Hyundai to invest $388 million to prep Alabama plant for next-generation engines
Gov. Kay Ivey joined Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama LLC President and CEO Dong Ryeol Choi today to announce that Hyundai is investing $388 million to construct a plant dedicated to manufacturing engine heads and enhance existing operations to support production of new models of Sonata and Elantra sedans. The investment will create 50 new jobs at the automaker’s Montgomery manufacturing complex. Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama (HMMA) is preparing for the next-generation Theta III engine, which requires new technologies and components as a part of its assembly process. Nearly all of the capital investment will be spent on equipment for the engine head machining plant, including updating technology. “Hyundai is an important member of Alabama’s dynamic auto industry, and this expansion at its Montgomery manufacturing facility will power the global automaker’s drive for future growth in the U.S.,” Ivey said. “Hyundai’s significant new investment is a strong testament to the company’s confidence in its Alabama operation and in its highly skilled workforce.” Track record “With our latest expansion, HMMA continues to show its strong commitment to the people of Montgomery and the people of Alabama,” Hyundai President and CEO Dong Ryeol Choi said at today’s announcement. “Hyundai is continuing its track record of investing in new manufacturing technologies to ensure the long-term success of our only U.S. assembly plant,” he added. Hyundai said it will cost approximately $40 million to construct the 260,000-square-foot building that will house the head machining equipment. Construction on the engine head machining plant is scheduled for completion in November. The project will free up space to expand engine assembly lines in HMMA’s two existing engine plants. HMMA will begin producing the Theta III engine in April 2019 for Sonata sedans and Santa Fe crossover utility vehicles. HMMA will continue to build the 2.0 liter Nu engine for Elantra sedans at its manufacturing facility in Montgomery. The engine plants produce approximately 700,000 engines per year to support vehicle production at both HMMA and Kia Motors Manufacturing Georgia in West Point, Georgia. In March 2017, HMMA marked the production of its 5 millionth Alabama-made engine. “Over the past 13 years, Hyundai’s Alabama assembly plant has solidified a reputation as one of the industry’s most innovative and productive manufacturing centers,” said Greg Canfield, secretary of the Alabama Department of Commerce. “Hyundai’s investment to prepare the Montgomery facility for next-generation engines underscores the strength of the alliance we have formed with the automaker and sets the stage for continued growth in this mutually beneficial relationship.” Longstanding partnership HMMA, which started vehicle production in May 2005, is the River Region’s largest private manufacturer with 2,700 full-time and 500 part-time employees. “We are so very honored that Hyundai has once again chosen to significantly invest in Hyundai Motor Manufacturing Alabama,” said Judge Charles Price, 2018 chairman of the Montgomery Area Chamber of Commerce. “As home to Hyundai’s only North American manufacturing facility, the Montgomery community pledges to continue our enormously successful 16-year partnership for this new expansion and beyond.” Hyundai has made a series of large investments to expand operations at the Montgomery facility since 2000, when the plant was first announced. In 2007, the automaker added 522 jobs with a $270 million investment at the factory, and in 2011, it created 214 jobs with a $173 million project, according to Alabama Department of Commerce records. It re-launched Santa Fe production with a $52 million project in 2016. Republished with the permission of the Alabama Newscenter.
Montgomery family court judge suspended without pay
A Montgomery Family Court judge has been reprimanded and suspended without pay after the Alabama Court of the Judiciary (COJ) decided on her punishment Friday afternoon, following a week of testimony. Judge Anita Kelly‘s suspension will last 180 days, but can be reversed at the 90-day mark if she follows specific instructions from the court. “There was no evidence introduced that Judge Kelly was ever involved in any sort of graft, corruption, scandal, or wrongful conduct other than the alleged pattern and practice delays,” the court’s order stated. “There is no evidence indicating that she intentionally did anything to harm anyone, most importantly the children impacted by her court.” In August of 2017, the Alabama Judicial Inquiry Commission filed a complaint against Kelly, accusing her of repeated violations of the Alabama Canons of Judicial Ethics, citing more than six hundred family court cases showing what they believed as Kelly’s inability to handle her docket. She was accused of “unreasonable and unjustifiable delay in handling her docket in Family Court,” and faced six charges according to WSFA, including: Delay in Issuing TPR orders-Failing or refusing to timely enter orders within 30 days of completing trials on petitions for termination of parental rights Delay in Completing TPR Trials-Failing or refusing to complete the trial on a petition for termination of parental rights within 90 days of perfecting service Failure to Manage Dockets-Failing or refusing to manage court dockets to decide pending matters in a timely manner-failing or refusing to allocate sufficient time on her dockets to hear pending matters in one setting, regularly continuing dockets, unreasonable delays in setting timely hearings, unreasonable delays in resetting continued trial settings-preventing the timely resolution of disputes that profoundly affected the lives of those, in particular children, whose interests were before her court Delay in Final Divorce Decrees and Modifications-Unreasonable and unjustifiable delay or failure to rule on completed applications for uncontested-divorce complaints and requests for modification of divorce decrees, many of which included agreed-up proposed orders, thereby preventing the timely resolution of disputes that profoundly affected the lives of those, in particular children, whose interests were before her court Comprehensive Delay, Including but not Limited to Matters Charged in Charges 1 – 4-By failing to take care of the business of the court in a timely, prompt, and efficient manner, as set out in the above-stated facts-including but not limited to TPR petitions, dependency cases, delinquency cases, child support matters, PFA petitions, uncontested divorce cases, modifications of divorce decrees, and such simple matters as affidavits of substantial hardship, simple motions, party agreements, and considerations of referee recommendations-thereby preventing the timely resolution of disputes that profoundly affected the lives of those, in particular children, who interests were before her court Loss of Juvenile Treatment Funds-By failing or refusing to make a timely recommendation to the Montgomery County Commission for a Davis Treatment Center vendor to provide local treatment and care for certain juvenile defendants and thereby losing funds to continue such treatment and care for over four months. Kelly has been off the bench with pay since the original filings in August, and will be reinstated on May 14 serving without pay starting on that date. During the trial, she maintained her innocence, denying any wrongdoing, but the Judicial Inquiry Commission produced multiple witnesses to testify to the delays and failed attempts to help Kelly amend her docket, including retired Montgomery Circuit Judge Charles Price. Price, who was the presiding judge while Kelly was working in the family court, testified that he received complaints, verbally and in writing, from litigants and attorneys about Kelly and the way she ran her courtroom. Price said he spoke to Kelly about the complaints and even showed her, but it produced no changes. “It became abundantly obvious that she was resentful of my help,” Price told WSFA.
