Kia Motors’ HR chief Randy Jackson says the Korea-based automaker is still on track to open their 2-million sq.-ft. West Point facility in late ’09.
“We’re still hanging our hat on that launch date late this year,” Jackson told GlobalAtlanta.The company is working closely with Georgia’s Quick Start to train and qualify some 2,500 production line workers to build SUV’s at the $1.2 billion facility, as well as more than 6,000 employees for a number of tier-one suppliers.
A major Kia Motors supplier has signed a deal with Georgia’s Quick Start training program to prepare hundreds of production workers.
Korea's Sewon, state and local officials attended the agreement ceremony which will train upwards of 600 workers for their Lagrange plant.
Sean McMillan, director of Quick Start's western operations says the signing is a positive step in a gloomy jobs market:
"In the times that we're living in now, with the economy being front and center, and a lot of negativity that's being heard by the public, [it's] a great, great ray of hope for many people in this community to have an opportunity to go back to work."The firm plans to open the 420,000 square-foot factory in April. The plant will make chassis and body parts for the Kia car plant, in nearby West Point.
Kia Motors assembly plant and new access road, along I-85 between West Point and LaGrange, Ga., December, 2008. (Dave Bender)
The interchange and connecting roads allow direct access to the Kia Motors assembly plant, between West Point and LaGrange in Troup Co.
GDOT Commissioner Gena Evans said at a ceremony held Wednesday at the site that the $80.7 million project was completed over a month ahead of its 18-month schedule:
“This effort proves that design-build can be successful when applied to the right projects,” Evans said. “Georgia DOT is proud to have played a role in helping to bring new jobs and improved mobility to the area. It is a great day for West Point, Troup County and the entire State of Georgia.”The project includes new frontage and access roads, two new bridges, improvements to connecting roadways and new traffic signals, according to a statement from the Governor’s Office, and is largest GDOT construction project so far.
The first load of some 3,500 tons of heavy-duty car-making gear reached the Kia Motors plant under construction in West Point Tuesday.
Two giant metal-stamping presses and other equipment arrived at Savannah Port last week, and will be trucked cross-state to West Point. They’ll be installed at the Korean automaker’s first US plant, due to open in early 2009.
“This is a great example of how Georgia’s strengths enable our successes in economic development,” Gov. Sonny Perdue said is a statement released Monday.
“From our ports to our highways to QuickStart’s work force training, Georgia has all the advantages that global companies look for in a place to create new jobs and new investment,” Perdue said.128 separate tractor-trailer loads will ferry the gear 300 miles cross-state to the factory site, officials said.
“The arrival of these presses inside the state of Georgia is another huge step for Kia as we get closer to going into production in West Point,” said Randy Jackson, Kia’s director of human resources and administration.Secondary and tertiary suppliers are gradually moving into the area, and are expected to boost overall employment figures to some 6,000 jobs for the assembly line and related industries.
“It takes quite an effort between Kia and various state agencies to coordinate the transport of such a large shipment, but Georgia’s ability to facilitate such an effort is one of the main reasons we’re here,” Jackson said in a statement.Company officials tout that the assembly line will be able to produce 300,000 vehicles annually.
Front car seat frame. (Courtesy, Johnson Controls)
Milwaukee-based Johnson Controls Incorporated is building a $15 million automotive interior parts plant at West Point, in western Georgia.
The factory will produce seat and door panels for Kia vehicles to be built at the Korean carmaker's $1.2 billion assembly plant nearby.
The firm says the plant will employ over 300 people when it reaches full production.
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Signs on the road to completing the Kia car plant. (file/Dave Bender)
Construction of the 130,000-square-foot plant will begin next week, according to officials.
The Kia plant is set to open in 2009.
Click here for more GPB News coverage of the Kia plant.
Signs on the road to completing the Kia car plant. (Dave Bender)
Artists rendering of completed Kia automaking plant. (Courtesy/Dave Bender)
Local Kia officials on Wednesday denied a rumored change in car production plans for it's west Georgia plant, set to open in 2009.
Senior Hyundai officials in Korea were quoted on Tuesday as saying that the plant would retool to produce a small car, instead of a planned SUV model due to fast-rising gas prices, according to a report in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
But Richard Park, media-relations chief for Kia's Georgia operation confirmed that -- locally, at least -- they're still on track to build the larger vehicle:
“Right now, we're not giving any, any information from headquarters, officially. So, in my understanding, our original schedule will be ongoing. That's the only thing that I can confirm officially.”As well, Randy Jackson, Kia's director of human resources and administration amplified Park's words in a statement released Wednesday:
“At this point, the next generation Sorento is the only vehicle that I can confirm we will be producing in West Point."It's as yet unclear what impact, if any, a move to a smaller vehicle would have on the planned $1.2 billion West Point plant.
