LG Electronics Breaks Ground on 1MSF TN Factory

By Keith Loria, Contributing Editor

LG Electronics factory breaks ground near Clarksville, Tenn.

LG Electronics broke ground on a 1 million-square-foot home appliance manufacturing facility near Clarksville, Tenn., which is scheduled to open in 2019.

“Modestly, this will be the world’s most advanced factory to make washing machines,” John Taylor, LG Electronics’ senior VP, public affairs and communications, told Commercial Property Executive. “It’s a whole new production process, highly automated, and an amazing process.”

Once up and running, the factory will be responsible for producing front- and top-load washing machines, turning out a new machine every 10 seconds. The plant will also allow LG to change between models in less than four minutes.

Key factors in site selection

The 310-acre site offers the potential to expand for production of other home appliances in the future.

“Investing in the U.S. is a key strategy for LG to best serve our U.S. customers, and that’s why this plant is so important,” Taylor said. “This is our first major appliance manufacturing facility in the U.S.”

LG looked at eight different states before deciding on Tennessee, in the heart of Montgomery County, as the best location for its needs.

“There were a lot of promising areas but Tennessee was particularly attractive because of the labor force, the relatively close proximity to our U.S. distribution centers and the incentives form the state were attractive as well,” Taylor said. “To be able to obtain 310 acres in a wonderful location like Middle Tennessee also allows us to have an eye on future expansion.”

The company focuses a great deal on sustainability as part of its philosophy, and the factory will be built keeping this in mind.

According to Taylor, LG just earned customer satisfaction awards in every laundry segment from J.D. Power and was named by Consumer Reports as being No. 1 in reliability for washing machines.

The project is expected to bring at least 600 full-time jobs to the area and will accelerate the delivery of LG’s innovative, premium home appliances to better meet U.S. consumer demand.

“This will allow LG to be more nimble and better able to react to the market dynamics in the U.S.,” Taylor said. “We plan to be in production in the first quarter of 2019.”

Image courtesy of LG Electronics