Kubota to Invest $140M in New Plant, Create 500 Jobs
JULY 1, 2022 | TREVOR WILLIAMS
Kubota North America announced June 2 that it would invest $140 million in a new factory on an existing site in Hall County, a move that will create 500 new jobs.
The Japanese subsidiary is the parent company for Kubota Tractor Corp., Kubota Industrial Equipment and Kubota Manufacturing of America, which combined already employ about 3,000 people in Georgia after more than three decades operating in the state.
Kubota Industrial Equipment, or KIE, opened in 2005 in Jefferson, Ga., where it makes loaders, booms and other tractor implements.
The new KIE plant, however, will be on Kubota North America’s existing site Gainesville, doubling the company’s production of loaders to meet growing demand in the U.S. and Canada markets. It’s set to break ground this year and begin operations by 2024. The new plant will free up the Jefferson plant to make more attachments and implements, supporting its network of 1,100 dealers.
The news comes about two months after the company held a grand opening for a new R&D facility in Gainesville, an $85 million investment that created 70 immediate jobs for engineers and technical staff members, with plans to grow that to 200.
Kubota started its plant in Gainesville with 40 employees in 1988, gradually bringing in full production of lawn tractors and rough-terrain vehicles. The Osaka-based company has been held up as an example of how foreign companies — and Japanese firms in particular — tend to be solid corporate citizens and pay long-term dividends in terms of job creation and capital investment for the state.
The company, which celebrates its 50th anniversary this year, says it will have 3,500 Georgia workers by 2024.