The company will build a 100,000 square foot, state-of-the-art facility in the Smith-Thomas Technology Park near Interstate 40.

Lisega’s Tennessee presence is currently the German company’s only manufacturing facility in the United States.

“We are thrilled to relocate to Sevier County,” said Bob Beldyk, general manager of Lisega. “This relocation is the best scenario for all parties. It allows Lisega to maintain its current productive work force, while maintaining our ties to the Newport community.

“Furthermore, it achieves the goals of the company while retaining jobs for East Tennessee and provides the necessary environment for our future growth,” he added.” Our increased business makes it necessary for us to build new facilities and significantly increase our work force.”

Lisega, a worldwide leader in pipe support systems, is headquartered in Zeven, Germany, and was founded in 1964. Their standard products range from hangers, spring hangers and heavy-duty shock absorbers to individual customer-related products, such as special hangers and structural adaptations for the power generation market.

In order to retain these jobs, Cocke County partnered with Sevier County with the assurance from Lisega that anyone wanting to retain their job could do so.

“This is a very unusual situation, when a company relocates to a neighboring county, and both counties worked together with the state to insure that the move would be successful,” said Cocke County Mayor Iliff McMahan. “It could not have worked out better for the people of Cocke and Sevier counties.”

The relocation project is an example of regionalism, said Matt Kisber, commissioner of the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development.

“Cocke and Sevier counties worked in close collaboration to keep these jobs in the same division of the state, and their efforts represent perfectly the kind of cooperation among counties that we are trying to develop,” he said.

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