Arrival of a final — and largest — piece of manufacturing equipment for Kia’s startup was a newsmaking event in 2008
In October of 2008, as the grim news of the Great Recession monopolized the headlines, Georgia had something to celebrate. Kia was expecting delivery of 3,500 tons of equipment needed to assemble the presses need to make components of the all-new Kia Sorento.
One of the largest pieces was the Rotem 5, a 5,400-ton transfer press. The ship carrying the equipment was the M/V Leopold Staff, which had made the journey across the Pacific, through the Panama Canal, around Florida, and up the Savannah River to the Georgia Ports Authority. The press would be riding on the back of a 16-axle trailer, and it would require stopping traffic at every bridge and overpass along the way to its West Point destination.
To document the event, Quick Start’s team coordinated with Kia, the Ports Authority and the Department of Transportation. The event marked a turning point in the efforts to revive manufacturing in Georgia.
Seoul, South Korea
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This represents Kia’s aim to change the future for the better and not only be a respected company but a company that people feel inspired by and want to work for.
West Georgia Technical College
A tugboat motors past the ship M/V Leopold Staff on October 9, 2008, at the Port of Savannah in Savannah, Ga.
The shipment left Masan, Korea, August 12, 2008, on the Leopold Staff and navigated across the Pacific Ocean, through the Panama Canal, across the Gulf of Mexico, around Florida and up the coast to the Port of Savannah.
Once the equipment was unloaded from the ship, the items were transported another 300 miles to Kia Motors Manufacturing Georgia, Inc., in West Point in 128 separate loads.
The pieces were transported from the Port of Savannah to West Point, Ga., using a fleet of trucks that included dual-lane trailers and a specialized 19-axle truck for the largest pieces of the presses.
Longshoremen unload the first major pieces of machinery destined for the Kia Motors Manufacturing Georgia, Inc., plan.
The equipment was assembled by the company Rotem, its manufacturer, into a transfer press and a blanking press. The transfer press uses 5,400 tons of pressure to stamp steel into 17 different types of vehicle panels for the next-generation Sorento,
Ga. Governor Sonny Perdue and Byung Mo Ahn, head of Kia welcomed the presses to West Point.
