April 2006 - Huntsville/Madison County Chamber of Commerce

Driven to succeed in Huntsville, continued from page 21position in the market, we are very confidentto reach our demanding growth goal.The more than 440 product engineers, productionspecialists and other experts of ourHuntsville location’s total workforce areworking hard to capitalize on this growthsegment within a stagnating automotivemarket.”Already, the organization’s efforts arebeing rewarded. According to Heppner, theHuntsville team has earned significant newbusiness and the successful integration ofAAMA Survey■ A typical supplier plant in Alabama has anaverage of 100 employees and 52 percent ofthe plants have less than 50 employees.■ 29 new auto plants were established inAlabama over the past two years, bringingthe total number of active plants to 263.The survey was supported by the AAMAand the Alabama Department of Economicand Community Affairs, and conducted byresearchers at the University of Alabama inHuntsville.the operations was recently awarded atop+Star award for overall business improvementby Siemens Corp.At roughly $1 billion, Huntsville representedalmost 10 percent of Siemens VDO’stotal sales in the 2004-2005 fiscal year. Thelocation employs 2,100 people and continuesto make strides towards being a best-inclassglobal manufacturing and engineeringlocation. “We are very thankful for the supportof the local community in Huntsvilleand Madison County,” said Dr. Heppner.“We are well underway with our capitaland process improvements that will helpmake the Huntsville location a long-termcompetitor in the automotive electronicssupply industry,” finished Heppner.Two Canada-based, automotive suppliers,Matsu and Mitchell Plastics, openedlocal operations in the last two years. “Wedecided on Huntsville for several reasons,”commented John Carney, general managerfor Matsu Alabama. “The best labor pool, ahigh standard of living and a centralizedlocation to several of our customers areamong them.” Matsu manufactures weldedand stamped components for the automotivemarket.“As our customer base grows in theSoutheast, we will evaluate our expansionplans,” said Carney. The company is pursuingthe new TS16949 certification – an internationalstandard – to enhance growth. Matsu’scurrent customer base includes Honda,Toyota, Hyundai and General Motors.Ron Corzatt, general manager forMitchell Plastics, another relatively new kidon the block, (they’ve been in operation formore than one and a half years), admits tohaving expansion plans already. “We had a25 percent growth in employment in last 7months,” he added. Location to the automotiveindustry, access to major roads andcurrent, as well as future customers,prompted the company to take up residencein Huntsville’s Chase Industrial Park.Mitchell Plastics manufactures plastic interiordecorative and functional trim. Honda,Toyota, and Nissan are included in the company’scustomer base which Corzatt alsodescribes as “expanding.” •0037599922 April 2006 Initiatives