Auto Seat Parts Manufacturer to Build $35 Million Factory in Georgia

A South Korean automobile seats manufacturer announced plans to build a $35 million factory in eastern Georgia to serve a new Hyundai Motor Group unit near Savannah. DAS Corp., which manufactures metal frames and other automobile seat components, has announced that it will employ 300 workers at its new Metter plant.

The Candler County Industrial Authority’s executive director, Hannah Mullins, stated that the DAS factory will occupy approximately 200,000 square feet (18,600 square metres) of space and that workers’ starting wage will be $20 per hour. The state will pay for worker training. Last year, it also contributed $500,000 to help local officials create a road and sewer connection in the industrial park where DAS is located. The city of Metter and Candler County are providing property tax cuts for ten years, for which Mullins could not immediately estimate a predicted value. If employees earn at least $31,300 per year, DAS might qualify for $4.5 million in state income tax credits, paid out at $3,000 per job over five years.

DAS is the latest manufacturer to declare that it will supply Hyundai’s $7.5 billion plant in Ellabell, near Savannah, to build electric vehicles and batteries. The Hyundai plant, which was revealed last year, has the potential to employ 8,500 people and is set to begin production in 2025. Suppliers to the Hyundai facility have guaranteed $2.2 billion in investment and roughly 5,300 new jobs. According to the Montgomery Chamber of Commerce, DAS, which is already a supplier to Hyundai and sibling manufacturer Kia, launched a plant in Montgomery, Alabama, in 2012, and it now employs roughly 500 people. According to DAS Chief Operating Officer Sean Kim, the company desired a location near the new Hyundai plant. DAS plans to start manufacturing in Metter in late 2024.

DAS also has plants in China, Turkey, the Czech Republic, India, Brazil, and South Korea. DAS is the second corporation in a week to make an investment in Metter, which employs 4,000 people. 4 Fungi’s Regenerative said last week that it would invest $27 million in greenhouses to grow and prepare mushrooms and greens using local agricultural waste as fertiliser. Mullins estimates that the company will hire 50 people at $20 per hour. New jobs at better wages will be “game-changing” for the 11,000-person county, Mullins said, improving earnings and allowing inhabitants to stop commuting elsewhere for work.