It’s not a huge number, but MueKo Machinery Inc.’s spending on a new Gwinnett County headquarters represents another flag planted for a section of metro Atlanta that has become a magnet for international companies.
The German-owned machine building firm is setting up shop on Tench Road in Suwanee, spending a quarter-million dollars on the expansion with plans to add 20-30 people in sales, mechatronics, PLC programming, engineering and machine building as it builds out its U.S. business.
The Weinstadt, Germany-based company customizes machines for the manufacture of plastics. It entered the U.S. via Buford in 2017 and had been renting space there since then, according to its website.
The Suwanee move last July was a bet on the potential of the American market, where it is starting with a limited slate of clients. MueKo has 220 employees around the world, including an office in Suzhou, China.
“We are thrilled that MueKo Machinery has chosen Suwanee as its new home,” said Mayor Jimmy Burnette said in a Partnership Gwinnett press release. “We look forward to a growing partnership that will both strengthen Suwanee’s vibrant business community and enhance MueKo’s presence in the United States.”
“Gwinnett continues to be a strong draw for international leaders like MueKo,” said Deven Cason, director of economic development at Partnership Gwinnett, in the release. “Gwinnett is home to almost 600 internationally based businesses who have found the talent and innovative business environment that they need to thrive. We look forward to MueKo finding that same success in Gwinnett.”
Some 96 companies from Germany alone employ more than 4,500 people in Gwinnett, according to an international profile on Partnership Gwinnett’s website. That includes the No. 2 and 3 foreign employers in the county: WIKA USA and Boehringer Ingelheim, which each have 700-plus workers.
