News

Ramping Up Production in North Carolina Our final stop moves south, to Lexington, North Carolina, which recently became home to EGGER Group’s 20th manufacturing plant. It is also the Austrian company’s first site in North America, developed to better serve the U.S. market. Here the manufacturer will produce both raw particleboard as well as thermally… Read more »

Chick-fil-A’s new facility in Alamance County, scheduled to open in early 2022, is the company’s first permanent, full-scale distribution center outside of its headquarters location. According to Chick-fil-A Supply’s senior director, the Carolina Core “provides great access to talent and is in close proximity to major transit routes, enabling us to best serve our customers: Chick-fil-A franchised operators, licensees, and… Read more »

UPS will undertake a significant expansion to its North Carolina presence with the addition of 592 jobs in Guilford and Alamance counties, otherwise known as the Carolina Core. The the multinational package delivery and supply-chain management company plans to invest a total of $316.4 million at two sites over the coming four years. “UPS appreciates the… Read more »

Thomas Built Buses’ electric school bus took home top honors at NC Chamber. The HondaJet Elite and Caterpillar Compact Track Loader, both produced in the Carolina Core, were also among the finalists. Read More…

Nestlé Purina PetCare is investing $450 million to transform a former brewery in the Carolina Core into an innovative, technically advanced pet food manufacturing facility. The 1.3 million-square-foot facility in Eden, North Carolina will employ more than 300 people. The company, which also considered sites in Ohio and Kentucky, chose the Carolina Core for its strong workforce and available real… Read more »

The global manufacturer plans to invest $700M and create 770 jobs in the Carolina Core over the next 10 years. Read More…

Canada-based Prepac Manufacturing Ltd., a North American manufacturer of Ready-to-Assemble furniture will invest $27.1 million to locate its new 260,000 square foot east coast furniture factory in Whitsett, North Carolina. The company plans to create 201 jobs in Guilford County. “When we started evaluating potential locations for our new east coast factory there were several good… Read more »

Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center launched a drone delivery service recently with UPS for time- and temperature-sensitive medical supplies, as well as personal protective equipment. The initiative involves UPS subsidiary UPS Flight Forward and iQ Healthtech Labs, which is based in downtown Winston-Salem’s Innovation Quarter. Read More…

The city of Greensboro will on Tuesday consider incentivizing two very different projects, one that would create 141 supply chain jobs and another that would help along a long anticipated grocery project in a food desert. Read More…

In 2017, Greensboro-based Unifi (NYSE: UFI) set a goal of transforming 20 billion plastic bottles into synthetic yarns. On Thursday, the fabric maker announced it has exceeded its goal through its REPREVE platform of recycled performance fibers, which has been adopted by more than 500 global brand and textile partners. This milestone is the equivalent… Read more »

Propella Therapeutics, a development-stage venture focused on accelerated approvals of therapeutics with what it calls “mitigated risk,” now calls Pittsboro home. Read More…

Through6, an apparel design and manufacturing company based in California, will open a facility in Lee County that will eventually employ 160 people, according to the Sanford Area Growth Alliance. The company plans to open the operation in phases, with a total investment of $2 million, according to a news release. Read More…

Ashley Furniture Industries is seeking more than 100 full-time associates at its Advance manufacturing, distribution and fulfillment facility in Davie County. The company is looking to fill the positions as soon as possible in order to meet the increased demand in sales of home furnishings. Read More…

Winston-Salem’s Innovation Quarter has announced the establishment of iQ Healthtech Labs, a physical and virtual hub for developing partnerships and breakthrough ideas within and through the iconic innovation district. The goal of iQ Healthtech Labs is to reduce the time frame of taking healthtech solutions from idea to the marketplace by creating collaborations between Innovation… Read more »

North Carolina A&T will partner with Purdue and Georgia Tech to research urban air mobility methods. Read More…

