FAST FACT
The GE Appliances’ Roper plant in LaFayette, Georgia, will employ more than 2,000 people after an expansion.
GE Appliances is expanding in Northwest Georgia, adding 200 jobs and investing $75 million in its Roper Corp. plant in Walker County and in a new logistics center in Murray County.
The company also plans to spend $55 million for a warehouse in Jackson County, northeast of Atlanta, where it will create another 100 jobs.
GE Appliances, an affiliate of Chinese-owned Haier Group, expects to spend $43 million at the Roper plant to create new manufacturing capacity and launch added cooking products later this summer.
The 100 new jobs will push the Roper plant to more than 2,000 employees, according to the company. Roper produces cooktops, free-standing ranges, and wall ovens under the Monogram, Café, GE Profile, and GE brands at the LaFayette, Georgia, factory.
Company spokeswoman Julie Wood said plans are to add equipment in the plant's existing footprint for the new products.
In Murray County, GE Appliances will invest $32 million in a new Southern logistics center where it will create 100 jobs. It will take advantage of an expansion of the Port of Savannah to handle large trans-Pacific container ships, reducing reliance on cross-country trucking from West Coast ports, the company said.
The port at Savannah is connected by rail to the Appalachian Regional Port in Murray that was completed last year.
Wood said the logistics center will service nine U.S. plants, including the Roper facility. It's expected to open in early 2020, she said.
In this 2014 staff file photo, Roper Corp. employees Faye Goins, left, and Stacy Johnson run ground path testing on a new appliance on the production line in LaFayette, Georgia.Kevin Nolan, chief executive officer of GE Appliances, said Georgia has been a longtime home for the company.
"Our goal continues to be to become the leading major appliance business in the U.S. These investments and job expansions will help us do just that," he said.
Georgia State Sen. Chuck Payne, R-Dalton, said the new logistics center is an example of the growth and innovation experienced in North Georgia.
"I am confident that Murray County and other parts of North Georgia will continue to prosper as more companies and innovators recognize the multitude of opportunities we have to offer," he said.
Gov. Brian Kemp said that thanks to corporate partners like GE Appliances, the state is seeing greater investment and job growth.
"These jobs in Murray, Walker, and Jackson counties will provide greater opportunity for hard-working Georgians, and we're very excited to announce GE's expanded footprint in North Georgia," he said.
Haier Group, the world's biggest home appliance maker, in 2016 brought General Electric Co.'s appliance business for $5.4 billion to expand its U.S. and global presence.
The acquisition came as Haier tries to transform itself into a premium brand. GE is shifting emphasis from traditional businesses such as appliances, in which it has been a prominent presence for more than a century, to higher-technology areas such as medical equipment and clean energy.
Contact Mike Pare at mpare@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6318. Follow him on Twitter @MikePareTFP.