TI Automotive Will Begin Hiring for New Hartwell Plant in May
HARTWELL, Ga., April 27 -- TI Automotive will begin interviewing applicants for jobs at its new, state-of-the-art automotive fuel- systems plant here in northeast Georgia in early May.
The $30-million facility will begin pilot production in September and manufacture blow-molded plastic fuel tanks and filler pipes for vehicles built in nearby southern states. A majority of the jobs will be filled later this year and early in 2006.
Construction on the 145,000-square-foot plant in the Gateway High Tech Industrial Park, located off Interstate 85 at Exit 177 in northeast Georgia, began during the second quarter of last year. Grand opening ceremonies for the new facility have been set for June 7.
"We're looking for up to 100 employees at our new facility," said Joe Roznowski, TI Automotive's Hartwell plant manager. "We are strongly committed to hiring locally and expect to have a sizable talent pool to draw upon."
With the help of local officials, the company has guaranteed an interview to any certified manufacturing specialist (CMS) who applies for a job at the plant. There currently are more than 160 students enrolled in the CMS program at nearby North Georgia Technical College. Training for many of the facility's high-tech operators is being provided by the state's Quick Start program at the college.
The plant will use an innovative blow-molded filler-pipe process, a first for a North American automotive supplier. The facility will have two blow- molding press lines with an annual capacity to produce one million fuel tanks. It also will be the first TI Automotive facility to incorporate the assembly of fuel tank components, filler pipes and tanks under one roof.
The TI Automotive site in the regional Gateway High Tech Industrial Park was developed through the Joint Development Authority of Hart, Franklin and Stephens counties in part through a State of Georgia Edge Grant of $650,000 funded through the OneGeorgia agency.
Jack Edmunds, chairman of the Joint Development Authority of Hart, Franklin and Stephens counties, said, "The TI Automotive plant is a great thing for our community. We're confident it will serve as a magnet to draw other manufacturers and jobs to this park."
TI Automotive will lease the Gateway Park site from the tri-county Joint Development Authority. Incentives provided through the State of Georgia include state job tax credits totaling $3,000 per employee per year during the facility's first five years of operation. TI Automotive can spread out the state job credits over 10 years.
Interested applicants can contact Lee Ray at TI Automotive by phone at 260.622.7900 or by e-mail at lray@us.tiauto.com.
TI Automotive is the world's leading supplier of fluid storage, transfer and delivery systems including brake, fuel and air conditioning applications. Based in Warren, Michigan, the company employs over 20,000 people at more than 130 facilities in 29 countries on six continents. Further information about TI Automotive is available on the company's website at http://www.tiautomotive.com/.
Web sites: http://www.tiautomotive.com
