KANSAS CITY—The auto industry continues to recover from its near-collapse during the recession, and the ripple effects have been felt across a huge region. LMV Automotive Systems, for example, just decided to build a new 253,600-square-foot manufacturing operation in Liberty, MO, a suburb of Kansas City, which has become the home of several new manufacturing operations.
“Both Ford and GM have made major investments in Kansas City and made upgrades to their facilities and started manufacturing new products,” Bob Marcusse, president and chief executive officer of the Kansas City Area Development Council, tells GlobeSt.com. Ford, for example, plans to manufacture the newly designed 2015 F150 pickup in Kansas City. “That has created a whole new set of infrastructure needs.”
LMV, a subsidiary of Cosma International, will break ground this summer and make an initial investment of $49.7 million, creating about 166 new jobs. The parent company of Cosma is Magna International, the world's fourth-largest supplier of auto parts. This decision follows a 2012 investment by LMV in a $42 million, 212,550-square-foot manufacturing complex in Liberty, where it now employs more than 150.
Furthermore, as reported in GlobeSt.com last November, the Spanish automotive company Grupo Antolin North America will invest more than $15.7 million in a 148,800-square-foot facility at 1601 Southern Rd. in Kansas City, creating an estimated 118 new jobs. And last May, GlobeSt.com reported that Yanfeng USA Automotive Trim Systems had just decided to locate a new manufacturing plant in Riverside Horizons, a 260-acre industrial park in suburban Riverside.
“They want to be physically close to their customers,” Marcusse adds. And these ripple effects have not ended. “When a Tier 1 supplier like Magna comes in with such a major investment, you will see some of their suppliers come in as well.”
“We read about the major trends and improvements sweeping the economy,” Marcusse says, “but you need to get into the local communities and see what it means. It's very real and it goes beyond a headline.”
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Brian J. Rogal
Brian J. Rogal is a Chicago-based freelance writer with years of experience as an investigative reporter and editor, most notably at The Chicago Reporter, where he concentrated on housing issues. He also has written extensively on alternative energy and the payments card industry for national trade publications.
