supplier’s large expansion project in Durant in the Delta. The $8-million capital investment creates 60 new jobs and further establishes Hunter as a leader in wheel alignment and wheel balancing systems, tire changers, brake service equipment, alignment lifts and inspection lanes.“Hunter Engineering’s groundbreaking marks a significant milestone as the company takes the next step in creating new capital investment and 60 new jobs for workers in Holmes County,” Gov. Bryant said.The expansion includes an addition of 85,000 square feet to accommodate increased manufacturing, painting and shipping operations. The expansion also includes a 500-sq.-ft. workforce training area to support continuous employee development.“Gov. Bryant and his team have been essential to our growth in Mississippi, and we are excited about this milestone,” said Wayne Bowling, plant manager at Hunter’s Durant facility. “It is always great to host Gov. Bryant and other special guests onsite so that we can show off this world-class facility and our wonderful team here in Durant.”The Mississippi Development Authority provided help, as did the Delta Regional Authority. DRA is helping to extend the water lines, relocate city-owned electric utility poles and install new electrical equipment. DRA funds cover the cost of new transformers, conductors, switchboards and distribution panels to ensure that the plant receives safe and reliable power.by RO N S TA R N E RTD EL T A R E G I O NM I S S I S S I P P I D E V E L O P M E N T G U I D E 39“The Delta Regional Authority is proud to make vital infrastructure improvements that will play a key role in helping create new jobs and retain existing ones in Durant,” said DRA Chairman Chris Caldwell. “DRA’s investment in Hunter Engineering’s growth is a prime example of how DRA works with the state and local partners to create economic development in the Delta.”Hunter employs nearly 600 workers in Mississippi, with almost 200 of them employed in Durant. The new addition is scheduled to be completed by the end of 2020.Hunter is not alone. Throughout the Delta, companies in a variety of sectors — including food processing — are growing. In Greenville, Mars Food North America recently completed a sizable expansion of its Uncle Ben’s Rice production plant. The company recently celebrated 40 years of operation in Greenville. During that time, Mars Food has invested nearly $200 million into the site. Today, the facility is a zero-waste-to-landfill complex that covers 80 acres with more than 250,000 square feet of facility space. The plant produces 100,000 tons of rice per year, making it the largest Mars Food factory in the world.“For 40 years, Mars Food has helped fuel the growth of Greenville and the broader Mississippi Delta region by providing jobs, investing in the community and being an important partner to the state of Mississippi,” said Gov. Phil Bryant at the 40th-anniversary ceremony on September 26. “We’re honored to share this milestone with Mars Food in Greenville and hope to celebrate many more.”In recent years, folks in the Delta have gotten used to announcements like these. Often called “The Most Southern Place on Earth,” the Delta has forged a reputation as also being one of the most welcoming places on the planet for new and expanding businesses.At 200 miles long and 87 miles across at its widest point, the Delta region has plenty of room for growth. Moreover, the Delta communities of Tunica, Coahoma, Washington, Sunflower and Yazoo City have all been certified as ACT Work Ready locations. “We have more than 840 silver certificates in Washington County,” said Cary Karlson, executive director of the Washington County Economic Alliance in Greenville. “We have 2,000-plus silver certificates in the surrounding area. We have reached 95 percent of our goal.”Various regional entities have banded together to form a plan to recruit companies. They call the plan Delta Strong, notes Karlson. “Our region has a workforce of 300,000 people, and we have a strong base of manufacturing and agriculture,” he said. “Our targets right now are metalworking and food processing, but we also have a strong base in automotive.”With non-stop flights to Nashville and Dallas out of Greenville, it’s easy for companies to visit the Delta and establish operations there.Mississippi Delta Community College in Moorhead serves the area, and Capps Technology Center performs workforce training for the region.“We have the talent to be able to do most jobs, and we have several very good sites and buildings,” said Karlson. “We have the talent to be able to do most jobs, and we have several very good sites and buildings.”—Cary Karlson, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, WASHINGTON COUNTY ECONOMIC ALLIANCEPHOTO BY SHAY LA’VEE40 MI S S I S S I P P I D E V E L O P M E N T G UI D E40 MI S S I S S I P P I D E V E L O P M E N T G UI D EE A S T M I S SI S SI P P IHOW A ROBUST TRANSPORTATION NETWORK IS PROPELLING EAST MISSISSIPPI TO NEW HEIGHTS.by RO N S TA R N E Rn a place known more for growing cotton, workers will soon be installing America’s next line of air and missile defense.The Raytheon Company announced last May that it would expand its defense manufacturing business in Forest in East Mississippi. A new building will serve as a hub for test, integration and production of s-band radars, including the U.S. Navy’s next-generation SPY-6, Air and Missile Defense Radar program.