TN.gov Newsroom

NASHVILLE – Governor Phil Bredesen and Tennessee Commissioner of Economic and Community Development Matt Kisber today applauded Volkswagen Group of America’s decision to award a $147 million dollar contract to M-Tek, Incorporated of Manchester, Tennessee. The company will provide interior door panels for a new Volkswagen midsize sedan scheduled to begin production in early 2011.

 

“I appreciate Volkswagen’s continued investment in our state and its confidence in the productivity of our workforce and the quality of Tennessee-made products,” said Governor Bredesen. “Tennessee businesses are already benefitting from Volkswagen’s decision and we look forward to helping them grow as they implement their future business strategies.”

 

“We’ve long suggested the impact of Volkwagen’s $1 billion dollar investment would be felt beyond the Chattanooga area and this announcement is proof of that,” said Commissioner Kisber. “In the past two weeks alone, we’ve seen Volkswagen sign a major agreement with a Tennessee supplier and commit $5.28 million to public education in Tennessee. The ripple effect of this project is already being felt.”

 

“One of the reasons Volkswagen chose Tennessee was its central location to excellent automotive suppliers. We’re pleased to partner with M-Tek, a local company who shares Volkswagen’s culture of continuous improvement,” said Frank Fischer, CEO and Chairman, Volkswagen Group of America, Chattanooga Operations. “Volkswagen is committed to not only contracting with locally based companies, but also to contracting with the best companies in their sector. M-Tek’s philosophy of excellence and ‘state of the future’ manufacturing sets it apart, and we look forward to working with them on the new mid-sized sedan.”

 

M-Tek has already started to supply the Volkswagen contract and expects to eventually locate a final assembly operation plant near Volkswagen at Chattanooga’s Enterprise South Industrial Park. The Volkswagen contract will mean continued employment for about 60 to 70 M-Tek employees, including a 20-employee operation expected in the Chattanooga plant.

 

“This is a challenging environment for all of us in the automotive supply industry,” said Howard Tucker, corporate senior manager, human resources for M-Tek. “This agreement with Volkswagen is a tremendous vote of confidence in the productivity and dedication of our employees and we look forward helping make Volkswagen’s Tennessee facility a success.”

 

An additional $55 million has been awarded to local firms, including work sourced by both Volkswagen and state and local governments. Construction is expected to begin in early May for a training center on the Enterprise South industrial site which will house a 160,000 square foot state-of-the-art Volkswagen Training Academy. On March 20, the Volkswagen project at Enterprise South was recognized by Trade and Industry Development magazine as the winner of its 2009 Corporate Investment and Community Impact award.

 

In addition to the M-Tek announcement, Volkswagen is also working with the Northeast Tennessee Valley Regional Industrial Development Association to hold a “Doing Business with Volkswagen” forum for companies interested in becoming potential suppliers to Volkswagen in various business sectors including construction, automotive suppliers, or facility maintenance/supplies. The event will be held Tuesday, April 28 at 9 a.m. at Bristol Motor Speedway in Bristol, Tenn. Seating and reservations are limited. For more information please call (423) 279-3238 or email info@netvaly.org.

 

M-Tek, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of the Kasai Kogyo Co. located in Manchester, Tenn., manufactures a wide range of automotive parts for several North American assembly plants that include door trim panels, rear shelf, trunk trim, dash insulators and plastic injection trim. M-Tek has been cultivated as a complete facility in which engineering, testing, and quality form a disciplined environment focused on a single objective – continuous improvement.

 

The Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development’s mission is to create

higher skilled, better paying jobs for all Tennesseans. The department seeks to attract new corporate investment in Tennessee and works with Tennessee companies to facilitate expansion and economic growth. To find out more, go to www.tnecd.gov.           

 

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