Top business stories: East-central Indiana update.

• Author: Mayer, Kathy
• Position: Regional Report: East-Central

MADISON COUNTY

More new-business recruiting leads than he's ever received in the first part of the year have John Hagen smiling and working. "There's some activity, and it's picking up,' says the executive director of the Corporation for Economic Development in Madison County.

Anderson welcomed two small businesses in the last year: Anderson Plastics, with a workforce of 10 making plastic containers, and Argos, a die caster employing about 20. And a couple of industries expanded. Precision Strip in Anderson spent $8 million on its steel slitting plant. And S&S Fire Apparatus outside Anderson spent $1 million on its fire truck facility.

In the meantime, though, Madison County did have some employment declines at the county's two largest industries. Guide Corp. in Anderson and Pendleton, which makes automotive lighting systems, employed 2,675 last year, but is down to about 2,100. And Delphi Automotive Systems, also in Anderson, now employs 1,750, down from 3,500 a year ago.

Other top employers include Red Gold in Elwood and Orestes, with about 1,100 employees making tomato products, and Delco Remy America in Anderson, which makes starters and alternators and reports about 1,000 on the payroll.

DELAWARE COUNTY

"We have had some rough times, but things have come around and it's looking real positive," reports Terry Murphy, vice president of economic development for the Muncie-Delaware County Chamber of Commerce.

An especially bright spot is the new Park One Business Park on State Road 332 at Interstate 69. "All the infrastructure is in place, and we re looking for this park to take off in the next few years," he says. Currently a 400-acre site, it could expand by another 400 acres, he says. Two businesses are now housed in the park: Save-A-Lot Corp., a division of Super Value Corp., which operates a distribution center, and Gale Tschour Construction Co., which operates its administrative offices there. Coming soon: a 60,000-square-foot flex-space building now under construction in the park by a private developer.

Borg Warner in Muncie, the county's largest employer with 1,300 workers, is continuing its $53 million, multiyear expansion at its four-wheel-drive transfer-casings plant. And Keihin Aircon North America, also in Muncie, is spending $4 million on its 70-employee plant, which assembles air conditioning component parts for Honda.

The county's second-largest employer, formerly New Venture Gear under joint Chrysler/General Motors...