Thursday, December 13, 2007

Tallapoosa County lands auto supplier, 300 jobs

Officials have announced that a new automotive supplier will soon move into the William T. Thweatt Industrial Park in Dadeville, eventually building a workforce of about 300.

July 18, 2007

DADEVILLE, Ala. (AP) - Officials have announced that a new automotive supplier will soon move into the William T. Thweatt Industrial Park in Dadeville, eventually building a workforce of about 300.

The South Korean-based company, called Sejin Alabama, will be a supplier to Hyundai and the Kia Motors Company, which is currently building an automotive plant in West Point, Ga.

“I’m very excited about starting and building a new company here,“ said JiHyun Yoon, director of Sejin. “I have faith SJA will have a bright future.“

Don McClellan, director of the Lake Martin Area Economic Development Alliance, said the new supplier is expected to go online in July 2008 after it constructs a 102,000-square-foot building in the industrial park.

The supplier will start with 130 jobs and plans to add around 70 jobs during the following two years. Sejin Alabama intends to add another 100 jobs once the Kia plant begins operations in 2012.

“Three hundred jobs is nothing to sneeze about,“ McClellan said at the announcement Tuesday. “As we all know, we have had a tremendous job loss in our area. This helps to replace some of those jobs and not lose our population.“

The supplier, an injection molding company, will produce 12 items such as vehicle spoilers and interior consoles. Starting wages for the production jobs will be at least $9 an hour. Sejin’s total investment in the area will be $30 million.

The Alexander City Outlook reported Wednesday that Sejin is the second Kia supplier to move into the industrial park in less than a year.

Information from: Outlook, http://www.alexcityoutlook.com