Recruiter Anna Briggs talks with Joshua Barnett, left, and Isaac Holmes, right, during a job fair for Yanfeng Automotive Interiors held on Tuesday, Feb. 23, 2016, in Chattanooga, Tenn., at the Wacker Institute at Chattanooga State Community College. Yanfeng, a Volkswagen supplier, is building a new manufacturing plant in Chattanooga. About the company
› Name: Yanfeng Automotive Interiors› Chattanooga plant: Bonnyshire Drive› Local employees: 350› Local investment: $55 million› Production: Interior components including floor consoles, instrument panels and trunk trim for future VW models.› Startup: Late 2016› Worldwide: 22 plants in the U.S. and 100 globallySource: Yanfeng
David Logan talks with recruiter Jessi Fluke, right, during a job fair for Yanfeng Automotive Interiors held on Tuesday, Feb. 23, 2016, in Chattanooga, Tenn., at the Wacker Institute at Chattanooga State Community College. Yanfeng, a Volkswagen supplier, is building a new manufacturing plant in Chattanooga. Volkswagen supplier Yanfeng is on target to crank up its new $55 million Chattanooga interiors plant later this year as it began Tuesday to fill out its workforce at a job fair.
Tom Zhu, the Shanghai, China-based company's project manager in Chattanooga, said Yanfeng is initially looking to staff more technical posts such as engineering and maintenance slots. Another job fair is slated for this spring to focus on other production work at its Bonnyshire Drive plant.
Within three years, Zhu said he's hopeful the company will employ up to 350 people in Chattanooga to service VW's new sport utility vehicle and the Passat sedan.
"We have a very strong production capability," he said about the company that is the world's largest supplier of interior parts to automakers with annual sales at about $8.5 billion.
The Chattanooga plant near Enterprise South industrial park plans to make instrument panels, consoles and trunk trim for VW.
Joshua Barnett of Chattanooga said at the job fair at Chattanooga State Community College that he wanted to land a Yanfeng post in maintenance, or keeping up and fixing the sophisticated equipment in the factory.
"I'm tired of working at entry-level retail," he said. "It's a job I can be proud of and at which I can make a living wage."
Isaac Holmes, also of Chattanooga, said he was looking for a position as a technician or a job in information technology. The 20-year-old man said he's currently at Chattanooga State studying industrial maintenance.
"It's a good-paying job and something I don't have to take home with me," he said.
The company has said its average salary will be about $50,000 a year.
Matthew Williams, 33, said he has been working for five years in the automotive sector in Chattanooga, and he's looking at becoming a plant liaison for Yanfeng with VW.
While he said he hadn't heard a lot about Yanfeng, a collegue told him it's "a good company" for which to work.
Johnson Controls, a global multi-industrial company, and Yanfeng Automotive Trim Systems Co. Ltd., a wholly owned subsidiary of the Huayu Automotive Systems Co., owned by SAIC Motor Corp., formed a global automotive interiors joint venture last year.
The company opened a factory in Missouri to supply General Motors last year. Along with its new Chattanooga facility, it may also expand into Mexico, according to Automotive News. Its CEO said last month that its target is $10 billion in annual orders in the next couple of years.
Zhu said the company is prepping an existing building that formerly was a warehouse in the city.
"It will take about a half year to retrofit that place," he said.
Zhu said VW has indicated it still is on schedule to start production of its new midsize SUV late this year.
Yanfeng is the second VW supplier to hold a job fair in the past week. Gestamp, which is undertaking a $180 million expansion in Chattanooga, saw about 140 people at a job fair last week, said Mattie Moran, the Chattanooga Area Chamber of Commerce's director of workforce development and education.
VW is spending about $600 million in Tennessee to assemble the SUV based on the Crossblue concept.
Chattanooga and Hamilton County officials already have approved a tax break of 50 percent on plant equipment for Yanfeng for 14 years. Yanfeng still will pay about $1.2 million in school taxes over the years, officials said.
Contact Mike Pare at mpare@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6318.