SAVANNAH — Leadership from Seoyon E-Hwa and Savannah Technical College signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for a training partnership at STC’s Savannah Campus. The training partnership MOU will include credit and non-credit training programs.

“We are thrilled to engage in a training partnership with another of our new industries locating in the area, Seoyon E-Hwa,” said STC President Dr. Kathy Love. “As a technical college in Georgia, our sole mission is workforce development. It’s very crucial that we work closely with our advanced manufacturing partners to ensure we are the place that they come when they need skilled employees to be successful.”

Seoyon E-Hwa, a global auto parts supplier that manufactures both interior and exterior components, announced (February 2023) that it will create 740 new direct and indirect jobs and invest almost $76 million in a new manufacturing facility in Chatham County.

“This is a great opportunity for our company to hire very skilled employees from the esteemed Savannah Technical College,” said Seoyon E-Hwa President Chung Yun Kim. “This will make the best partnership of industrial- academic cooperation.”

The new facility will be located at the Savannah Chatham Manufacturing Center, a Georgia Ready for Accelerated Development (GRAD) Certified site. The new manufacturing facility will produce automotive interior parts such as door trims, headlining, and tailgate trims. Production is expected to begin in October 2024. More than two-thirds, or approximately 500, of the announced jobs will be permanent roles in human resources, development, quality, and production personnel.

On October 25, 2022, Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America officially broke ground in neighboring Bryan County on its first fully dedicated EV and battery manufacturing facility. Building on the assets that make the automotive industry successful, Georgia is positioned as a hub for the electric mobility industry. Since 2020, more than 35 EV-related projects have announced more than $21 billion in investment and 26,700 jobs in Georgia.