REHAU opens Alabama technical center to serve automotive industry
CULLMAN, Alabama – European auto parts maker REHAU formally opened its first North American technical center at the company’s manufacturing facility in Cullman, creating a U.S. site to handle research and development functions that had been conducted primarily in Germany. REHAU said the ultra-modern technical center, staffed with 45 engineers, will enable the company to bundle…
Mercedes supplier SMP to open $150 million Alabama facility, creating 650 jobs
MONTGOMERY, Alabama – Mercedes-Benz supplier Samvardhana Motherson Group plans to open a $150 million manufacturing facility in Tuscaloosa County, creating 650 jobs by the fourth year of operation, officials announced today. The new venture, called SMP Automotive Systems Alabama Inc., will manufacture various exterior and interior components for future models produced at the Mercedes assembly…
Auto supplier Kamtek to invest $530 million in Alabama expansion, creating 350 jobs
BIRMINGHAM, Alabama – Auto supplier Kamtek announced plans today to invest $530 million in an expansion of its Alabama operation that includes opening a new aluminum casting facility to meet automaker demands for lighter parts. Kamtek, whose parent company is Canada-based Magna International, says the expansion project in Birmingham will add 354 jobs to its…
Alabama auto industry provides backdrop for regional conference
BIRMINGHAM, Alabama – For the Alabama auto industry, the needle has been moving toward rapid growth, with production gains, new and redesigned models, job growth, and additional investment. Consider these facts: More than new 6,600 jobs in Alabama’s auto industry have been announced since the beginning of 2013 New auto-related investment topping $1.5 billion has…
Sisters among first Mercedes Mechatronics graduating class
TUSCALOOSA, Alabama — Sisters Stacey and Stephanie Dougherty are among the first Industrial Mechatronics graduating class at Mercedes-Benz U.S. International Inc. (MBUSI), the automaker’s Alabama operation. They join their father, Scott Dougherty, a Logistics Group Leader with 17 years at the Alabama plant, as members of the MBUSI family. Now Stephanie, 29, is about to start…
Business Facilities ranks Alabama No. 1 for auto manufacturing, gives high marks
MONTGOMERY, Alabama – Business Facilities magazine today ranked Alabama the top state for automotive manufacturing strength, citing accelerated job growth and production gains for Alabama’s auto industry, as well as potential for additional expansion. In its “2014 Rankings Report,” Business Facilities, a publication that targets site selectors and key industry decision-makers, gave Alabama high marks…
Mercedes-Benz launches C-Class mass production in Alabama
TUSCALOOSA, Alabama – Mercedes-Benz officially launched mass production of the C-Class sedan today at its Alabama production facility, marking the first time the automaker’s U.S. plant has produced a sedan. Meanwhile, media reports from Frankfurt, Germany said the automaker plans to significantly increase output at the Alabama plant from its current level of 185,000 vehicles…
Made In Alabama Holiday Gift Guide
The creative and inventive men and women of Alabama design and assemble all sorts of things that get sent as near as surrounding states and as far as Germany and Japan. But while we’ve heard plenty about the state’s planes, trains, and automobiles (literally), there are also plenty of items available as gifts this holiday…
Daimler executive: Alabama plant is ‘proud story of success for Mercedes-Benz’
TUSCALOOSA, Alabama — Economic development leaders, auto industry figures, corporate business executives and elected officials gathered in Tuscaloosa tonight, not to cheer on the national championship Crimson Tide team but to celebrate Alabama’s other claim to fame – Mercedes-Benz’s Alabama automotive assembly plant, which last year alone produced 180,379 vehicles. Mercedes-Benz’s 1993 decision to build its…
AIDT, Mercedes-Benz partnership going strong after two decades in Alabama
TUSCALOOSA, Alabama – When the first production jobs at Mercedes-Benz’s new Alabama plant were advertised, an avalanche of applications followed – 63,000 to be precise. In stepped AIDT, the state’s workforce training agency, and a partnership was born. AIDT has been with Mercedes on every step of the automaker’s journey in Alabama over the past…
