SANY America has completed phase one of a new assembly plant in Peachtree City, Ga. The company, headquartered in Hunan Province, China, is building its first major U.S. facility, a 420,000-square-foot location.

A number of Chinese officials attended a grand opening last week, including Qiang Zhou, governor of Hunan Province, Wengen Liang, chairman of Sany Group Ltd. and Yanping Gao, consul general from China. Georgia governor Nathan Deal also attended.

The Georgia plant will eventually assemble the SANY Global rough terrain crane, crawler cranes, excavators, motor graders and concrete pump trucks. SANY officials expect assembly and production to begin later this year. The facility will also include research and development, sales, service and distribution operations.

SANY Group was founded in 1989 and has exceeded sales revenues of $8 billion with 53,000 employees in more than 120 countries. The company has invested about $60 million to date in its Georgia facility. SANY also has five industrial parks in China, and R&D and manufacturing/assembly facilities in Germany, India and Brazil.