The Greensboro-High Point metropolitan area has been ranked the sixth best in the country for corporate facility investments in similar-size markets by Site Selection magazine. The ranking comes in the category with a population between 200,000 and 1 million. The Greensboro-High Point metropolitan statistical area is comprised of Guilford, Randolph and Rockingham counties. Read More…

…A strong outlook, however, was not enough (for Texas) to outpace North Carolina, which has the best business climate in the U.S. and tops our ranking for the third year in a row… North Carolina ranks in the top third in all six categories. It gets highest marks for its regulatory environment (including a Aaa… Read more »

Good news, job-seekers – the Triad’s looking to hire! Companies like The Fresh Market, Centric Brands, and Amada America made recent headlines, expanding operations and adding more jobs in our area. The jobs are coming – and a new survey shows the trend will likely continue. An article in Forbes points to a quarterly study… Read more »

Growth and expansion are happening for east Greensboro.   A company based out of Greece called Systems Sunlight, a battery-making company, announced its plans to call east Greensboro its home. They plan to invest nearly $7 million and create 46 jobs ranging from manufacturing to assembly. Read More…

Job growth in Winston-Salem Forsyth County is on the rise. Reports from The Bureau of Labor Statistics show the metro area added more than 10,000 jobs over the last two years. That’s better than similar metro areas in the U.S., including Charlotte and Atlanta. “I feel it’s our entire economy chipping in and at the… Read more »

Winston-Salem Mayor Allen Joines announced a new program Wednesday that will allow local high school graduates who can’t afford the cost of Forsyth Technical Community College to attend for free. Read More…

It must have been music to the ears of economic development and airport folks in the Greensboro-High Point area of North Carolina. Over the summer, Honda Aircraft Company announced groundbreaking on an expansion of its facility at Piedmont Triad International Airport in Greensboro. The expansion will allow a major increase in production at a factory… Read more »

Ox Bodies, a subsidiary of Federal Signal Corp., will open a manufacturing facility here, the High Point Economic Development Corp. announced Wednesday. The company will hire 15 people the first year at an annual average wage of $49,000, and operations are expected to begin in October, the announcement said. The High Point City Council in… Read more »

Pfizer Inc. said it plans to spend $500 million to expand a gene-therapy manufacturing facility in Sanford, North Carolina, helping the drug giant scale up production of treatments that fix faulty strands of DNA. Read More…

Officials at Honda Power Equipment, a subsidiary of Honda Motor Co. (NYSE: HMC), on Tuesday marked the company’s 35th anniversary by announcing a 135,000-square-foot expansion of its plant in the Alamance County town of Swepsonville. The $46.5 million expansion will in part provide manufacturing space for Honda’s new model-GCV general purpose engine, which will be… Read more »

North Carolina is the seventh-best state for aerospace manufacturing, according to PricewaterhouseCoopers’ 2019 aerospace manufacturing attractiveness rankings. PwC, a multinational consultancy and accounting firm, conducts the study every year to assess where U.S. aerospace companies are investing for manufacturing facilities. The study considered a variety of factors, including aerospace manufacturing cost, infrastructure and tax policies… Read more »

Arguments over which state can truly claim as first in flight notwithstanding, N.C. Gov. Roy Cooper told a crowd of about 200 gathered for Tuesday’s groundbreaking of the latest Honda Aircraft Co. expansion that being first in aerospace industry growth is inevitable. “‘First in Flight’ has a new meaning in North Carolina as we continue… Read more »

A recent study commissioned by Smith Reynolds Airport in Winston-Salem suggested the airport would be in a position to attract more aviation-related companies if the community could deliver more workers trained in aviation maintenance and avionics. That potential outcome resulted in an approved $16 million Forsyth County bond referendum, culminating in Wednesday’s ceremonial groundbreaking for… Read more »

