by JOHN MCCURRY
One of Mississippi’s largest-ever industrial investments delivered not only an economic game changer for the state’s northeast corner, it brought life-changing employment opportunities to area residents.
Aluminum Dynamics’ plant in Lowndes County, which represents an investment of more than $2.5 billion, is close to being fully staffed, with about 750 employees. Ramp-up has been rapid. Construction began in 2023 and the first product was shipped two years later.
“It’s been impressive to see how quickly they have become vertical and operational, and they’ve already met their jobs promise. Their audited average is about $120,000 to $130,000 a year. The jobs they’ve created are life-changing jobs for some people,” says Meryl Fisackerly, chief development officer for Golden Triangle Development LINK (GTR LINK), the organization that guides economic development efforts in Clay, Lowndes and Oktibbeha counties. “It’s been great, seeing how much of a difference having these quality jobs in our community can make.”
Mark Millet, chairman and CEO of Steel Dynamics, Aluminum Dynamics’ parent company, said in an April 21 first quarter earnings call that the company is pleased with the project’s momentum and earlier-than-anticipated product certifications.
“We’re extremely excited by the physical production and quality capability of the mill today, especially this early in the startup,” Millet said. “We’re focused on achieving operational and quality consistency. We continue to believe we’ll be exiting 2026 at a monthly rate of 90% capacity.”
The 2,200-acre site includes 1,200 acres designated as a customer park.
“Aluminum Dynamics took the customer park, plotted it out, put in roads and water and wastewater infrastructure,” Fisackerly says. “All of the utilities are there on site.”
Kloeckner Metals is the first company to announce a facility in the customer park. The Alpharetta, Georgia–based company broke ground in October 2025 on a $90 million, 200,000-sq.-ft. aluminum processing facility. The plant will have the capacity of up to 250,000 tons to produce Aluminum Dynamics energy-efficient aluminum products.
Fisackerly anticipates about 10 companies will locate in the park in the coming years, with an estimated five coming in the next couple of years.
About 1,200 acres are reserved for customers, with each taking 25 to 40 acres. She emphasizes the park is indeed a customer park, not a supplier park. The concept offers ultimate speed to market: The companies that will locate in the customer park are ideally facilities that will consume Aluminum Dynamics products.
“The fewer hands touching their products, the more value is added,” she explains. “Aluminum has a shelf life, so the longer it sits on a truck, the more brittle it can become.”
Gregg Whigham, Aluminum Dynamics operations manager in Columbus, says co-located customers will benefit from just-in-time shipping from the mill and the ability to take the “largest coil size dimensions in the industry for maximum process yield benefit not available via over-the-road shipments.”
Aluminum Dynamics management says several other customers are actively considering joining Kloeckner in the customer park, but will leave it to the individual companies to make their announcements.
Aluminum Dynamics is just one example of advanced manufacturing in the greater Columbus area. Airbus Helicopters operates a final assembly line for light utility helicopters, producing more than 1,800 since opening in 2003. In 2018, the Columbus facility was designated as a Center of Excellence for Completions and assumed responsibility for the entire Airbus Helicopters North America region, according to Airbus.
Another company in Lowndes County using advanced manufacturing processes is Aurora Flight Sciences, a Boeing company, which is expanding its footprint near the Golden Triangle Regional Airport.
Aurora, which manufactures advanced composite components for military and commercial aircraft, opened its facility there in 2007 and has since expanded to more than 120,000 sq. ft.
When Aluminum Dynamics took 2,200 acres for its facility and adjacent customer park, that left the area without a certified megasite. There were several tracts available, but nothing approaching the land needed for a megasite, so GTR LINK rapidly assembled another megasite, which is now TVA-certified.
“We were looking around and realized we were about to be out,” Fisackerly says. “So, we immediately began working on developing our fifth megasite. We had a celebration for that site last May. All the due diligence has been done, and all the infrastructure has been planned and funded. Since then, we’ve had lots of looks and hosted several site visits. It’s just going to be a matter of time before we see the next tenant land.”