Central Texas is home to lots of manufacturing companies.
Now, with the help of a high-tech gem, the City of Temple, has caught a little national attention which some hope will shine a whole new light on Bell County.
You might say David Meyer sits at the center of commerce and high-tech. He said he never thought he saw himself working in a high-tech company.
"I spent more of an early career in retail, but found PDI out of college and it really caught on, it’s a great place to work,” Meyer said.
Temple-based PDI provides just about every back-office function you’d need to run a convenience store or a chain of them.
PDI helps with logistics, marketing and more through a combination of good old retail know-how, with the speed of high tech.
PDI keeps growing all the time and has called Temple home for more than 20 years.
"There is a really good story happening in Temple. You’ve got access to great talent, We’ve got folks coming out of the local universities, you’ve got really close proximity to Austin,” said Bo Harvey, senior vice president and general manager of global operations for PDI.
Now, thanks in part to PDI and heavy recruitment by business leaders in Temple, the website “Smart Asset” recently crunched numbers from nearly 200 cities outside America’s established tech hubs, and found Temple among the best climates for high-tech businesses.
The survey looked at things like salary, cost of living, the percentage of tech workers and unemployment.
Temple came in at number 25.
With Apple making a huge new investment in Austin, Harvey believes it may push more tech companies north to Bell County.
"The fact that I think you’re going to see prices rise in Austin, you’re gonna have more demand for less supply," said Harvey.
And those people will find welcoming wide-open spaces in Temple, smart workers and a favorable business climate.
"If you have a retail background and you’re sort of tech-savvy, you can really catch on here. And it’s a great place to come and bridge the gap between retail and high tech,” said Meyer.
He and Harvey believe the more tech companies that move to Temple, the more collaboration and innovation we’ll see… putting this high tech up-and-comer in a league of its own.
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