TRANSPARK TRANSFORMATION: Rural communities unite around new and legacy industries.

• Author: Bivins, Lawrence

Throughout most of his career, Richard McGaughy drove from his home in Snow Hill to jobs in Kinston. The 25-minute commute each way added time and expense to his workday. Today, however, it takes the lifelong Snow Hill native just five minutes to get to his new job as a mechanical assembler at Precision Graphics, Inc. The New Jersey-based contract manufacturer that arrived in the tiny Greene County town in late 2021.

"I love it," says McGaughy of his current position. "You have no idea how much stress came with havinq to commute."

Precision Graphics, a family firm founded more than 50 years ago, provides advanced electronics systems to buyers in the U.S., Asia and Europe. When the company outgrew existing space at its longtime location in Somerville, New Jersey, the owners considered an expansion there. But sky-high cost estimates were discouraging. They began exploring potential locations in South Carolina and Texas when a vacant 55,000-square-foot industrial building in Greene County drew their attention.

Tim Dubuque, the company's chief financial officer, says the building matched the company's search criteria. "It's close to 1-95 and 1-40, which gives us good access both north and south, as well as west," he says. An analysis of the region's labor market showed available workers in the area had the skills the company needed. "The labor force was a good fit," says Dubuque.

The warm welcome company representatives received from state and local leaders convinced them Snow Hill was the ideal choice for their $5.1 million facility.

The move brings 70 new jobs over the span of five years. McGaughy is one of 11 local hires the company had made by October, says Dubuque, who personally relocated from New Jersey to ramp up Precision's Greene County operations.

Precision Graphics is one of several companies to relocate or expand in Greene County during the last two years, providing employment opportunities for local residents weary of the daily commute to Greenville, Wilson and other eastern North Carolina cities. Two years ago, the sparsely populated county joined forces with neighboring Lenoir and Wayne counties to form the North Carolina Global TransPark Economic Development Region in order to pool resources, create scale and pursue common opportunities.

"Instead of a handful of communities operating in relative isolation, we're now talking about a micro-region with a total population of more than 200,000 and over 120 manufacturers," explains Mark Pope, executive vice president of the new partnership, which is based in Kinston and includes the North Carolina Department of Transportation. "We're now talking about proactive local governments working together," Pope continues. "We're talking about private sector leaders coming together. We're talking about closer...