KIA Motor Company's parent company Hyundai has called off plans to build pickup trucks at the west Georgia factory now under construction.
Planning map of the now-under-construction Kia plant, at the West Point city hall. (Dave Bender)
Hyundai had reportedly planned to build a mid-sized truck at the KIA factory in West Point, which is set to open in 2009, according to an article in Automotive News:
"Hyundai CEO Kim Dong-Jin said the company's board in 'a recent decision' scrapped plans for a unibody pickup in the United States. Kim said the original plan was to build a mid-sized truck for Kia and Hyundai at Kia’s new plant in West Point, Ga."Hyundai cited soaring gas prices, and a sluggish housing market.
“But we are forced to give up production of the pickup at the North America plant,” Dong-Jin said, according to the article.
"Earlier we released that we'd be manufacturing the SUV as the first model, and then we have said our second model -- we're still under discussion to determine what that'll be, and we have not reached a conclusion on that announcement yet."The plant will eventually assemble 300,000 vehicles a year.
Perdue, Kia and state officials inaugurate the training center at West Point. (Robin Trimarchi/Columbus Ledger-Enquirer)
Governor Sonny Perdue, Kia Motors President Euisun Chung, and state and local officials gathered at a ceremonial ribbon-cutting for on Tuesday for the opening of Kia Motors' training center in West Point.
“This center is the linchpin in providing both an opportunity for Georgia’s citizens and a quality workforce for Kia that will guarantee the success of this project,” Perdue said.The center, which houses robotics, welding and electronics labs, classrooms, and related equipment, will train teams for car making.
“The state of Georgia and especially Georgia Quick Start have provided exceptional support for our project,” said President Chung.
The OneGeorgia authority has announced that it has awarded a $1 million grant to the Northwest Harris County Business Park in western Georgia.
The funds are earmarked for improving water and sewage infrastructure for the 370-acre facility, located near the construction site of a Kia Motors assembly plant, according to a report.
Thurmond and Kia officials at a ceremony inaugurating the online hiring process, at West Georgia Technical College, Jan. 8, 2008. (Dave Bender)
In a just-concluded jobs program, over 43,000 applicants swamped Kia Motors' online hiring site for their SUV plant being built in west Georgia. The applicants were vying for 2,500 production and maintenance jobs at the West Point plant.
State Labor Commissioner Michael Thurmond says this is the first totally online job application process for a major employer in Georgia:
“Any person who had access to a com puter could go to kiajobs.com – apply for a job. We also - for those who did not have Internet access – we allowed individuals to use our computers at our 53 career centers around the state of Georgia.”Thurmond added that some 400 walk-in applicants came to a recruitment center set up at West Georgia Technical College in LaGrange. A similar number applied with Kia at a recent job fair held in Columbus. The online hiring program was inaugurated only a month ago.
“We're very proud of the fact that between 70 and 75 percent of the people who applied online are Georgia residents.”
“Once they are selected and employed by kia, they will go through a full training program that is generated by Quickstart, supported by our technical college system, at the training center that will be at the Kia site.”The $1.2 billion dollar plant is due to open in Nov., 2009, will produce about 300,000 Sorrento SUVs annually.
Backhoe removing foliage for entrance road off I-85 to Kia plant at West Point. (file photo/Dave Bender)
The State of Georgia has inked a deal with a Korean company, that will manufacture parts for a Kia auto plant being built at West Point.
The Governor's Office says the Sewon Precision company will create 700 jobs and invest $170 million dollars in the LaGrange facility. It'll be built over the next three years at a site not far from the Kia production facility being built in West Point.
The Sewon plant will make chassis and body parts for Kia SUVs. Georgia and Korean officials signed the deal on Wednesday, and the plant will be the company's first facility in the United States.
Governor Sonny Perdue met with a range of Korean officials in October, Sewon among them, in a bid to sign as many local Kia suppliers as possible. Kia's West Point auto plant is scheduled to open in 2009, and the company is opening an internet site for job-seekers at http://www.kiajobsingeorgia.com.
Click here for more GPB News coverage of the Kia facility.
Backhoe rips out foliage beneath Kia sign at plant site, to make an entrance road. (File photo/Dave Bender)
Kia construction project manager Mike Criddle says Kia's not considering any changes in construction, or planned production as a result of the current water crisis.
Criddle says that Kia has agreements in place with the nearby cities of LaGrange and West Point, who are to both provide water for the manufacturing facility's water-based paint system. 
