South Korean automotive body frame supplier SEWON America is expanding its Troup County plant to the tune of $160 million as it gears up for new models to be made at nearby Kia and Hyundai plants.
The move will create 100 new jobs in LaGrange, where the company arrived years ago to serve Kia’s West Point factory, which now churns out 360,000 vehicles per year.
Kia executives have announced that the west Georgia plant will begin producing the new 2020 Telluride full-size SUV next year in addition to its hit Sorento crossover.
The new investments will include new manufacturing lines that will add efficiency and flexibility to the SEWON factory floor, according to a news release from Gov. Nathan Deal’s office. New jobs will be in supervision, production and warehouse operations.
SEWON is one in a wave of Kia suppliers in West Georgia that set up close by to serve the exacting “just-in-time” manufacturing schedules of the plant. It’s a subsidiary of SEWON Precision Industry Co.
An array of Korean companies line the Interstate 85 corridor between Montgomery, Ala., where the Hyundai plant is located, and the Kia plant in West Point.
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