Patillo Construction Co.’s contract to build a 340,000 square foot manufacturing facility in Carrollton for Canada-based Decoma International Inc. is the latest in a long list of projects the company has undertaken for foreign-based manufacturers over the past three decades, said Jerry L. Silvio, Patillo’s vice president of operations.

          Stone Mountain-based Patillo, a full-service commercial real estate company founded in the 1950s, is to complete construction on the Decoma facility next month.  Once operational, the Carrollton plant is to provide injection moldings and bumpers for the Mercedes-Benz manufacturing plant near Tuscaloosa, Ala.

          Patillo’s work with foreign-based manufacturers, which now accounts for 10% to 15% of its annual revenues, began in the 1970s with a contract to build a facility in Georgia for Smyrna-based Murata Electronic North America Inc., a subsidiary of Japan’s Murata Manufacturing Co., Mr. Silvio told GlobalFax in an interview.

          He said the Japanese connection has continued more recently with the construction in the 1990s of two facilities in Covington for Tokyo-based Komatsu Forklift USA Inc. Komatsu then referred one of their subcontractors, Daiki Co. Ltd. to Patillo when that firm was seeking to build a plant in Adairsville.

          “We became sensitive to the different language and cultural issues as the number of Japanese clients grew,” Mr. Silvio explained.  Patillo eventually hired Japanese-born architect Kilhak Kunimoto of Atlanta-based Kunimoto Artichect Design Group Inc. to work on projects with Japanese clients.

          Patillo has also been involved in the construction of plants for Austrian, Dutch, French, German, Korean and Taiwanese companies.

          He said an added benefit of working with foreign companies expanding in the U.S. is that a construction job in Georgia can often lead to construction contracts in other states in which the company has a presence.

          “When companies do business with Patillo, they want us to work with them in Georgia or anywhere in the States,” Mr. Silvio said.

          Building on its roots in industrial design and development, Patillo also now provides land development, engineering, investment, property maintenance and leasing services.

          For more information, contact Mr. Silvio at (770) 938-6366.