EMCC Holds Industry Appreciation Luncheon

MAYHEW, Miss. (PRESS RELEASE) – PACCAR Engine Company Columbus and Yokohama Tire Manufacturing Mississippi (YTMM) shared top honors Wednesday at East Mississippi Community College’s Industry Appreciation Luncheon at the Golden Triangle campus.

PACCAR and YTMM both received the Director’s Award, the event’s highest honor.

Other honorees included Baptist Memorial Hospital – Golden Triangle, which took home the Best Practices Award, and Special Recognition Awards for developer Mark Castleberry and Lt. Col. Richard T. “Sonic” Johnson (retired).

“East Mississippi Community College is proud to be your partner,” EMCC President Dr. Thomas Huebner Jr. told the large crowd of people that included industry and business leaders, elected officials and local and state economic development professionals.

“We are proud to serve the people of this region. When your people, our people, take what they have learned in these four walls and they make a better product, provide a better service, earn a higher wage, send the next generation to college, change the trajectory of their families, we are all better.”

PACCAR received the Director’s Award for “the highest level of recognition through workforce training, demonstrating management excellence with superior outcomes, continuing to improve and build upon outstanding results and excellent systems and deploying world-class processes.”

PACCAR is a global technology leader in the design, manufacture and customer support of high-quality light-, medium-, and heavy-duty trucks under the Kenworth, Peterbilt and DAF nameplates.

PACCAR also designs and manufactures advanced diesel engines, provides financial services and information technology, and distributes truck parts related to its principal business.

PACCAR Engine Company’s $400 million engine manufacturing and technology facility in Columbus began production in late 2010.

“We congratulate PACCAR Engine Columbus for its remarkable success,” said Dr. Raj Shaunak, vice president of EMCC’s Manufacturing Technology and Engineering division, as he presented the award to PACCAR Columbus Plant Manager Lance Walters and other company officials.

Yokohama Tire Manufacturing Mississippi, which took the Director’s Award last year, garnered the award again this year for “the highest level of recognition through workforce training, demonstrating management excellence with superior outcomes, continuing to improve and build upon outstanding results and excellent systems and deploying world-class processes.”

The Japanese tire manufacturer opened its 1 million-square-foot manufacturing facility in West Point plant in October 2015. Company officials have hired more than 330 workers, with plans to employ 500 more people in the next phase of hiring.

Last month, the Yokohama Training Facility at EMCC’s West Point-Clay County Center was officially dedicated and provides training for area residents who wish to apply for work at the plant.

“We congratulate Yokohama Tire Manufacturing Mississippi and the Golden Triangle community looks forward to many more decades of partnership with this company,” Shaunak said as he presented the award to YTMM President Tetsuya Kuze and other company officials.

Baptist Memorial Hospital – Golden Triangle earned the Best Practices Award for “providing outstanding examples of workforce training, quality management and business practices that serve as models for others.”

Castleberry, owner of Columbus-based Castle Properties, was recognized for “outstanding leadership in regional community development and economic enhancement.”

Johnson earned special recognition for “outstanding leadership and steadfast commitment in building regional coalitions for community development in enhancing the mission of Columbus Air Force Base.”

The keynote speaker for the event, Mississippi Development Authority Executive Director Glenn McCullough Jr., credited all those in the room for the Golden Triangle’s economic growth.

McCullough said Yokohama Tire looked at 3,000 counties across the U.S. and 88 sites in the state of Mississippi before deciding to open a new plant in West Point and Clay County.

“Yokohama Tire chose Mississippi because they saw a group of people that were working together,” McCullough said. “Yokohama chose Mississippi because they said, ‘We can achieve our goals. We can productive and we can be profitable.’”