YKK Zips Up Title of Automotive Supplier of the Year (200-plus Employees) in 2021 Georgia GEAR Awards
One might not associate a company that makes zippers for your jacket or pants with a company that makes parts for your car, and yet that is exactly what Georgia’s YKK USA does.
YKK’s Macon plant does business with almost every automobile maker in North and Central America, manufacturing a range of applications for more than 100 customers. The company works directly with OEMs, Tier 1, and Tier 2 companies from initial development phase to vehicle launch. A typical car in Georgia might include at least 15 YKK-made parts.
The company’s comprehensive portfolio for the automotive industry contributed to its win as 2021 Automotive Supplier of the Year (200 or more employees) in the GEAR Awards, presented by the Georgia Department of Economic Development and voted on by leaders across Georgia’s automotive industry, representing advanced manufacturing companies, universities, and innovation centers.
YKK’s products may not be visible to car buyers, but they play an important role in ensuring a car is assembled properly and safely, with quality parts lasting its lifetime. They also contribute to sustainability by allowing manufacturers to eliminate heavy plastic parts and thereby increase fuel efficiency.
Automotive parts made at the Macon facility include zippers, metal, and plastic components for seat trim closure applications; hardware for strap hold-down applications; buttons for child safety car seat attachments; and clips, rails, and extruded hook fasteners for seat trim attachments, as well as truck tonneau cover hold-downs. The company is AITF 16949 certified, a mandatory industry requirement that aligns automotive quality management systems throughout the world.
“Our clients use these YKK products to make trim, foam buns, headrests, and armrests which are supplied to the seat assembly and OEM plants in order to build a complete vehicle,” says Jim Reed, president of YKK Corporation of America. “YKK also supplies our customers with closures and fasteners to manufacture tops for Jeeps and sports utility vehicles, truck tonneau covers, commercial truck compartment curtains, battery hold-downs, car interior components, and off-road vehicle cabin covers, among others.”
YKK also designs, manufactures, leases, and services machinery. Once a vehicle is in production, YKK provides continuous support to automotive factories, design studio and engineering departments and monitors product performance throughout the life of the vehicle.
Headquartered in Tokyo, YKK has been located in Georgia for 52 years and employs around 820 Georgians in Marietta and Macon. YKK’s North and South America regional headquarters is located in
Marietta, as is the company’s American headquarters. Additionally, YKK’s architectural products division, YKK AP, is headquartered in Atlanta and employs approximately 800 people in Atlanta, Marietta, Dublin, and Macon.
YKK USA’s Macon manufacturing facility is one of the company’s largest plants outside Japan. It arrived in the state when then-governor Jimmy Carter convinced YKK founder Tadao Yoshida that Macon was the ideal location for YKK’s first vertically integrated production plant in the United States, and Georgia governors have continued to support it. Company leaders welcomed Governor Brian Kemp to the Macon plant to help launch Georgia Made™, a program through GDEcD that provides support in the logistics, manufacturing, and marketing of Georgia products.
The factors that first drew YKK to Georgia are still the factors that support its success, according to Reed.
“As our founder, Mr. Yoshida, was researching a U.S. manufacturing location, several things stood out to him,” he states. “Georgia has a very sound water source, an important resource for us. Also, the interstate systems and deep-water port of Savannah provide a perfect system for importing materials and exporting finished products. By air we can reach any location in the continental U.S. in four hours, and by truck the farthest location is five days, with half the country being accessible in two days.”
Reed also praises the state’s reliable workforce and cutting-edge high school and university systems.
“We could not ask for a better community than Macon and Dublin to call home, and we have an excellent working relationship with many Georgia agencies. We’re always grateful for their responsiveness and genuine concern,” he says.
Reed believes the GEAR award will highlight awareness of YKK’s role as a supplier of vital products to the automotive industry. The company has promoted the award externally and internally, honoring automotive-related employees at an awards ceremony and launching a social media campaign to showcase the faces behind their products.
“Georgia resources have positioned YKK to grow from a small manufacturing company to become the global leader in the fastening industry,” Reed says. “Georgia is now regarded as the center of Japanese industry in the U.S. Southeast. YKK remains grateful to the early visionaries who pursued foreign investment in the state and is proud of the role it played in building the robust relationship enjoyed by Japan and Georgia today.
“We appreciate all that Governor Kemp and the governors before him have done to ensure Georgia is business-friendly. We are also grateful for the support we receive at the state and local levels. Georgia is the ideal place for any company to call home.”
About GDEcD
The Georgia Department of Economic Development (GDEcD) is the state’s sales and marketing arm, the lead agency for attracting new business investment, encouraging the expansion of existing industry and small businesses, locating new markets for Georgia products, attracting tourists to Georgia, and promoting the state as a destination for arts and location for film, music and digital entertainment projects, as well as planning and mobilizing state resources for economic development. Visit georgia.org for more information.