When Kia cranks up its 2-million-square-foot plant in West Point more than two years from now, it is going to need 2,893 workers trained and ready to assemble quality vehicles.
Those jobs are expected to pay an average of $50,000 a year, with benefits pushing overall compensation to about $65,000.
Several hundred more people will be working at firms supplying the flagship Kia factory off Interstate 85. On top of that there will be a need for support personnel at the Kia facility, ranging from food service workers to landscaping crews.
At least five suppliers are expected to locate in Georgia. Others could land along the Interstate 85 pipeline in Alabama from Lanett to Auburn and Opelika, both of which already have automotive-related firms.
The effort to recruit and train those employees will take multiple agencies, colleges and Georgia's Quick Start training program.
West Georgia Technical College is near the epicenter of the industrial and economic boom. The LaGrange school's president said his staff has never experienced a project as large as it will be facing over the next two years. The Korean automaker projects vehicle production will start in August 2008.
"It's like a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity for someone in education to be able to deal with training on this sort of scale," said Daryl Gilley, president of West Georgia Technical College.
Quick Start will be a key, he said.
"It's extremely fast," he said. "They will go to wherever the company exists now and do interviews with the folks who work there and who manage it, and design training programs specifically for their needs."
This is the first U.S. manufacturing facility for Kia Motors America, which is constructing a $70 million headquarters in Irvine, Calif. It is owned, however, by Seoul-based Hyundai-Kia Auomotive Group, which opened a Hyundai auto assembly plant on 1,744 acres near Montgomery, Ala., last year.
The Hyundai factory, which employs more than 2,500, builds the Sonata sedan and Santa Fe sport utility vehicle. It can produce 300,000 vehicles annually when running at full capacity.
Kia has not yet disclosed what vehicles it will make in West Point, although two assembly lines and an engine facility are planned.
Hyundai pays well
The Hyundai Web site says, when hiring, the company "is looking for a diverse work force that is representative of Alabama and the community. By having team members from a variety of backgrounds, ages, races, styles, experiences, values, perspectives and beliefs, (Hyundai) will create stronger teams and be a better company."
Salaries for maintenance workers at the Hyundai plant start at $19.65 an hour and rise to $25.36 hourly over two years. Production workers -- which includes stamping/body, painting, general assembly and engines -- start at $14.79 and hour with pay climbing to $22.50 an hour over two years.
Benefits, the Hyundai site said, include medical, dental, vision and pharmaceutical insurance, 14 paid holidays, 10 vacation days, a 401(k) savings plan, vehicle discounts, company clothing and a drug-free workplace.
Georgia officials have agreed to build a 7,500-square-foot training facility on the Kia plant site. While Gilley sees the Quick Start program swinging into action in the near term, tech schools like his will be needed long term. And Gilley expects a number of schools, including Columbus Technical College, will take part in the training.
"An operation like that is going to have a variety of needs, from industrial training to probably business applications, all of the way up to managerial and supervision," he said.
A hot opportunity
The auto plant is likely to draw job applicants from across the Southeast. Calvin Miller, executive director of the Talladega County Economic Development Authority, said the Honda factory in Lincoln, Ala., attracted prospects from all but seven of the state's 67 counties.
Columbus also should feel plenty of ripples from the $1.2 billion Kia facility and its legion of suppliers, said Mikell Fryer, manager of the Georgia Department of Labor's Columbus Career Center.
A number of local firms might be able to do business with Kia, he said. The plant also should ease unemployment pressure being generated by local layoffs, which include Goody Products cutting 200 jobs in nearby Manchester, Ga., this spring. Columbus gas grill manufacturer Char-Broil also will eliminate 500 full-time positions this summer, while 1,000 seasonal jobs won't be filled.
With West Point being a commute of less than 45 minutes from Columbus, Fryer said Kia likely will lure a number of local residents to its production lines.
"We have people right now living in Columbus that work at the Wal-Mart distribution center in LaGrange," he said. "West Point would not really add to the driving range."
Fryer anticipates the Columbus Career Center will help the LaGrange job center find workers for Kia.
"We'll probably have a mass recruitment plan where people could actually apply through our office," he said.
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