Harman Becker, a manufacturer of high-end audio equipment for the automotive industry, announced plans to expand its manufacturing operations in Simpson County.
The $8.6 million investment is expected to create 150 new jobs. The company currently employs 425 workers.
Harman Becker’s 152,000-square-foot Franklin plant produces JBL audio systems for Toyota and Mark Levinson systems for Lexus. The systems are shipped to Toyota plants in Kentucky, Indiana, Texas, California, Canada and Japan. Harman/Kardon systems are produced for Mercedes-Benz in Tuscaloosa, Ala.
The majority of the production growth will be with the Mark Levinson hi-fi audio brand for Lexus manufacturing sites in Canada and Japan.
This will be the third expansion for the Franklin plant, which began operations in 1999 and was named as the 2007 Industry of the Year by the Franklin-Simpson Industrial Authority.
“They are an ideal corporate citizen,” said Franklin Mayor Jim Brown, “and provide some of the best jobs in all of south-central Kentucky.”
Construction work on the expansion project is scheduled to be complete by September of this year.
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