At the end of the day, they came out saying, We would like to have you in Bristol, Davis says. That s something that doesn t always happen when manufacturers look for sites, he adds. Not everywhere wants manufacturing, but somewhere somebody s got to be making things, Davis says. We just had a good feeling about the area and the people and about a culture that welcomed a manufacturing operation. SHF from Juan E. Gonzalez TVA senior economist Tri-Cities manufacturing is dominated by a few very large establishments, most notably the Eastman Chemical operations.
Chemicals accounts for more than a fifth of the area s manufacturing jobs.
Exports to Asia have been sizable, but unfortunately, with the problems of the Asian economies, these exports have been curtailed. Eastman downsized its operation by 1,000 workers in 2000. Activity at the Tri-Cities airport is up significantly in terms of both cargo and passengers. As with the Valley, textiles and apparel have been undermined by foreign competition. The continual erosion of these industries will be a further detriment to nondurables manufacturing.