Since the groundbreaking exactly one year ago today - June 13, 2000 - KTH Leesburg Parts is well on its way to becoming fully operational.

The welding section of the plant is almost finished and will be followed by the stamping department. The first phase of new employees will be brought in June 18 to begin training and production will begin, as planned, in November.

From groundbreaking to the present, the rate of accomplishment has been phenomenal," said KTH's Gene Cleveland. "The number of people, the amount of planning that has gone into this from the initial groundbreaking a year ago to where we are today with the plant virtually competed, the installation of equipment, the hiring of people in just a few more days, has all taken a lot of coordination and planning that has really been superb. And that's not just on the part of our company, but the part of the construction company, the town, the state of Alabama with AIDT (Alabama Industrial Development Training Program) and a number of people and resources that have come together to get us to this point and we are grateful to everyone.