Manufacturing staffing across East Tennessee.
Production lines, assembly operations, and industrial facilities across Knox and Blount counties depend on people who show up every shift. When your headcount can’t keep up with demand, we fill the floor same-day with pre-screened workers. We’re a family-owned company, and we love keeping production moving.
Key takeaways
- Labor Exchange staffs manufacturing jobs across East Tennessee from our office at 4408 Chapman Highway in South Knoxville. Family-owned since 2012; phone 865-247-4957.
- All workers are W-2 employees of Labor Exchange (not 1099 contractors). Pre-screened, with background checks and drug screening available on request.
- Roles we fill: assembly workers, machine operators, production line staff, packers, and material handlers.
- One all-in hourly rate covers worker pay, payroll taxes, workers’ comp, and screening. One invoice, no minimums.
East Tennessee’s manufacturing sector is concentrated in two corridors. Knox County has industrial parks along I-40 and I-75 — Forks of the River, Eastbridge, and the Pellissippi Parkway corridor — running everything from food production to automotive parts to electronics assembly. Blount County carries the legacy of Alcoa’s aluminum operations and has diversified into a broader manufacturing base including automotive components, industrial equipment, and advanced materials. Both counties share the same staffing challenge: manufacturing competes with warehouse, construction, and hospitality for the same blue-collar workforce, and when production demand spikes — a new contract, a seasonal run, or an expansion — the permanent headcount can’t flex fast enough.
That is the gap temporary manufacturing staffing fills. Labor Exchange dispatches assembly workers, machine operators, forklift drivers, material handlers, and quality control workers to production facilities across both counties, covering all three shifts, weekend runs, and the overtime surges that happen when a big order lands.
We are a family-owned company in South Knoxville. Bill Peterson started Labor Exchange around 2012, and his wife Kelly runs it today. We are in the people business, so we send pre-screened workers same-day, and every one of them is a W-2 employee of ours. We carry their pay, payroll taxes, workers’ comp, and screening, and you pay one rate that covers all of it. Drug testing and background checks are available on request. We have built our name across East Tennessee one shift at a time, and our Google rating of 4.3 stars across 108 reviews reflects it.
It helps to know how big this base really is. The Knoxville region sits inside a 15-county East Tennessee workforce of roughly 620,000 people, and there are more than 25 auto assembly plants within about 400 miles, which has pulled in 70-plus suppliers making metal, plastic, and textile parts for them. That gravity is why so much of the work here is automotive and plastics, and why a slow week at one plant rarely means a slow week across the region. Layer in the advanced-materials research coming out of Oak Ridge National Laboratory and the University of Tennessee, a deep food and beverage sector, and a long metals heritage, and you get a manufacturing economy with a lot of different floors that all need people on them.
We are not naming any of those plants as our customers, and we would not. The point is simpler. East Tennessee makes a little of everything, the work runs on more than one shift, and demand moves week to week. Honestly, that is the kind of place a local staffing crew earns its keep, because somebody has to be ready when a line is short and the order still has to go out the door.
Roles we dispatch
Manufacturing staffing by location
Two manufacturing corridors with different facility types and different labor dynamics.
Knoxville & Knox County
Forks of the River, Eastbridge Business Park, Pellissippi Parkway corridor, and I-40/I-75 industrial areas. Diverse manufacturing base from food production to electronics assembly to automotive parts. All three shifts.
Manufacturing staffing in Knoxville →Maryville, Alcoa & Blount County
Alcoa’s industrial legacy plus a diversified modern manufacturing sector. Automotive components, industrial equipment, advanced materials, and the production facilities that grew around the original aluminum operations.
Manufacturing staffing in Blount County →When manufacturers need us
Production surges
New contract landed, seasonal demand spike, or a rush order that doubles your output target. We ramp your floor crew up fast and scale back when the run finishes — no severance, no layoffs.
Shift coverage gaps
Second and third shift are the hardest to staff permanently. No-shows, callouts, and turnover hit overnights hardest. We keep shift-experienced workers in our pool specifically for manufacturing coverage.
Temp-to-hire evaluation
See a worker’s speed, accuracy, attendance, and culture fit on your actual production floor before committing to a permanent hire. The best way to build your team without the risk of a bad hire.
New facility startups
Opening a new line or a new building? We provide the initial workforce — 10, 20, or 50 temp workers — while you recruit permanent staff. Operations running from day one.
What to expect when you call us
A real person, a straight answer, and workers ready for your floor.
