The Volkswagen general contractor EISENMANN started with the paint shop installation at the new automobile assembly plant on Monday.
“Thanks to the help of Volkswagen and the Chattanooga Chamber’s Volkswagen Team when looking for local partner companies, EISENMANN now has an excellent team on-board to handle this challenging project successfully,” said Ralf Voellinger, executive director at EISENMANN.
By engaging South State Contractors Inc. of Afton, Tn. and American Industrial Contractors L.L.C. of Lexington, Ky. for the mechanical installation work, EISENMANN recently awarded further local sub-contractors for this project.
In September the German company has already announced a positive impact on the local economy of Chattanooga and the state of Tennessee by awarding Southern Fabrication Contractors L.L.C. of Chattanooga, IMF Inc. of Greeneville, Tn. and Complete Automation of Lake Orion, Mi. which will open an office in Tennessee.
Over the next months the paint shop will continue to take shape. First, the Chattanoogan company Southern Fabrication L.L.C. will mount the support steel for the dip tanks which they will later install.
"We are very pleased to start our work together with Eisenmann on this brand new Volkswagen plant today. Most of our work has come from outside of Chattanooga for the last few years. We’re pleased to have this opportunity to work right here at home,” said Mike Potter, co-owner of Southern Fabrication Contractors along with Richard Ireland.
The dip tanks for the paint and pretreatment systems are made by IMF Inc. of Greeneville, Tn. Then South State Contractors Inc. of Afton, Tn. – longterm installer for EISENMANN paint systems all over the U.S., Canada and Mexico - will start with the oven installation in the new paint shop.
“Thanks to our strong and skilled local sub-contractors, most of the installed equipment is manufactured in the U.S.,” said Mr. Voellinger. EISENMANN itself is working on site with a small core project team, comprising mainly Americans and Germans. It is responsible for order-related coordination and project management.