The North Carolina Department of Commerce boasts on their website that workers here are 10 percent more productive than the average US worker. While we can't guarantee that's true, we do know of two plants expanding their workforce in one of the state's most economically challenged areas. Elizabeth Wilder takes us inside these McDowell county businesses to find out how they're becoming more competitive in today's marketplace.
Like historical markers, vacant buildings are a reminder thousands of textile and furniture jobs are a thing of the past for North Carolina's economy.
"It's an industrial town, we just lost our largest water and sewer customer. They were in textiles and went out of business," Garland Norton, Mayor, Old Fort. Up and down main street signs beg someone, anyone, to open a business.
While it's a time of transition, a majority of McDowell county jobs according to labor statistics, are still in manufacturing. Take Janesville Acoustics in Old Fort, which creactes molded fiber products and insulation for the automotive industry. "You don't see our product, but it's very important. Otherwise, it would be noisy and you would lose AC or heat." Roy Heeralall.
Down the road in Marion, Baldor Construction uses Advanced Manufacturing to make roller bearings for industrial equipment. "What you saw Matt build is one of 6000 items we build at this plant. Basically we take cast iron bearings and configurations and put them together for a variety of industry solutions for our customers," Matt Early, Plant Manager.
Like a skilled surgeon, precision is an imporatnt part of the job. Employees tell us they're thankful the company is doing well. Unemployment in McDowell county is about 12 percent.
While they make very different products, both companies are trying to expand their workforce. They each received a grant from the one North Carolina Fund to pay for building, equipment, and product expansion. The idea is to stimulate the economy. Janesville acoustics recevied a $120,000 grant, by promising to invest 1.5 million to add on to their factory and create 40 more jobs.
"I think the biggest challenge is maintaining a flow of people who want to go into manufacturing, because of the fields like furniture and textiles that have become extinct over the last 15 years. Either those people or the children of those employees have thought manufacturing is dead and that's not the case. There are companies like Baldor that are very alive and offer a nice career path for people in McDowell County," Mark Early, Plant Manager, Baldor Plant.
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