Company completes it largest manufacturing facility in America, and it’s in Mississippi

The biggest economic development project in recent memory in Grenada County is finally complete.

After more than two years of work, Milwaukee Tool this week opened its largest manufacturing plant in the United States.

The 500,000 square-foot facility will employ more than 800 people from eight surrounding counties and is an investment of $60 million.

The location of Grenada along Interstate-55, about halfway between Jackson and Memphis, has become a hot spot for projects as Ice Industries recently announced a $4 million expansion of its facility, which primarily serves the automotive, HVAC, appliance and off-highway markets as a one-stop stamping, welding and painting center.

“Anytime you have a really good manufacturing presence with a brand name that people will recognize, it just says that the community is open for business. It also says the state is open for business. That’s a positive image for us and for manufacturing,” Matthew Harrison, the CEO of the Greater Grenada Partnership, told the Clarion Ledger.

Manufacturing is the most extensive form of employment in and around Grenada, with up to 35% of the workforce employed in at least one area of the industry.

“Per capita, Grenada is probably the most significant manufacturing community on Interstate 55 in Mississippi,” Harrison said. “The amount of manufacturing here is about double the state average. We are still doing some research on that but right now … the amount of people working in manufacturing is staggering.”

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The cluster of manufacturing in the workforce retail hub consists of the counties of Grenada, Tallahatchie, Calhoun, Webster, Yalobusha, Carroll and Leflore.

The Milwaukee Tool facility building is a visual statement for those driving the I-55 corridor, much like that of Nissan in Madison County and Continental Tire in Hinds County.

“You are not going to miss that facility,” Harrison said. “That’s great for Grenada, and that’s great for the state. All the traffic and the interstate traffic between Memphis and Jackson and people coming into the state to do business, whether it is industrial clients, prospects or consultants or it is just people doing business between the communities.”

The new Grenada facility is a link in the chain of the company’s other locations throughout Mississippi. Milwaukee Tool currently has manufacturing, distribution and assembly facilities in Greenwood, Jackson, Olive Branch and Clinton, having invested more than $209M in expansion in the state over the last seven years.

Ross Reily can be reached by email at rreily@gannett.com or 601-573-2952. You can follow him on Twitter @GreenOkra1.