A major new auto supplier coming to the Enterprise South Industrial Park plans to hire its first Hamilton County employee next week.
Officials of Plastic Omnium Auto Exteriors, LLC are on a fast track with plans to open on a 27-acre site in July 2015 with 180 employees.
The French-owned firm plans to eventually have 300 employees at the site. It is spending $65 million at the site.
Plastic Omnium manufactures exterior painted parts including bumpers, fenders and front-end carriers.
It has 22,000 employees worldwide and operates in 29 countries.
The company was formed in 1947 and is still 56 percent family owned, said Marc Cornet, who heads the Americas Division.
Plastic Omnium did $7 billion in business last year, including $2 billion in the U.S. and Mexico.
This will be its second facility in the Southeast.
Mr. Cornet said the strategic location of Chattanooga was a prime factor in its selection.