The next big thing in western Tennessee is just a continuation of its last big thing: Bodine Aluminum's $40-million, 20-employee expansion is coming just seven months after it opened its initial $124-million, 25-employee plant.
      The Toyota subsidiary's plant is located on 200 acres (81 hectares) in the city's Airport Industrial Park. Its growth means a boost in cast aluminum parts for Toyota transmission cases and housings to the level of 270,000 by 2007.
      The expansion comes in parallel with an expansion of Toyota's transmission plant in Buffalo, W. Va., announced three days prior on April 29.
      The Jackson plant expects to begin engine block casting by December 2005. Eventual goals for plant include the production of 1 million engine blocks and the employment of some 200 people.
      At the state's other end, the much-coveted designation of "megasite" has been awarded by TVA to a parcel at Enterprise South Industrial Park in Chattanooga-Hamilton County, where more than 1,600 acres (648 hectares) await a suitor. The property is located adjacent to I-75, and an interchange that will lead directly to the park is currently under construction. Economic developers have made it known that automobile manufacturers are their primary targets for the site.