Hiring at Chattanooga VW plant at halfway mark

Volkswagen executives say their hiring in Chattanooga has reached the halfway mark, with more than 1,000 employees training for production of a new midsize sedan.

Production of the yet-to-be-seen VW is to start early next year at the $1 billion plant near Interstate 75.

VW Chattanooga spokesman Scott Wilson said Monday that Cathy Allen, 38, of Chattanooga, has been recognized as the 1,000th employee hired.

Hiring at the plant will continue into 2011.

Production jobs start at $14.50 an hour and in three years increase to $19.50 an hour.

Source: WATE.com

Alstom Chattanooga plant to create 350 jobs

French energy company Alstom is dedicating a plant in Chattanooga that will build steam and gas turbines, including some for nuclear plants, in an expansion expected to create 350 high-paying jobs.

Alstom is a big supplier for the Tennessee Valley Authority.

Gov. Phil Bredesen joined company executives at the dedication on Thursday.

A $300 million expansion was announced in 2007.

The company told the Chattanooga Times Free Press that the 350 jobs expected to be created by 2013 will pay an average of $75,000 annually.

Source: WATE.com

Foreign investment up as manufacturing moves out

Foreign investment is playing a critical role in creating jobs in Tennessee.

But the number of jobs lost by off-shoring probably still outpaces new jobs created here by foreign companies.

The Tennessean reports foreign-owned companies provide more than 100,000 jobs at 740 companies in the state, or roughly 4 percent of the Tennessee work force.

Recent announcements of new investments include the Volkswagen auto plant in Chattanooga, which will mean 2,000 new jobs for the area, and $1 billion from German company Wacker Chemie AG for a solar energy plant in southeast Tennessee.

No one keeps track of exactly how many Tennessee jobs have shifted overseas, but a recent report by the Alliance for American Manufacturing and the Economic Policy Institute suggests that the state has lost 51,400 jobs to China from 2001 to 2008.

Source: wate.com

Contract to add 80 jobs at Chattanooga VW plant

Volkswagen’s plant in Chattanooga has a new contract with a company to provide outbound yard management and other vehicle processing services. Executives say it will provide about 80 jobs.

The company, Wallenius Wilhelmsen Logistics, has headquarters in Norway with U.S. operations based in Woodcliff Lake, N.J. It has contracts with Volkswagen at other locations.

The Volkswagen plant at Chattanooga plans to begin production of a new mid-size sedan in early 2011 and to eventually hire about 2,000 VW employees.

A VW spokesman in Chattanooga said the 80 jobs are separate from 500 jobs that VW executives previously announced will be created in the plant’s supplier park.

Source: WATE

500 new jobs at VW Chattanooga supplier park

Five hundred new jobs will be created at Volkswagen’s supplier park. It will be built alongside the German automaker’s new assembly plant in Chattanooga.

The chief executive of VW’s Chattanooga operations, Frank Fischer, announced the 500 jobs at a Friday news conference.

Fischer said the $1 billion assembly plant and the plans to start production of a new mid-sized sedan next year are “completely on track.”

He said so far, VW has hired about 350 of the projected 2,000 employees at the plant and most applicants who have been hired are from Tennessee.

Fischer said there are six suppliers so far. He declined to identify them or to give a timetable for those hirings.

Fischer also declined to say when the new mid-sized sedan will be shown.

Source: WATE

Chicago-based construction firm to build VW shops in Chattanooga

Volkswagen has picked Chicago-based Graycor to build the assembly and body shops, technical center and social area at VW’s new plant in Chattanooga.

Volkswagen Group of America Chattanooga Operations announced the $63 million contract in an email statement Monday.

The statement said Graycor will source more than 60 percent of the work to local contractors. Graycor has also committed to sourcing 11 percent of the contract to minority and woman-owned suppliers.

Construction on the project will start at the end of April and should be “weather-tight” by the end of the year.

Volkswagen has said the plant will have 2,000 employees and production of a new mid-size sedan is to start in 2011.

Source: WATE

VW picks M-Tek in Tennessee as supplier for sedan

A Tennessee company, M-Tek Inc., has received a $147 million contract from Volkswagen to supply interior door panels for VW’s new midsize sedan to be built at the German automaker’s new plant in Chattanooga.

A statement from Tennessee economic development officials and VW said the contract will mean continued employment for about 60 to 70 M-Tek employees, including a 20-employee operation expected at the Chattanooga VW plant that is expected to start production in early 2011.

Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Affairs spokeswoman Julie Solomon said Thursday she did not know if new jobs will be created.

Solomon said M-Tek in Manchester has about 900 employees and is also is a supplier for Nissan’s plant at Smyrna, as well as for Honda and General Motors. She said M-Tec has been operating in Tennessee for 23 years.

Source: WATE