AGC to Restart Idled Plant in Church Hill, TN

On Monday, AGC Glass Company North America announced their plans to restart production in their Greenland Plant. The Church Hill, TN plant production line was idled in 2008 when the company also had to lay off nearly 250 employees. The restart hopes to bring back 100 jobs once the line begins operating again.

The G1 production line will manufacture automotive glass and architectural float glass. Production line construction is expected to begin this summer and be completed by the end of the year. The North American glass company hopes to offer the available new jobs to those that were recently laid off due to the shutdown of its Blue Ridge plant in Kingsport. The K1 production line in Kingsport produces glass for the solar industry. Since its shutdown AGC officials say that business has been negatively affected by the large amounts of imports from China.

President and CEO of the AGC Glass Company, Mark Ishiko, stated “We plan to service the growing demands of the North American automotive business, and grow our architectural business with higher quality clear and tinted float glass…Northeast Tennessee is an important region for our company and hopefully this restart [in Church Hill] will help lessen the effects from the K1 shutdown.”

Tennessee state officials as well as The Hawkins County Industrial Development Board have been working with AGC over the past two years to help secure taxes and other incentives to help restart the Church Hill plant. AGC Glass Company says they plan to include the latest environmentally friendly equipment as part of the reconstruction and have already for its state construction permit. AGC is based in Alpharetta, GA and is owned by Asahi Glass of Japan.

Increased hiring always leads to the opportunity to further industrial training skills. With easily accessible online courseware, employees are able receive industrial training from virtually anywhere and advance their education in an effort to boost productivity on the plant floor.