Poplar Bluff manager moving

Business Today

POPLAR BLUFF -- Briggs and Stratton plant manager Jim Marceau left Poplar Bluff for Chongqing, China, on March 3 to open a new Briggs and Stratton plant there.

Marceau, who has spent the past 13 years working as plant manager in Poplar Bluff, said the company's plant in China will produce engines of the same size being built in Poplar Bluff.

While the engines will be the same horsepower, they will be used for different applications. The engines produced in Poplar Bluff are mostly used in lawnmowers and other lawn and garden products. The engines produced in China will go into agriculture products like pumps, generators and tillers.

Briggs and Stratton is the world's largest producer of gasoline engines for the outdoor power equipment market.

Like many companies, Briggs and Stratton sees money to be made in the emerging economies of south and east Asia.

Briggs and Stratton's new plant will be located in one of China's fastest growing areas. According to the Chinese government Chongqing generated a gross domestic product of 197.1 billion yuan in 2002, up 10.3 percent from 2001. The Chinese currency is currently trading at about 8.28 yuan to the dollar.

Beyond managing the Chongqing plant, Marceau will also be responsible for the company's entire Asia operation -- including the Philippines, Japan, India and Vietnam.

Company officials said Briggs and Stratton had been trying to move into the China market, but was thwarted by its steep tariff system.

Marceau said nearly all of Briggs and Stratton's competitors have manufacturing plants in China and the 30 percent tariff imposed on the U.S. manufacturers' engines effectively priced them out of the market. The engines produced at the new plant, however, will be exempt from the tariff.

Marceau said he hopes to have the China plant producing up to 1 million engines per year in very short order.

He said the city has a population approaching 30 million in an area about the same size as St. Louis.

In addition to the Poplar Bluff plant, Briggs & Stratton manufactures engines and parts at Wauwatosa, Wis.; Murray, Ky.; Rolla; Auburn, Ala.; and Statesboro, Ga.