ATLANTA—Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal today announced that Luxottica Group (NYSE:LUX) will create more than 1,000 jobs with the expansion of its North American distribution facility here in Henry County.

“Georgia has had great success in attracting manufacturing and distribution operations to our state,” said Deal. “Luxottica Group’s decision to expand in Henry County will build upon this momentum and allow the company to quickly and efficiently provide products to customers, suppliers and businesses. I am confident that our extensive distribution resources will support the growth of this company.”

Luxottica's 183,000-square-foot Atlanta facility opened in 1996 and consolidated several North American facilities into a single state-of-the-art distribution center in McDonough, Ga., close to Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. Luxottica’s co-CEO, Massimo Vian, in a March 2016 earnings call with financial analysts, said the company would be “tripling the size of our distribution center” when talking about plans for an enlarged distribution hub in Atlanta.
The coming expansion will use the company’s new lens service model in which both frames and lenses are assembled and distributed from a single location.

“Luxottica has been part of the Atlanta community for 20 years and this is a particularly exciting time for us,” said Fabrizio Uguzzoni, president of Luxottica Wholesale N.A. “Growing our footprint here represents a new step in serving our wholesale customers—we will soon be able to produce and deliver a complete pair of prescription frames of the highest quality and perfect fit anywhere in the U.S. within 24 to 48 hours. We’re proud to be a global company innovating right here in Atlanta.”

The newly created jobs will include positions in administration, production and distribution.

“We are thrilled with Luxottica’s decision to expand in Henry County. The job creation and investment associated with this expansion represent a tremendous addition to the community,” said Henry County Development Authority executive director Charlie Moseley.

“We are particularly excited to bring so many manufacturing jobs back to Henry. Luxottica has been a great corporate citizen for years, and we appreciate their continued commitment to the community. Teamwork was critical to this location decision, and we thank all our partners at the Georgia Department of Economic Development (GDEcD), Georgia Department of Labor, Georgia Power, Metro Atlanta Chamber and EY,” he said.