Asked what the ceiling on the plant’s potential employee number might be, Gauthier said, “I don’t know. I honestly don’t.”
Company leaders did not think the workforce would reach 2,000 employees until the end of 2016. The Moraine plant hires about 50 new workers weekly.
“We will hire as many people as we need to meet our production demands,” Gauthier said.
When fully operational, Fuyao’s Moraine plant is expected to supply glass sets — all the glass required for a vehicle — for up to one in four vehicles made in the United States. The company is shipping glass to Kia, BMW and Volkswagen, among other North American automakers.
When Fuyao Global Chairman Cho Tak Wong first publicly announced his interest in the Moraine plant — a former GM assembly site — in January 2014, the expected number of employees for the factory was 800. He bought the plant for $15 million five months later, and since then the plant’s workforce, refurbished footprint and capacity have all steadily increased.
“We’re starting from scratch,” Gauthier said. “Generally, a start-up starts small and grows gradually. We are starting big. That presents in and of itself its own challenges.”
Gauthier said the chairman recently bought a former wallpaper production facility in Plymouth, Mich. for an existing operation in Lake Orion, Mich. that adds value to Fuyao-produced glass. Some 100 to 200 people will work in that plant and eventually, it may fall under the Fuyao Glass America umbrella, he said.
Gauthier estimated that Cho has invested about $750 million total into American facilities, including close to $500 million just in Moraine.
The company’s Ohio investment is the largest Chinese investment in the state and the eight largest investment by that country in the United States.
The company a new exhibition hall ready for today’s opening. The hall will feature examples of Fuyao glass, including a new Cadillac XT5 crossover with a Fuyao glass set.
“This will be the time when everyone really finds out what $500 million looks like and acts like,” said Dave Burrows, Fuyao Glass America vice president.
Today’s events at the plant off Encrete Lane were invitation only. Cho spoke at the event and guests were given tours of the plant, which covers some 1.7 million square feet now.
Gauthier said a special event just for employees is also being planned for the near future.
Also planned is a panel discussion at the University of Dayton’s River Campus featuring Samuel Palmisano, retired chairman of IBM, Eric Spina, the new president of UD, and Wang Huiyao, founder and president of the Center for China and Globalization, among others.
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