On Friday, March 24th, Kia Georgia donated $25,000 to the Chambers County School District to help fund support for the district’s STEAM Magnet School and its Greenpower Racing Program. Superintendent, Dr. Casey Chambley, and a team from the board of education accepted the donation presented by Stuart Countess, President & CEO of Kia Georgia.
During the visit, the CCSD team toured the Kia Georgia facility and discussed ways the district can partner with the company to better assist with its staffing demands in the future. Some of the points of interest brought to light for the visiting team from the CCSD included the following:
Kia Georgia is an automotive manufacturing facility located on a 2,200-acre site in West Point, Georgia, with an annual capacity of 340,000 units. The company directly employs over 3,000 team members and has generated over 11,000 additional jobs throughout its supplier base. It was most evident that “People are the heart and soul of our company” with signage promoting it throughout the KIA facility.
The CCSD team passed through the welding shop, seeing Kia models such as the Sorento, Sportage the Telluride and the K5 being built, then transported to the Paint Shop. The tour highlighted robotics running nonstop with integrated quality assurance processes in place across the site. The vehicles are then sequenced into the Assembly Shop, where newly assembled Kia products rolled off the final line every 52 seconds, then were driven on Kia Georgia’s test track to evaluate and confirm that Kia’s quality expectations were achieved. Evidence of the Kia Georgia’s focus on quality, the team also saw firsthand, (18) prestigious J.D. Power & Associates awards the facility has received from the firm for its products and the Kia brand’s customer satisfaction in initial quality and vehicle dependability.
Dr. Casey Chambley noted how impressed the team was during the visit with the time and hospitality provided by the hosts from Kia Georgia. Chambley remarked how the Kia Georgia Mission Statement to “Strive for Perfection for our customers” was evident in everything the CCSD visitors heard and witnessed firsthand. Dr. Chambley stated he was thankful for the outreach and financial support from the company to benefit the children of Chambers County Schools.
Pictured below from left to right are: Rick Douglas, Director of People & Culture, Joanne Mabrey, Team Relations Program Manager, Dr. Tyler Nelson, CCSD Career Technical Director, Mr. David Owen, CCSD Assistant Superintendent, Stuart Countess, Kia Georgia President & CEO, Dr. Casey Chambley, CCSD Superintendent, Mr. Jeffery Finch, CCSD Board President, Dr. Stephen Hammock, CCSD School Improvement Specialist, and April Bartley, External Affairs Manager.