Keith Debbage

FNB Southeast and UNCG are working together to bring more companies and more jobs to the Triad's rapidly developing transport logistics sector.

FNB has contributed a grant of $25,000 to the UNCG Department of Geography to support an initiative that will send a clear message to corporate executives, economic developers, and the news media that the Triad is a viable, national market for transport logistics.

Each year, Expansion Management Magazine, a highly regarded monthly business magazine for executives of companies looking to expand or relocate, ranks the nation's top logistics markets by competitive advantage. Greensboro has never ranked in the top 75. UNCG Professor Keith Debbage plans to remedy this problem by creating a new ranking system.

The new UNCG-FNB Southeast Logistics Quotient (LQ) will focus primarily on the number of transportation and logistics companies in a metropolitan area, the number of people employed by those companies, the wages of those workers and how all three of those factors compare nationally.

Based on preliminary research, Debbage expects the Triad to place in the top 30 or 40 overall and in each of the major eight transportation and logistics employment areas.

The Greensboro Economic Development Alliance, the Piedmont Triad Partnership and other economic development agencies will be able to use the finalized study to recruit new transport-related industries to the region.

Debbage tells the Triad, "Get ready for a future that includes some of the most innovative supply chain, logistics providers in the nation moving to our neck of the woods."