Michigan Manufacturer to Build New Distribution Facility
Monday April 16, 2007
Kingston, TN - A Michigan-based manufacturer of electrical equipmetn and supplies announced today that they are investing between $4-$5 million in a new distribution facility in the Roane Regional Business and Technology Park in Roane County, TN.
"We liked this area, because it is a perfect location to serve our markets down here," Fred May, President/CEO of SCE, said Thursday at the closing. "We looked at several buildings throughout the region over the past several months, including the spec building in the Roane Regional Park. We liked Roane Regional and loved the location, but that building was a little too large, so we negotiated with Gerry Eastman to build one right-sized for us on the lot next door."
Saginaw Control & Engineering (dba SCE) manufactures both standard and custom-designed enclosures for electrical equipment. Their customers are primarily for the automotive, material handling, food packaging, and electronic industries and their products include everything from small junction boxes to large enclosures to house electrical controls. The company was founded in Saginaw, Michigan in 1963 and specializes not only in manufacturing both standard stock and custom-designed enclosures, but also in precision sheet metal fabrications. They have a 255,000 square foot manufacturing and warehouse facility in Saginaw, Michigan, where they use state-of-the-art fabricating equipment including the newest laser technology.
The Roane County facility will be the third distribution center for SCE - their first in the Southeast. The company already has distribution centers in Aurora, Ohio, and Kenosha, Wisconsin.
For their Roane County facility, which will be 33,000 square feet, SCE purchased a five-acre parcel on Sam Rayburn Boulevard and contracted with DEKD -- a private-sector partnership managed by Gerry Eastman, the president of Joseph Construction - to build it. Their new facility will be next door to Roane Regional's first spec building, which was sold to Diesel Engine Parts (DHPS), in a project announced less than a month ago.
"The parcel Saginaw purchased Thursday is the second in a series of three five-acre parcels slated for the first phase of our spec building program," Leslie Henderson, President and CEO of The Roane Alliance said. "but the best case scenario is when those buildings are sold to an industry before they even come out of the ground."
Earth-moving equipment is already on-site and at work on the SCE project which has a quick timeline for completion. May hopes to have the building virtually complete by July of this year and be in operation by early fall.
"The company will be hiring a small workforce at first - some 6-8 new jobs - but expects to double both the size of their building, as well as their staff, over the next 3-5 years, depending on the market," Henderson said.
"This is yet another example of the importance of the public sector in Roane County partnering with a private developer to successfully develop our industrial park," Roane County Industrial Board Chair Steve Kirkham said of the SCE announcement. "Saginaw certainly will be a good fit for our park and we are happy to welcome them into our community."
Roane Regional Business and Technology Park is Roane County's newest industrial park, located in East Roane County along I-40. The H.T. Hackney Company anchors the park with a 330,000 square foot regional distribution facility. Other industries now located there include a tool-and-die maker; a high-tech company that makes custom-designed wireless technology and a manufacturer of alpha beta counters.
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Contact:
Leslie Henderson
865-376-2093
