Alliance CEO Travels to Germany to Recruit VW Suppliers to Roane
Monday November 10, 2008
'VW officials made it clear that they want 85% of their suppliers to be local'
Kingston -- Roane County was front and center when Gov. Phil Bredesen led a hand-picked delegation to Germany this October to meet with Volkswagen suppliers who are considering site locations in the area. The trip was arranged in conjunction with VW officials who announced this summer that VW will be investing $1 billion to build their first US assembly plant in the Chattanooga area.
"I was honored to be chosen," said Roane Alliance President/CEO Leslie Henderson of the recruiting trip that was organized so the VW suppliers who now do business with VW in Germany could learn more about Tennessee and especially the areas of the state within a defined radius near the site of the new plant.
"It was a jam-packed week," Henderson said of the recruiting trip that visited five cities in seven days, "but one that I hope will bear fruit in the months to come."
The 41-member delegation - with representatives from the Chattanooga area to Nashville to Knoxville -- travelled first to Berlin and from there took a day-trip by bullet train to Wolfsburg the home of Volkswagen, where they were hosted by some of VW's top officials, including the chairman of their board.
"The tour of the plant was amazing to all of us," Henderson said. Wolfsburg is a company town, she said, with 50,000 employees working on the huge industrial campus - and those employment numbers are even more staggering in light of the fact that the plant is highly automated. In fact, she said, the VW operation is so large (1.5 million square meters under roof and several levels within that footprint) that employees are encouraged to ride bicycles from one section to another. Not only that, Henderson said, "It was so organized and clean, you could practically eat off the floor."
The group then travelled to Dusseldorf, Frankfurt and Munich, where suppliers were invited to workshops in which VW officials explained their plans and how they came to choose Chattanooga for their enormous investment, and for the state's Economic and Community Development Commissioner Matt Kisber to give a presentation on why it makes good business sense to locate in Tennessee. After that, local economic developers were able to network with the potential industrial prospects at receptions and luncheons.
"The timing of these meetings could not be better, since the suppliers are now in the process of pulling together their bids and applications to do business at the Chattanooga plant," Henderson said. "And VW officials made it clear that they want 85% of their suppliers to be local. It was important for Roane County to be right there so that our foot could be firmly planted in that door.
"We know that some of the tier one, heavy equipment suppliers are going to want to co-locate with the plant and there is room there for that on the VW site - but that leaves a significant number of Tier twos, and others, who still need to be within that magic 100 kilometer radius that VW prefers and this is where we hope Roane County will benefit."
"This was an expensive and exhausting trip," Henderson said, "but there was no question that in today's economy this held - by far -- the best opportunity to bring new jobs and new investment home to Roane County."
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