Jobs Announced In Greensboro

The following press release was submitted to wspa.com on Thursday:
RALEIGH – Gov. Mike Easley today announced that Mack Trucks Inc., one of North America’s largest producers of heavy-duty trucks, will relocate its headquarters and some support functions to Greensboro, creating 493 jobs and investing $17.7 million during the next three years. A Job Development Investment Grant award helped make the project possible.

“Mack Trucks Inc. is the fourth major company to announce its relocation to North Carolina in the past few weeks and is a good fit with our other automotive industries,” Easley said. “Our commitment to economic development and our top-ranked business climate are bringing in the high skill jobs that North Carolina and America must invest in if we are to continue to be the country of innovation.”

Mack Trucks Inc. and Volvo Trucks North America, with headquarters in Greensboro, are both members of the Sweden-based Volvo Group, the world’s second-largest producer of heavy-duty trucks. Mack Trucks Inc.’s headquarters is currently located in Allentown, Pa., as are support functions such as information technology, parts logistics, product development and purchasing that serve both Mack Trucks Inc. and Volvo Trucks North America. Relocating Mack Trucks Inc.’s headquarters and those support functions closer to the Volvo headquarters in Greensboro is designed to boost the competitiveness of Mack Trucks Inc. and Volvo Trucks North America by improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the organization.

The restructuring, which is expected to start later this year and continue through 2010, will result in 493 new jobs in the state that will pay an average annual salary of more than $73,800 not including benefits. This is more than the Guilford County average of $37,700.

“The city of Greensboro and the state of North Carolina have been great partners to the Volvo Group for a number of years,” said Mack Trucks Inc. President and CEO Dennis R. Slagle. “Mack looks forward to continuing that partnership, and making a positive contribution to the area’s economy and community.”

This is the 82nd JDIG award announced since Easley and the General Assembly started the program in 2002, and the 12th awarded this year. For each year that the company meets the required performance targets, the state will provide a grant equal to 60 percent of the state personal income withholding taxes derived from the creation of new jobs. Should the company create the jobs called for under the agreement and sustain them for nine years, the agreement could yield as much as $8.5 million in maximum benefits for Mack Trucks Inc.

In addition, the grant could provide up to $ 2.8 million to the Industrial Development Fund for infrastructure improvements in economically distressed counties. When a Job Development Investment Grant is awarded to one of the state’s most economically prosperous counties such as Guilford, it results in 25 percent of the grant award being allocated to the Industrial Development Fund to encourage economic development in less prosperous areas.

JDIGs are awarded only to new and expanding businesses and industrial projects the benefits of which exceed the costs to the state and which would not be undertaken in North Carolina without the grant. Since the first grant was awarded in 2003, the program has been responsible for creating more than 28,000 jobs and $4 billion in investment in North Carolina.

For more information about Mack Trucks Inc., including employment opportunities with the company, click here.