Canadian automotive supplier Magna International on Thursday, Dec. 14, officially inaugurated its fourth production plant in South Carolina.
The $29 million, 230,000-square-foot facility sits on about 20 acres off Highway 290 near Duncan within Greenville-based Pacolet Milliken’s Tyger River Industrial Park North.
Magna officials said the plant, which is expected to create 480 jobs by 2021, will manufacture seats for X6, X5, and soon-to-be X7 models produced at Spartanburg County-based BMW Manufacturing Co.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U-u7sZBn_x4
S.C. Secretary of Commerce Bobby Hitt joined with plant leaders Thursday to raise American, Canadian, and South Carolina flags at the facility during a ceremony celebrating the company’s commitment to Spartanburg County and the state.
The company broke ground on the facility amidst the cold and rain on Dec. 6, 2016. Construction was completed in about seven months.
“I would ride through here routinely going back and forth to the Upstate from the Columbia area and watch this whole [Highway 290 corridor] come up,” Hitt said. “Carter Smith [executive vice president of Spartanburg’s Economic Futures Group] and I for years kept thinking this was a great area — ‘Let’s get something going.’ Once we started, it’s filling up pretty nice. Magna is a great addition to it.”
Steve Salvatore, the plant’s general manager, said the facility shipped its first seats on Sept. 29.
He said Magna plans to hold the plant’s grand opening in spring 2018.
In order to fine-tune its processes, the plant is currently producing its pre-series, or prototype, seats, which it will continue to do until its official start of production planned for late 2018.
Salvatore said the company is still hiring for the facility.
He said candidates can apply online via the company’s website and at www.readysc.org, or they can stop by the plant during normal business hours and submit an application in person.
“When Magna says, ‘Our people are our greatest asset,’ we don’t just say it; we mean it,” Salvatore said. “Human capital has to be a major focus. While we need product to build, if we don’t have trained, talented people to do it, we’re only as good as the empty pallet, or the full pallet, that we have.”
Magna’s U.S. operations encompass 72 facilities and 25,000 employees, according to the company’s website.
Its global operations include 427 facilities and more than 163,000 employees in 29 countries.
In addition to seating, the company’s capabilities include vehicle engineering and contract manufacturing, closures, exteriors, electronics, vision systems, powertrain, roof systems, and body and chassis.
In terms of sales, Magna is the world’s third-largest original equipment manufacturer (OEM) parts supplier behind Robert Bosch GmbH, which is the largest, and ZF Friedrichshafen AG, according to Automotive News.
Hitt praised Magna’s impact on the Palmetto State’s manufacturing base, which he said has grown by 20 percent since 2010.
South Carolina’s automotive sector alone provides jobs for about 35,000 people, Hitt said.
“That’s remarkable,” he said. “No other state in the Southeast has done that. And that’s because of our commitment to manufacturing and a commitment to people in South Carolina who are very good at making things. We will demonstrate to Magna once again that we have the capacity to make them successful and our workforce successful.”
While the presence of international manufacturers, including Boeing, BMW, Michelin, Volvo, and many others, has helped fuel the state’s economic expansion, Hitt said there’s still plenty of room for growth.
He said the “onus” is on South Carolina to provide a skilled workforce, transportation infrastructure, and other incentives that will help attract more investment and innovation to the state.
“Here we are, a state that 25 years ago never thought we’d build things like cars or jets,” Hitt said. “Now we are the largest exporter of finished passenger cars in the United States. We’re the largest exporter of tires in the United States and the largest manufacturer of tires in the United States. We have the workforce. We have the partners in the companies like Magna. And this is what we do together.”
