Officials with Kubota Manufacturing of America welcomed the state's top officials Monday morning, celebrating the grand opening of their new 502,000 square foot facility in Hall County.
A little over a year since construction began, employees are already building vehicles at the plant in the Gateway Industrial Centre off of Georgia 365. Workers produce the company's RTV utility vehicles at the facility.
The site has an initial capacity of 50,000 RTV's a year, with up to 75,000 possible. The plant is also a milestone of sorts for Kubota in America.
"This new facility will be the first Kubota plant outside of Japan to fully employ the new KPS, or Kubota Production System," KMA President Hironobu "Henry" Kubota said.
Some of the KPS ideas include; just-in-time material, never pass a defect to the next process and always be improving.
The new plant has more than 50 welding robots, over two miles of paint and assembly conveyor and 80 automated guided vehicles. The AGVs pull carts of parts like a train, following a magnetic line on the factory floor.
KMA Chief Manufacturing Officer Brian Arnold said the new facility also frees up space at the company's operations just down the road.
"Due to our operation here, we now have an additional 250,000 square feet of manufacturing space at KMA building one, which is where our utility vehicles were previously produced. This space is being re-fitted to produce mowers as we speak."
The building also adds to Kubota's number of employees in the region. KMA and Kubota Industrial Equipment Corporation employ roughly 2,400 people in Gainesville and Jefferson.
The grand opening ceremony, held on the factory floor, was as grand as the facility itself. RTV employees sat in white chairs, taking a break from production for the program.
Matsuriza, a traditional Japanese Taiko drum group and the East Hall School Band performed. Dignitaries taking the podium included Masatoshi Kimata, President and Representative Director of the Kubota Corporation, Governor Nathan Deal, Lt. Governor Casey Cagle and Takashi Shinozuka, Consul General of Japan in Atlanta. Hall County Commissioner Chairman Richard Higgins also delivered remarks.
Officials closed the ceremony with Kagami Biraki, another Japanese tradition where a cask of sake is opened. In Monday's ceremony, dignitaries used wooden mallets to break the top of three casks. By the way, for the ceremony, there was no sake inside.
