Page Two Monday, September 30, 2013

BUSINESS & FINANCEThe Messenger

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Business Briefs

Shaw Industries officials have announced the company will expand its facility in South Pittsburg, investing $40 million and creating more than 25 new jobs in Marion County to increase the plant’s capacity by more than 60 percent.

The expansion of the engineered hardwood manufactur-ing facility in South Pittsburg is the latest in Shaw’s efforts to expand and enhance its hardwood manufacturing. The facility employs 200 associates and already has grown by more than 65 associates this year as a result of Shaw increasing the number of shifts it’s operating at the plant.

The announcement represents the company’s continuous efforts to adapt to market demands and preferences. Shaw transformed this former yarn plant into one of the most sophisticated and technologically advanced hardwood flooring manufacturing facilities across Shaw’s entire port-folio – and the largest engineered flooring facility of its kind in the world. Additionally, in recent months, the com-pany implemented $26 million in technology and automa-tion to improve efficiency, cost, safety, material yield and waste reduction improvements at its hardwood facilities in Tennessee, North Carolina and South Carolina.

Hardwood plant expanding

EMPLOYEE HONORED — Job World Inc. joined staff-ing companies across the nation in celebrating National Staffing Employee Week earlier this month. As part of the observance, Job World honored Josh Holdeman (center) for his outstanding job performance and dedication as a Job World employee. Holdeman works for Job World Green Plains-Obion, where he has been employed since January 2013. Joining Holdeman for the honor were Job World marketing specialist Julie Dortch and Green Plains-Obion logistics manager Daniel Baker, who nominated Holdeman for the honor. “Josh is a quick learner and very good employee. He learned his original job duties within the first week of working for us. Then he was transferred to a different department, and he mastered this new task within the first month of being there. He works well with customers to meet their needs and with all the other employees,” Baker said.

UPSCALE DETAIL OPEN — A new detail shop has opened at 203 North Second St. in Union City. Upscale Detail has been opened by Janie Young (right) and her sons, Steve (left) and Elijah Young. The

detail shop offers complete detail services for all types of vehicles as well as pick up and delivery service. The shop is open Mondays through Saturdays. The tele-phone number for the shop is 599-9529.

There’s a new auto detail shop open in town.

Upscale Detail has opened at 203 North Second St. in Union City. The shop is owned and operated by Janice Young and her sons, Steve and Elijah Young. She is the daughter and they are the grandsons of the late Bill Young of Bill’s Car Wash.

Together, the Youngs have gone in and opened

Upscale Detail with a major emphasis on customer sat-isfaction.

They are set up to han-dle detailing of any kind of vehicle, including cars, boats, sports utility vehicles and motorcycles.

The detail shop offers pick up and delivery ser-vice for customers within a 15-mile radius. Also, cus-tomers can bring in their vehicle and while it’s being

cleaned up, they can relax in the comfortable waiting area.

The motto for the new detail business is “Why Sparkle When You Can Shine.”

Upscale Detail is open 9 a.m.-5 p.m. Mondays through Fridays and 9 a.m-2 p.m. on Saturdays.

The telephone number for Upscale Detail is 599-9529.

Upscale Detail opens in UC

CONTEST WINNER — Magnolia Place employee Missy Henderson (right) was the winner of the first ever “What would you do with 25 free Chick-fil-A chicken biscuits” contest. She wrote in and said she would love to surprise the residents of Magnolia Place with a special breakfast. Last week, Chick-fil-A of Dyersburg delivered breakfast to the residents of Magnolia Place, including resident Marie Staples.

WEST POINT, Miss. (AP) — Yokohama Tire Corporation has broken ground for a manufacturing facil-ity in Mississippi.

Gov. Phil Bryant, company executives and others gath-ered for the ground breaking ceremony last week in West Point, where the company will manufacture commercial truck tires. A news release from the governor’s office states the first phase of the project represents a $300 mil-lion investment by Yokohama and will create 500 new jobs. Officials say that potential future expansions are pro-jected to increase the company’s investment to more than $1 billion and to raise employment from 500 to 2,000 jobs. In April, state lawmakers approved a total of $130 million in incentives to assist with the project.

Yokohama breaks ground

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. (AP) — Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley says two affiliated companies in the automotive supply field will build their first U.S. production facility in Tuscaloosa, creating at least 350 new jobs by 2016.

Bentley said in a statement that Purico Group and Bolta Werke GmbH, which the governor described as sister companies, will invest $39.5 million into the facility. Once built, the Bolta Werke GmbH facility will produce parts for automotive manufacturers. The governor said those manufacturers are primarily Mercedes-Benz U.S. International in Vance, Ala., and a Volkswagen plant in Chattanooga.

