Met-South Inc. announced April 25, 2017, it will move its operations from Birmingham to a newly-constructed facility in Hanceville. Pictured, from left, at the announcement event are Hunter Stowe, Cathy Jesse, Hanceville Mayor Kenneth Nail and Don Jesse. Don and Cathy Jesse founded Met-South Inc. to supply automotive parts manufacturers with purpose-made tools and jigs for use in their production processes.

HANCEVILLE — After more than a year of preparation, the long-awaited newest addition to Hanceville’s small industrial footprint is set to make its debut when Met-South, Inc. opens its door at a ribbon-cutting ceremony later this month.

At Thursday’s Hanceville City Council meeting, Mayor Kenneth Nail said he and other local leaders are excited to see the result of a close collaborative process between the city, the company and Wallace State Community College come to fruition.

“This all started back before last April, and it’s just been great to be able to see an industry recognize the value in what this area has to offer,” said Nail.

“This is a company that originally moved to Alabama from Michigan, and located in Clanton for a time before moving operations closer to the Birmingham area. But what they found was that many of their skilled machine positions were being filled by people who were commuting from the Cullman area, because the people who had the skill to do their work had been trained at Wallace State.”

By locating in Hanceville, Met-South gains access to a significantly more accessible labor pool thanks to Wallace State, as well as finding a more strategic location from which to serve not one, but two markets: Birmingham and Huntsville.

Met-South is a precision machine manufacturer of tools, jigs, and purpose-made production equipment used by automotive suppliers along Alabama’s automotive corridor. Suppliers use Met-South-designed machinery and tools in their assembly processes, allowing them to tailor their production tools to suit the specific fabrication requirements of the parts they, in turn, produce for major automotive companies.

The ribbon cutting will be held at 9 a.m. June 27 at Met-South’s new production facility on Hanceville’s east side, at the city’s industrial site just north of Alabama Highway 91.