[TNham] Ten-Tec: 40 years and counting

[Greg Williams]

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?BRD=1211&dept_id=169692&newsid=19125878&PAG=461&rfi=9

Ten-Tec: 40 years and counting

Ten-Tec has been great member of community in its four decades

In our rush to bring in more industry and create more jobs, we sometimes 
overlook the companies already here that are making products, giving 
people jobs and being good citizens, with very little fanfare or 
recognition. Ten-Tec Inc. has been in operation for nearly 40 years. The 
Sevierville company, which makes items mostly for the ham radio users 
but also supplies government agencies with communications equipment, has 
been at it here since 1968. Next year will mark its 40th anniversary as 
a good corporate citizen and job producer in Sevier County.

Over the four decades the company's records show close to 1,000 people 
have been employed at one time or another. Many of the current employees 
have been with Ten-Tec for almost as long as the company has been in 
business. Inside the tan brick building facing Sevier County High School 
on Dolly Parton Parkway, some 70 employees are making sophisticated 
components and equipment for amateur radio operators as well as 
government agencies.

In the face of intense overseas competition, Ten-Tec has survived and 
flourished in part because of its attention to detail. Every piece of 
equipment - not just every 50th or every 100th like many makers of 
electronics - is inspected and tested before it leaves the building. 
Those who buy from Ten-Tec know they are getting a quality item, backed 
by an American company that guarantees its excellence. With so many 
electronic items made overseas these days, it's refreshing and 
encouraging to know some of them continue to be produced in this 
country, and right here in Sevier County.

Each September Ten-Tec hosts thousands of ham radio enthusiasts from all 
over the country, who gather on the lawn of the Sevierville plant and 
tour Ten-Tec to see the latest products and how they are made. They buy 
and sell their own equipment and talk about their exciting and 
interesting hobby. That's a convention that surely benefits the 
community in the way a trade show at the events center or Gatlinburg 
Convention Center would.

We must never take for granted the companies that do business in our 
community. While there always should be an effort to attract new 
employers, ignoring or disregarding those who are already here is unfair 
and unwise. That doesn't suggest Ten-Tec has been ignored or taken for 
granted, but how many long-time Sevier County residents even knew what 
was being made behind the brick walls of this company's production 
facility, how many people worked there or who buys what they make?

Congratulations, Ten-Tec, for your contributions to the economy of 
Sevier County. Not many businesses can claim to have been in operation 
four decades, especially those that manufacture products. May the next 
40 years be just as prosperous, for you and for Sevier County.

-- 
Greg Williams
K4HSM
k4hsm at knology.net

http://www.twiar.org
http://www.etskywarn.net