Gadsden’s Fehrer Automotive was among the companies honored on Thursday, June 17, 2021, at the AlabamaGermany Partnership’s 23rd Annual Celebration Dinner in Birmingham because of their recent investments and expansion.
Greg Canfield, Alabama Secretary of Commerce, presented the award, and Matthias Goetz, Tina Gibson and Calvin Tyler accepted on behalf of Fehrer. Gadsden-Etowah IDA executive director David Hooks was also in attendance.
A recent expansion at Fehrer Gadsden added an additional 200,000 square feet, bringing the plant to a total of 500,000 square feet.
With the addition of 15 jobs from the expansion, Fehrer Gadsden employs approximately 500 people, making it one of the largest employers in Etowah County.
The AlabamaGermany Partnership was formed in 1998 and focuses on building relationships in education, business and culture between Alabama and Germany.
Fehrer Automotive is a German-based company that manufactures vehicle interior components such as seat foam, and the Gadsden plant was established in 2010.
It originally supplied the Mercedes-Benz plant in Tuscaloosa and Volkswagen in Chattanooga with its two production lines, and the company has added five more production lines and customers such as Tesla, BMW, the Commercial Vehicle Group (CVG) and another Mercedes-Benz plant over the last decade.
The latest expansion of the Gadsden plant will allow more opportunities for the company to add customers and increase future production, Fehrer Gadsden leaders said last week at a grand opening ceremony for the new addition.
