A diverse mix of companies will soon call Georgia home or expand their presence in the state. These businesses involve everything from online stock trading to mattress manufacture. Several of the companies are from outside the United States. In all, 40 Georgia towns and cities will benefit from some 7,000 jobs represented by these new business investments. Below are highlights.

Two British manufacturers will open facilities. Millennium Mats is building a new plant in Suwanee to produce commercial door mats. The plant will employ 80. Slumberland, which makes high-end mattresses and box springs, will locate in Newnan and hire 50 employees.

As part of a major expansion plan, California-based E*Trade will add 2,000 new jobs in Alpharetta over the next two years. The first wave of 700 new employees is expected to be placed during the first half of 2000.
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The Duracell facility in LaGrange will add 200 new jobs over the next six years. The plant produces AAA and 9-volt batteries.

Utilipro is an outsource firm that performs customer service and other business operations for the deregulated natural gas industry. The company's new Cobb County call center, which will complement other facilities in Fulton County and Toronto, Ohio, will employ 200.

Amazon.com, the online book and media source, will locate a distribution center in McDonough. The facility will employ 1,000.

Muskin Leisure Products will build a new plant in Midway to produce above-ground swimming pools. The plant will employ 200.

Valdosta is the site for a new customer service center for Convergys. The company contracts for customer care with telephone companies, catalog retailers, banks, cable television companies, utilities and healthcare providers. Convergys is the largest such company in the United States. It plans to employ 300 Valdosta-area residents.

Roper Corporation, maker of cooking ranges, will expand its LaFayette facility, adding 255 new employees.

The second Wal-Mart distribution center in Georgia will be in LaGrange. The facility will employ 600. Wal-Mart already operates a distribution center in Statesboro.

Perry will be home to a new poultry processing plant for Cagle's, Inc. Employment is expected to be 800.

Expansion News	A ribbon cutting this spring in Augusta celebrated the opening of Delta Air Line's new reservations sales call center and the signing of a strategic training plan between Delta, Georgia Quick Start and Augusta Technical Institute. The new call center, Delta's third in the Southeast, will employ 200 reservations sales representatives. The training plan will enhance Delta's existing curriculum for the representatives and will be administered through a Quick Start partnership with Augusta Technical Institute. Pictured signing the plan are L-R: Terry Elam, president of Augusta Technical Institute; Lee Macenczak, Delta vice president of reservations sales, and Dr. Ken Breeden, commissioner, Technical College System of Georgia.
Delta Soars From New Sales Call Center