OT: Tater Announcement

Darryl Steight

All-American
Sep 30, 2022
4,618
7,735
113
What's the Pack's opinion? How big of a deal is this?
Any $500M investment into the state by a foreign entity is a huge deal. 600+ jobs in Copiah County is life-changing for those people who live around there.

Not knowing anything about the workings of the deal itself, my first read of it is this is great for the state. Good job by Tate, the MDA, and the County ED people.
 

horshack.sixpack

All-American
Oct 30, 2012
12,027
9,183
113
Any $500M investment into the state by a foreign entity is a huge deal. 600+ jobs in Copiah County is life-changing for those people who live around there.

Not knowing anything about the workings of the deal itself, my first read of it is this is great for the state. Good job by Tate, the MDA, and the County ED people.
People underestimate the amount of work the folks at MDA put in for these kinds of things. Tate gets to put his face on it, but behind the scenes, he is not really doing much other than MDA being under him.
 

TheBannerM

All-Conference
Nov 30, 2024
1,437
2,029
113
Eighty something years ago we were bombing Hitachi's aircraft engine factories. Now they're building a plant in Mississippi.

My question is who really won the war in the end?

HAHA just kidding we won and continue to win.
 
  • Like
Reactions: She Mate Me

thatsbaseball

All-American
May 29, 2007
18,307
7,280
113
wait, doesn't howard industries in laurel already make these?
Heard a convo on the radio this morning addressing this . Howard builds a very diversified line of transformers including very large ones for sub-stations and such and the guys talking were under the impression the plant in Copiah was going to specialize in smaller units . Don't have a clue if they knew WTF they were talking about though .
 
  • Like
Reactions: LOTRGOTDAWGFAN

skip dog

Senior
Nov 15, 2005
1,296
971
93
Being in Copiah county allows a "regional" draw for employment needs.

Copiah and their leadership has done a real good job of developing a serviceable area for distribution and manufacturing.

This is a big deal and congrats to all involved that worked to make this happen.
 

ronpolk

All-American
May 6, 2009
9,420
5,325
113
I think hitachi already has operations in crystal springs. I guess this is an expansion but crystal springs is close enough to Jackson that they shouldn’t have problems finding employees.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Howiefeltersnstch

TaleofTwoDogs

All-Conference
Jun 1, 2004
4,295
2,074
113
The tate guaranteed cheap labor, no benefits, perks, and likely zero taxes.
I doubt "tate" promised cheap labor, no benefits, perks. The delayed taxes were negotiated just like in every state in the country (except maybe Cal & NY). The county and city will get a windfall from the building permit fees that are required. The labor is cheaper because it will probably be non-union.
 

Darryl Steight

All-American
Sep 30, 2022
4,618
7,735
113
People underestimate the amount of work the folks at MDA put in for these kinds of things. Tate gets to put his face on it, but behind the scenes, he is not really doing much other than MDA being under him.
I understand what you're saying and you are correct - no one person could recruit a huge project like this, or nearly anything of any real size. It takes a team, and MDA is the state's team. The only thing I would add is that it does take a leader to decide years ago that we were going to make a huge push and commitment to recruiting these types of industries to the state.

We've had leaders for years (decades) who thought poor ol' Mississippi wasn't big or competitive enough to win these battles, so we didn't really try that hard. We obviously are now, and we're winning our share. I would give Tate some credit for that vision and clear directive.
 
Dec 1, 2025
528
842
93
South Jackson is just barely North of Copiah, surely they can find plenty of responsible residents in S Jackson that want to work?**
Fact:

The people that are moving to the area for the plant could just find ample fixer-uppers in South Jackson at the least. I saw several of them in the video in a previous post.
 

She Mate Me

Heisman
Dec 7, 2008
15,086
14,426
113
The company already has a 500 employee facility in the area, btw, so I doubt they are concerned about finding capable employees.
 

horshack.sixpack

All-American
Oct 30, 2012
12,027
9,183
113
I understand what you're saying and you are correct - no one person could recruit a huge project like this, or nearly anything of any real size. It takes a team, and MDA is the state's team. The only thing I would add is that it does take a leader to decide years ago that we were going to make a huge push and commitment to recruiting these types of industries to the state.

We've had leaders for years (decades) who thought poor ol' Mississippi wasn't big or competitive enough to win these battles, so we didn't really try that hard. We obviously are now, and we're winning our share. I would give Tate some credit for that vision and clear directive.
that was not a slight on Tate. We've had governors pushing MDA for years. Often they will even announce with MDA folks around them. I didn't see this one, so I have no idea if he included them. I only have about 14 years of any direct knowledge of folks at MDA and how hard they work so I can't really speak much historically. I imagine they pretty much have always been aggressively pursuing business but don't know that for sure.
 
Maroon and White

Latest

  1. 01 Maroon and White Football Mississippi State estimated 13th in CFP spending among SEC teams
  2. 02 Maroon and White Football South Carolina HC Shane Beamer points to Mississippi State's defensive scheme and prolific offense in Week 3 media session
  3. 03 Maroon and White Mississippi State Week 3 Preview: South Carolina Players to know
  4. 04 Maroon and White Mississippi State QB Kamario Taylor earns Maxwell Player of the Week honor
  5. 05 Maroon and White Adjustments key for Mississippi State's defensive growth