AL: DAS North America $37M Project Means 300 New Jobs in Montgomery

DAS North America’s turning of the dirt was more than a groundbreaking ceremony for the company’s new 300,000-square-foot facility.

Montgomery Mayor Todd Strange said the project is a testament to the growing automotive industry in Alabama, which may soon be ranked fourth in the nation for the production of automobiles.

Governor Robert Bentley joined Mayor Strange and officials of DAS North America, a Kia and Hyundai parts supplier. The automotive supplier, which currently employs about 100 people in a 150,000-square-foot facility, will bring 300 additional jobs and a $37 million capital investment to Montgomery. The new facility will be twice the size of the company’s original plans, according to the Montgomery Area Chamber of Commerce.

Production is expected to be completed by the first quarter of 2014.

“This is a joyous occasion for DAS as we venture into a new beginning of what we hope to be a long partnership with the city and county of Montgomery and the state of Alabama,” said DAS Corp. President and CEO Kyung Ho Kang.

Gov. Bentley, Mayor Strange, Montgomery County Commission Chairman Elton N. Dean Sr., Montgomery County Commissioner Reed Ingram, Chairman Elect of the Montgomery Area Chamber of Commerce Board of Directors Leslie L. Sanders, President Kang, and Alabama Department of Commerce Senior Project Manager Hollie Pegg represented the city and state at the Montgomery Industrial Park where the new facility will be located.

The company will manufacture seat components for vehicles built at the West Point, Ga., Kia Motors Manufacturing plant, including Hyundai’s Santa Fe, the Kia Optima and the Kia Sorento.

DAS North America, which is headquartered in Kyeong Ju, South Korea, has additional plants in Asia, India, China, the Czech Republic, North America and Brazil. The company’s North American headquarters is in Michigan. DAS North America is a subsidiary of DAS-Korea.