“Construction of a new radar production facility is the next step in our decades-long partnership with the state of Mississippi and its highly skilled workforce,” said Wes Kremer, president of Raytheon’s Integrated Defense Systems business. “Together we will integrate, test and deliver the most technologically advanced military radar systems to our U.S. and international customers.”The new 50,000-sq.-ft., LEED-certified facility represents a $100-million capital investment for Raytheon in East Mississippi and is expected to create dozens of new jobs in the Forest area over the next five years. The facility will become the newest addition to Raytheon’s existing Consolidated Manufacturing Center campus in Forest, which will continue uninterrupted delivery on mission-critical commitments across the airborne radar and electronic warfare markets.In 2017, Raytheon registered sales of $25 billion and employed 64,000workers globally. The company is a technology and innovation leader specializing in defense, civil government and cybersecurity solutions. The 96-year-old company has customers in more than 80countries and is headquartered in Waltham, Mass.IM I S S I S S I P P I D E V E L O P M E N T G U I D E 41M I S S I S S I P P I D E V E L O P M E N T G U I D E 41Raytheon is also not alone in investing heavily into the East Mississippi region anchored by Meridian. Inbound customer contact center operator iQor employs 420workers in the region; Office products distributor employs 250; and Peavey Electronics employs 250.According to a labor shed study conducted by The Pathfinders, the region boasts a population of 526,500 and a civilian labor pool of 234,200 within a 65-mile radius of Meridian.Logistics is the big driver for the region. Through its annual Warehouse Network Study, Chicago Consulting has regularly recognized Meridian as a top location for distribution in the Southeast U.S. Located about halfway between Jackson and Tuscaloosa, the Meridian MSA and the surrounding East Mississippi region serve logistics markets across the Deep South.Meridian is also located within a day’s drive of 55 percent of the U.S. population and rests at the congruence of Interstates 20 and 59 and U.S. Highways 11, 45 and 80. Two state highways — 19 and 39 — serve the region, as do four major rail carriers: Norfolk Southern, Kansas City Southern, Meridian Southern and Meridian & Bigbee.Meridian Regional Airport’s 10,003-foot runway, with two instrument landing approaches, is the longest public-use runway in the state. The airport provides commercial air service via American Eagle ExpressJet.Prime development sites are available at five area industrial parks: South Industrial Park, Central Industrial Park, I-20/59 Industrial Park, the Kewanee Mega-Site and G.V. Sonny Montgomery Industrial Park. All are on or near I-20.Employers will also be intrigued by the available labor pool from exiting military. The Meridian Naval Air Station has 3,000 military and civilian workers. On top of that, Rush Health Systems employs 2,465, while Anderson Regional Health System employs 1,343. M I S S I S S I P P I D E V E L O P M E N T G U I D E 41lthough there’s no clear record to confirm it, local lore has it that a newspaper publisher in eastern Mississippi, in a rallying cry after World War II, declared the rural counties of Lowndes, Clay and Oktibbeha to be an economic “Golden Triangle.” Given the poverty that plagued the region, that probably seemed overly optimistic. But fast-forward to the present and the moniker fits.With the towns of West Point, Starkville and Columbus as its points, the Golden Triangle today has become an unlikely hub of technology-based manufacturing, the type of factory work that requires brainpower over brawn. Boasting an abundant pool of labor, a bustling regional airport, a flow of skilled engineers from Mississippi State University, lots of available land and an aggressive economic development strategy, the three-county enclave has attracted some $6.43 billion in industry and investments since 2003, including a high-tech steel foundry, a prolific engine factory, two drone plants, a helicopter plant and a huge tiremaker.Joe Max Higgins, who as CEO HOW A “WIDE SPOT IN THE ROAD” BECAME A POWERHOUSE OF ADVANCED MANUFACTURING.by G A RY DA U G H T E R SAA D V AN C E D MAN U F A C TU R I N G42 MI S S I S S I P P I D E V E L O P M E N T G UI D EM I S S I S S I P P I D E V E L O P M E N T G U I D E 43of Golden Triangle Development LINK has helped to spearhead the region’s industrial boom, says the arrival of advanced manufacturing in the erstwhile “Black Prairie” has created more than 6,500 quality jobs, including some that pay more than six figures a year.“It might not sound like much compared to your big metro areas,” says Higgins, “but when you’re a small, wide spot in the road in the South, it’s a big deal. I’m not dissing on tourism jobs or restaurant jobs or service-related jobs, but these primary jobs really move the needle.”For Higgins, the embryonic moment came in 2004, when the Tennessee Valley Authority pre-cleared a 1,400-acre parcel in Lowndes County as a “Megasite,” thus ready for immediate, large-scale development.