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TARGET INDUSTRIES

Monroe County’s unique advantages make it an especially perfect match for five sectors.

Our county welcomes all enterprises that bring opportunity and prosperity, and we’ve identified five specific industries likely to see the most immediate success thanks to existing companies thriving within them. Their presence creates a favorable environment that includes an available talent pool with industry-specific skills and more informed support from local government and funding resources, among other factors. We’ve summarized these industries below.

Wood Products

  • Georgia-Pacific’s Alabama River Cellulose plant in Monroeville is the largest producer of mass-market pulp in North America.
  • There are 23 million acres of timberland in Alabama, and Monroe County is home to one of the world’s best hardwood and softwood forests, mainly on private land.
  • Alabama ranks No. 1 in pulp production and No. 3 in paper production nationally.
  • There are 22 logging establishments in Monroe County.
  • The Port of Mobile is the world’s largest break-bulk forest products port.
  • Our labor shed’s number of woodworking machine operators grew 34%, and the number of sawing machine operators grew 26% between 2013-2018.
  • When compared to U.S. averages for a county our size, Monroe County has 1,731 times more people working in pulp mills, 247 times more people working in reconstituted wood products, 164 times more people working in softwood veneer, 64 times more people working in sawmills and forestry support activities, and 54 times more people working in logging.

Monroe County Companies: Georgia Pacific, Harrigan Lumber, Scotch Plywood Company, Inc.

Distribution

  • Our labor shed exports $37 billion in products annually.
  • Monroe County has experienced 25% growth in the last five years in specialized freight trucking.
  • Our labor shed’s total of people working in the long-distance general freight trucking industry is more than 81% above the U.S. average.
  • Monroe County has more than 12 times the U.S. average of support services for rail transportation.
  • Monroe County has more than 14 times the U.S. average of people working in general freight trucking and more than 3.5 times the U.S. average of people working in rail transport.

Monroe County Companies: Fruit of the Loom, Billy Barnes Enterprises

Metalworking

  • GD Copper USA, Inc., the world’s largest precision copper tube manufacturer, opened its $100 million, 500,000-square-foot facility in nearby Pine Hill in 2014.
  • Steel mill jobs in our labor shed grew 9% from 2013 to 2018.
  • Compared to U.S. averages, our labor shed has more than 38 times the rolled steel manufacturing jobs, more than ten times the steel mill jobs, more than five times the steel pipe and tubing jobs, more than four times the irony foundry jobs, and more than three times the metal tank manufacturing jobs.

Monroe County & Regional Companies: J&L Industrial Services, GD Copper USA, Inc., AM/NS Calvert, Outokumpu

Aerospace

  • Available industrial sites include 105 acres adjacent to a 6,028 -foot runway at our airport.
  • Compared to U.S. averages, our labor shed has a greater number of avionics technicians, three times the aircraft structure and assembly workers, more than double the number of millwrights and welders, and 1.5 times more electricians.
  • Our labor shed’s number of aircraft structure and assembly workers grew 28% from 2013 to 2018.

Regional Companies: Airbus, GKN Aerospace, Continental Motors, ST Engineering, Sikorsky

Chemical

  • From 2013 to 2018, our labor shed’s number of paint and coating manufacturing employees grew by 51%, industrial and gas manufacturing employees by 46%, and basic organic chemical manufacturing workers by 17%.
  • Coastal Alabama Community College offers a specialized paper and chemical technology program. The University of Alabama, Auburn University, and the University of South Alabama all have strong chemical engineering programs.
  • Compared to U.S. averages, our labor shed has 23 times more manufacturing workers specializing in pesticide and other agricultural chemicals, 16 times more specializing in cyclic crude, intermediate and gum & wood chemicals, 12 times more in basic organic and basic inorganic chemicals, seven times more in nitrogenous fertilizer and asphalt shingles and coating materials, five times more in paint and coating, four times more in artificial and synthetic fibers and filaments, and two times more working in plastic material and resin and industrial gas.
  • The City of Monroeville provides water and sewer services to all our industrial parks.
  • The Port of Mobile is the 9th largest port in the USA.

Monroe County Companies: GP-Alabama River Cellulose