Kubota has fired up its new manufacturing plant in Gainesville, bringing hundreds of jobs to Hall County.
The Japanese manufacturer of small tractors, lawn mowers, and other equipment showed off the 502,000-square-foot facility to Gov. Nathan Deal and other officials Monday.
It began full-time operation of the new manufacturing line, which is expected to make up to 75,000 utility vehicles a year, in February.
“It’s an exciting day for Kubota,” Hironobu Kubota, president of Kubota Manufacturing of America Corp., said in a press release. “We continue to grow to meet the demands of Kubota dealers and customers for our sub-compact tractors, turf products and utility vehicles, all while improving operational efficiencies and realizing manufacturing excellence here in the state of Georgia.”
Gov. Deal said, “We take a collaborative approach to doing business here and we’re proud to work with companies like Kubota who value our skilled workforce and the state and local incentives offered to build and expand in our great state.”
Kubota did not have an immediate response to questions about its hiring plans or what incentives it received.
Kubota first came to Hall County in 1988 with a tractor and lawn mower factory that now employs about 1,500. That plant is also being upgraded, Kubota said, to support its “growing … turf business.”
In 2014, the company announced plans for the newest Gainesville plant about three miles away from its first Georgia plant. The company said at the time that the $100 million expansion was expected to bring 650 jobs and boost Kubota’s total employment in the state to 2,900.
So far, Kubota says it has nearly 2,400 jobs at its plants in Gainesville and Jefferson. In Jefferson, Kubota has a distribution center and manufacturing line that makes industrial vehicles such as loaders and backhoes. The Jefferson plant is the result of a $65 million expansion announced in 2004.
Information on jobs at Kubota is available at www.kubota-kma.com.
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