HSAA named Industry of the Year

“Diversification of our economy has been a cornerstone to this region’s success for almost a century.”
With those words, Enterprise Coffee Geneva Economic Development Corporation Executive Director Frank Thompson announced that HSAA Inc. is the Coffee County’s Farm-City Industry of the Year.
HSAA Inc. is a member company of the Republic of Korea-based HS Group, which also has manufacturing facilities and offices in Korea, China, India, Vietnam, Malaysia, Germany, Hong Kong and the United Kingdom. 
The company opened its facility in Enterprise in the Yancey Parker Industrial Park five years ago. “Two years into operation, it expanded its facility to almost double its size,” Thompson said. The company manufactures more than 100 rubber parts for automobile manufacturers, including Hyundai, Chrysler Corporation and the new KIA Motors Manufacturing Georgia plants.
The Enterprise facility currently employs 190 people. “When HSAA announced it would locate in Enterprise and began hiring, several of the Enterprise citizens first hired were sent to Korea for training periods of two weeks to a month,” Thompson said. “The company continues this type of training by sending two local personnel to Korea each year.”
HS Group Chairman Young-Lib Ko attended the awards ceremony and through an interpreter expressed appreciation for the honor. “We are very pleased to be recognized as the Industry of the Year and are also personally very honored to have honorary Alabama citizenship,” he said. “Enterprise and Coffee County are our home, too, and we look forward to being able to contribute more to the community.”
The company has been very supportive of the community, Thompson said, noting when HSAA opened in Enterprise, the company gave golf shirts featuring the City of Enterprise logo to every child in the Enterprise school system.
Thompson credited Enterprise Mayor Kenneth Boswell for being a key member of the Enterprise team involved in recruiting HSAA. “The whole community worked hard to recruit HSAA to Enterprise,” said Boswell. “And we are quite pleased with their growth.”
“Not only did this company strengthen our local economy, it helped strengthen the cultural diversity and understanding between the Korean nationals and citizens of Alabama,” Thompson said. “The ties and relationships with the Korean citizens have developed beyond business: We are neighbors and we are friends.”
The Industry of the Year Award was among awards presented during ceremonies Thursday in the New Brockton Farm Center in conjunction with the upcoming Farm-City Week. “The purpose of Farm-City Week is to bring about a better understanding between rural and urban people by increasing their knowledge and appreciation of each other as partners in progress,” said Dan McCreery, chairman of this year’s annual event. Farm-City Week is celebrated in Coffee County each year beginning on the Friday before Thanksgiving and ending the day after the holiday.