Salaries to average $50,000; plant will assemble concrete pumper trucks; 180-acre site last large parcel in industrial park

The Citizen has learned through an official source that a Chinese company coming to Peachtree City will initially employ about 200 people at an average salary of $50,000 a year after its first five years in business.

Sany Heavy Industry will be located on a 180-acre tract off Ga. Highway 74 behind Cooper Lighting; the parcel goes all the way back to the CSX railroad but the company doesn’t initially plan to use the rail to ship or receive goods.

The company will not be manufacturing components at the plant but will assemble them from overseas shipments and U.S. suppliers. The finished products at first will be long-boom concrete pumper trucks and specialized concreted pumps, but the company plans to expand its operations to other heavy equipment, the source said.

Sany already has several employees who have moved to Peachtree City to jump-start the sales division through a temporary office in the Atlanta area. It will take between 18-24 months to build the 400,000 square foot facility, which will include assembly and office space

Sany is projecting that within 10 years it will add a U.S. corporate headquarters building along with a research and development unit while also expanding its production line to include excavators, heavy graders and other equipment within a projected 10 years.

At the end of that time period the company’s employment in Peachtree City is expected to reach about 600 people, but it is unclear what wages the future employees will earn because that potential expansion is further away, the official said. By comparison, that would put Sany at the level of Cooper Lighting, which is the county’s second-largest corporate employer currently next to Panasonic Automotive, which has about 1,200 employees.

Sany also is buying an additional 40-acre tract directly on Ga. Highway 74 between Wilden Plastics and Panasonic where the headquarters will eventually be located.

The company tests every component of its product and the trucks will be built on a special order basis only, with a one-week turnaround time, the source said.

This will be Sany’s first U.S. operation. Having a presence in the United States will help Sany because it allows the company to offer a force of technicians for support.

Many of Sany’s employees will be skilled labor such as electricians, welders, plumbers and the like, according to the official source. There will also be sales and executive staff in addition to other positions, but it is expected there will be few Sany employees migrating here for the operation.

Although for now the company plans to receive its parts shipments via motor carrier and not rail, the 30-plus foot-long pumper trucks will be driven off the site once completed.

The company is getting a property tax break spread out over 10 years, paying just 10 percent of the estimated property taxes its first year, with that figure increasing by 10 percent each year until the ninth year when the company will pay its full property tax bill. The bill is estimated to be in the neighborhood of $500,000 including all local and state property taxes, and that’s only the initial phase of the development, the official said.

The Fayette County Development Authority will purchase the property and lease it back to Sany over 10 years in order to facilitate the property tax break, and Sany will own it outright once the 10 years is up.

The company’s investment in the project is an estimated $30 million.

According to the official, Sany is entirely privately-owned, unlike many Chinese companies where the government has at least a partial ownership.