Call 865-247-4957 and you reach our team, not a call center. Tell us where your plant sits across Knox or Blount County, how many workers you need, which shift, and what roles, from assembly and machine operation to forklift driving, material handling, and quality control. If a role needs forklift certification, steel-toe boots, or safety vests, tell us and we match your site requirements. We will be honest about what we can fill same-day and what might take a day to line up.
From there we dispatch from our local pool of pre-screened, production-experienced workers. To start, a new worker brings two forms of ID for the I-9, and we arrange drug testing or background checks on request. Because every worker is a W-2 employee of ours, you get one simple rate and none of the employment paperwork. And because our people can be paid the same day they work, dependable folks keep coming back, which is exactly who keeps a line moving.
Why a local crew matters in East Tennessee
Manufacturing runs on people who show up. We know who does.
Manufacturing competes with warehouse, construction, and hospitality for the same local people, and a production line only holds its pace when workers show up shift after shift. A staffing company far from here cannot promise that. We can, because our crew lives in Knox and Blount counties and across East Tennessee, not on a spreadsheet. We know who is steady for an early start, who has real plant experience, and who can handle a weekend run when a big purchase order lands. When you need overtime coverage fast, local people are close enough to be there.
Family-owned since 2012, we have grown by keeping local plants staffed through ramp-ups and quiet weeks alike. We would rather earn a manufacturer’s trust on one shift and grow into a standing relationship than overpromise on day one. When good people flourish where they are planted, your floor runs smoother and your quality holds, and that is the whole point of what we do.
The manufacturing East Tennessee actually runs on
Different floors, different rhythms. We staff across all of them.
Automotive & plastics
This is the backbone. With dozens of assembly plants within driving distance of the region, tier-one and tier-two suppliers here run steering parts, castings, molded and stamped components, and the plastics that go with them. That means injection-molding support, press tending, sub-assembly, and steady production help when a customer’s order rate climbs.
Metals & aluminum
East Tennessee has made aluminum for more than a century, and that heritage still shows up in sheet, plate, extrusion, and fabrication work that feeds aerospace, ground transportation, and packaging. Metals plants run hot, heavy, and continuous, so dependable shift coverage and material handling matter as much as the machine itself.
Food & beverage production
Tennessee is home to well over a thousand food and beverage makers, and the Knoxville area carries its share, from soups and sauces to packaged goods. This work leans seasonal and sanitation-minded: production-line packing, palletizing, and the extra hands a run needs when a retail order doubles.
Advanced & packaging
Medical devices, precision parts, and modern packaging round it out. These floors care about tolerances, cleanliness, and consistency, so we send people who understand that a part either passes or it does not, and that quality is the job, not an afterthought.
How manufacturing staffing works across the region
The same idea, whether your plant is in Knox or Blount County.
Most plant managers call us for one of two reasons. Either a shift came up short this morning and the line still has a quota to hit, or a new contract, a seasonal run, or an expansion means the permanent headcount cannot flex fast enough. Both are the same problem underneath: you need real people on the floor, ready today, without adding permanent roles you may not need in three months. So you tell us how many, which shift, and what the work actually is, and we dispatch pre-screened W-2 workers from our local pool. You pay one rate that already covers their pay, payroll taxes, workers’ comp, and screening, and when the run ends, the crew scales back down. No severance, no layoffs, no unemployment claims for you to manage.
The piece a lot of people miss is what this does to risk. A bad permanent hire on a production line is expensive twice over, once in the recruiting and training you already spent and again in the lost output while you start over. Temp-to-hire flips that around. You get to watch how someone works on your actual floor, their speed, their accuracy, their attendance, how they fit the crew, before anyone signs anything. When they are clearly the right fit, we help you bring them on permanently. We would honestly rather earn a plant’s trust on one shift and grow into a standing relationship than oversell on day one.
Common questions plant managers across East Tennessee ask
Which counties do you cover?
Knox and Blount are home base, and we reach plants across East Tennessee from our South Knoxville office. We have dedicated pages for Knoxville and Maryville, Alcoa, and Blount County.
Can you cover all three shifts?
Yes. First, second, and third, plus weekends and overtime surges. Second and third shift are the hardest to keep covered permanently, so we hold shift-experienced people in our pool on purpose.
How are the workers employed?
Every worker is a W-2 employee of ours, not a 1099 contractor. We carry their pay, payroll taxes, workers’ comp, and screening, and you pay one all-in rate. Drug testing and background checks are available on request.
How fast can you fill a spot?
Same-day for general production, material handling, and packing. Roles that need a specific certification can take a day to line up. We will be honest about what we can fill today and what needs a little lead time.