“We were the first TVA-certified Megasite,” says Higgins. “We got certified in August of 2004. In October, the steel mill walked in.”The steel mill, constructed at the Lowndes County site by SeverCorr, turned out to be the region’s first big win, worth an initial $600 million. “It changed our lives,” says Higgins.Purchased in 2007 by Indiana-based Steel Dynamics, the plant today employs some 800 people at an average wage of $112,000, Higgins says. In June of 2018, Steel Dynamics, which rolls out 3.4 million tons of finished steel from the plant each year, announced plans for a $200-million expansion, adding 45 more jobs and bringing the total investment to $2billion.“Steel Dynamics’ continued investment in its Columbus operations plays an important role in strengthening the local community and providing hundreds of good-paying jobs to the people of Lowndes County,” says Gov. Phil Bryant. “The Golden Triangle,” says Bryant, “is a strong manufacturing hub with a skilled workforce, which provides companies with ample opportunities for growth.”With the steel mill triumph as a template, the Golden Triangle has continued to assemble Megasites. PACCAR, one of the world’s biggest engine makers, claimed one such site near Golden Triangle Regional Airport in 2007, and now produces one-tenth of the nation’s truck engines there. The Washington-based company has invested $650million in the plant and currently employs some 600 Mississippians.“It’s pronounced puh-CAR,” says the colorful and quotable Higgins, “but here in Mississippi, we say ‘PACK-car.’”In 2013, Yokohama Tire Manufacturing built a plant on a Megasite in Clay County that now employs about 650 workers. The expected four-phase project, still in phase one, could yield an eventual investment of more than a billion dollars.“Yokohama is thrilled to be in Mississippi, which is a business-friendly state with a successful workforce training network,” says Osamu Zushi, president of Yokohama Tire Manufacturing Mississippi. 44 MI S S I S S I P P I D E V E L O P M E N T G UI D EYokohama, says Zushi, “is now an important part of a diversified local industrial sector that is made up of steel coil production, diesel engine production and helicopter assembly, to name a few.”Airbus Helicopters anchors the region’s “military-industrial complex,” as Higgins calls it, and builds the Army’s UH-72A Lakota light utility helicopter in Columbus. The Airbus plant employs about 200 workers, nearly 40-percent of whom are military veterans, and recently won a $273-million contract to make 35 more choppers for the Army. Other defense contractors include Aurora Flight Sciences, a subsidiary of Boeing, and Israel-based Stark Aerospace. Aurora makes unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) in Columbus and currently employs about 150 people. Stark, another maker of UAVs, employs about 100. Mississippi State in Starkville, which graduates some 700 engineers a year, “is instrumental in everything we do,” says Higgins. The Center for Manufacturing Technology Excellence (CMTE) at East Mississippi Community College offers training in areas such as mechatronics, automotive, drafting and design, industrial maintenance and electrical technology and is set to open a new $42-million training facility at Golden Triangle Industrial Aerospace Park.The successes of the Golden Triangle have drawn the interest of Harvard Business School, which dispatched 20 professors to try to ascertain the area’s secret sauce. “You always wonder when you go to a place that’s received such glowing reviews if it will live up to its billing,” said Jan Rivkin, the school’s Senior Associate Dean for Research. “The Golden Triangle did that and then some.”Higgins, who is fond of football metaphors, says it comes down to “blocking and tackling,” or the fundamentals.“I’m kind of weary,” he says, “that everyone in economic development is looking at bike trails and craft breweries and those kinds of things. You’ve got to do the blocking and tackling of having land, buildings, infrastructure and workforce. I’m telling you, there’s still a damn good future for advanced manufacturing in most of middle America.” M I S S I S S I P P I D E V E L O P M E N T G U I D E 45here they are, lined up along a map of the Mississippi coastline like three dots on a domino: Port Bienville, the Port of Gulfport and the Port of Pascagoula. Together with a loop from the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway and the Mississippi River, they comprise a waterborne commerce system growing ever more pivotal to industry and to the state’s economy.On December 1, 2018, the Port of Gulfport held a Restoration Celebration to recognize the completion of the construction phase of the Port’s $570-million restoration since Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast in 2005. Funding for the project came from an investment in federal money made available by Congress through the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. In November 2017, the Army Corps of Engineers released the Record of Decision (ROD) for the Port of Gulfport Expansion Project, paving the way for a 282-acre dredge and fill program for further expansion of the port’s operations. “The innovative decision to invest in the Port of Gulfport following Hurricane Katrina has not only expanded the Port’s footprint but has attracted new tenants and private investments,” said a port announcement, “while also implementing workforce training programs and community outreach