GEDIA invests 85 million US dollars in a new building and in special machines on a property measuring more than 200,000 m² in the greater Dalton area of Whitfield County (U.S. state Georgia). 200 jobs will be created there in the medium term.
For the company headquartered in Attendorn, it will be the second location in the USA, after Michigan in the north, now Georgia in the Southeast, and the ninth plant of the GEDIA Automotive Group. "This major investment in the USA makes it clear that we are sticking to strategically important corporate decisions even in times of coronavirus and thus creating the conditions to emerge stronger from the crisis", summarizes Jürgen Hillesheim as the representative of the family shareholders.
Due to the central location in the North-West of the state of Georgia, the customers at the surrounding manufacturer locations can receive the best possible care and delivery. “This project is an essential step into the future for GEDIA, and we are delighted to be taking this step with the State of Georgia. Thanks to the proximity to the automobile manufacturers in the South of the USA, we can serve the American market even better”, says Markus Schaumburg, one of the CEOs of the GEDIA Automotive Group. “In addition, our new innovative production facility with 200 planned positions not only increases the value of our company, but also contributes to the ongoing development of Whitfield County”.
In the planned plant state-of-the-art GEDIA technology is used in series production. This is another technological milestone in the international development. "The heart of our plant in Whitfield County will be the hot-forming line with our patented TemperBox®, which will allow us to broaden our product range and expand our value chain for a constantly evolving automotive market", says Helmut Hinkel, CEO of the GEDIA Automotive Group. “The highly innovative GEDIA TemperBox® takes tailored tempering technology to the next level, enabling us to create body components with lower weight and significantly higher crash safety performance while at the same time conserving energy and material”. For the first project in the new plant, GEDIA is using the most modern forming processes and automated welding processes to manufacture parts for an electric vehicle in the premium segment. Production is expected to begin in the third quarter of 2021. For this vehicle line, components using GEDIA technology are manufactured both in Germany and in the USA. The technological development and project management are carried out at the headquarters in Attendorn. "Internationalization at GEDIA always means securing local jobs using new technologies", says Markus Schaumburg.
The new facility in the USA will be built on a GRAD (Georgia Ready for Accelerated Development) certified property in the Carbondale Business Park in Dalton. The GRAD program currently offers investors more than 60 certified properties in Georgia that are suitable for industrial use and on which a variety of research prior to publication and offer are conducted. For a potential investor, this results are considerable advantages over a non-certified property, combined with a significantly reduced risk. The process of GRAD certification in collaboration with the Georgia Department of Economic Development (GDEcD) is a proactive method to support local economic growth and industrial development of a region, equally beneficial for local labor market promoters and investors.
The Commissioner of the Georgia Department of Economic Development (GDEcD) Pat Wilson visited GEDIA at the main location in Attendorn at the end of July in order to have a personal conversation with the management of the GEDIA Automotive Group including the contact persons for the USA in the final phase of the decision-making process. “I am thrilled to be here with Markus Schaumburg and his team in Germany today to personally, but with a safe distance, thank him and GEDIA for choosing to build their first Southeastern U.S. facility in Georgia. In this partnership with a manufacturer of components for electric vehicles, our state continues its ecological commitment to the development of new mobility structures along the entire supply chain”, said Pat Wilson, commissioner of the Georgia Department for Economic Development. “We deserve special mention to our community partners in Dalton and Whitfield Counties, who support this innovative and strategically important industry by providing GRAD-certified property. This undoubtedly also had a decisive influence on GEDIA's decision when choosing a location".