McKee Foods Corp. has expanded its plant in Collegedale, Tenn., in the Chattanooga metro, a move that will create at least 175 jobs and amount to an investment of more than $50 million. The expansion will double the size of the plant.
Jack McKee, CEO of the company, said the plant expansion will house production lines to increase capacity for new products.
Collegedale was chosen for the expansion project because of its strong labor market, the central location to the market the company wants to serve, and the fact that the Chattanooga area has historically produced a good business climate for the company, McKee said.
“We could have built the expansion in another state where we already have a similar operation,” he noted.
McKee Foods has more than 3,100 employees in the Chattanooga metro and annual sales of more than $1 billion. The company is best known for its line of Little Debbie brand snack cakes.
Also in Chattanooga, automotive supplier Leggett & Platt Inc., the parent company of Modern Industries LLC, recently announced an expansion of Modern Industries’ facility. The expansion is anticipated to bring in 146 new jobs within three years and represents an investment of $10.2 million in machinery, equipment and facility improvements.
The expansion at Modern Industries is consistent with Leggett & Platt’s announcement last year to restructure its manufacturing footprint in North America.
Many of the new jobs to be introduced at Modern Industries will be transferred from a Leggett & Platt facility in Ohio that is scheduled for consolidation. Modern Industries currently employs 225 people at its main facility in Lookout Valley, Tenn.
The new operation will be located in a former knitting facility, also in Lookout Valley.
Modern Industries primarily makes wire frames and seat components for the automotive seating market.
“Leggett & Platt has made a strategic decision to grow our Chattanooga facility,” said Jeff McCay, general manager of Modern Industries. “Our company has expressed a tremendous amount of confidence in our work force, and we are proud to play a key role in Leggett & Platt’s continued growth in the automotive market.”
DC Opens in Memphis Metro
Imation Corp., a provider of removable data storage, opened a 364,000 square foot distribution center (DC) in the Memphis metro that will serve customers across North America.
The DC is tied to Imation’s acquisition earlier this year of Memorex. The Memphis metro DC consolidates the operations of Memorex DCs in Virginia, California and Tennessee, along with an Imation facility in Kansas City, Mo.
“The opening of our [DC] marks another important milestone in the successful integration of Memorex and Imation operations,” said Bruce Henderson, chairman and CEO of Imation.
In Knoxville, Christensen Yachts will build a $20 million, 400,000 square foot facility on the shores of Tellico Lake. The company will build ultra high-end yachts costing up to $50 million at the new plant.
Construction is scheduled to start this year and be completed in two years.
Joe Foggia, president of the Vancouver, Wash.,-based company, said the plant initially will have 500 employees, but he added that plans call for doubling that number in six years.
The new facility will be built on Tellico Reservoir Development Agency property. Tellico Lake was built by the Tennessee Valley Authority in the late 1970s.
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