efforts that will aid in developing job skills for the Gulf Coast workforce.”That workforce will be needed. In April IMPROVEMENTS AT MISSISSIPPI PORTS MEAN STRONGER LINKAGES TO GLOBAL COMMERCE.by A DA M B R U N STP O R T S & W A T E R W A Y S2018, the Mississippi State Port Authority and YilPort Holding A.S., a subsidiary of Turkish conglomerate Yildirim Holding A.S., executed a letter of intent (LOI) to allow for due diligence and negotiations regarding the potential location of the global terminal operator at the Port of Gulfport, marking YilPort’s first terminal investment in North America. Among Yildirim Holding’s global operations across industry sectors ranging from shipbuilding to logistics to chemical production and metals is a ferroalloys production and refining facility in Butler, Pennsylvania.“As we continue discussions with YilPort, the Port of Gulfport has a unique opportunity to evaluate a private-public partnership (PPP) that could lead to a significant investment in additional infrastructure and provide both parties with increased global coverage,” said Port Executive Director and CEO Jonathan Daniels. “Our central location will allow YilPort to further expand international trade lanes from Gulfport and increase cargo throughput.”A unique component of Yildirim’s investment portfolio is their 24-percent stake in CMA CCGM Group, the third largest container shipping company in the world.“Since we believe that we have very good know-how, with the expertise in multi-purpose port operations globally, we are committed to the Mississippi State Port Authority to upgrade and improve terminal productivity and services due to the lack of investments in many U.S. ports,” said Robert Yuksel Yildirim, chairman of YilPort Holding. “We will be applying state-of-the-art port technologies at Gulfport in order to make it the most competitive in the region. We see a great potential to feed volume particularly refrigerated goods to Gulfport from YilPort terminals in Ecuador, Peru and Latin America to reach the USA Midwest. There is further potential in leveraging the company’s trading subsidiary to handle containerized liquid and bulk products out of the U.S. Gulf Coast region for small and medium-sized shippers.”Mississippi’s Blue Economy extends well beyond shipping, however. Adjacent to the Port of Gulfport, the new $93-million Mississippi Aquarium is rising, projected to open in late 2019 or early 2020. In August 2018, the port welcomed the giant acrylic panels for the aquarium’s habitats, shipped from Rome, Italy, by manufacturer CLAX Italia. The largest panel, made for the main habitat area, weighs over 40 tons.“As we diversify our operations, we continue to look for ways the Port of Gulfport can support the region’s business community, specifically when it contributes to growing Mississippi’s Blue Economy,” said Jonathan Daniels. “The arrival of the acrylic in Gulfport allowed us the unique opportunity to grow a partnership with Mississippi Aquarium, while also showcasing the port’s M I S S I S S I P P I D E V E L O P M E N T G U I D E 47cargo handling capabilities. We are honored to assist the Aquarium and support the next phase of economic development on the Mississippi Gulf Coast.”HANCOCK COUNTY MOVES TOWARD DUAL RAIL CAPABILITYIn September 2018, the Hancock County Port and Harbor Commission announced it had received a grant of up to $50,000 to “develop available sites that meet the needs of prospective businesses” in south Mississippi, courtesy of the Site Development Grant Program administered by the Mississippi Development Authority (MDA). The Port Bienville Industrial Park (PBIP) will be the recipient of the grant funding, for site development at one of the industrial park’s two sites identified as Project Ready Certified Sites by Mississippi Power Company.“Hancock County, Mississippi’s Port Bienville Industrial Park, now in its 55th year of operation, has much to commend it,” says Beau Gex, interim director of Port Bienville. “Fourteen tenants, providing jobs for more than 700 employees, have both water access and short-line connecting rail options at their disposal. In 2018, the initial phase of a $17-million investment in infrastructure improvements has resulted in renovated dock facilities, and new storage-track areas and rail spurs have extended the property’s rail line to 22 miles. For 2019, Port Bienville’s focus will be on optimization of usable space along the industrial canal to leverage marketing of shovel-ready parcels to prospective tenants; creation and renovation of dock facilities; and construction of a new multi-modal facility.”The 3,600-acre PBIP, whose tenants include a sizable polymers cluster, currently has 19 sites, owned by the port and harbor commission (meaning quick action), ready to be parceled and customized. Port Bienville is a shallow-draft port with a 12-foot channel, 600 feet of dock space, three primary berths and an additional 300-foot berth and turning basin. PBIP’s shortline rail connects to CSX, while heavy-haul trucking roads move goods to multiple connections including I-10, I-12, I-59 and U.S. Highways 49and 90. The shortline extension connects with the Norfolk Southern Railroad near Nicholson in Pearl River County, to provide Port Bienville with access to dual Class I rail service and a connection to opportunities allied with Stennis Space Center. Next >