Last phase of expansion goes on line in 2013
By Benjamin Bullard - The Cullman Times- April 21, 2012
CULLMAN — Local officials, company representatives and employees gathered Friday at Alabama Cullman Yutaka Technology (ACYT) to celebrate the tier-one automotive manufacturing supplier’s fifth year as an anchor tenant at Cullman Industrial Park No. 5.
The Yutaka plant has done nothing but grow in the short time since it began manufacturing automobile exhaust components, torque converters and other equipment as part of a long-term partnership to provide parts to American Honda Motor Co., Inc.
In the parlance of the automotive industry, ‘tier one’ suppliers are those which make and directly provide parts either to major vehicle assembly companies, or their original-equipment manufacturing (OEM) counterparts. Yutaka is one such supplier.
The company, which also operates manufacturing plants in Ohio and South Carolina, moved into its Cullman location in Oct. 2007 and spent about two and-a-half years running shifts in its original 166,000 square-foot facility before announcing a series of expansions that will have expanded the plant’s footprint by thirty percent and added around 100 jobs, when the last phase of expansion goes online in 2013.
ACYT president Masa Suzuki thanked employees, as well as the community, for the support and hard work that have enabled the plant to thrive during a period when many other players in the world economy — particularly the automotive manufacturing sector — have watched their productivity fall.
“This could not have been a achieved without your cooperation,” said Suzuki. “While we have been here, we have experienced two major increases in production...Thank you to the Cullman community for helping us be successful.”
“ACYT has been instrumental to our business
Cullman Economic Development Agency director Peggy Smith returned the thanks, saying the community has cemented a close bond with good industrial tenants like Yutaka, who rely heavily on local labor and training, while simultaneously offering the area good jobs, enhancing the local industrial infrastructure, and entrusting tremendous long-term investments to a strong base of local support.
“Our office began a relationship with Yutaka in 2006, when they came into our office — It began as a project and it blossomed into what we consider to be a partnership. Now, we’re currently in what we consider to be a friendship,” said Smith. “The work force in this community helps to keep the State of Alabama strong, and we are very grateful to you for being a part of our community.”