Georgia state Sens. Ed Harbison, center, and Seth Harp, right, tour the NCR manufacturing plant following the ribbon cutting ceremony Thursday.
NCR Corp. has officially opened its new ATM plant in Columbus, Ga.
The ATM assembly plant, which has taken about four months to get up and running, is located on Mutec Drive in Corporate Ridge Business Park. It already had been doing test manufacturing for several weeks in preparation for its official launch of ATM assembly for paying customers, primarily banks and other financial institutions.
The 340,000-square-foot facility employs approximately 150, with plans to reach a staff of 872 in Columbus by 2013. NCR, which ranks 392 on the list of Fortune 500 companies, is relocating its headquarters and most of its U.S. operations from Dayton, Ohio, to the Atlanta and Columbus areas. The firm expects to employ more than 3,000 in Georgia when its relocation and expansion is complete.
Good news for Georgia. Meanwhile, back in Ohio, the University of Dayton hopes to turn NCR’s former headquarters into a research incubator.
The University of Dayton is now in negotiations with NCR to purchase its former world headquarters building, and local political and business leaders are urging UD to put the building to the same uses that helped Georgia Tech lure NCR away.
“With Dayton being named an aerospace hub (and) with the amount of research it does, (UD) could be second to Georgia Tech with incubating businesses and bringing jobs,” Dayton Mayor Rhine McLin said last week.
Although details are still emerging from a possible deal between UD and NCR, it’s clear UD research is being closely tied to an effort to reverse Dayton’s fortunes.
What are incubators? A way to encourage start-up businesses, and a way to bring together investors and cutting-edge technology.
“Incubator” is a broad term for describing a variety of services that universities and governments can provide to help new businesses get off the ground and existing ones to thrive. Start-up companies can find cheap office space, access to expensive equipment and, most important, guidance from seasoned business people, attorneys and accountants. Existing companies can get help developing new technologies and products and cutting their costs through leaner systems of operation.
By partnering in incubators, universities and businesses can explore ways of commercializing groundbreaking research and creating new companies and jobs. Incubators can also help entrepreneurs connect with people and institutions for financing their new companies.
Good luck to Ohio as well.
