After Volkswagen debunked rumors about its alleged, delayed arrival in Chattanooga, I thought local media had learned a lesson about German planning.
Apparently not.
A few months ago, speculation grew in connection with the rapidly deflating automotive business: Will VW still be coming here? Won't they just scrap their plans for a Chattanooga factory?
Well, once a German business makes a decision, it usually stands by it. It may take forever to come to that decision. But once an agreement is in place, it acquires ‘pillar of order’ status and isn’t easily changed.
Last week, reports popped up about Wacker Chemie's plans for a polysilicon plant in Bradley County. Specifically, one regional news outlet felt compelled to run a headline on its front page, which read something like: "Wacker to put off plans ..."—or something like that. Unfortunately, I can't replicate the headline because the paper changed it for the online version. I guess they realized just how far-fetched the print headline is.
The report was based on hearsay and analyst opinions about the global market for the product Wacker Chemie plans to produce. While polysilicon prices may not be at their peak right now, there is no reason to jump to conclusions about Wacker postponing its Tennessee activities. The company merely said that the time line in Bradley County depends on the global market for its product.
My sources at the company tell me that Wacker is on time and sticking to its plan. I'm glad other news outlets did some research and were given the same information. Fact is, Wacker will be moving in sooner than many imagine. Pre-engineering in Cleveland and Charleston starts sometime in 2010. And we will see more families from Germany looking for homes and schools in our area. Production at Wacker's Tennessee plant may not start until 2013, but, in the meantime, there will be hundreds and thousands of jobs in construction and engineering.
Never underestimate German determination. Sure, we sometimes take forever to über-analyze everything. But once we know what we want, we go through with it. We see physical proof of that every day at Enterprise South. We'll see it in the not-so-distant future in Bradley County, too.
Rather than worrying about Wacker's time line, people in the metro Chattanooga area should be concerned about the level of education in our schools. Company sources tell me training and education will be one of their overriding priorities during the first few years. And, for many of the positions that Wacker plans to fill, the company may have more difficulty finding the right people than anything else.
Christian Höferle is a German-American entrepreneur living in Cleveland, Tenn. He is the founder of Höferle Consulting.
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