Plastic Omnium to construct Industry 4.0 facilities in South Carolina and Tennessee.
The United States is pushing hard to bring manufacturing stateside and it seems to be working.
Plastic Omnium, a French tier one supplier of automotive exterior components, modules and fuel systems, has begun construction of two new manufacturing facilities in the US.
The new plants, located in Greer, SC and an undisclosed Tennessee site, will be the third and fourth Plastic Omnium facilities constructed in the US in the past three years.
The company began with facilities in Chattanooga, TN and Fairfax, KS in 2015, totalling an investment of USD$300 million. The four facilities will add nearly 1,000 jobs combined once construction is completed in 2018.
The Greer, South Carolina facility will deliver all large exterior painted body parts for the BMW X3, X4, X5, X6 and future models produced at BMW’s Greer facility nearby, as well as exterior components for Volvo and Daimler.
The Tennessee facility will produce fuel systems for a Japanese automaker.
The new Greer facility will also be piloting Industry 4.0 technology as the company seeks new ways to improve its industrial processes, quality, automation, standardization and competitiveness in the new manufacturing facilities.
The US is Plastic Omnium’s highest-performing market and the new facilities will increase production across North America—the company reported $1.4 billion in US sales in 2016.
The construction of these facilities is part of the €2.5 billion ($2.64 billion) global investment program announced by Plastic Omnium from 2016-2020, to solidify the positions of its two automotive divisions – exterior equipment (15 percent global market share) and fuel systems (21 percent global market share).
For more information about Plastic Omnium in the US, visit the company website.
