Howard Industries, Inc., a $1 billion electrical products company located in South Mississippi, held an Open House today, April 12, 2007, for two new facilities. The Open House encompassed the new Corporate Headquarters and Howard Technology Solutions building, as well as the Transformer Substation Plant. The Substation Plant actually went into operation in August of 2005. However, plans for an Open House for this facility were put on hold in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
The Howard family was on hand to host stockholders, area business leaders, friends, and local and state dignitaries at their facility. The completion of this building is the fruition of a shared vision between Billy and Linda Howard, CEO and President of Howard Industries, Inc., Dwight Evans, then President of Mississippi Power, and Mitch Stennett, President of Jones County EDA. The Howard Industries’ building joins the Jones County Junior College Advanced Technology Training Center as anchor of the new technology park, with the substation plant just across Highway 11.
The Substation Plant covers over 200,000 square feet of both plant and office space. This facility designs and manufactures power transformers for the utility and REA markets already served by Howard’s distribution transformer division. These power transformers can weigh as much as 300,000 pounds and cost up to $1.5 million. Some of these transformers can be shipped by truck; others are so large that they require rail shipment.
Howard Industries invested approximately $40 million in this building and equipment. They have been pleased with their wide acceptance for this new product line. This new line has been so well received that they are already planning their first expansion of this facility by adding approximately 100,000 square feet.
The new Howard building in the Howard Technology Park is a unique landmark in the Jones County area. The office building is 5 stories tall housing more than 60,000 square feet of office space. This office complex houses Howard Industries’ corporate executive staff, the Finance Department, and all of the Howard Technology Solutions’ office personnel. The inventive glass office building is connected via a sky bridge of over 3,000 square feet to the manufacturing and distribution facility for Howard Technology Solutions. This manufacturing and distribution area is over 72,000 square feet in size. This area is home to all Howard branded technology products from desktops to tablets to servers to medical carts. It also serves as the distribution center over 190,000 other products offered by Howard Technology Solutions.
Among those on-hand for the event were Governor Haley Barbour, State Senator Stacey Pickering, Ellisville Mayor Tim Waldrup, Laurel Mayor Melvin Mack, and President of Jones County Board of Supervisors Andy Dial. Governor Barbour said, “When you think of good things happening in our state, you have to put Howard Industries right at the top.” He commended the Howards, and gave credit to the local work force and to JCJC.
According to Michael Howard, “We are grateful for all the people who came out today to commemorate our new buildings. These buildings represent our 75 million dollar investment in the new five-story corporate headquarters, computer manufacturing complex, and the sub power transformer plant. We also were pleased to announce today a 100,000 square foot expansion of the power transformer plant and a 125,000 square foot expansion of the distribution transformer plant in Laurel.”