Bobcat to Open its First Southeastern Plant in Carrollton

New Facility to Bring More than 100 Jobs, $10 Million in Investment to Georgia

ATLANTA – Governor Sonny Perdue announced today that the Bobcat Company will open a new manufacturing plant in Carroll County with a capital investment of almost $10 million.  The new facility will manufacture attachments for compact equipment used in the construction, industrial, landscaping, and agricultural industries.  According to company officials, production will begin in May and is expected to be in full operation later this year, providing jobs for more than 100 Georgians.

            “I am happy to welcome Bobcat to Georgia and the Southeast,” said Governor Sonny Perdue. “Bobcat provides high quality products with great customer service and they support their employees and the communities where they live and work.  These qualities will make Bobcat a great addition to the Georgia business family.”

            The Carrollton facility, most recently a Blaw-Knox (an Ingersoll-Rand company) plant in the West Carrollton Enterprise District, will become the organization's fifth U.S. factory and its first in the Southeast, joining attachment facilities in Litchfield and Grove City, Minnesota, and machine plants in Bismarck and Gwinner, North Dakota.  Bobcat is a member of the Ingersoll-Rand business family.

            Carrollton was a good choice for several reasons, said Roy Molter, general manager of North American Attachment Operation.  “The size of the facility is in line with Bobcat Company needs, there is an available workforce, and it is close to Atlanta – within 50 miles.”  Bobcat plans to make $8 million in improvements to the plant.

            “We've been talking a lot lately about establishing a global footprint and striving for continuous improvement of processes,” said Bobcat president and CEO Mike Ryan.  “The addition of this production facility falls very much in line with those initiatives.”

Local and state incentives, such as tax abatements through the West Carrollton Enterprise District, assisted in attracting Bobcat Company to Carroll County, according to local officials. Carroll Tomorrow, a county economic development group, estimates the project's fiscal impact to the community, after all incentives are applied, is $284,149.  (Fiscal impact only examines the effect upon local governments' costs and revenues.)

“This is a quality company with quality jobs,” said Carroll Tomorrow CEO, Slater Barr. “We've enjoyed working with Bobcat Company's representatives and appreciate the cooperation of state and local officials in putting this deal together.”

The 80,000-square-foot factory will specialize in the production of general and multi-purpose Bobcat® buckets, used primarily on skid-steer loaders, but also for compact excavators.  Molter estimates the facility will turn out thousands of buckets per year, once it hits full production.

North Dakota-based Bobcat Company is a business unit of Ingersoll-Rand, a major diversified industrial company.