By Tony Wilbert, Wilbert News Strategies
(UPDATED June 2 to change location of manufacturing plant to Columbus from Macon.)
ATLANTA (June 1, 2009) - Georgia once again is a legitimate contender in the realm of economic development and Fortune 500 relocations.
The Peach State had struggled since luring UPS from New England in
1991 to land a well-known Fortune 500 company that brought thousands of jobs. Newell-Rubbermaid was hailed as a success when it relocated from the Midwest, but it wasn't an immediate job producer. Georgia and Atlanta became better known for losing Fortune 1000 companies (BellSouth, Georgia-Pacific, Scientific-Atlanta to mergers and privatization) than winning them under the current governor.
It all changes tomorrow when, according to
Atlanta Business Chronicle, NCR will announce its decision to relocate its headquarters from rusty Dayton, Ohio, to the Atlanta suburb of Duluth, where NCR already has a substantial presence. NCR also said it will build a plant where ATMs will be manufactured in Columbus.
The decision by NCR is home run for Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue, left, whose economic development efforts have been maligned heretofore. Until recently, Perdue had few victories to claim on the headquarters-fishing front, but that changed this week. The decision by NCR to open an accompanying plant and create jobs outside metro Atlanta will ensure the entire state feels good about the NCR win. Some of the jobs at the Columbus plant will be filled by Alabamans, but that's OK. Alabama's auto-assembly plants have benefited Georgians.
It'll be sweet revenge when Perdue takes to the podium in the hot Georgia sunshine to announce that NCR will be a Georgia company.
In addition to its presence in Gwinnett County, NCR has several other ties to Atlanta. Home Depot is a large customer of NCR. Go inside any Home Depot, and you'll be able to use the self-check-out machines built NCR. SunTrust's ATMs are by NCR. And Bo DeRodes, former chief IT guy at Home Depot and Delta sits on NCRs board. (DeRodes, left, now is chief IT office at First Data, which also has a nice Atlanta presence.)
So, hats off to Gov. Perdue. Thanks for the jobs and returning Georgia to a real contender again on the economic development front.
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