An international company has signed a contract and closed on property with the intent to establish an industry in Radcliff that will serve BlueOval SK.
Woowon Tech, a South Korean company which remanufactures and refinishes the blades used to cut products required in the production of batteries for electric vehicles, recently identified a location in northern Hardin County.
Woowon’s local interest is a spinoff of BlueOval SK, the joint venture formed by Ford Motor Co. and the South Korean company SK On using the battery technology from SK On to make electric vehicle batteries for Ford and Lincoln brand vehicles. It currently is constructing a multi-billion dollar battery park in Glendale.
Another Korean company, Lotte Aluminum Materials, opened a manufacturing facility on a 40-acre tract of the T.J. Patterson Industrial Park in Elizabethtown last year.
J.J. Duvall, mayor of Radcliff, said the company’s selection of 1633 N. Logsdon Parkway is a good opportunity to offer quality jobs to the community adjacent to Fort Knox.
“The partnerships between our communities and relationships in the community helped land this for us,” Duvall said.
“This company is going where our initial industrial park actually was back in the ’80s,” Duvall added. “It’s kind of interesting that we have our first Korean factory tied to the largest development in Hardin County’s history going into our old industrial park.”
Duvall met with Kenneth Shim, president of Woowon Tech, and said he wanted to make him feel comfortable with the community by showing him the Korean stores and restaurants that operate there in part as an outgrowth of its military neighbor.
Duvall, whose mother is Korean, said a business like Woowon setting up a business in Radcliff is a very welcome addition.
“We have such a diverse community here so having a population that already exists here and is able to grow is always good,” Duvall said. “It was interesting seeing some of the folks that I personally met with surprised that we already had some Korean businesses established here.”
Duvall hopes this project is the first of many projects established in Radcliff.
“I think it shows that this is an impact to our complete region, and not just a specific area,” Duvall said. “We’ve been working nonstop to try to recruit and enter partnerships with other communities to help bring an opportunity like this here.”
The new business will create around 20 new jobs to Radcliff, 15 technical jobs and five administration or engineering jobs.
“I like the welcoming environment of the city especially from its mayor,” Shim said. “It will be good for the community to grow in terms of technical jobs.”
Woowon considered Elizabethtown as the next location for its business but was redirected toward Radcliff.
Andy Games, vice president of the Elizabethtown-Hardin County Industrial Foundation, said Woowon approached them about three to six months ago looking for property to buy or lease.
“We didn’t have any buildings that fit their needs here in Elizabethtown so we shared some information with them about Radcliff and the possibility of some buildings,” Games said. “We sent them up to Mayor Duvall, and they located a building.”
Renovation on the building will cost about $1.5 million and work can begin as early as next month, Shim said. The company plans to finish all renovations by next February when preparation for production will begin.