Worthington Industries announced today it is expanding its engineered cabs facility in Greeneville by 140 employees, with $14.25 million in related capital investment.
Worthington Corporate Communications Director Sonya Higginbotham said in an email this morning that the company, which manufactures customengineered operator cabs for industrial mobile equipment, is bringing to Greeneville four new product lines.
Three of the new products will be manufactured for Caterpillar, and one will be manufactured for John Deere.
The action will bring Worthington’s total employee count in Greeneville to about 460 by the time the expansion is complete hopefully by the end of 2015, Higginbotham said.
“We want to thank Worthington Industries for expanding in Tennessee and for the new jobs they’re creating in Greeneville and Greene County,” Gov. Bill Haslam.
“Part of our Jobs4TN strategy places a focus on companies already located in Tennessee, and today’s announcement is another step toward our goal of becoming the No. 1 location in the Southeast for high-quality jobs.”
Worthington will hire new workers in all areas of operations including fabrication, welding, painting and assembly, according to the state’s news release.
“We are pleased to expand the facility and add to the workforce in Greeneville,” Worthington Industries Engineered Cabs President John Lamprinakos said in the releases.
“We appreciate the support of the Greene County Partnership, Tennessee Valley Authority and the State of Tennessee as we develop this facility into a fullyintegrated lean manufacturing operation focused on safety, quality and delivery.”
The expansion at Greeneville’s plant comes after Worthington announced in March that it was closing an engineered-cabs plant in Florence, S.C.
At the time, company officials declined to say if an expansion in Greeneville was imminent. At least one other plant, located in South Dakota, was competing for the business freed up by the South Carolina plant’s closure.
In April, the Industrial Development Board of Greeneville and Greene County approved a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes program to offer to Worthington in the hope of wooing the company to expand here.
Incentives such as that plus local efforts to train the Worthington workforce for skilled positions made Greeneville an attractive location for an expansion, according to local and state officials.
“This project was competitive,” Greene County Partnership President and CEO Tom Ferguson said in the Partnership news release.
“The new welding programs available through the Greene Technology Center and Walters State Community College’s Workforce Solutions Center gave Greeneville the advantage of a skilled workforce, while the State of Tennessee and Tennessee Valley Authority provided attractive incentive packages.”
“Worthington Industries’ expansion in Greene County is the perfect example of what happens when we achieve workforce alignment,” Tennessee Economic and Community Development Commissioner Randy Boyd said in the state’s news release.
“Programs at the Greene Technology Center and Walters State Community College are training workers to develop the right kind of skills to fit into today’s advanced manufacturing careers, and that in turn allows companies like Worthington Industries to quickly fill open positions and continue expanding.
“I’m excited about their growth and these partnerships between industry and education.”
“TVA and Greeneville Light & Power System congratulate Worthington Industries on its plans to expand and add 140 new jobs in Greeneville,” TVA Senior Vice President of Economic Development John Bradley said.
“We are pleased to be partners with the State of Tennessee, the Greene County Partnership and other local community leaders to facilitate existing business and industry growth.”
Worthington’s Greeneville facility, located in Hardin Industrial Park, was established in 1999 as Angus-Palm Industries and was acquired by Worthington Industries in 2012.
The company is headquartered in Columbus, Ohio, with 2014 fiscal year sales of $3.1 billion.
It employs more than 11,000 individuals worldwide, has 83 operations located in 11 countries and has been named one of the “Best Companies to Work For in America” by Fortune magazine four times, according to Greene County Partnership President Tom Ferguson.
