Arnall Golden Gregory is the presenting sponsor of Global Atlanta's Germany Channel. Subscribe here for monthly Germany newsletters.
A Swiss manufacturer of instrument transformers for high-voltage power substations is set to invest $18.5 million to set up a new factory in Heard County.
PFIFFNER Group, based in Hirschthal, Switzerland, broke ground Tuesday on the facility in Franklin, Ga., which is set to employ 60 people once it’s up and running in 2027.
Georgia leaders welcomed the investment as driving dynamism in a rural county while strengthening critical power generation infrastructure at a time when electricity demand is projected to skyrocket with the increasing use of artificial intelligence.
PFIFFNER, a large multinational group with facilities in Germany and Brazil in addition to Switzerland, said it was responding to rising demand as the U.S. energy grid, said Marcel Rüfenacht, CEO of PFIFFNER Group, in a release circulated by Gov. Brian Kemp’s office.
The governor has repeatedly emphasized the need to ensure steady power supply to sustain Georgia’s run as the No. 1 state for business.
“Georgia stood out to our team for its proximity to customers, strong infrastructure, supportive business environment, a quality education system, and an ideal, available site fitting our company’s needs,” Mr. Rüfenacht said in the release.
Mayor Kevin Hayes of Franklin said the factory is much more than just another project for his city of about 1,000 people.
“This partnership means more than new buildings or new jobs. It represents opportunity for our residents to work close to home and for our young people to build a future for themselves here,” Mr. Hayes said in the release.
That’s exactly the kind of impact the Swiss government uses to showcase the value of its investment stock in the U.S. The country found itself in a predicament when President Trump imposed a 39 percent tariff on most Swiss goods last year. Switzerland lobbied hard to land a deal cutting that rate to 15 percent, only to have the Supreme Court strike down Mr. Trump’s emergency tariffs in February.
PFIFFNER joins a group of about 60 companies from Switzerland in Georgia, according to the Swiss Impact U.S. report compiled by the country’s embassy in Washington. That analysis shows engagement with Switzerland accounting for about 14,000 jobs in Georgia, about half of those (6,400) coming from Swiss affiliates and the rest generated by a healthy trade in goods and services trade.
The investment comes almost two years exactly after Mr. Kemp led a delegation to meet with prospects in Switzerland on the back of his second appearance the World Economic Forum in Davos.
Two Swiss ambassadors have visited Atlanta in the last year, with current Ambassador Ralf Heckner pointing to the Southeast U.S. as a growing priority for the country. Switzerland also recently appointed a new consul general in Atlanta, Rolf Ott. Meet the new CG
- Learn more about Mr. Ott and Swiss trade and investment ties in an upcoming Global Atlanta Consular Conversations luncheon in June:
Learn more about PFIFFNER’s U.S. product portfolio here or below:
Flyer_Vertreter_USA_final_web-1