North Carolina Corporate Moves

FedEx Ground to Build Package Sorting Hub in Guilford County

FedEx Ground will build a new southeast sort facility in Guilford County, NC. FedEx has purchased a 125-acre site along I-40 in the Triad Business Park and will construct a 400,000 square-foot facility capable of sorting 45,000 packages per hour at full build out. The FedEx Ground facility will open in 2011 with about 500 full- and part-time employees, of which about 150 will be new positions. Additionally, independent contractors at opening are projected to be about 250, with 150 of them being newly created for the hub operation. The existing employees and independent contractors will come from the two existing Piedmont Triad facilities moving into the hub.

Approximately four years after opening, the company projects that about 260 full- and part-time employees as well as about 200 independent contractor opportunities will be added. The company will invest about $100 million in land, building construction, and new machinery and equipment.

The announcement last month of the Guilford project came as FedEx Express was preparing to open a new $300-million mid-Atlantic express hub at Piedmont Triad International Airport in Greensboro in the summer of 2009. When both facilities are fully operational, FedEx will directly employ close to 2,000 locally.

Kirk Perkins, chairman of the Guilford County Board of Commissioners, commented on the significance of the FedEx Ground decision. “It’s an exciting time for Guilford County and especially notable with the state of the US economy to have that kind of investment and future job growth potential being generated here by FedEx Ground,” he said.

“The economic impact of a new FedEx Ground sort hub is tremendous,” noted Chuck Cornelio, chairman of the Greensboro Economic Development Alliance (GEDA). “FedEx is making another very substantial investment in Guilford County because they see the opportunity our workforce and community represents. We assembled a great team to work with Ground to fully understand their project needs and then brought the necessary resources together to accomplish the task. Our goal is always to make a complicated site decision as seamless as possible.”

GEDA, the Samet Corporation and the Town of Kernersville, worked with FedEx Ground for the last 18 months, assisting them with site decisions while leveraging the resources of local and state governments. Participants in the project included the Town of Kernersville, Guilford County Commissioners, North Carolina Departments of Transportation and Commerce, the North Carolina Community College System, Guilford Technical Community College, Winston-Salem Business Inc. and Duke Energy. Triad Business Park is being developed by the Samet Corporation and the land transaction was brokered by John Schultz and Tom Townes of Triad Commercial Properties.

GEDA’s mission is to facilitate the creation of high quality jobs, attract new capital investment, retain and expand existing businesses, improve per capita income and to generally improve the quality of life in Greensboro and Guilford County. GEDA is a member of the Greensboro Partnership, created to develop a vibrant community that expands and attracts business while advancing the quality of life for all.

Mack Relocates to Greensboro

Mack Trucks Inc., one of North America’s largest producers of heavy-duty trucks, will relocate its headquarters and some support functions to Greensboro, NC, creating 493 jobs and investing $17.7 million over the next three years.

The decision was made to relocate the company’s headquarters as a part of a restructuring plan. Mack Trucks and Volvo Trucks North America, which is headquartered in Greensboro, are both members of the Sweden-based Volvo Group, the world’s second-largest producer of heavy-duty trucks.

Mack’s headquarters is currently located in Allentown, PA, as are personnel and support functions—such as information technology, parts logistics, product development and purchasing—that serve both Mack and Volvo Trucks North America. Relocating Mack’s headquarters and those support functions closer to the Volvo Greensboro headquarters is designed to boost the competitiveness of Mack and Volvo Trucks North America by improving the efficiency of the overall organization.

“This is a very exciting announcement for Greensboro and the Triad,” says Greensboro Economic Development Alliance President, Dan Lynch. “Volvo Trucks North America has had a huge impact on our community. With the addition of Mack Trucks’ corporate headquarters, their influence will only increase and that is very positive for the entire region.”

Mack Trucks Inc. was awarded a Job Development Investment Grant from the State of North Carolina for the project. The jobs the company is bringing to Greensboro pay an average annual salary of more than $73,800 not including benefits. This is significantly higher than the Guilford County average of $37,700.