Newell Rubbermaid Completing Journey to Atlanta Area

Let's look at some employer training initiatives that sparked economic development. Here's one you will find of interest.

Newell has its roots in Illinois. Rubbermaid has its in Ohio. The combined company, coping with sales and management problems, is making its way to Sandy Springs, Georgia.

Rubbermaid was an institution for years in Ohio, first making dustpans in 1933. To company executives, however, moving to Atlanta represents change and innovation for a company lacking both, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

By the way, Rubbermaid is nearly gone from Wooster Ohio, ikts longstanding home base. It's a real loss to the community and region.

Originally, the company was going to move to Alpharetta, Georgia, where it would build a big training facility. Tim Jahnke, vice president of human resources, says that when the company started doing some training in Georgia, it changed its mind. "Early last year, we conducted a couple of training sessions at the Marriott…and the training went so well, it made us think, why do we need to build an auditorium when we've got good facilities already available?" he said, referring to local hotels’ meeting spaces and the Cobb Galleria, a local convention center.

"When this space became available, from a cost standpoint and timing standpoint, it made a lot of sense," Jahnke told the Journal-Constitution, referring to the new Sandy Springs home vacated by Coke. Moving to an existing space in Sandy Springs rather than building in Alpharetta meant that Newell Rubbermaid could speed up the relocation by 15 months.

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