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Automotive Companies Partner with Mississippi Colleges To Be Ready for Day-One Production

Mississippi’s research institutions collaborate with the state’s automotive manufacturers and suppliers providing innovative solutions to production and workforce challenges.

2015 Auto/Aero Site Guide
In 2013, Feuer Powertrain announced the German crankshaft manufacturer was locating its first U.S. operation in Tunica, Mississippi. Feuer’s investment of $140 million is creating at least 300 new jobs for the state’s workers.

In order to be ready for day-one production, Feuer partnered with Northwest Mississippi Community College and the state to prepare and train its workforce.
Mississippi State University’s Center for Advanced Vehicular Systems partners with automotive manufacturers like Nissan North America’s Canton, Miss., plant and parts suppliers around the state to assist with workforce training and engineering needs.
Mississippi State University’s Center for Advanced Vehicular Systems partners with automotive manufacturers like Nissan North America’s Canton, Miss., plant and parts suppliers around the state to assist with workforce training and engineering needs.

“Every company in the world is looking to make sure that they have the labor force that is right to manufacture the project or the product,” said Feuer’s Human Resources Manager Wanda McKinnon. “Working with, building a relationship with the governor’s office, Mississippi Development Authority, Northwest, the chamber of commerce, will help us day one get a great start and produce a much higher quality product than we would without the arms that are available to us.”

Mississippi’s research institutions collaborate with the state’s automotive manufacturers and suppliers providing innovative solutions to production and workforce challenges. And Mississippi State University’s Center for Advanced Vehicular Systems, a private-public partnership, is paying big dividends for both large and small manufacturers throughout the state.

“CAVS Extension works with companies at varying levels of needs, and sometimes, the assistance is in helping to justify new technology and new capital that will increase the level of automation, that will increase the level of productivity of the workplace, and so we’re involved in working with the companies to justify new technologies,” said CAVS Director Clay Walden. “Our clients report through a third-party survey conducted on behalf of the manufacturing extension partnership over $5.5 billion in economic impact since we’ve opened. In addition, our clients have reported 3,500 jobs either retained or created as a direct result of our work.”

By creating an environment that fosters growth, innovation, and sustainability in the automotive sector, Mississippi has all the tools automotive manufacturers need to be successful in this growing sector. In fact, Mississippi’s productive workforce and distinct business advantages have positioned the state as a leader in the Southern Automotive Corridor in a little more than a decade. Having assembled nearly three million vehicles in that time, thanks to Nissan, Toyota, and a growing list of Tier I and Tier II suppliers, Mississippi continues to be a top destination for the automotive sector

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