TROY, MI-Haley Barbour, governor of Mississippi, along with representatives from Greenville, Washington County and the Mississippi Development Authority, welcomed Textron Fastening Systems to Greenville.

The new Greenville plant will manufacture custom-designed specialty threaded fasteners and other products for automotive and industrial customers. The 308,000-square-foot facility Greenville facility is expected to employ 500 people when fully operational later in 2004.

"Our new Greenville facility helps us improve the productivity of our U.S. manufacturing operations while providing a strategic base for growing our business with the automotive manufacturers and Tier One suppliers with operations in Mississippi and the South," says Rick Clayton, president of Textron Fastening Systems. "Our facility will support additional employment as we develop regional suppliers."