Germany-based plastics manufacturer MöllerTech will put a plant in Elberton, Ga., to supply automotive parts to German carmakers in the Southeast.

The $9.75 million investment is expected to create 75 jobs over the next six months. The plant is expected to begin manufacturing by early fall, said Anna Grant Jones, executive director of the Development Authority of Elbert County, Elberton and Bowman.

MöllerTech, a subsidiary of the Möller Group, will supply plastic injection molding for BMW's plant in Spartanburg, S.C., which is an hour's drive from Elberton. MöllerTech also plans to strike deals with Mercedes-Benz, which has a plant in Tuscaloosa County, Ala., and Volkswagen AG, which is building a plant in Chattanooga, Tenn. Both automakers are MöllerTech customers outside the U.S.

"It has been an exciting time for MöllerTech to find a home and set up a new plant in a Southern state to supply our automotive customers,” MöllerTech CEO Wolfgang Bruns said in a news release.

The plant will be located in a 130,000-square-foot building that was previously used for plastics manufacturing. With backing from the city and county, the development authority purchased the building and will lease it to MöllerTech over a 10-year period, Ms. Jones said. 

"The community felt this company was such an exciting opportunity for us that we didn't want to lose it. We felt MöllerTech would be an important enough addition to the community to take the risk of purchasing an existing building in the Elberton Industrial Park and make it available for lease to the company," she said.

 The community received a OneGeorgia grant for $200,000 to help with the building acquisition and improvements, according to Alison Tyrer, a Georgia Department of Economic Development spokeswoman.

The community is also in the process of completing a bond that will provide MöllerTech with a graduated tax abatement, which exempts the company from local taxes for the first year. Starting in the second year, the rate will be 10 percent and will increase incrementally each year.

MöllerTech's nearly $10 million investment includes lease payments and equipment purchases. From the state, the company will receive job-tax credits and sales-tax exemptions worth $1.8 million. Its workers will also receive training from Quick Start, the state's workforce training agency.

The project took more than two years to pan out. With an introduction from the state, MöllerTech expressed interest in Elbert County in 2008, but the company decided to wait out the sour economy. It returned this spring when things began to turn around in the U.S. The investment was a welcome win for a community of 21,000 people that struggled during last year's recession. A Honeywell brake-pad plant closed in mid-2009, leaving 300 people out of work. 

"It's great to see some activity again," Ms. Jones said. 

Elberton, which bills itself as the granite capital of the world, has some experience with global companies in that industry, but the development authority is preparing itself to court more international investors, Ms. Jones said. With the personal touch of its economic development staff, low land prices and utility costs, "We just feel like we're a good niche for some of these mid-size international companies like MöllerTech," she said.

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