Company and city and civic officials celebrated the completion of the new plant on Tuesday with a grand opening of the plant near Springfield-Branson National Airport, just off Division Street. In the same Partnership Industrial Center-West, the new FedEx center is now operational, and that company plans to hire between 50 and 70 jobs, according to the Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce.

At NorthStar, managers expect their numbers will just keep climbing.

“Right now, I'm adding the nuts to our terminals,” said Trish Anderson, one of the NorthStar employees who is testing production at the new plant.

It seems Anderson has picked the right field. As long as people keep talking on cellular telephones, she can pretty much bank on job security.

"As you're driving down the interstate and you see the big cell towers, the small house at the bottom of that cell tower will be outfitted with our reserve power batteries,” she said.

They’re all mass produced right here in Springfield. Over the next two or three years, NorthStar Battery expects up to 500 new workers will fill this plant.

"The demand is so much that we need two plants running,” said Tim Caldwell, NorthStar’s plant manager.

That’s 500 on top of the 400 current employees at NorthStar’s plant across town at the Partnership Industrial Center on the south side of Interstate 44, east of U.S. 65.

The batteries end up in some 110 countries.

“A lot of these Third World countries can't spend the money on the infrastructure to put in hard landlines, and cell phones are what they're going to. With that, you have to have reserve power,” said Caldwell.

So, as long as the Ozarks still has thunderstorms and ice storms to knock out power, and as long as people keep talking, this company should keep going and going and going.

"I think we're going to keep going strong,” said Anderson.

These positions will be added over time. The plant manager says he plans to bring on about 75 employees every six months. If you'd like a job, you can apply through Penmac. Call (417) 831-9100. (Editor's note: NorthStar says you can't apply by going to the plant.) The jobs pay $30,000 to $40,000 per year.