State and local officials gathered in Hall County Thursday morning to break ground on Kubota Manufacturing of America's new $190 million expansion.
The facility, located in the Gainesville-Hall County Gateway Industrial Center off Georgia 365, will be about 700,000 square feet and will mass-produce front-end loaders for all Kubota tractors.
Once complete, it will bring about 500 additional manufacturing jobs to the region.
"With this project, we plan to improve our productivity with new levels of automation," Brian Arnold, president of Kubota Manufacturing of America, said at the groundbreaking. "We plan to improve our quality. We're going to have state-of-the-art equipment and a paint system. We'll improve our safety by clearly separating our equipment and pedestrians and vehicles. We're going to automate many of the repetitive tasks that we do every day."
Arnold said the facility will also support clean energy with rooftop solar panels. Additionally, the facility will increase manufacturing capacity for front-end loaders to over 700 per day.
"I'm excited this facility will be one of the most highly automated factories within the Kubota group globally," Arnold said.
Carroll Daniel Construction will serve as the general contractor for the expansion
"We're so excited to serve you, and looking forward to the great things you're going to create and the world-class products you're going to create right here in Hall County," Carroll Daniel Construction President and CEO Brian Daniel said.
Governor Brian Kemp said the facility expansion is a continued example of Georgia's economic strength.
"Last fiscal year our global commerce team helped secure $24 billion in investment from 426 individual projects," Kemp said. "So we worked and succeeded in 426 projects in literally one calendar year, which is just incredible ... it amounts to the coming of over 38,400 new jobs to our state."
Kemp said Georgia continues to be a great state for the establishment of new business.
"Kubota first came to the Peach State in 1988 with less than 40-50 employees and 60,000 square feet of space, and this is the exact reason that we treat companies, even when they first come with a small first step, as Georgia-based companies," Kemp said. "You see why that's important, because now, 35 years later, they employ over 3,500 hardworking Georgians in a 12 county area, and we're still seeing new investment as today."
Thursday's groundbreaking follows the recent announcement that Kubota Manufacturing of America and Kubota Industrial Equipment Corporation will merge into a single company effective Jan. 1, 2024. The company will use the Kubota Manufacturing of America name.
View a full photo gallery from the event by clicking the photo at the top of this story.
