Mack Trucks to move headquarters

The shift from Allentown, Pa., to Greensboro will move the truck maker's base close to sister company Volvo Trucks North America

Mack Trucks said Thursday that it will move its headquarters to Greensboro and create 493 jobs as part of a corporate restructuring that will further define the Triad as transportation industry hub.

Mack, which is now based in Allentown, Pa., expects to create the jobs and invest $17.7 million in Guilford County during the next three years.

To win the operation, the state awarded the company a grant worth as much as $8.5 million. Mack, which is among North America's largest manufacturers of heavy-duty trucks, received no local incentives.

"They made it clear this wasn't an incentives-driven project," said Dan Lynch, president of the Greensboro Economic Development Alliance. "They went through an entire efficiency analysis ... and I think at the end of the day, after looking at the various options, it made more sense to move the corporate headquarters down here."

Mack is owned by Sweden's Volvo Group and has a sister company, Volvo Trucks North America, already based in Greensboro. Mack and Volvo Trucks share some back office operations, and moving closer together made sense, Mack Chief Executive Dennis R. Slagle said.

In addition to shifting the headquarters, Mack plans to move some production from Virginia to Pennsylvania.

"Taking these steps will make us a more efficient, agile and cost-effective organization in almost every aspect of our business," Slagle said in a prepared statement. "Our focus is on long-term leadership in a very challenging market, regulatory and economic environment, and this demands that we continue to improve our profitability and competitiveness."

The jobs headed for Greensboro will pay average annual wages exceeding $73,800, according to the governor's office, and will include positions in information technology, parts logistics and product development. Employees in Allentown, where Mack employs 680, could move to North Carolina for some of the jobs.

Winning the facility is a boon for the Triad, a manufacturing center that has worked to reinvent itself as textiles and other production have moved overseas. Transportation is one niche it has developed, in recent years winning a FedEx hub, a Lenovo logistics facility and a Honda jet plant.

"We've been on a pretty good string of successes," Lynch said. "This keeps that momentum."

To get the full value of the nine-year state grant promised by a committee at the N.C. Department of Commerce, Mack must meet job and investment benchmarks. Volvo must also maintain at least 1,454 jobs already in North Carolina.