IDAHO

Gold Shovel Winner

COMPANYCITY/COUNTY N/E # JOBSINV. AMT. INDUSTRY

Micron BoiseE2,000$15 billionSemiconductors

Meta KunaN100$850 million Data Center

Suntado BurleyN104$123 millionFood Processing

The Stow Company NampaN139 $115.4 million Consumer Products

Matern (Go Go Squeeze) NampaE150$108 millionConsumer Products

Wild Rye KetchumE28N/AHeadquarters

Love’s Mountain HomeN65$25 million Distribution/ Warehousing

Seeler Industries KunaN35$4 millionConsumer Products

Trimjoist Corporation KunaN50$400,000Raw Materials

Northwest Fourslide LewistonN49$5 millionPrecision Stamping

Black Market

Gelato BoiseN12$2 millionFood Processing

Equifax BoiseE60N/ABusiness Services

(pop. 1.94 million) States with populations under 2 million Manufacturing Project of the Year

On the logistics side, a Clorox distribution project in Olathe is worth as many as 250 jobs. Simmons Pet Food is creating 175 jobs in Edgerton for warehousing and distribution of its private-label pet products, a nice complement for the planned $115 million production expansion at its Emporia facility that will add 177 jobs. Other food processing announcements include Cargill Meat Solutions in Dodge

City, JTM Foods in Wichita, and a $326 million state-of-the-art Heartland CocaCola production campus in Olathe. Other expansions include projects at Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co. in Topeka, Pratt Industries in Park City, McCarty Dairy in Rexford, Kubota/ Great Plains Manufacturing in Salina, and at pharmaceutical maker Hospira in McPherson.

The Gold Shovel for the smallest states, population-wise, goes to Idaho, where the good news is led by the 2,000-job, $15 billion Micron expansion in Boise, a Manufacturing Project of the Year, mentioned in the online sidebar on semiconductor production. The remainder of Idaho’s list of projects is a diverse assortment of plans that foretell a healthy economic future.

In Nampa, for example, The Stow Co. plans to make its custom closet organizers and home organization systems, and Materne is expanding its GoGo Squeez production facility that makes healthy foods in easy-to-tote packaging. Suntado will be making shelf-stable milk and other beverages in Burley, a big boost for area dairy farmers. And in Boise, Black Market Gelato is investing in production of gelatos and sorbets that it claims are “so good, hard to believe it’s legal.” Idaho also boasts such wins as a new, $850 million Meta data center in Kuna, an Equifax expansion in in Boise, and growth at the headquarters of Wild Rye in Ketchum, maker of women’s outdoor apparel.