Target Industries
Automotive Parts Manufacturing
With numerous companies already supplying to the automotive industry and two of the largest OEM parts suppliers, ZF and GKN Driveline, Catawba County is are well-suited to Automotive Parts Manufacturing. There are over 4,300 workers employed by motor vehicle and auto parts suppliers within a 45-minute drive time of Catawba County. The average wage for Transportation Equipment Manufacturing in Catawba County is 63% of the national average and 78% of the North Carolina average. Please view our Automotive Manufacturing Fact Sheet to learn more.
Food Processing
Catawba County's recruitment of Food Processing is bolstered by an identical focus by the State of North Carolina. There are over 57,000 employees working in food manufacturing in North Carolina and over 3,000 of those are employed within a 45-minute drive time of Catawba County. Several food processing and logistics companies have a long history in Catawba County. An abundant water supply is available for processing operations and the network of processing and packaging suppliers, as well as distribution and cold storage facilities make Catawba County an excellent location for Food Processing. Please view our Food Processing Fact Sheet to learn more.
Advanced Textiles
Textiles have a long history in Catawba County. Like many areas, Catawba's early industrial economy was largely made up of textile mills. The Catawba River provided a readily available, abundant water supply and many textile products were manufactured in Catawba County beginning with yarn and including sock, hosiery, and bedding. In the early part of the century, many of these textile factories moved their operations out of the country. With companies producing both wovens and nonwovens for a variety of applications, the textile industry still thrives in Catawba County. Read this case study about textile manufacturing in Catawba County. Also, please view our Advanced Textiles Fact Sheet to learn more.
| Advanced Textiles in Catawba County | |||
| Company | Location | Local Employees | Industry Sector |
| Hanes Industries | Conover | 200 | Woven and nonwoven fabrics |
| TSG Finishing | Multiple | 170 | Fabric finishing services |
| Fibrix | Conover | 75 | High-loft nonwoven materials |
| Dalco Nonwovens | Conover | 60 | Geosynthetic, furniture & automotive |
| Carolina Nonwovens | Maiden | 60 | Automotive nonwovens |
| BSN Jobst | Multiple | 50 | Wound & medical textiles |
| Fiber-Line, Inc. | Hickory | 50 | Coated yarns for fiber optic cabling |
| Nufabrx | Conover | 20 | Medicine-laced fabrics/products |
Data Centers
The Catawba County EDC has actively been recruiting data centers since 2006 when it began promoting the NC Data Center Corridor. The abundant water and electrical supplied established by the textile industry were left vacant when many of the textile facilities closed or relocated in the early 2000s and were a perfect fit for the growing data center industry. Since that time, numerous data centers have located in, or around, Catawba County. Some of the most notable are Apple's data center in Maiden, Google's data center in neighboring Lenoir and Facebook's data center in nearby Forest City. Bed Bath & Beyond has also located a data center in Catawba County. Catawba County is also home to some of world's top manufacturers of fiber optic and coaxial cable - CommScope, Corning Optical Communications, and Prysmian. Please view our Data Center Marketing Brochure to learn more or visit www.datacentersites.com.
