Employers that pay an average wage of more than $20 an hour are always welcome in Alabama’s mid-sized cities, so local officials in Gadsden were happy to join with Etowah County and state officials recently to welcome Motus Integrated Technologies.
Motus, a Tier 1 supplier of automotive interior products, has begun work on a $15 million facility expected to create 90 permanent jobs. The ceremonial groundbreaking was held at The Venue, an event-hosting facility on the banks of the Coosa River.
Scheduled to be open by the middle of 2020, the plant is being constructed near Gadsden’s Airport Industrial Park. The company is a leading provider of headliners, automotive interior door and console armrests to the automotive industry. Globally, it employs more then 2,000 workers at its five facilities.
Working closely with the State of Alabama and local leaders, Motus conducted an extensive search for its new plant location before deciding to build in Gadsden. The site is close to a heavy concentration of automotive manufacturing facilities within the region, including several current and potential customers.
“It’s all about the people here,” Kevin Kernan chief operating officer for Motus says. Motus Engineering Manager Brent Turner echoed this sentiment. “Why not choose Gadsden? It’s in a great location, great community, great people to work with, so we’re excited to be here.”
Motus plans to capitalize on the rapidly growing automotive industry across the broader Southeastern United States. In 2018 alone, automakers announced new Alabama projects involving nearly $3.3 billion in capital investment and almost 5,500 anticipated jobs.
“This is a great day for Gadsden, and we are proud to be able to recruit high-paying jobs and welcome an innovative company like Motus to our community and our state,” Gadsden Mayor Sherman Guyton says.
