With the electric vehicle market projected to grow by more than 40 percent in the next few years, the Korea-based energy company SK Innovation knew it had to build a plant in North America to serve its growing list of customers like Ford and Volkswagen.
SK Battery America (SKBA) was formed, and the search for the ideal site began. When the site selection process was completed, the best choice was obvious: Georgia, the No. 1 state in the U.S. for doing business. Georgia’s infrastructure and supportive local and state governments were essential, but a company is only as good as its workforce, and having Georgia Quick Start as its workforce training partner was key to sealing the deal.
SKBA spent $2.6 billion to build two facilities to manufacture lithium-ion batteries and create nearly 2,600 direct new jobs.
“The Quick Start training was really crucial,” said SKBA’s President Hwang Jun-ho. “This is SKBA’s first plant in the United States, and with the full support from Quick Start, SKBA can meet production timelines without any obstacles.”
Seoul, South Korea
SK Battery America is the global leading manufacturer for electric vehicles, aiming to produce the safest, fastest-charging, and longest-lasting batteries to create a cleaner and more sustainable future across the United States.
Lanier Technical College
“Trainees will work with what they see in our plants for a better training experience.”
— Timothy (Jun Yong) Jeong, CEO of SK Battery America
Quick Start’s team conducted a project study in Korea to visit multiple SK locations and document the technology and job tasks required to produce high-quality cells and battery packs.
That first-hand knowledge has allowed Quick Start to develop a comprehensive training plan for SKBA, and totally refurbished a satellite campus of Lanier Technical College to accommodate production-scale equipment.
Several pieces of SKBA’s specialized manufacturing equipment were recreated to scale via custom training modules.
This allows employees to get extensive hands-on experience before ever setting foot on the factory floor.
Making lithium-ion batteries starts with rolls of aluminum and copper loaded into automated systems that coat them with material that will allow the end product to generate, store and release electricity.
The material is cut, vacuum-dried and thens tacked accordion-style on separation material. The tabs of the stacked electrodes are then welded together. The tab-welded stack of electrodes is encased in a sealing pouch, then saturated with an electrolyte to facilitate the flow of electricity, then sealed, then the cell is trimmed into a finished cell.
SK Battery America’s gigafactory in Jackson County, Ga.
