Alabama Bags Another Tier I Supplier

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Researched by Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources; Houston, Texas) Greenville, Alabama will be the site of a Tier I supplier to Hyundai's $1 billion assembly plant in nearby Hope Hull. Hyundai plans to begin test production by summer 2004, so it is anxious to have all its suppliers in place and operational by that time. Full production of the new Sonata sedan and the Santa Fe SUV is expected to begin in March 2005.

Young-Cheon, South Korea-based Hwashin Company Limited has recently established a U.S. presence with its Hwashin America Corporation (Greenville, Alabama). Hwashin America will build a 250,000 square foot plant on a 62-acre plot of land off I-65 and Highway 31 in Milton Industrial Park in Greenville. Groundbreaking is scheduled to begin later this month.

Hwashin has not yet announced a choice of a general contractor, but bids are out now and should be in within the next few weeks. SSOE of Toledo, Ohio, has been selected to design the new plant.

Hwashin plans to employ 400 workers, among them 175 welders, by summer 2004, when they begin their test runs. News of this plant comes at a time when Greenville is still feeling the loss of its bedrock textile industry, which left many jobless in the wake of a wholesale pullout. The plant is expected to generate approximately 300 jobs in Greenville, over and above direct employment by Hwashin.

Alabama has attracted four other Korean Hyundai suppliers, namely Hyundai Mobis Alabama, which will make cockpit modules at an $80 million plant in Montgomery; Halla Climate Control, which will make air conditioning units at a $28 million plant in Shorter, Alabama; Shin Young Metal Industrial, which will provide stamped metal parts at its $110 million plant in Luverne, Alabama; and HS R&A, which will make rubber tubing at a $20 million plant in Enterprise, Alabama. And more, hopefully, are on the way. Ultimately, possibly as many as 12-15 major parts suppliers will settle in Alabama, not far from the Hyundai assembly plant.

Watch Industrialinfo.com for more reports on new supplier transplants as they are announced.