The Leader - November/December 2008 - (Page 70)

T H E GEOR G I A R E P O R T : A TH R IVIN G STAT E FA CES CH A NG E S I N THE NAT I O NAL E CO NO MY ern suburbs. Additionally, General Protect Group, which manufactures electrical plugs, is investing $30 million and creating 240 jobs in Barnesville, Ga., south of Atlanta. Another Indian high-tech ﬁrm, Onward Technologies, is bringing 200 new jobs and a $30 million investment with its Atlanta software development center. After a decade of offshore outsourcing, the tide is starting to turn. “India and China offer great opportunities to reverse the trend, so to speak,” Gant said. “We’re going to see more investment from these countries.” It’s not just Asia, though. Invesco has moved its international headquarters from London to Midtown Atlanta, while UCB Pharma moved its U.S. headquarters to metro Atlanta in 2007. TravelPort is moving its North American headquarters and data center – and 1,300 new jobs – to metro Atlanta, and Finnish chemicals ﬁrm Kemira has announced plans for a $30 million to $35 million North American research and development center at Technology Enterprise Park, which is adjacent to Georgia Tech. “We’re seeing a lot of success in all kinds of different sectors,” Gant said. “From an economic development standpoint, we’ve really beefed up our international recruitment program, and it’s really starting to show. That’s where we think the opportunities are for the immediate future and the long term.” It’s not just metro Atlanta, either. Kia expects to employ approximately 2,900 in Troupe County, with suppliers adding another 2,600. Kumho Tire had already made a $225 million commitment to Bibb County in middle Georgia before Kia announced its new plant, and, as a fortunate coincidence, the Korean tire manufacturer will supply the Korean auto maker. Another tire manufacturer, Japan’s Toyo Tire, has begun manufacturing operations in Cartersville, north of Atlanta. In Efﬁngham County, near the Georgia coast, EFACEC, a Portuguese transformer manufacturer, is building a $100 million manufacturing facility that will bring more than 600 jobs to southeast Georgia. Of course, retention and expansion are S PEC IA L just as important as attracting new industries and can play a crucial role in the economic and community development of smaller communities. In rural Crawford County, Toronto-based Arriscraft opened manufacturing operations in the late 1990s, making an initial $10 million investment and creating 50 jobs, which now has grown to 100. With economic development and ﬁnancing assistance from Georgia Electric Membership Corp. (EMC), Arriscraft recently announced plans to add 50 more employees to its middle Georgia plant. “When it comes to industry retention, that’s part of the customer service we provide for our EMCs,” said Joe Riley, economic development manager of Georgia EMC, which assists 42 EMCs across the state in their economic development mission. “We get involved in a lot of different 2 0 0 8 T H E LE ADE R ways. We like to work on the big ones, but we get a special feeling working with a big company in a small community.” Georgia EMC generally plays a vital support role for state economic development efforts, particularly in the state’s second-tier metro areas and small towns. For example, Georgia EMC’s technical services division provided modeling for Kumho’s site in Bibb County, which was heavily forested and required excavation. “There are many ways that we want to have a positive impact on communities in Georgia,” Riley said. “We try to provide a lot of different things to help bring a project to successful fruition.” The Young and the Restless Increasingly, a couple of trends intertwine when looking at metro Atlanta and corpo- 70 NOVEMBER / DECEMBER

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of The Leader - November/December 2008

The Leader - November/December 2008 Leadership Contents Message from the CEO Real Estate in the News Leveraging Business Geography My Work @ Bank of America Blending the Old with the New A Tool for Growth Creating Real Estate Value Nokia-Siemens Networks’ Peter Doran DTZ’s James Maddock Annual Economic Development Directory The Georgia Report Location Profile: Magdeburg, Germany Linking Corporate Real Estate to the Enterprise 3rd Quarter 2008 Adding Value in Challenging Times Australia and New York Shell’s Paul Huston Economic Development in the News A Look Ahead In our Next Issue Calendar of Seminars Index of Advertisers Chapter Learning: The Global Perspective

The Leader - November/December 2008

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