Big expansion at Toledo Assembly Complex - 13abc.com Toledo (OH) News, Weather and Sports

A big expansion at part of the Toledo Assembly Complex. Mobis is one of the suppliers that build Jeep Wranglers there, and it's expanding its space and workforce.

In simple terms, they assemble and build the "guts" of the Wrangler at Mobis. Their space, their output and their workforce at Mobis are all growing to keep up with the incredible demand for the Toledo built icon.

On Friday they unveiled a 25-thousand square foot addition at the Mobis facility. Tyson Stoll is the plant manager, "The original plan in 2006 was for us to make 120 thousand cars. We're forecasting by the end of this year we'll be producing 200 thousand cars a year here."

Matt Epley is the Mobis Unit Chair for UAW local 12,"We have steadily been growing and we expect to be adding more jobs in the future and that is good for the entire City of Toledo."

Stoll says since the beginning of the year, Mobis has cranked up output by 30 percent and the workforce has grown by 15 percent, "We went from 270 full time employees to 320 in the last 14-15 months and we expect that to continue not in the short term, but with Chrysler continually changing its model mix who knows what will happen in the future. We expect to see even more expansion"

Bruce Baumhower heads up the union that represents the workers, he says the Mobis plant is where all the Wranglers get their start, "They put in the engines, shocks, frames steering columns, axles, wheels. They put in the guts of the vehicle before it goes next door where Chrysler drops the body on it."

Mobis is part of the South Korean car maker Hyundai and the Toledo Assembly Complex is the first place they've done business outside Korea. Jimmy Lee is the CEO of Mobis North America,"We are very impressed and very proud of this operation."

Stoll says all the companies that work together to build the Wrangler make one of the auto world's best products,"We are multi-national, multifaceted operation here, it makes for an interesting and fascinating business scenario, it is a joy to work here."

They're in the process of re-tooling the other part of the Toledo Assembly Complex right now in order to begin building the Liberty's replacement, that SUV is expected in showrooms next spring.