Eastern Indiana update: the region's top business storms.

• Author: Mayer, Kathy
• Position: REGIONAL REPORT EAST

FOOD AND AGRICULTURE top the economic news in the seven-county eastern Indiana region, with durable goods manufacturing also welcoming new names and expansions. Shovel-ready and on-the-drawing-board sites are opening the possibilities for more growth.

Food, agribiz. Three new food/agricuhural businesses have chosen eastern Indiana for their operations.

North Carolina-based Maxwell Farms, one of the nation's largest pork producers, came to Randolph County in 2007, investing $50 million and hiring 80, reports Greg Beumer, executive director of the Randolph Economic Development Corp. "We ranked No. 3 in the state in 2007 with the number of new hogs raised. We've grown from 42,084 head in 2004 to an estimated 185,848 in 2007, a very significant increase in this three-year period."

In Cambridge City, Illinois-based Dot Foods is up and running in the Indiana Gateway Industrial Park, with 100 employees on the job in its just-built, $18 million, 165,000-square-foot distribution center. "About 55 percent of the facility is for storage of dry goods and 45 percent of the space is for frozen and refrigerated food," says Renee Doty, manager of community development at the Economic Development Corp. of Wayne County. This site will stock about 15,000 different products for shipment to wholesalers.

Coming this fall to the same industrial park: Really Cool Foods. The New York company founded in 2005 is building a $100 million multi plant production complex that will be its national production and distribution center and is expected to employ 1,000 in about seven years. Its products are natural and organic foods--full meals, entrees and side dishes, such as almond crusted flounder, baked ziti with sausage and honeyglazed carrots. Its international flavors include Indian, Asian and Mexican foods.

New manufacturers. Not to be outdone by the food industry, manufacturing brought at least five new companies to the area--four to Henry County and one to Randolph County.

The largest is TS Tech in New Castle, which is now building a $35 million, 238,000-square-foot produc tion plant, where it will make seats and interior trim pieces for the Honda Civic. It's set for an August opening and will employ 300 making 800 seats a day, says Bryan Coats, president and chief executive officer of the New Castle/ Henry County Economic Development Corp. TS Tech is based in Japan and has facilities in 11 countries.

New Castle also is the choice for KVK's first U.S. site, slated to...