I’ve mentioned a couple times in this column the possibility of an Italian company locating in McMinnville as an expansion of its European operation.
I’m now pleased to announce that company, Real Mech Inc., has finalized plans and will be moving into the former Precision Engineering Building at 145 North Industrial Park Drive. Real Mech manufactures and refurbishes molds that are sold to tile flooring companies.
The business is owned and operated by brothers Simone and Gianluca Bardelli, who have taken over for their father who opened it 51 years ago. Simone was in McMinnville on Wednesday to discuss his impending launch with Industrial Development Board director Don Alexander.
“In Europe, every house, every airport, every shopping center is made with tile,” said Simone, who said the popularity of tile has soared in America. “There are now a lot of companies in Tennessee that produce tile. We make the molds for those companies.”
Because tile is so long-lasting and rarely needs to be replaced, Simone says the market is greater in the United States than it is in Europe. He says McMinnville is a fitting choice because he does business with several companies around Middle Tennessee.
Oct. 20 is the target date to open the plant in McMinnville. Simone says the local workforce will consist of two Italians who know the business and they will be looking to hire and train three more.
“We’d like to have up to 20 workers in three to four years,” said Simone. “If it’s more than that, we’ll be happy.”
Simone says the local plant won’t be making the tile molds at this point. That will still be done in Italy. The local operation will refurbish existing molds, a process which needs to be done about every six months because they are put under an intense strain.
Simone first visited McMinnville in October of 2015 after receiving information from the Middle Tennessee Industrial Development Association about available buildings here. Simone said the process took so much time because “the laws in the United States are different.”
It’s important to note this is Real Mech’s first facility in America. For me, that means there’s the possibility for explosive growth once the company gets established here and expands its customer base.
It’s not often I get to talk to an Italian so I took a few minutes to ask Simone about his country. As you might expect, he is proud.
“We have great beaches, great food, and great art,” said Simone. “There is no better place in the world than Italy.”
Simone loves pasta and Italian espresso, which he says should be served hot, strong and without sugar. His town in northern Italy is not far from automakers Alfa Romeo and Maserati.
In a fascinating tidbit, Simone says his hometown does not have a Dollar General. You can imagine my shock. How do they survive? However, it does have one American staple.
“We do have McDonald’s,” said Simone. “Every city has a McDonald’s.”
The editors of Business Cheetah are pleased to welcome Simone, Gianluca and the entire Mech Tech family to McMinnville. May you bask in prosperity and enjoy the convenience of Dollar General shopping.

New leaders at Bridgestone

Where would we be without Bridgestone tires in our lives? I can only guess our local economy wouldn’t be moving along the highway of success with such great speed if Bridgestone wasn’t here.
There’s a new plant manager of our high-achieving Bridgestone plant and it’s Tamara Martensen, a manufacturing veteran with 25 years of management experience.
Tamara started her new job earlier this month overseeing the daily operations of our plant. She joined Bridgestone in 2009 as plant manager of the plant in Anoka and most recently managed 1,400 employees as director of manufacturing for Bridgestone Americas.
Prior to Bridgestone, Tamara had plant leadership roles for Rockwell Automation and Scheider Electric. Her diverse background and motivational skills are part of what make her such an effective leader, Bridgestone officials say.
She replaces John Stewart, who had been Bridgestone’s plant manager in Warren County since 2014. John is moving to Bridgestone’s commercial tire plant in LaVergne. He will do a great job there.
Also of note, Bridgestone employee Sean Kelley has received a promotion. He will relocate to Griffin, Ga., where he has been named plant manager of the Bridgestone Bandag Griffin plant. Sean has been working with Bridgestone since 1990, which is a very long time.

Dust settles on fair week

The glory we know as fair week has come to an end, but not before a flurry of activity that brought smiles, and funnel cakes, to our faces.
Fair week can also be an opportune time for local businesses to get some exposure with thousands of people converging on the fairgrounds each day. For Boyd Christian sophomore Ashley Vandagriff, it was a time to learn a career in waitressing is not in her future.
Ashley was working the Boyd Christian food booth on Friday, serving hot food to friendly customers like Leo and Teresa Barrett. Asked if she might consider waiting tables in the future, Ashley said, “probably not.” She added, “I want to be a dentist or in the dental field.”
Ashley revealed one Boyd customer got a little too upset about not getting a deep-fried Oreo in a timely fashion and voiced that displeasure. One thing I’ve learned in life is when people want a deep-fried Oreo, they want it now.
Under the grandstand, Chad Cagle was manning the Security Equipment booth and conveying all the services the company offers such as fire alarms, burglar alarms and surveillance systems. One thing I didn’t realize is Security Equipment does work for our local school system.
“You don’t think about all the work that goes into keeping our schools safe until you’re in this field,” said Chad. “If you’ve ever been to a school in Warren County, you know there’s a system where you have to be buzzed in at the door. I installed every one of those systems and I can repair them with a remote link from my house.”
He’s got my attention. That seems like high-tech stuff.
Chad said the Security Equipment booth is good for name recognition. He says he doesn’t typically sell many security systems during the fair, but sales increase in the weeks following the fair from people who saw the booth.
Also under the grandstand was the Flutterby Face Painting booth, which was getting $5, $7, and $10 per face paint. The great thing is Flutterby donates its profits to charities with this year’s recipients being Warren Arts, Covenant Academy and Hamilton Street Activity Center.
Thank you, Flutterby, for painting the faces of the world.
If you didn’t get enough of this year’s Warren County A&L Fair, don’t worry. The fair will be back again next year.

Womack hangs out her shingle

After working as a school teacher in grades 7-12 for years, Tammy Womack decided she wanted a career change. So she earned her law degree and went to work for local attorney Keith Smartt, a guru when it comes to bankruptcy law. That was nine years ago.
Now Tammy has decided to go out on her own and open her own law practice. Her first day is this Monday.
Tammy says she can handle just about any type of legal work you need. That includes divorces, child custody cases, wills, estates, and even criminal law.
“In a small town, you have to do it all,” said Tammy. “You might be able to specialize in a bigger city, but you have to be able to do everything in a small town.”
Asked about her focus in her years working for Keith, she said, “I did anything Keith didn’t want to do.”
Tammy also does court-appointed work when the person is indigent and can’t pay for legal representation. The public defender’s office does much of this work, but sometimes there’s a conflict and another attorney must be found.
Reading the court dockets, there seems to be no shortage of criminals in Warren County so Tammy may very well have her hands full. If you’d like to give her a call, she can be reached at 474-1963.

That’s all folks

Now that the fair is over, it’s time to get focused on business news. Phone in your tips at 473-2191.