Spartanburg-based Sage Automotive Interiors — a supplier of automotive bodycloth to original
equipment manufacturers (OEMs) for seating, door panel surfaces and headliners — has announced
plans to invest approximately $10 million to expand its Gayley, S.C., manufacturing plant, with the
expectation of adding about 80 new employees to the facility’s current workforce of more than 200
over the next five years. The Gayley plant is one of Sage’s most modern and technologically
advanced manufacturing facilities and produces the company’s YES Essentials line of durable,
stain-resistant, odor-eliminating fabrics, which are used by automotive manufacturers including
Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and Hyundai.
Sage Automotive Interiors, formerly known as Autotex, originally was the Automotive Body
Cloth division of Spartanburg-based Milliken & Company, which sold the division last year to
Greenville-based investment firm Azalea Capital LLC
(See ”
Milliken
To Sell Automotive Fabrics Business To Management Group,” May 26, 2009). The company’s
workforce currently totals approximately 1,000 people at locations in the United States as well as
Japan, China, Brazil, Korea and Europe.
The company has been investing in the Gayley facility from the beginning, and according to
Sage CEO Dirk Pieper, will continue to upgrade the physical plant as well as install new equipment.
“This initiative, already partially implemented, will markedly improve and expand our manufacturing
capabilities in Greenville County,” Pieper said. “It will extend our capacity to serve OEMs the
world over as both the domestic and international markets improve during the next several
years.”
Sage recently announced it will move its headquarters into a new facility on Clemson
University’s International Center for Automotive Research (CU-ICAR) campus in Greenville.
“From CU-ICAR and Clemson University to the Upstate’s robust advanced manufacturing community
and deep talent pool, Greenville County is precisely the right location for Sage to expand,” Pieper
said. “Here, we are on the front end of evolving trends in automotive interiors, and the global
reach and opportunities of this company make us excited about our future in the Upstate. We will
now be able to grow as our markets do.”
April 13, 2010
