In late January, Bob Moore stood in front of a crowd that included county, state and local officials and gestured toward a cavernous, empty room.
Standing on a cold, concrete floor, he asked them to use their imagination to envision large machines that use heat and pressure to turn fiberglass into cabs, roofs and other molded pieces of heavy commercial trucks.
Now Moore doesn’t have to ask anyone to use their imagination. As he wiped away sweat from his brow during a tour Friday, Moore could also point to dozens of hoods and roofs — some in pieces and some finished — that were destined for truck-manufacturing plants around the Southeast.
Moore wasn’t sweating just from the 90-degree June heat at Meridian Automotive Systems’ plant on U.S. 70 between Salisbury and Cleveland.
He and the other people working to complete Meridian’s plant in the former Quantum building are feeling the heat as production gears up and orders come in.
Meridian already launched its first product line — the hood top for Freightliner’s Columbia truck — and every day for the rest of the year, the company will ship 36 of the hoods several miles down the road to Freightliner’s Cleveland plant.
They’re also preparing to produce the roof fairing — that a huge hood that stretches over the driver’s head and his rear seat compartment — and sun visor for Volvo’s commercial truck plant in Virginia. Meridian’s Rowan facility will be making parts for Mack trucks produced in Winnsboro, S.C.
That once-empty room is filling up fast. Workers already have installed several of the huge presses that can apply pressure ranging from 340 to 3,300 tons. They’ve cut and poured concrete pits that will anchor other presses. There are eight pits all together, each 20 to 30 feet deep.
Even while employees are making truck parts, other contractors are working nearby, preparing to pour the last of the concrete floor to finish the inside of the building.
Meridian has hired 15 full-time hourly workers and an equal number of salaried employees, and they’re all working hard.
For instance, when a contractor needed to install a new piece of equipment, rather than interrupt production on the Freightliner hood, employees agreed to switch to night shift for a week.
Moore praises his employees for that type of team work. He also credits Randy Harrell, with the Economic Development Commission, and Don Conner, head of Environmental Services for the county, and other county officials for helping Meridian get going.
As a thank-you, Moore and others grilled hot dogs and hamburgers for employees and special guests Friday.
Meridian has depended on local contractors to get the work done, including general contractor Myrick Construction; Guy Turner, for installing the large presses; Progress Electric; and Graham Piping.
Moore said the former Quantum Films building, which Meridian has transformed outside and in, has proved to be a good facility.
Quantum erected the shell building in 1989 but abandoned the project before completing the interior floors or installing any equipment.
Meridian bought a bankrupt company that already was looking at the Quantum plant for a heavy trucks parts facility. The major part of Meridian’s $1.1-billion in sales involves parts for passenger cars and light trucks manufactured in the Midwest.
But the company wants to expand into the heavy commercial trucks and will gradually moving production lines from other plants to its new Rowan facility.
Moore said he expects to launch a new product production line at the Rowan facility every month for the next eight months.
He expects to hire 100 to 150 people by the end of the year and 250 by July or August 2002.
That’s a lot of work, but it’s the kind of heat that Moore likes.
Operating closer to its customers already is proving useful, Moore said.
When Freightliner officials in Cleveland had a question about the hood parts from Meridian, Moore had a representative at the plant in 15 minutes.
“What are you guys doing here?” the amazed but appreciative Freightliner official told Moore’s worker.
Moore himself has found a house about four miles down the road from Meridian. He expects his wife, Nancy, and 12-year-old daughter, Emily, to move here from Illinois before school begins this fall.
Brian Allenspach, president of Meridian’s Commercial Truck Division, also has bought a house here and will be moving to the area soon, Moore said. He will operate the truck division in offices at the Rowan plant.
Before getting the task of launching the Rowan plant, Moore had spent 10 years in Illinois. He spent a lot of time on the road then, getting plants running.
Though he was battling the sweat Friday, he said the temperature and humidity would be about the same in Illinois.
He said he’s ready to stay in one place for a while, and this is the kind of heat that he likes.
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