Hauling off.

• Position: WESTERN REGION

Construction-equipment maker Caterpillar is shuttering its Franklin plant by early 2016, laying off 150 workers as it consolidates operations closer to its Peoria, 111., headquarters. It's a big blow for mountainous Macon County, which counted a workforce of about 15,000 in late 2014. The company has been in Franklin since 1993 and at its current site since 1995, Macon County Economic Development Director Tommy Jenkins says. The plant makes seals for heavy equipment. "The No. 1 reason they relocated in the early 1990s was they were having union issues up north," he says. "They saw that we had a small workforce, but a good and dedicated workforce."

Franklin is the seat of Macon County, an area of about 34,000 people that is reliant on tourism. About half of Macon's land is part of the Nantahala National Forest. The county's largest private employer is Drake Enterprises, a tax-software business that employs about 600. Cultivating small businesses is a growth strategy just as important as recruitment, Jenkins says. "We've always known, like in any rural area, manufacturing can be a risky proposition, especially when you're not near the [Interstate] 85 corridor. We've tried to diversify our economic-development efforts." Caterpillar will vacate a 105.000-square-foot space in Macon County Industrial Park near a 62.000-square-foot plant that used to be...