Kubota to invest $140M in new Georgia factory, hiring 500

A Japanese equipment maker plans to spend $140 million to build a new factory in northeast Georgia, adding 500 workers to the 3,000 it already employs in the region.

Kubota Corp. said Wednesday that it will build a new factory in Gainesville to make front-end loaders.

The company says it will start construction this year and open the new factory in 2024. Kubota already makes front-end loaders at a factory in Jefferson, about 30 miles (50 kilometers) away, but said it needs to free up capacity at the existing facility to make other attachments and implements to tractors and construction equipment.