Dura-Line, a communication and energy infrastructure manufacturer, is opening a new manufacturing facility and research and development center in Clinton, investing more than $25 million and creating 70 new jobs, state officials said Tuesday. The jobs will include engineering, research and development, and manufacturing jobs.
The announcement was made Tuesday by Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development Commissioner Randy Boyd and Dura-Line officials.
The 86,800-square-foot Clinton facility will function as a research and development, or R&D, center for new techniques for making high-density polyethylene, or HDPE, conduit products used by the telecommunications industry to house fiber optic cable. Dura-Line will conduct research and development that will help the company grow its business worldwide and will also manufacture select high-technology products at the Clinton location.
Dura-Line’s headquarters have been in Knoxville since 1982.
“We’re thrilled to expand our East Tennessee footprint and tap into the skilled local workforce to operate this unique facility,” Dura-Line CEO Paresh Chari said. “New products, techniques and materials developed at the Clinton facility will be cascaded to the Dura-Line manufacturing facilities in the U.S. and overseas.”
A press release said Dura-Line is the leading international manufacturer and distributer of communication and energy infrastructure products and systems including conduit, cable-in-conduit, pipe, and accessories. Dura-Line products provide for protection and fast, safe installation of communication networks, power cables, and pressure pipe for a wide array of markets, the press release said. The company has 20 manufacturing facilities in the U.S., Mexico, India, Oman, Europe, and South Africa.
“I want to thank Dura-Line for choosing to open a new facility in Anderson County,†Boyd said. “When companies choose to grow their business in our state, it reinforces our commitment to aligning the training and education of Tennessee’s workforce with specialized job opportunities for employers like Dura-Line. It is rewarding to see Dura-Line’s continued success and growth.â€
Dura-Line is now looking to fill positions. Those interested can apply in person Monday through Friday from 9 a.m.-3 p.m. at 1355 Carden Farm Drive in Clinton.
More information will be added as it becomes available.
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Gary Love says
This is exactly what Oak Ridge should be trying to focus on….luring new manufacturing. The added jobs will cure a lot of problems.
Sam Hopwood says
True enough. Sadly, OR is more interested in eateries and shopping and sales.tax. Clinton continues to eat our lunch – no pun intended – regarding manufacturing jobs that would bring in more young people which we sorely need. But then, if it isn’t nuclear related and emits radiation. we ain’t interested.
Congrats to Clinton!!
Gary Love says
Sam, when I ran for OR City Council this was precisely what I believed had to happen. That is what happened in Chattanooga while I worked at EPB, and they have really turned the corner. When I moved back to OR it seemed nothing had changed….still reliant on the plants. We need to get over them.
Will Smith says
To regularly attract industry, you have to have several things going for you. One, you have to be willing to use incentives. AMI, the new industry in Blount county is getting a substantial property tax break and the City of Alcoa is building a road to the facility. In Oak Ridge, such things throw a certain group of people into uncontrollable fits – many of which are the same people who regularly complain about the lack of recruitment. A second necessary thing is land. Again AMI is getting 200+ acres (IIRC) at a good price. Where does OR have that kind of acreage? Now, can you succeed without these things? Occasionally, the answer is yes, but such success occurs infrequently.
Sam Hopwood says
Nonsense. OR is essentially giving the Mall developers a blank check. Plenty of land available in the Horizon etc. area. Next excuse??
Philip W Nipper says
Having no (active) rail service at Horizon, or anywhere in Oak Ridge for that matter, is a negative for attracting industry when compared to other local communities like Clinton.
Will Smith says
And while it’s not an issue for competing with Clinton, there is an issue as to competing with Blount County and that is that OR is 25+miles from a major airport. As to the rail system, that can be fixed. UF6 used to shipped by rail quite regularly from K-25. We also have access to barge transport. Another negative is the history of the available land and the fear of radioactive contamination. What company is going to locate in Oak Ridge and face the repurcussions if their product is subsequently found to be contaminated? Sort of cuts down on the potential development market, right? What has to happen is that OR has to actually give more in the areas where things can be given (incentives) to overcome the downsides, but as I said before, that drives a segment of the population (like Sam) absolutely crazy.
Sam Hopwood says
As I stated….. Next excuse??? No rail service, no airdrome, no barge service, no… Oh well, we might as well just give up, which we have. We are what we are.