“With a new production facility in Tuscaloosa, Ala., Bolta will not only be able to support Mercedes-Benz and Volkswagen in close proximity, but also valued Tier 1 sup-pliers like Rehau,” Christian Falk, CEO of Bolta Werke GmbH, said in a statement from the governor’s office. Bolta Werke GmbH is based in Germany and is part of the Purico Group of the United Kingdom.

Alabama getting auto jobs

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RICHMOND, Va. (AP) — Shareholders of Smithfield Foods Inc. have approved a plan to sell the world’s largest pork producer and processor to a Chinese com-pany.

The Smithfield, Va.-based company said more than 96 percent of the votes cast during a special meet-ing in Richmond last week were in favor of Shuanghui International Holdings Ltd.’s $34 per share offer, or $4.72 billion in cash.

The deal will be the largest takeover of a U.S. company by a Chinese firm, valued at about $7.1 billion includ-ing debt. Its sale to Hong Kong-based Shuanghui comes at a time of seri-ous food safety problems in China, some of which have involved Shuanghui, which owns food and logistics enterprises and is the larg-est shareholder of China’s biggest meat processor.

“We will cease to be the company you saw in the past,” Smithfield’s CEO Larry Pope told sharehold-ers.

Smithfield Foods, whose brands include Armour, Farmland and its namesake, was founded in 1936 and has grown to annual sales of $13 billion and has about 46,000 employees.

Pork producers such as Smithfield have been caught in a tug of war with consum-ers. The company needs to raise prices to offset rising commodity costs, namely the corn it uses for feed. But shoppers are still extremely sensitive to price changes in the current economy. By raising prices, Smithfield risks cutting into its sales should consumers cut back or buy cheaper meats, such as chicken.

Pope noted that the indus-try has been stagnant and the ability to grow has been tough.

Smithfielddeal OK’d

NEW YORK (AP) — Hotels want you to stay a while — in their lobbies.

Long treated as dead spaces that hotel guests raced through on the way to the elevator, lobbies are being transformed into places to work, surf the Web or meet friends for a drink.

Large, traditional hotels are spending billions in renovations to try to mimic the style and financial suc-cess of luxury and bou-tique hotels, which have always drawn free-spend-ing crowds to their lob-bies. Walls are being torn down to make lobbies feel less confined. Communal tables are popping up. Wine lists are being upgraded. And quiet nooks are being carved out that give busi-ness travelers space to work but still be near the action.

Companies like Marriott, Hyatt and Starwood are betting that more vibrant lobbies will leave guests — especially younger ones — with a better feeling about their stay, even if their room is bland. Hotel owners say the investments are beginning to pay off, not just in alcohol sales, but in their ability to charge higher room rates.

“People want to go where people are,” says Michael Slosser, manag-ing director of operations for Destination Hotels and Resorts, a group of 40 hotels in the U.S. “They want to go to be seen, to relax and to people watch.”

The changes are meant to attract travelers like Michael Coscetta, a 31-year-old consultant from Wantagh, N.Y., who spends about 90 nights a year on the road.

“Working in a hotel room feels claustrophobic,” says Coscetta, who instead takes his laptop and heads to the lobby or a nearby coffee shop.

Steve Carvell, associate dean for academic affairs at Cornell University’s School of Hotel Administration, says younger guests “very much want that sense of not feeling alone, even though they are.”

U.S. hotels are forecast to spend $5.6 billion on capital improvements this year, up 10 percent from 2012 and more than double the $2.7 billion spent in 2010, according to a study by Bjorn Hanson, dean of New York University’s hospitality school. The bulk of that money pays for new beds, showers and other room improvements. But Hanson says a “pro-portionally record amount” of money is going to recon-figuring lobbies.

Marriott International Inc. is freshening up lob-bies in its namesake brand

with “Great Rooms” that feature free Wi-Fi, com-fortable seats and menus stocked with small dishes and local craft beers.

The concept was first tested in 2007 and is expected to be in 70 per-cent of the 550 Marriott hotels worldwide by the end of the year.

Starwood Hotels & Resorts Worldwide Inc. — the company behind trendy W Hotels — launched a $4

billion lobby revitalization of its Sheraton brand in 2009.

Nearly half of the 427 Sheratons worldwide now have lobbies with com-munal areas, modern rugs, improved lighting and flat-screen TVs at the bar.

Additionally, Sheraton has tried to inject a bit of pizazz to all its lobbies by adding upscale wine lists, each rated by Wine Spectator magazine.

Hotel lobbies being upgraded