Keeping the Ball Rolling: Belgian Set to Invest in Coastal Georgia Factory

A Belgian company that got its start making billiard balls is set to continue its investment in Georgia with a $17 million facility that will manufacture industrial balls for bearings, swivels and other applications. 

Already with a U.S. office and warehouse in Pooler, Preciball USA plans to open a new plant in Screven County, another coastal community that has had some success in landing foreign manufacturers, including a possible Japan-origin customer that has become one of the city of Sylvania’s largest employers: Koyo Bearings.  

Preciball was spun out as the industrial arm of Saluc, a Callenelle, Belgium-based firm that commands world-leading market share in the production of resin-based billiard balls and also makes bowling balls, roulette balls and track balls for computer mice. 

Preciball’s products are made mostly from steel, often coated with chrome or strengthened with carbon, and other metals like tungsten, a resilient metal used in valves and other areas within the automotive sector. Glass balls are used in cosmetic packaging and medical applications. 

It’s unclear whether the plant, which will employ 65, is an explicit response to steel and aluminum tariffs that add 25 percent onto the cost of imports, but the company recently posted on LinkedIn about the value of localizing supply chains for the benefit of customers who need to ensure uptime in their factories. 

“Our new high-precision manufacturing facility will complement our existing distribution operations and offer fully integrated, end-to-end domestic production to serve customers across an array of industries,” said Don Peak, executive vice president of Preciball USA, in a news release. 

The announcement was made just after Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp traveled to Belgium to meet with a variety of existing investors and prospects. 

Belgian Consul General Katherine Raeymaekers, speaking at the Global Atlanta’s Global Trade and Investment Symposium in Macon in early February, said “the potential is there” for even more Belgian investment beyond the 60 companies that have created more than 5,000 jobs in the state, especially now that steady flight links have been re-established between Atlanta and Brussels.

But she noted that uncertainty in the transatlantic relationship and the capricious application of tariffs have harmed integrated supply chains and damaged confidence. 

“People still want to invest in the U.S., but I think you need to come and convince them a little bit more. So I think the job now for maybe Georgia, or any other state for that matter, is trying to rebuild a little bit of confidence that got lost to certain investors.”

Most of the Belgian firms and expatriates live in the northern part of the state, many of them having arrived decades ago to set up flooring operations in Dalton. But recently, the Belgian investment stock has diversified into pharmaceuticals, technology, logistics and other sectors. 

“We see also a shift in our industrial ecosystem, going a lot more into cyber, into IT, AI, all the new technologies that come up … where we have very niche market sectors and companies,” Ms. Raeymaekers said.

That means Georgia and its competitors would do well to tailor their outreach and incentives to those industries when recruiting Belgian investors, she added.