Philip W Nipper says
Yes I agree. We are what we are and should stop trying to be something we are not. Specifically, I think we should concentrate on building upon our strengths. I don’t think the manufacturing industry will ever be a strength for us unless it is specific to supporting the DOE mission here. I believe we need to embrace and better promote things like the new national park, our rowing facility, our schools, our city parks and green ways to name a few. Oak Ridge is a unique, some would say odd, community like no other around these parts with certain stigmas, right or wrong, associated with the name. Its fine that the former K-25 site has been turned into an industrial park and that it is being promoted. After all, what else could have realistically been done with the land that could stand to be even a remote success? Anyway, let’s not dote on what we don’t have but rather rejoice in and improve on what we do have. Personally, I am glad Oak Ridge is not and has not evolved into an industrial town.
Sam Hopwood says
And you point out exactly why OR not only continues to stagnate, but to decline. Small wonder that young people “get outta Dodge” as quick as they can and the demographics continue to decline in a negative manner. As one of the old geezers I’d like to see OR move forward rather than backward. But I agree with you that many folks here are satisfied with what OR is and do not want it to change. I am not one of them.
Philip W Nipper says
I believe our decline in population is not due to us not having a potato chip or light bulb factory or in this case a piping / conduit factory but rather our housing issues. We have a large day time population already, they just go elsewhere to live. This in my view should be our number one focus and priority to remedy. I have already mentioned some of our attributes. I believe many folks would opt to live here, where they work, if there were more and better housing choices available for them. But progress and change is slow and sometimes becomes unattainable.
Will Smith says
I have to agree with you, Mr. Nipper. As I’ve seen others espouse, there’s nothing wrong with the housing stock in OR that a few hours with a bulldozer couldn’t solve, but private property rights certainly prevent that. There are far too many houses where the original owners have passed on and their absentee heirs are either renting them or have sold them to landlord investors who have not maintained the property. Lower property values lead to lower rents, leading to lower income residents, leading to crime, higher school costs (free lunch, lower graduation rates, more individual student attention, etc), it becomes a vicious circle that is exceedingly hard to break. But ignoring at least one of the root causes, housing, and/or doing nothing is not the answer. But doing nothing is apparently the path that some people prefer. The city has to overcome the “negitrons” as Mr. Lee calls them, and move forward.
Will Smith says
No barge service? Read what I said again, Sam. Try to understand it better than you understand the mall redevelopment project. And airdrome? You’re showing your age, Sam. There haven’t been “airdromes”” in quite a few years, and you missed the point anyway, which isn’t surprising at all.
Will Smith says
A blank check? Really, Sam? Are you that ignorant about the mall property redevelopment? Do you not understand how a TIF works? Do you not understand that the mall property developer is going to spend some $80 million of their own money? And that the TIF will fund, and only fund, infrastructure work, that is, roads, sewer, water supply, electrical supply, etc., to the new construction, just like a TIF was used to construct the new road between Aldi’s and Panera. Obviously, you don’t understand any of it at all. The Horizon center has 7 parcels, ranging in size from 11 to 148 acres, one of which was SOLD to CVMR. AMI was GIVEN 236 acres by the Blount County IDB, larger than any parcel in the Horizon Center. So you must be OK with giving property away, right Sam?
Joseph Lee says
Sam, one more time. The developer does not get a blank check or a tax break regardless of the misinformation that constantly advanced by the negatrons. The TIF loan (taken out by the city and county) is paid back with the property taxes that the developer pays to the city and the county. As the value of the property increases, due to the investment by the developer in the property, the property tax increases. That property tax increase is earmarked for the TIF loan repayment until the loan is paid in full with property taxes paid by the developer. It is not nonsense but a widely used funding mechanism used to assist developments that may otherwise not be constructed. The TIF in place on South Illinois is very successful and is on track to be paid off early. There is not a blank check or free lunch in play here. I agree with those that say the condition of our housing stock should be a top priority of the city and the residents of Oak Ridge. Let’s not lose sight of where we agree. We have a Preschool to build. Let’s get to it. Thank you.
Carol Donath says
The surrounding areas are getting a lot of new businesses and all we get are promises that are broken. What has happened with the big business from Canada in the Horizon Center? It seemed so promising and nothing has happened since the announcement. Everything is delayed for some reason or doesn’t happen.