A good start

THE ISSUE

Shoals officials have helped land another large manufacturer, which will reverse many of the manufacturing sector losses suffered in the past 20 years. Now, it's time to build on these successes and aim for a more diverse employment base.

The economic news hasn't been this good in the Shoals in decades: two new manufacturers (SCA Tissue and North American Lighting) are open and a third - the largest in recent history (National Alabama Corp.) - will begin operation with about 1,800 employees sometime in 2009.

A large and diverse group of people - from Washington to Montgomery to the Shoals - has worked diligently for a year to convince National Alabama Corp., a railcar manufacturer, to open a massive plant in Barton Riverfront Industrial Park. The same can be said for SCA Tissue and North American Lighting, which is the Shoals' first Japanese-owned company. The Shoals has a winning team that has proven itself in economic development.

Now that the community has some big successes in the manufacturing sector, it's time to look ahead to other job sectors, especially the hi-tech and white collar sectors.

Attracting high-wage technology jobs will be more difficult than attracting manufacturing jobs; the Shoals has a well-trained blue-collar work force and a community college that can adapt training programs quickly. But we aren't overrun with highly trained workers with advanced computer and science skills. And those that are well trained in those field have moved to other communities with more opportunities such as Huntsville.

Much of Huntsville's success in attracting technology jobs began with the arrival 50 years ago of the Army's Redstone Arsenal and NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center. Some of the best minds in the world have lived and worked in Huntsville, where the United States' space exploration program plays a critical role in the city's economy. The Shoals has nothing like that, but it could become a niche market for those jobs and others like them.

A decision by BRAC more than a year ago to move more Army missile jobs to Huntsville, with a direct employment impact of about 4,000, represents another major economic coup for the city. It also poses some serious logistical problems for the infrastructure. The influx of new people will, for a while, be overwhelming.

So, the Shoals is only an hour's drive west of Huntsville. It's cheaper to do business here, and we now have an economic development incentive fund that makes us more competitive with larger cities. All we need is a plan that convinces technology companies we can meet their needs.

Diversifying the economy is an important part of insuring long-term economic health.