Criddle at work in his office at Lagrange City Hall. Artist's view of finished manufacturing facility is visible in background. (File photo/Dave Bender)
West Point City Manager Ed Moon says his city will spend an estimated 20 million dollars to expand their water and wastewater capacity in preparation for the town's and factory's expected demands.
Kia officials say the two-million sq.-ft. facility, set on a 650-acre site will employ nearly 3,000 workers and produce 300,000 vehicles annually.
Click here for more GPB reports on the manufacturing facility.
Dry irony at boat ramp at West Point Lake. Print warning: "Boat Smart - Boat Safe, Wear Your Life Jackets!" (Dave Bender)
Standing by a high-and-dry boat dock at West Point Lake, Governor Sonny Perdue on Wednesday took the gloves off in a water fight with neighboring Alabama, and its Governor, Bob Riley.
Riley, in a letter to President George Bush, asked that Perdue's intention to slow the flow be stopped:
Alabama "cannot stand by and allow Georgia to take control of the water in that reservoir to the detriment of the people who live and work downstream in Alabama," Riley said. "That would be a radical step that would ignore the vital downstream interests of Alabama."
"Georgia has repeatedly framed its request as a contest between people in the Atlanta area and endangered mussels in Florida. Nothing could be further from the truth," Riley said. "In reality the action that Georgia seeks will have dire consequences on people and their livelihoods downstream in Alabama."
During a question-and-answer session at the press conference, Perdue shot back, saying,
“It's a little bit like the Old West, where one land-owner would try to dry the other one up, downstream. The interesting thing is that Alabama is trying to use these insane rules of the fish and wildlife and the Corps of Engineers to dry Georgia up -- and we're not gonna' let it happen.”
Perdue emphasizing a point to assembled reporters. Rep. Lynn Smith (R) is in background. (Dave Bender)
Perdue says he's weighing taking Georgia's case to the Supreme Court. He outlined a series of immediate and drastic water-saving steps, including a 10-percent, across-the-board cutback on usage by state agencies. Perdue told reporters gathered at the boat-ramp, that,
“the remains of West Point Lake are a stunning reminder that this drought is devastating not only metro Atlanta, but the entire state of Georgia.”
Perdue says he's spoken with federal officials, and hopes somebody from Washington -- perhaps even President George Bush -- will see for themselves how the drought is parching Georgia.
(Image: Wunderground)
Governor Sonny Perdue will hold a press conference to discuss Georgia's historic drought at R. Shaefer Heard Day Use Area - Boat Ramp at West Point Lake on Wednesday afternoon, according to a statement released by his office.
Meanwhile, north Georgia water authorities will have to slash their use by 10-percent, as of Nov. 1, according to a directive issued by Perdue on Tuesday:
"A 10 percent reduction in water use is a first step, and we will continue to evaluate our drought response and encourage additional conservation as needed."In the statement, Perdue encouraged water-tightening measures by all Georgians, calling on them to "...make their dry lawns and dirty cars a badge of honor."
"By making individual conservation efforts, along with reasonable solutions from our federal government, we can collectively help to ensure that our water supply is sufficient."Showers swept through much of the western part of the state Tuesday afternoon and evening, but were not expected to put a dent in the water crisis.
Korean automotive supplier Dongwon Autopart Technology will open a facility in Meriwether County to serve the Kia Motors plant under construction in West Point.
The company's planned $30 million facility in Meriwether Co. will create 300 jobs, according to a statement by Governor Perdue. Perdue and state officials are meeting with Kia suppliers as part of an economic development mission to Korea and Japan.
Speaking from Seoul, Perdue said:
"It's great economic news for Georgia that a quality Kia supplier such as Dongwon has chosen to locate in our state. As we work with Kia’s trusted suppliers, I'm confident that Georgia will continue to benefit from the wave of economic growth sparked by the Kia plant."Dongwon, which has been a Kia supplier for three years, will manufacture door frames, side impact beams, roof molding, side absorbers and cross bars for the new Kia facility.
Columbus: stones and sand bars along the Chattahoochee, downstream from West Point. (Dave Bender)
The drought is affecting West Point's ability to pump water from the Chattahoochee River. City Manager Ed Moon says that two of the city's three raw water intakes are already drawing air, and that the third is threatened:
Moon: “The top of our lowest intake is at 1.8 feet; we need to maintain that 2.2 feet at 600 cfs (cubic feet per-second) to continue to have a viable raw water supply.”West Point is spending close to 20 million dollars to improve infrastructure, including water supply for the massive Kia auto-plant being built nearby.
Interviewer: “And if that does not happen, what steps will the city take to protect its water?”
Moon: “We have a contingency plan to use some auxiliary pumping, with a pump located further out in the river.”