Auto glass producer Fuyao plans to buy the bulk of General Motors’ former Moraine Assembly Plant near Dayton, Ohio, setting up its largest manufacturing operations outside of China.
Fuyao is a major glass supplier to GM, Ford, Toyota, Hyundai, Kia, and Honda, so the plant location will give it easy access to plants in Ohio, Indiana, Kentucky and Michigan. The company plans to buy 1 million square feet of the former Trailblazer sport utility vehicle plant to set up glass operations.
“We appreciate Ohio’s strategic location, workforce and pro-business environment in making this decision to open our North American facility,” Fuyao Chairman Cao Dewang said in a news release. “We are making such an investment in Moraine to better service our important OEM customers in the United States and North America.”
Fuyao’s website lists several manufacturing sites throughout China, but none in other regions. Ohio officials said the glass company has sales and service offices worldwide, but there were not aware of other manufacturing operations.
Though GM closed the plant in 2008, as it sped towards bankruptcy and federal bailouts, it had announced plans to shutter Moraine much earlier. Sales of traditional sport utility vehicles such as the Trailblazer and Ford Explorer began sputtering in 2006 and 2007, forcing automakers to run their plants and 40-50% capacity.
When GM shuttered the plant, leading to the HBO documentary “The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant,” it had about 1,100 workers, down from more than 2,000 only a year earlier.
Fuyao plans to hire about 800 by the end of 2015. The $200 million investment will be the company’s first manufacturing plant in North America and one of the largest business investments it has made since its formation in 1987.
“Chairman Cao has a bold, long-term vision for his company and it’s great that Moraine, Montgomery County and Ohio are part of it,” Ohio Gov. John Kasich said in a news release. “He’s the kind of a person we like to have in Ohio and his company’s investment reaffirms both our strong workforce and our state’s leadership role in automotive and glass manufacturing.”
The governor’s office said the Fuyao plant is the largest Chinese investment in Ohio and the largest east of the Mississippi since it began tracking statistics in 2004.
Sources: Ohio Governor’s Office, Fuyao Group