Gestamp expansion
› The company, which started operating at Enterprise South industrial park in 2009, makes stamped parts and welded assemblies for the Passat sedan. The company will press body sheet metal and make chassis components for the planned new VW SUV.› Gestamp is hiring for tool and die and maintenance journeymen, engineers, quality techs, weld/destruct techs and other skilled trades.
Andy Nelson of Chattanooga said Thursday he is confident the automotive cluster in Chattanooga is growing and he wants to be part of it.
“Automotive will advance in Chattanooga,” the 35-year-old job applicant said at a job fair for Volkswagen supplier Gestamp. “I think there are more jobs coming here. It’s all having to do with the Volkswagen plant.”
Despite VW’s diesel emission issues, Gestamp’s construction of a new plant next to VW’s supplier park at Enterprise South industrial park is on track, said April Counts, a spokeswoman for the Spanish company. She said plans are for the new facility to be ready in the spring and to start building body parts for the sport utility vehicle that VW is to begin assembling by year’s end.
Gestamp actually has three construction projects going on in the city. The $180 million worth of expansions are projected to add 510 more people. It’s the biggest single investment ever by a VW supplier in Hamilton County.