Overview of GA Manufacturing

The manufacturing sector is a vital part of Georgia’s diverse economy. Manufacturing employs about 10.1 percent of the Georgia workforce and contributes 10.8 percent to Georgia’s gross domestic product (GDP). The industry consists of a wide range of small, medium and large companies engaged in a variety of manufacturing activities, which include food processing, textiles, metal products and transportation equipment. Some of the largest manufacturing employers in Georgia include Kia Motors Manufacturing Georgia, Lockheed Martin, Tyson Foods, Shaw Industries, Southwire Company and International Paper.

As the first state in the Southeast to adopt a “Single Factor Gross Receipts” apportionment formula, Georgia treats a company’s gross receipts, or sales factor, as the only relevant factor in determining the company’s income subject to tax. Combined with Georgia’s low six percent corporate income tax rate, this single sales factor formula significantly reduces the effective rate of Georgia income taxation of manufacturing companies with substantial sales to customers outside of Georgia. Additionally, Georgia offers several potential tax credits and sales, use or property tax exemptions to qualified companies.

Labor Availability

Georgia’s average manufacturing wage falls well below the national average (see chart below). Nevertheless, Georgia’s ability to attract roughly 100,000 new residents to the state each year, many of them with advanced degrees and technical qualifications, provides businesses and industries with an excellent and growing pool of skilled labor. Georgia’s population is projected to grow 13.1 percent between 2010 and 2020 and another 10.8 percent between 2020 and 2030. In total, Georgia is projected to add more than 2.4 million people to the state in the next twenty years. Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Population Division, Interim State Population Projections, 2005.

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Current Employment Statistics

Transportation and Logistics

Engineering your supply chain is made easier in Georgia, thanks to its superior geographic location and extensive cargo-transportation network. Georgia is within a two-day truck haul or a two-hour flight of 80 percent of the U.S. market. The state’s 4,700-mile rail network, 118,777 miles of public highways and deepwater ports in Savannah and Brunswick provide Georgia companies with several reliable options to transport products or equipment quickly and efficiently.

Quick Start

Quick Start is Georgia’s internationally acclaimed provider of strategic workforce training solutions free-of-charge as an economic development incentive for qualified new, expanding and existing companies.  Client companies have included home-grown startups as well as global corporations such as Kia Motors, General Mills, Kraft, Toyo Tires, and Pratt & Whitney. Quick Start’s workforce training is customized to a company’s exact requirements, and is delivered wherever and whenever needed to support a company’s business success.

Centers of Innovation

The Centers of Innovation are the central source for accelerating business growth in Georgia through innovation and technology. Six industry-specific Centers across the state provide collaboration with leaders in university research, business and access to intellectual capital. Located on the campus of Lanier Technical College in Oakwood, the Center of Innovation for Manufacturing provides the tools advanced manufacturers in the state of Georgia need to compete in today's global market.

Do you want to learn more about how Georgia can help you in the manufacturing industry? Please contact Emily Moore at 404-962-4022 or emoore@georgia.org.

Are you looking for a Georgia manufacturer? Search our Directory of Georgia Manufacturers or contact Tony Greene at 404-962-4824 or tgreene@georgia.org.

Related Sites:

Aerospace

Automotive

Quick Start (Workforce Training) – Advanced Manufacturing

Georgia Tech Manufacturing Research Center

Georgia Manufacturing Extension Partnership (GaMEP)

Center of Innovation for Manufacturing

Georgia Work Ready