Hanging above the entrance to an expansive warehouse at Craig Field Industrial Park Monday was a large banner welcoming Lear/Kyungshin Sales and Engineering to Selma. Inside the building state and local officials gave each other congratulatory pats of the back for their achievement in bringing another Hyundai supplier to the Black Belt.

LKS will be a Tier I supplier to the Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama plant currently under construction in Hope Hull.

The lease for 100,000 square feet in the Craig Distribution Center building will be used for manufacturing/sequencing equipment for wiring harnesses for Hyundai’s 2005 NF Sonata and the 2006 Santa Fe automobiles.

According to the Selma and Dallas County Centre for Commerce, the company will initially create between 20 to 25 hourly jobs and another eight to 10 salaried jobs when Hyundai hits full production.

“We are going to have a slow start up,” said George Pennington, LKS operations manager. “We are going to grow in employees as the company grows within the next couple of years.”

Pennington, a North Alabama resident hired by LKS five weeks ago, says he will begin by hiring warehouse workers for sequencing electrical wires for Hyundai.

“The electrical wires will be used for operating the windows, blinkers, lights, and most of the electrical work in the vehicles,” Pennington said.

Wayne Vardaman, president of the Selma and Dallas County Centre for Commerce, said LKS is in the early stages of a multi-phase project. The company will begin by using 40,000 square feet of the facility for wire sequencing, adding interior sub-assembly in the second half of the building later on.

Employment at the company is expected to eventually reach a total of 180 new jobs for Selma.

Gov. Bob Riley said the arrival of LKS is a one example that Alabama’s economic development is on the right track.

“If you look back over the last two years, you have created in Dallas County over 1,000 new jobs. That is remarkable,” Riley told Selma leaders during the announcement.

The governor said he was impressed by the team effort it took to bring Hyundai supplier and other industry into Selma.

“TEAM Selma competed against every other municipality in the state of Alabama for these jobs,” Riley said. “You are to be commended for the type of dedication, the type of passion you have in industrial recruitment. That is the reason you are successful. That is the reason we are beginning to change the face not only of Dallas County, but of the Black Belt in general.”

Riley said the Mercedes plant in Tuscaloosa has already increased its production, and the state is beginning to offer quality production at competitive prices.

Mayor James Perkins, Jr. began his speech during the announcement by proclaiming “Selma is open for business.”

“Though this is the second Hyundai supplier announcement for Selma and Dallas County, I still say to you that though this is extraordinary good, the best is yet to come,” Perkins said.

The mayor said he always applauded other communities for their Hyundai supplier successes because it was a regional initiative.

“I always knew that in Selma cheering other communities successes, I knew that in time Selma would rise to the top and we would be blessed.”

Il Chun (Ike) Park, LKS vice president of operations, said the company chose to locate in Selma because the area offered good potential.

“We decided to move here, first of all, because of the people,” Park said. “We want to make this operation very successful here for Selma, for us, and for everybody.”

A Tier II Hyundai supplier, the Renosol Corporation, is nearing completion of its new facility at Craig Field and is scheduled for start-up this fall.

Renosol has already begun work with the Alabama Industrial Development Training program (AIDT) to fill production and maintenance jobs.