KIA Motors Manufacturing of Georgia

KIA Motors’ expanded into the Southeastern United States with 1.5+ million square feet of manufacturing, processing, assembly, and support facilities in West Point, Georgia. KIA retained AMCO America, Inc., a Korean construction management company, to contract, direct, and supervise plant construction with procurement support provided by Global Performance. QORE, Inc. (acquired by S&ME) was selected on a qualifications basis by AMCO to provide the quality assurance and quality control (QA/QC) testing services for the construction of the Assembly Shop, Welding Shop, Stamping Shop, Head Office, Utility Center, and the Canteen.

We were responsible for:

  • Setting up an on-site soil and concrete laboratory
  • Observation and QA testing of more than 7,000 rammed and impact aggregate pier installations
  • Observation and QA/QC testing of augered cast-in-place concrete pile placement
  • Shallow foundation and reinforcing steel evaluations for more than 1,200 foundations, pits, and trenches
  • In-place density testing during subgrade preparation and backfilling operations
  • Compressive strength testing of molded concrete cylinders

Our geotechnical engineering, quality assurance observation, and testing services were retained by AMCO for two years during the construction of more than 2.6 million square feet of manufacturing, processing, assembly, and support facilities. Additionally, our services were retained during the construction of the employee parking lots, truck courts, container yards, interior roads, and service drives connecting each building.

Our dedicated team of engineers and technicians performed more than 6,200 observations and evaluations, processed over 15,000 concrete cylinders in the on-site laboratory and supplied personnel around the clock in support of the construction listed above. During the height of construction activity, our team included 5 engineers and 9 technicians.