Rural Alabama economic development gets new push with team approach
MONTGOMERY, Alabama – Job-creation efforts in rural Alabama are gaining momentum from an increased level of cooperation between economic developers at state and local levels and a regional approach that has helped sharpen strategic thinking and build alliances. Wayne Vardaman, executive director of the Selma & Dallas County Economic Development Authority, is directing a renewed…
Chambers County trades spindles for suppliers as Alabama auto industry rises
LANETT, Alabama – In East Alabama’s Chambers County, the textile industry facilities are all gone, many of the last survivors wiped away in one brutal year of rapid-fire plant closings. In their place have come a string of companies that use plastic injection molding machines to make automotive parts and firms that stamp out metal…
Auto supplier HTNA adds new Alabama production facility, 100 jobs
JASPER, Alabama – HTNA, a tier-one auto supplier that manufactures carpet and interior trim components for Honda, Toyota and other automakers, plans to hire 100 workers after constructing a new Alabama production facility. The company said its new, state-of-the-art plant is located in the Bevill Industrial Park in Jasper, less than two miles from the…
Interstate 22 boosts economic development opportunities in northwest Alabama, developers say
JASPER, Alabama – Segments of Corridor X – the roadway that will become Alabama’s next interstate – are so new they don’t show up on some GPS devices. But economic developers like David Knight and David Thornell believe that ribbon of asphalt will make Northwest Alabama appealing for new development. Corridor X, or Interstate 22, as…
