Automotive parts plant to invest $18.7M, add more than 100 jobs in new SC facility

An automotive parts manufacturer plans to open a factory in a new Greenville County industrial park, investing $18.7 million and creating 116 jobs.

Claudio Calado, CEO of Gissing North America, said the Fountain Inn operation will be the company’s sixth location in the United States. One of the locations is in Sumter.

The site is expected to be operational by the end of the year.

A subsidiary of China-based Wuxi Gissing Auto Parts, the company makes acoustic systems designed to limit noise inside vehicles. Gissing supplies companies such as BMW, Nissan Toyota and Honda.

“We chose Greenville County, in general, and Fountain Inn, in specific, as our new home to expand our North American operations due to its infrastructure, economic environment and quality of life it offers our future associates,” Calado said.

The announcement was made during the annual meeting of the Greenville Area Development Corporation, which assisted in recruiting Gissing to the state.

The corporation’s CEO, Mark Farris, said Fox Hill Business Park, where Gissing will locate, is the first Class A business park to be developed in Greenville County in 20 years. It was announced at last year’s corporation meeting.

The Sudler Companies, which is based in New Jersey, is developing the 172-acre park along Interstate 385.

Brian Sudler, CEO of Sudler Companies, called Gissing “an unbelievable international company.” He also announced Sudler will soon construct a second building covering 300,000 square feet.

“We have a lot of interest in this building,” he said.

When the park was announced, it was expected to include seven buildings, representing more than 2 million square feet.

Farris said 2020 was Greenville County’s best for economic growth, despite the pandemic. In all, $631 million in capital investment was announced, representing 1,422 new jobs. He said 17 were existing companies that were expanding and eight were companies new to the area.

The biggest announcement in Greenville was a data center for DC BLOX, an Atlanta-based technology company. The investment was estimated at $200 million over the next decade. Five jobs were expected to be created by the time the facility is finished later this year.

DC BLOX has other data centers in Atlanta, Chattanooga, Huntsville and Birmingham.

Greenville Area Development Corportation was founded in 2001 by Greenville County Council to enhance economic development efforts. The organization says it has created 64,000 jobs and brought almost $6 billion in capital investment, both in new companies and helping existing companies expand.

The development corporation is funded by county government as well as investors.