By Brittany Woodby

BWOODBY@CULLMANTIMES.COM



Honda supplier Yutaka is one step closer to going online in Cullman. Alabama Cullman Yutaka Technologies, LLC, (ACYT) is moving into its newly-constructed plant and senior vice-president Jim Willoby said it should be ready for a test run next month.

“We will be producing 92 exhaust systems in November to send to corporate for quality confirmation,” he said. “Our exhaust system line should be fully operational by February.”

In addition to producing exhaust systems for Honda’s Pilot automobile, ACYT employees will also manufacture torque converters at the 166,000-square-foot plant and the company plans to introduce catalytic converters in the next two years.

Willoby said equipment for the torque converter line began arriving Thursday and the line should begin production in March.

The largest endeavor for the plant will be the addition of a 4,500-ton metal press.

“The back of the plant is still open in the west building,” Willoby said. “That’s the stamp section and the press pit is still under construction.”

The press should arrive September 2008 and begin operating in October. For now, a sheet of plastic separates the west building from the rest of the plant.

Employees in white uniforms are already working in the plant’s offices and engineers and supervisors from Japan and Yutaka’s plants in Ohio are working to put together the robotic machinery which will control the plant’s production.

“We have all our office staff here, human resources, purchasers, accountants and senior management,” Willoby said. “There are five maintenance technicians, two engineers, two production associates training in Ohio, a production coordinator and a production control coordinator.”

Willoby said ACYT’s administration is in the middle of a long hiring process. The company has enlisted the services of Alabama Industrial Development Training (AIDT) for filtering the 2,500 job applications the plant has already received.

“Out of the 1,500 applications we reviewed, we’ve interviewed 300 people,” he said. “We still have another 1,000 applications to go through.”

When the company announced plans to locate in Cullman, Yutaka president and CEO Masaru Takabayashi said he anticipated hiring 200 employees. Willoby said administration has interviewed nearly 150 applicants they feel confident in hiring.

“They are all from around here,” Willoby said. “We are not looking to hire outside of the county.”

ACYT has hired and trained 23 production associates with another training session scheduled for the end of the month. The training cycle should continue through April.

Willoby, who was previously vice president of Yutaka’s Ohio plant, said he has been impressed with Cullman and the eagerness of Cullman residents to commit to the company.

“It seems the people of Cullman want to stay in Cullman,” he said. “The people here are looking for a place where they can work the rest of their years with good benefits and retire here.”