BEREA—Gov. Andy Beshear visited Berea on Tuesday, part of festivities held to announce the largest private investment in Madison County in over two decades.

Astemo Americas is spending $112 million to expand its automotive operations facility in Berea, creating 114 new electric vehicle components production jobs in the process.

“Kentucky continues to lead the way when it comes to advanced manufacturing and EV operations and this project represents another great company choosing to reinvest in the Commonwealth,” said Beshear during the announcement ceremony. “Congratulations to Astemo Americas on this historic project, and I look forward to many more years of their success here in the Commonwealth.”

The project represents the first phase of what is expected to become a $379 million investment that will create as many as 282 jobs, according to Berea Mayor Bruce Fraley. The Mayor made his comments during a work session before City Council's first regularly scheduled monthly meeting on Tuesday evening.

Astemo Americas currently operates two manufacturing facilities in Berea. The 300,000 square feet expansion of operational space, happening across the two plants, located inside the Berea Industrial Park, includes facility upgrades and new manufacturing equipment. The company has more than 15,000 employees across 23 manufacturing sites, including 12 US operations and three Kentucky locations.

Astemo Americas is a division of Astemo Ltd., a global automotive technology supplier headquartered in Tokyo, Japan. The company manufactures and markets engine management systems, electric powertrains and integrated vehicle controls for major automotive manufacturers worldwide.

The company established its first Kentucky plant in Harrodsburg in 1985 before expanding to Berea, making Kentucky an important part of its North American manufacturing network, Astemo Americas President and CEO Tim Clark said in a media advisory. Other Astemo locations include plants in South Carolina and Oregon in the US, and overseas in Ireland and Italy.

“We are grateful to the Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority for its continued support as we expand our operations in Berea to provide our U.S. customers with cutting-edge EV motors,” Clark said.

The project also adds to Kentucky’s growing electric vehicle and advanced automotive manufacturing sector. The Beshear administration has focused heavily on EV-related investment in Kentucky, including battery manufacturing and automotive suppliers preparing for continued changes across the global vehicle market.

The Governor's office used the Astemo announcement to tout the administration's successes in the EV industry, pointing to its efforts to make Kentucky the EV battery capitol of the US, including landing a $2 billion, 2,000-job gigafactory project for another Japanese automotive manufacturing company, AESC, with its facility in in Warren County and Toyota's $1.3 billion investment in Scott County, among other such announcements.

For Berea, the project represents a major expansion by a company already deeply established in the community. Astemo is the City’s largest employer, according to Fraley. “This expansion will have a generational impact on our community and the region as quality career opportunities are created to facilitate additional production of advanced automotive components,” Fraley said in a statement.

The project not only strengthens Berea’s manufacturing footprint, it broadens the local tax base and signals Berea's significance to potential investors and companies throughout the automotive supply chain, according to Berea's head of business and economic development, Donna Angel, who made her comments during the announcement ceremony.

"I hope people realize the level of magnitude of announcements like that," Berea City Councilmember Steve Caudill said during the Council meeting Tuesday evening. "The investment is huge. The number of jobs we're adding with the expansions are the equivalent of getting entirely new facilities," Caudill said.

Caudill emphasized that the news coming from an established employer in Berea reflects well on the City. "You know they like our workforce. You know that the people they need are here and they want to stay here and be committed. That really says a lot more. I mean, we're very fortunate in that," Caudill said. "These things excite me more than when new names come to town because it means once here, they love it here, so thank you."

Astemo’s decision to expand in Berea also reflects positively on the management and employees at the company’s existing facilities, Fraley added during the Council meeting. 

Earlier this year, Republican US Sen. Mitch McConnell's office announced the Dept. of Defense would be investing nearly $1 billion into retrofitting the Blue Grass Army Depot, located in Madison County between Richmond and Berea, into an innovation hub for drone technology as well as other defense industry-related manufacturing.