Manufacturing

A strategic location, plenty of industrially zoned land with necessary infrastructure readily available, and a transportation network that provides access to both domestic and worldwide markets attract industry to the county. A growing number of national and international companies have a Manatee County address.

Tropicana Products, Wellcraft Marine, Hi-Stat Manufacturing, and Eaton Corp., the four largest manufacturing employers in Manatee County, exemplify the wide spectrum of businesses in the industrial sector. Manatee County's industrial community has a diversity that ensures stability and invites continued growth.

Eight new value-added businesses moved into Manatee County in 2004 and nine existing companies completed expansion projects. These seventeen projects brought capital investments of over $38 million and 229 new jobs.

In the years between 1995 and 2004, expansion and relocation projects handled by the Economic Development Council resulted in more than $475 million in capital investment in the county and more than 5,100 new jobs in value-added industries. Taxable sales have increased from $3.39 billion in 2001 to $3.95 billion in 2004. The county's economic indicators remained strong even as the nation experienced a sluggish economy.