WEST POINT - The opening of the new $1 billion Kia Motors auto plant on the Georgia-Alabama line, a 90-minute drive southwest from Atlanta, was welcome news to Stephen Sellers of Austell, who, like many Georgians, was job hunting in an economic downturn.

Sellers began his job with Kia in January, working in the department that handles customer complaints. Having worked in the auto industry for 14 years with Chrysler, Sellers said he was pleased to have found his new position.

"Coming from the Big Three, where it's always kind of a roller coaster ride, especially in the last couple years, it's nice to be with a company that is stable, and you see a lot of exciting product coming forth," Sellers said. "It gives you a good feeling coming to work in that kind of atmosphere."

While he's making the drive from Austell to West Point daily, Sellers said he and his fiancee?want to move closer to the plant to cut down on the lengthy commute.

Kia Motors Manufacturing Georgia, Inc., which began mass producing the Kia Sorento CUV in November, has already hired a staff of 1,200 to produce about 400 to 450 vehicles a day. The plant, which has a capacity to produce up to 300,000 cars a year, intends to double the size of its staff by the end of the year with the rollout of a yet-to-be announced Kia vehicle, said spokeswoman Joanne Mabrey.

As Kia's first manufacturing site in North America, the 2.2 million-square-foot plant stands like a giant in the rural countryside along I-85 on a 2,200-acre site, dwarfing the nearby town of West Point, population 3,000.

Employees generally come from a 60-mile radius around West Point, Mabrey said.

As Kia imports about 50 percent of its parts to build the Sorento, the location is ideal by being near the Atlanta airport and about five hours from the port of Savannah.

To ensure the high tech facility had a sufficiently trained workforce, the state partnered with Kia in building a $20 million, 70,000-square-foot training center adjacent to the plant, which opened in March 2008.

A 2007 study by Georgia Tech projected that Kia will create 20,000 new jobs in the nine-county area of western Georgia and eastern Alabama by 2012, generating an annual economic impact in Georgia of $4 billion a year, said Robert Lann, director of Georgia Tech's Community Policy and Research Services.

"It was the perfect time for Kia to be here. In these economic times, they have definitely helped out the community," Sellers said.

On Thursday, Kia opened its doors to members of the Georgia Press Association, who were instructed to leave their cameras outside the plant to protect against competitors learning the Sorento's secrets. A security guard at the plant's gate monitors all cars that come and leave.

At the beginning of the plant's assembly line is a monster, 5,400-ton stamping press, which slices and dices 44,000-pound steel segments into the panels that are used to make the Sorento. After being stamped, the panels are snatched by giant robotic arms and delicately placed on racks, where they are moved by forklift to the welding department.

In that department, 244 robots weld together the body of the vehicle. The Sorento then passes through the paint department and on to general assembly, where the engine and seats are inserted, and finishing touches are made. Staffers in the assembly shop are prohibited from wearing rings or metal belt buckles to protect the freshly painted cars from scratches. As the vehicle moves down the assembly line, employees have about a minute to perform their specific job on the vehicle. If they notice something wrong, a nearby drawstring can be yanked to stop the conveyor belt from moving a defective car forward. Last week, they had 90 seconds to perform their tasks. On Friday it was down to 65 seconds as they've become more efficient, Mabrey said.

At the end of the assembly line, each car is given a test drive on a two-mile driving strip and a final inspection before being distributed by rail or truck to dealerships throughout the country. It's a 24-hour process from the time the stamping press cuts up the steel to the time the vehicle is given a test drive.

To learn more about employment at Kia, visit www.kiajobsingeorgia.com/.