TVA's Kingston Plant and ThermoFisher Scientific Share 2007 Industry of the Year Honors at Industrial Board Event
Thursday May 24, 2007
Harriman - The Roane County Industrial Development Board has named TVA's Kingston Plant and ThermoFisher Scientific as co-winners of the Industry of the Year award for 2007. The awards were announced at the Board's Annual Industry Appreciation Breakfast at Roane State Community College in Harriman.
"The names of two significant industries kept coming up over and over as the committee looked at what industries deserved to be honored this year," Roane Alliance President and CEO Leslie Henderson, told nearly 75 attendees at this year's breakfast event. "...so the group decided to take the unusual step of giving two Industry of the Year awards."
ThermoFisher is Roane County's largest manufacturer and one of its largest employers. Formerly known as Chase Scientific Glass, ThermoFisher now runs the plant which has been operating in the Roane County Industrial Park in Rockwood for more than 20 years.
"Few in Roane County appreciate what a huge player this company is on the world scene of scientific glass production," Henderson said in her remarks. "....they are the largest producer of disposable test tubes in use in the world today....on a typical day, this plant produces one million pipettes and 650,000 vials."
"In recent years, this plant has seen some very positive improvements - not only geared toward helping the plant to better compete...but also geared toward providing a much improved environment for its workforce of more than 500 employees," Henderson said.
The TVA Fossil Fuel Plant was also honored as 2007 Industry of the Year.
The Kingston power plant was the world's largest coal-burning plant in the world when it was built in the early Fifties, "and now it is the site of one of the largest capital investments in the county's industrial history," Henderson said. TVA is investing $550 million in the plant over the next few years.
The plant has a $20 million annual payroll, employing 318 people, half of which reside in Roane County. It generates approximately 10 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity a year.
"The TVA Steam Plant and ThernoFisher both have made significant impacts on employment, as well as the economy here in Roane County," said Roane County Industrial Board Chairman Steve Kirkham. "They are key players here and we certainly wanted to honor both of them for all that they do for our area."
Accepting the award for Thermofisher was their Vice President of Operations, Wes Lollar, who came to the plant early in 2006 after working for Ford Motor Company in Michigan for 14 years. Accepting the award for the TVA Kingston Plant was plant manager Mike Beckham, who came to the steam plant from another TVA fossil fuel plant in Alabama, but who spent most of his pre-TVA career with Georgia Power Company.
The board also honored beautification efforts of industrial facilities. The beautification awards recognize facilities that exhibit a clean, aesthetically-pleasing appearance. Two awards were given at this year's breakfast - one to Protean Instruments, an industry located at Roane Regional Business and Technology Park that manufactures Alpha Beta counters. The second award was given to the developer who is building spec buildings at Roane Regional Park - Gerry Eastman, representing DEKD.
- 30 -
Contact:
Leslie H
865-375-2093
