German automotive supplier MöllerTech said today it will build a $46.3 million plant in Bibb County, creating 222 jobs.
Alabama Commerce Secretary Greg Canfield was joined by MöllerTech North American CEO Steve Jordan along with economic development and elected officials in Centreville to announce the project.
“Attracting investment and new jobs to Alabama’s rural counties is a key priority in our overall economic development strategy, and MöllerTech’s manufacturing facility in Bibb County represents the kind of project that we have been targeting,” Gov. Robert Bentley said. “We now have new tools to help rural counties overcome the obstacles they face in economic development. We’re committed to using them.”
The 150,000-square-foot MöllerTech plant will supply parts to the Mercedes-Benz plant a few miles away in Tuscaloosa County.
The plant will be built in the Scott G. Davis Industrial Park, near Interstate 20/59 in northern Bibb County, near the Woodstock community.
Jordan said the German-based company will feel right at home in the area.
“After many months visiting various states, as well as numerous counties in Alabama, we are pleased to settle in Bibb County,” Jordan said. “Our Möller culture is very much centered on people and local communities and because of that we find that there is a good fit between MöllerTech and Bibb County.”
MöllerTech has U.S. facilities in Elberton, Ga., and Detroit. It hopes to be at full production in Bibb County by the end of 2019.
MöllerTech is the automotive arm of MöllerGroup, which is a family-owned company with 2,300 employees worldwide and a history that goes back nearly 300 years. It develops and produces interior parts for Audi, BMW, Daimler, GM, Honda, Porsche, Rolls-Royce and Toyota.
The project is the 18th German corporate investment in the seven-county Birmingham metropolitan area. When MöllerTech is operational, the 18 companies will account for approximately 1,700 jobs.
“As excited as we are for MöllerTech, Bibb County, the state and all of the entities involved in this project, we are even more excited about MöllerTech’s future workforce and the impact the 222 job opportunities will have on them and their families,” said Brian Hilson, president and CEO of the Birmingham Business Alliance.
The Bibb County Commission, the Alabama Department of Commerce, the Economic Development Partnership of Alabama, Alabama Power and the Birmingham Business Alliance worked together to bring the project to the Birmingham region.
Bibb County provided MöllerTech with 20 acres for the facility. MöllerTech will have noneducational sales, use and property taxes abated. Alabama provided jobs and investment credits and AIDT workforce training, valued at $12.3 million.
“This will be a great boost for Bibb County and its workforce,” said Bibb County Commissioner Ricky Hubbard. “MöllerTech will be the second largest manufacturing employer in the county and the third largest overall. We are excited that their investment will impact the lives of so many people here.”
Jordan praised the recruitment process that led to the Bibb County announcement.
“The help that we received both financially as well as personally from the state and the county helped us in making this decision,” he said. “So we would like to thank the state of Alabama as well as Bibb County in being patient and supporting us in this new venture of ours.”
The MöllerTech plant is directly tied to the next-generation Mercedes-Benz SUVs, which are part of the $1.3 billion expansion Mercedes announced in 2015.
