______________________________________________________________________________________ GEDIA
USA Holdings for example a B-Pillar to further enhance the safety aspect for all occupants in the vehicle . Overall , it ’ s a very neat process that allows us to utilize thinner raw materials to ultimately save weight in the final product , which is a key feature in automotive production .”
Steady growth
The Mercedes-Benz contract was actually obtained before Michael took up his role in April 2020 , and was the initial instigator behind the decision to develop the Georgia location . However , the road to completion was by no means straightforward , as he details : “ We received the purchase order from Mercedes in December 2019 , and committed to building a plant somewhere in the southern states to facilitate it , just as everyone finished work before the Christmas holidays . Shortly after the team returned in January , they discovered that GEDIA had been the victim of a cyber-attack .
“ This was obviously not ideal , given the surrounding circumstances ,” he continues . “ Especially when you ’ re trying to embark on such an important project , as there was literally no time to spare . Everything went down for a brief period as a result , and , unfortunately , we weren ’ t yet aware what Covid was going to do when it reached us , in terms of the severe travel restrictions and the effects it would have on our projects . The odds were truly against us , and our customer was becoming increasingly more nervous .
“ We are not Apple or Google , and only have a finite amount of human resources , so we had to rely on our colleagues from Europe ,” Michael continues . “ As soon as people were allowed to travel , we applied for 70 or so visas to get everyone over . We were also very lucky in the partnerships that we formed during the build , such as those with United Grading and Shimizu in the US , AP & T from Sweden , AWL from the Netherlands , and then Lewa and Trumpf from Germany . The latter four are all equipment suppliers , and I have to say , even though they had to battle the struggles of moving people from Europe during Covid , they did absolutely everything they could to support us every single day . I ’ m so incredibly proud of the entire
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