A Japanese equipment maker plans to spend $140 million to build a new factory in northeast Georgia, adding 500 workers to the 3,000 it already employs in the region.
Kubota Corp. said Wednesday that it will build a new factory in Gainesville to make front-end loaders.
The company says it will start construction this year and open the new factory in 2024. Kubota already makes front-end loaders at a factory in Jefferson, about 30 miles (50 kilometers) away, but said it needs to free up capacity at the existing facility to make other attachments and implements to tractors and construction equipment.
Kubota Manufacturing of America President Brian Arnold said the expansion would almost double capacity. He said the company is also seeking to improve quality and efficiency through better welding and painting.
Kubota opened a $90 million research and development facility in Gainesville in April, which will eventually employ 200. The company told local news outlets that the new 650,000-square-foot (60,000-square-meter) factory would be located across a state highway from that facility.
