GF Casting Solutions will return to the U.S. market with a new high-pressure diecasting operation in Augusta, GA, to start production by 2027. The reported $184 million operation was announced by the Georgia Department of Economic Development, which sponsoring an incentives package to the metalcaster estimated at $28 million. The plant will produce cast aluminum parts “with a special focus on aluminum focus on large structural components for the automotive industry.”
According to the state’s announcement, the plant will employ 350 people.
“Building a high-pressure diecasting facility is a very long-term investment,” stated GF Casting Solutions president Carlos Vasto. “The new facility will complete our footprint to become truly global in the e-mobility market.
“We are looking forward to bringing leading technology to the U.S. and to creating advanced manufacturing jobs for several generations in Georgia. The location is ideal for addressing the thriving automotive industry in the region.”
Until 2022 GF Casting Solutions was a joint-venture partner with Linamar Corp. in an automotive casting operation they started up in 2017, in Mills River, NC. That plant produces aluminum and magnesium structural and powertrain castings for automotive and commercial vehicle customers.
At the time of that sale, GF Casting Solutions noted that its divestment would not change its long-term plan to serve the North American market.
Also in 2022, GF Casting Solutions struck a cooperative agreement with Mexico-based Bocar Group to combine their capabilities in the global high-pressure diecastings market.
Headquartered in Switzerland, GF has automotive HPDC plants operating n Altenmarkt and Herzogenburg, Austria; Werdohl, Germany; Pitesti and Scornicesti, Romania; and Suzhou, China. It also has an investment casting foundry at Novazzano, Italy.
The new, LEED-certified plant to be built at the Augusta (GA) Corporate Park will be eligible for up to $7 million in state income tax credits ($4,000/job) over five years. And it could draw up to $20 million in local property tax rebates over 20 years.
In addition, the building site will be acquired at a reduced and pro-rated cost.