SCOTTSBORO - David Holder has seen Sanoh America grow, literally, from the ground up.
And, 12 years later, the company's growth has caused it to go across the street for its new Sanoh Welding and Technical Division - its sixth expansion.
"We purchased a building across the street," said Holder, the Southeast regional manager of Sanoh America.
Holder said he was hired at then-Hisan a month before it opened in July 2000. Hisan manufactured tubes for brakes and fuel lines.
"I was hired before the plant was completed," he said. "In that first year, we had 13 employees and $9 million in sales and 22,500 square feet."
With Thursday's announcement, Sanoh will have nearly 130,000 square feet and will employ almost 200 people.
"They're looking at another expansion," said Rick Roden, president/CEO of the Jackson County Chamber of Commerce. "They're a very good company in Scottsboro Industrial Park."
The new division - SWAT - will add 10 manufacturing jobs the rest of this year and eight more next spring, Holder said.
"We've added a Southern corporate office, and we hope to have about three to five people in it," he said. "We've grown so fast."
He said the company has plants in Canton, Miss., at the Nissan facility; a plant at the Toyota facility in Blue Springs, Miss.; and one in Smyrna, Tenn., at the Nissan plant there.
"This was their first off-site expansion," said Dus Rogers, president/CEO of the Jackson County Economic Development Authority. "They do real precision work for Honda, Nissan and Toyota."
Holder said SWAT will initially produce an EGR (exhaust gas recirculation) pipe for engines for the 2013 Accord that will launch next month.
Sanoh will initially ship these pipes to the Honda engine plant in Anna, Ohio, which produces 1.1M V-4 and V-6 engines for the Accord, Civic, CR-V and Acura.
Then, with the launch of the Acura MDX at the Honda facility in Talladega County next spring, the Scottsboro plant will ship EGR pipes there.
"Last year, we had $30 million in sales," Holder said. "This year, I think we'll hit $50 million.
"We're moving on ... this is a good team, the best work force I've ever been around."