Seoyon E-Hwa Interior Systems, a Tier 1 automotive parts supplier to Alabama’s Hyundai assembly plant, announced plans earlier this month to invest more than $5 million to expand its operation in Dallas County.
Seoyon E-Hwa will add 60 jobs to its current workforce of 436 in Selma. This will makes the company one of Dallas county’s largest employers.
“We’re excited that they’re here, and we’re excited that they’ve grown from 125 jobs in 2005 to currently 436,” said Wayne Vardaman, the executive director of the Selma & Dallas County Economic Development Authority.
Vardaman expects Seoyon E-Hwa’s expansion project to get underway in April, with a potential completion by the end of September. The company’s total investment will be $5.14 million.
Hyundai Montgomery assembly plant has a large network of suppliers in Alabama, including Seoyon E-Hwa in Selma. The factory in Selma’s Craig Industrial Park produces several molded plastic interior trim parts for vehicles assembled at the massive Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama plant in Montgomery. This expansion is in conjunction with new vehicle production planned for later this year at HMMA’s plant.
Economic developer Nicole Jones told the Alabama Political Reporter, “Through collaborative efforts between the public and private sector, our state has positioned itself as a national and world leader the automotive industry. Automobile suppliers like Seoyon E-Hwa Interior Systems are an important component of the supply chain.”
Seoyon E-Hwa’s roots date to the early 1970s with the beginning of the auto industry there. Today, the company has plants around the world and serves automakers including Kia, Volkswagen, Ford and Nissan.
“Seoyon E-Hwa Interior Systems, one of Selma’s largest employers, produces parts that feed into nearby Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama in Montgomery, one of the River Region’s largest employers,” Jones said. “Seoyon E-Hwa takes a proactive approach to investment in R&D to ensure its technological competitiveness in the global marketplace.”
“I’m just excited that they are here in Selma and Dallas County, that we are open for business, and that we are growing and our companies are growing,” state Sen. Malika Sanders-Fortier told the Selma Times-Journal. “We are so excited to have 60 people who’ll have the opportunity to be employed.”
On Tuesday, HMMA was forced to suspend production after a plant worker tested positive for COVID-19, a condition caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus which has killed over 10,000 people worldwide, most of them in the last two weeks. Hyundai is expected to be back up and operational once the health situation in Montgomery improves.
