The French-American Chamber of Commerce, Atlanta chapter will honor three companies at the 9th Annual Crystal Peach Awards luncheon to be held Wednesday, Nov. 6, at the Wardlaw Center of the Georgia Institute of Technology.
Airbus Americas Inc. and AGCO Corp. are to receive economic development awards and MAINTag Inc., an innovation award.
The Crystal Peach Awards recognize companies providing inbound investment in the Southeast and outbound investment in France. A third award goes to a small business and entrepreneur for the firm’s growth, innovation and contribution to the Southeast.
Mary Prettyman, vice president of marketing, is to accept the award on behalf of Airbus Americas, a subsidiary of Toulouse, France-based Airbus Industries that is locating a $600 million assembly plant for its A320 family of aircraft at the Brookley Aeroplex in Mobile, Ala.
The Brookley Aeroplex assembly line will be Airbus’ fourth where the A320 single-aisle family jetliners are built, joining operations at Toulouse and Hamburg, Germany as well as Tianjin, China.
Construction of the Airbus manufacturing facility began in the summer, and the company is scheduled to deliver the first Alabama-made passenger jet in 2016. By 2018, Airbus is expected to begin turning out as many as 50 planes annually.
At full production rate, the U.S. site will employ as many as 1,000 skilled workers at the assembly line and associated facilities.
Eric Raby, vice president, global marketing and commercial development, is to accept the award on behalf of AGCO that is spending $20 million on its tractor manufacturing facility in Beauvais, France.
In addition to a tractor cab production line, the new facility is to house an international sales training center for its line of Massey Ferguson tractors.
Based in Duluth, AGCO products are distributed globally through 3,150 independent dealers and distributors in more than 140 countries.
Alexis Beurdeley, vice president, MAINTag SAS, is to accept the award on behalf of MAINTag.Inc. the Atlanta-based subsidiary of MAINTag SAS, a Paris-based firm that developes radio frequency identification tags, chips, labels, readers and RFID software for the aerospace industry including Airbus.
Founded in 1985, the FACC-Atlanta represents almost 100 corporate members and 350 individuals. It is a bilateral organization promoting business opportunities for its members from across the Southeast including Alabama, Georgia, South Carolina and Tennessee.
For more information, including registration, parking and the latest event updates, click here or call Charline Werner, executive director, at 404 997-6800. She also may be reached by email at charline@facc-atlanta.com
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