COLUMBIA, S.C. – April 3, 2013 – TaylorMade Golf Company will establish a new golf ball production facility in Pickens County. The company will invest $13 million in creating the new state-of-the-art facility. “The opportunity to have a permanent home in Pickens County was too good of an opportunity for our company to pass up,” said John Kawaja, executive vice president at TaylorMade Golf. “We are getting a new building in a booming area that will improve our unit production, quality and margin position. Most important, we are committed to keeping jobs in South Carolina.”
TaylorMade will establish a new 120,000-square-foot golf ball production plant in Liberty, and will move current golf ball manufacturing operations to the new plant in January 2014. The new manufacturing and research and development facility will be located in the Pickens County Commerce Park and will serve as TaylorMade’s North American golf ball production headquarters.
“South Carolina is home to a number of world-class, well-known brands, and it’s great to see another one choose to grow in the Palmetto State. We celebrate TaylorMade Golf Company’s decision to invest $13 million in Liberty with its new plant. Announcements like this are another indication that South Carolina is becoming the ‘it’ state for business,” said Gov. Nikki Haley.
Since January 2011, South Carolina has recruited more than $8 billion in capital investment and more than 21,000 jobs in the manufacturing sector.
“Today’s announcement is the product of the solid work done by Team South Carolina. The company had a choice between keeping operations in South Carolina or moving to a site in Georgia. State and local officials were able to work with the company to keep TaylorMade here and convince them to grow their investment in the Palmetto State,” said Secretary of Commerce Bobby Hitt.
The company expects to break ground on the new plant next month, have construction completed next January and complete the transition to Liberty in July 2014. “We are very excited about TaylorMade’s decision to locate its new golf ball production facility at the Pickens County Commerce Park,” said Pickens County Council Chairman Neil Smith. “To have another industry leader choose Pickens County and the Upstate is a testament to the pro-business approach of South Carolina.”
About TaylorMade-adidas Golf
Headquartered in Carlsbad, Calif., TaylorMade-adidas Golf Company sells golf clubs, balls, clothing and accessories under the TaylorMade, adidas Golf, Adams and Ashworth brands. TaylorMade-adidas Golf Company posted 2012 sales of over €1.3 billion. For more information about the company, please visit www.taylormadegolf.com.
About the adidas Group The adidas Group is one of the global leaders within the sporting goods industry, offering a broad range of products around the core brands: adidas, Reebok, TaylorMade, Rockport and Reebok-CCM Hockey. Headquartered in Herzogenaurach, Germany, the Group has more than 46,000 employees and generated sales of €14.9 billion in 2012.
About S.C. Department of Commerce As South Carolina’s leading economic development agency, the Department of Commerce works to recruit new businesses and help existing businesses grow. Commerce won the Gold Shovel Award and the Project of Year Award from Area Development magazine in 2012. Also, the state was ranked first in attracting jobs through foreign investment by IBM-Plant Location International. Commerce has been part of recruiting world-class companies to South Carolina such as Boeing, Bridgestone, Continental, Monster.com, Heinz, ZF Group, BMW and Google Inc. Commerce also supports small and existing business, rural development initiatives and offers grants for community development. For more information, visit www.SCcommerce.com.
Alliance Pickens
recruitment and expansion in Pickens County
