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Advantage Mississippi
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A  SITE  SELECTION  SPECIAL  FEATURE  FROM  JANUARY 2002
Mississippi


Advantage Mississippi
Lures More Projects
Mississippi's Second Wave
JACKSON, Miss.-- At press time, a second group of automotive suppliers announced investments in Mississippi to supply the Canton, Miss., Nissan plant. Four new production plants, a supplier logistics center and a transportation service center will be developed in central Mississippi. Investments will total more than US$110 million and will create 1,000 jobs. Projects include the following:
M-TEK Inc.
will supply interior trim components from its Central Miss-issippi Industrial Center location in Madison County.
TKA Fabco
was awarded a significant amount of body stamping and assembly work by Nissan's Canton plant.
Unipres U.S.A. Inc.
will also supply body stampings for Nissan vehicles built in Canton.
Yorozu America Inc.
is locating in Vicksburg's Ceres Industrial Park from which it will supply various suspension components.
AJA SouthStar Transport,
a newly formed transportation company, will deliver parts to the Canton plant from Nissan's plants in Smyrna and Decherd, Tenn. A Mississippi-based company will build the logistics center on Nissan's site in Madison County -- final negotiations of the partner companies are being completed. Auto suppliers committed to using the facility include the following:
  • AP Technoglass Co., Florence, Ky., will provide glass assemblies
  • Carlex Glass Co., Vonore, Tenn., glass assemblies
  • Douglas Autotech Corp., Bronson, Mich., steering columns
  • Nissan Trading Corp. USA, Farmington Hills, Mich., fasteners
  • Yazaki North America Inc., Canton, Mich., wire harnesses.

    The state, overall, has been very competitive in ways that have helped Nissan with its Canton facility. From the get-go, Mississippi officials pushed to get the deal sealed, taking a mere five months to land the project -- compared to the industry norm of 12 to 18 months. And within five months of the November 2000 announcement, Nissan celebrated groundbreaking ceremonies in early 2001.
      The biggest step the state took in helping Nissan come to Canton was the passage of Advantage Mississippi just prior to the Nissan announcement. In a special session in the late summer of 2000, the state passed the comprehensive economic development package (for more details, see the January 2001 issue of Site Selection, pg. 84), which helped provide Nissan with some $295 million in state incentives.
      The Advantage Mississippi program is expected by many to take the state to the next level of competition for large-dollar projects. "That program has put the state in the forefront of a lot of people's minds in that they're saying, 'Wow, look at what they're willing to do. Look how aggressive they are,'" explains Rohrlack.
      Gov. Musgrove says the plan "took Mississippi to first place in key indicators against our six major competing states. We announced three plant locations within the last two weeks, and each one gave as a significant reason provisions of the Advantage Mississippi initiative." The passage of the program followed by Nissan's announcement and the more recent supplier announcements, says Gov. Musgrove, "sends a clear, strong, loud signal that Mississippi can handle a project of any size, and it can compete with any one, any where, any time." Site Selection

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