The 32-page special feature appears in American Way magazine, the in-flight publication available in your seatback on every American Airlines plane globally. The Spotlight featured section in American Way highlights communities and cities around the world. July’s edition promotes the Triad and Carolina Core, focusing on economic development, education, manufacturing, medicine and innovation, and more.… Read more »

As Wake Forest Innovation Quarter continues to take shape as a hub of activity where people work, live, learn and play, its officials are exploring this urban-based innovation district’s next phase of development. “The fact that there’s stuff under construction all the time makes it a little more complicated, but we’re working through that and… Read more »

Wake Forest Innovation Quarter is one of six innovation districts around the world to be selected to steer the Global Institute of Innovation Districts. Read more…

The Pella Corporation is coming to Rockingham County and bringing with it 124 new jobs to the area. The Pella Corporation is a leading manufacturer of window and door products for both homes and businesses. Read more…

India-based KriGen Pharmaceuticals plans to bring more than 100 jobs to Lillington. The company announced Wednesday it will convert one of the former book factory’s three buildings on Edwards Brothers Drive into a pharmaceuticals plant that will make medical IV bags and liquid injectables. Read more…

“The City of Arts and Innovation” has been one of North Carolina’s most progressive metropolitan areas over the past few years due to its revitalized Innovation Quarter featuring the state’s top biomedical research and technology park. And with historic Old Salem and art galleries galore, the walkable downtown area even landed on Forbes‘ list of… Read more »

Construction will soon begin on Greensboro’s first new downtown office tower in decades, all a part of “Project Slugger.” Front Street Capital announced plans for a groundbreaking on Thursday in the outfield of First National Bank Field, home of the Greensboro Grasshoppers. The 9-story, 110,000-square-foot tower  will stand at the corner of Eugene Street and… Read more »

Amazon confirmed Wednesday it will begin operating a 1 million-square-foot fulfillment center in Kernersville in 2020 with about 1,000 full-time and full-time- equivalent employees. Read more…

The company will lease 50,000 square feet at the Gateway Building on South Elm Street downtown. Read more…

The planned merger of regional banks BB&T Corp. and SunTrust Banks Inc. will result in some management jobs for the combined company being moved out of the Richmond region to Greensboro. SunTrust confirmed last week that it plans to locate the leadership team for the combined company’s mortgage business in Greensboro, which will mean relocating… Read more »

The manufacturer of very light jets will build a new wing assembly center at its 133-acre campus. Read more…

Drivers will soon see signs for “Carolina Core” along U.S. 421. The Department of Transportation will put the signs up in the next 30 days. Read more…  

The Carolina Core took another step in regional branding with an announcement on April 16 that included collective marketing of such assets as the Greensboro-Randolph Megasite and unveiling new highway signage. Read more…  

U.S. 421 will be an interstate highway if Piedmont Triad leaders have any say in the matter. It’s part of an effort to provide another asset to the marketing of the region for economic development, according to Jed McMillan of the Piedmont Triad Partnership. McMillan appeared before the Randolph County Board of Commissioners on Monday… Read more »

The Greensboro-High Point area is once again among the top 10 metros in the nation for economic development. Atlanta-based Site Selection magazine ranked the area 8th among metro areas with a population between 200,000 and 1 million. Read more…

While the “Carolina Core” is made up of a broad swath of land, people and facilities across central North Carolina, its proprietors see it as a strategy, a strategy designed to bring employers to the middle of the state. “It’s strategic in its own right,” says Stan Kelly, president and CEO of Piedmont Triad Partnership… Read more »

National OnDemand, a provider of installation and construction services for the broadband and telecommunications industries, has selected downtown Burlington for its headquarters. The company will create 33 jobs with an average salary of $70,455 over two years. The N.C. Rural Infrastructure Authority approved a grant of $312,500 to support the reuse of the vacant former… Read more »

An expansion by Aetna at its High Point operations is expected to bring 300 new jobs by the end of 2020. Gov. Roy Cooper made this announcement Thursday at a ceremony at the High Point Municipal Building. Read more…