Still Committed to Manufacturing In Tennessee

Do you think the Sun Belt states have given up on manufacturing? If you do, think again. Here is a story about manufacturing in Lewisburg, TN--a small town with a big heart for manufacturing.

Although manufacturing in Tennessee still hasn't recovered from the longest economic slowdown since the Great Depression, the sector remains an important part of the state's economy.

Just ask the people here. Despite suffering a major economic blow when International Comfort Products closed its heating and air-conditioning plant in December, officials continue to search for more manufacturers to locate here.

Manufacturing accounted for 55% of the jobs in Marshall County before the plant closed in December, eliminating more than 2,000 jobs in a county with a work force of 12,700 people.

''That's what we do best,'' Larry McKnight, the city's economic development director, said of the city's manufacturing sector.

The city would like to diversify its economy better, but manufacturing remains an important part of the mix and the focus of intense economic development efforts by state and local officials.

''We have 2,000 workers that have been trained in Kaizen (a manufacturing productivity and quality improvement method) and just-in-time manufacturing,'' McKnight said. ''We have an immediate need. We've got to get these people back to work.''

There are literally hundreds, and maybe thousands, of towns just like Lewisburg that are looking for new ways to help their manufacturers survive and grow. For Lewsiburg, it's the story of losing the branch plants that opened there during the 'Southern Manufacturing Rush' of the 1960's and 1970's. I proposed a new joint federal-state tax credit to secure manufacturing jobs in American communities a couple weeks ago. We need to do it. This powerful credit, coupled with other tools, can help. Don't roll over to China yet.

Read more here about Tennessee manufacturing.

See my article on 'How to Deal with Your Foreign Competition' on August 16 here.