Plastics, Rubber Industries Cast Long Shadows in Tri-Cities Area of Northeast Tennessee

JOHNSON CITY, Tenn., Feb. 24 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Plastics and rubber industry jobs figure heavily in the Tri-Cities region of Northeast Tennessee not only in terms of job numbers, but also in workforce training initiatives and sustainable economic momentum.

Together, plastics and rubber manufacturers account for nearly 9,000 jobs, a major portion of the eight-county region's manufacturing workforce.

"They move here because we're an interstate hub, we're close to many of their clients -- especially the auto industry -- and we have affordable electricity," said Tom Ferguson of the Regional Alliance for Economic Development. "But another major factor is the region's longstanding workforce experience in plastics and rubber production."

That workforce expertise is attributable in large part to Eastman Chemical, which has its world headquarters in Kingsport.  An early innovator in deriving chemicals from coal rather than petroleum, and winner of the 1993 Malcolm Baldridge Quality Award, Eastman has long been a leader in regional workforce training. The company recently joined forces with paper manufacturer Domtar to create the Regional Center for Advanced Manufacturing in downtown Kingsport. The new center houses training and apprenticeship programs as well as Northeast State Technical Community College's electrical-, mechanical- and technical-degree programs, and is part of the Academic Village, an award-winning downtown cluster of educational facilities.

Another major employer is DTR Tennessee, Inc. which supplies anti-vibration and hose products to the automotive industry. DTR accounts for some 1,250 employees and an overall investment of more than $235 million in the region.  DTR Tennessee, whose customers include Toyota, Honda, Nissan, and Ford, is a subsidiary of Tokai Rubber Industries. Ltd.

"We were looking for a location in the Southeast since a lot of our business moved here," said Cal Doty DTR Vice President for Human Resources. "We looked all over and felt most comfortable here because of the workforce and the economic development folks who assisted us in finding property."

Northeast Tennessee is home also to LMR Plastics, one of the largest custom molders in the Southeast. LMR serves telecommunications, auto and trucking, consumer products, telecommunications, and the lawn and garden industries.

"One advantage of being headquartered in East Tennessee is the caring, can-do culture of the people in this area," said Brian Ferguson, Eastman's executive chairman, and a member of the Regional Alliance's board of directors, who speaks of  "a pipeline of skilled workers for generations to come."

For more information about the Tri-Cities of Northeast Tennessee and Southwest Virginia, contact Tom Ferguson at the Regional Alliance at (423) 323-8107 or [email protected].

Media representation: Clark Miller Communications.

SOURCE The Regional Alliance for Economic Development