Fischer says it's the success stories like Nissan and OTICS that drive Tennessee's prosperity. The DECD set a goal to recruit $40 billion in capital investment during Gov. Sundquist's two four-year terms. Through year six, the state had landed $29 billion in new projects, including a record $7 billion in corporate investment in 2000.
      In the automotive sector, Tennessee is the fourth largest producer of cars and light trucks in the country, employing 151,000 workers representing an annual payroll of $6.1 billion. More than 800 automotive suppliers call Tennessee home; fully 25 percent of them will expand their operations this year.
      Despite the slowing national economy and the downturn in U.S. auto sales, Fischer reported that Tennessee's total for capital investment through the first six months of 2001 exceeds the figure the state had for the same period last year.
      "We continue to see major project announcements like the joint venture between Johnson Controls and Toyota in Jackson, Tenn.," Fischer notes. "Many significant projects have been announced in just the last eight or nine months. Many are occurring in our smaller communities."
      While Nashville, Memphis, Knoxville and Chattanooga continue to attract the lion's share of capital expansion, Tennessee recently landed major investments in several smaller towns. Since Jan. 1, the state has secured:

• A 200-employee, 500,000-sq.-ft. (46,500-sq.-m.) bottling facility for The Perrier Group at Bennett Hill Spring in Macon County. The company estimates that investment in spring development, land and a plant could top $100 million.
• A 100-employee, 58,000-sq.-ft. (5,394-sq.-m.) expansion valued at $12 million by Toyo Seat in Pelham in Grundy County. Toyo is a tier 2 automotive manufacturer of seat frames and mechanisms and supplies such tier 1 manufacturers as Johnson Controls, Visteon and Magna.
• A $33 million capital infrastructure investment by Charter Communications at its headquarters in Kingsport. The expansion includes a $5 million master control center and extension of the company's fiber-optic network to Knoxville.

      Tennessee's largest private capital investment of 2000 came from the Saturn Corp., which announced a $1.43 billion expansion at its automotive assembly operation in Spring Hill. Altogether, seven of the 10 largest facility expansions announced in Tennessee last year went to cities other than "the Big Four."
      Two such communities recording strong years were Kingsport and Clarksville. Kingsport secured Tennessee's third largest pr oject of 2000 when Willamette Industries announced it would invest $475 million into a paper products manufacturing facility.

Largest Corporate Facility Projects in Tennessee Jan. 1, 2000 through June 30, 2001
Company	Location	Product	Investment (US)
Saturn Corp.	Spring Hill	Automobiles	$1.5 billion
Nissan	Decherd	Engines/transaxles	$500 million
Willamette	Kingsport	Paper products	$475 million
Calpine Corp.	Brownsville	Electric power	$430 million
Williams Refinery	Memphis	Oil refinery	$265 million
Bush Brothers	Chestnut Hill	Baked beans	$100 million
Knology	Knoxville	Cable TV services	$75 million
Johns Manville	Etowah	Fiberglass roofing	$47 million
Knoxville News-Sen.	Knoxville	Newspaper publishing	$45 million
Slim-Fast	Covington	Diet foods/drinks	$40 million
Discover Financial	Memphis	Credit-card services	$40 million

      Kingsport also made headlines in January when it became the first city in the nation to adopt a K-14 education program. The program, called "Educate and Grow," offers graduating high school seniors the opportunity to receive two years of college education free. Sullivan County followed suit and adopted a similar program.
      "Graduates, whose parents have resided in Kingsport for one year, can now attend Northeast State Technical Community College for two years free," says Pam Cox, communications coordinator for the Kingsport Area Chamber of Commerce. "All credits transfer to East Tennessee State University, a neighboring university. Therefore, students have the option of obtaining a two-year associate degree or having the two years of free courses transferred to ETSU to continue their education at a four-year institution."
      The second part of the Educate and Grow initiative creates the Regional Center for Applied Technology. The center is a satellite campus of the community college and will offer high-tech training to the area's existing work force and new students. More than $1 million in federal funds have been secured to build the center.
      Kingsport Economic Development Partnership Director Scott Welmaker says the Educate and Grow initiative "sends a strong message to our young people" and gives Kingsport a boost for economic development. "Having a well-trained and educated work force is definitely a plus for economic development," he says. "Also, having the only K-14 educational system in the country is a tremendous marketing tool when recruiting new business and industry to move to your city. An extended educational system is not only a work-force preparedness issue, but also a quality-of-life issue."
      The Clarksville-Montgomery County Economic Development Council also reported strong gains in 2000. The largest was a $17 million industrial expansion by SPX CONTECH/Metal Forge Co. The firm said it would add to its metal forging operations with die-casting capital improvements and 40 to 50 new employees.
      "This opportunity will give us the competitive advantage to not only keep our Clarksville facility open, but also to improve operations, become profitable again and eventually grow our employment base," SPX controller Gary Smith said at the announcement.
      For the year, Clarksville-Montgomery County reported $42.4 million in new manufacturing projects. Others included a $13.5 million expansion by Florim USA, a $7.5 million expansion by U.S. Zinc and a $4 million facility for Purity Zinc Metals.