Contruction Continues on 150,000-s.f. Manufacturing Facility in Grovetown, Ga.

Oct. 14, 2004

Work on a new facility for wheel assembler FirstCo Inc. is rolling along on schedule and is expected to be finished by March.

The Davenport, Iowa, based FirstCo supplies wheel units for agricultural equipment makers such as Caterpillar and Deere & Co., its biggest customer.

The walls are going up and the roof work is underway at the $3.9 million, 150,000-square-foot factory, which is the first occupant of Columbia County's Horizon North Industrial Park off Interstate 20 near Grovetown.

The development is well suited to FirstCo's needs because it is within two miles of Deere's plants, and also is very close to Interstate 20, said Bill Foster, FirstCo's vice president and general manager.

"It's convenient to everything," he said.

FirstCo will occupy 12.6 acres of the 280-acre Horizon North site.

The company took over the wheel assembly business from Titan Distribution Inc. on Jan. 1 when Titan shut down a 100,000-square-foot facility they were leasing at the nearby Horizon South Industrial Park.

When FirstCo was awarded the contract it moved into the former Titan facility and started producing half of Deere's orders there, Mr. Foster said.

The other half will be produced in Davenport until all production moves into the new facility, he said.

The facility at Horizon North will employ 35, some of which will come from Davenport or from Titan's former operations.