CertainTeed Moves Forward with Expansion!

Posted Aug. 30, 2016 at 10:18 AM

CertainTeed’s expansion is underway!

The company’s McPherson plant broke ground on a 40,000-square-foot expansion on Aug. 16 and is expected to be completed in April 2017. This will allow the installation of four new injection molding machines, in addition to the eight already on-site, in May and a projected 30 percent increase in productivity in June.

At Monday’s meeting, McPherson City Commissioners approved Resolution No. 16-14 for Making and Finding of Fact for the Tax Abatement. The vote to approve the Tax Incentive Agreement and adoption of Ordinance No. 3223 Exempting Improvements by CertainTeed from Ad Valorem Taxation for a period of 10 years was tabled. The vote was tabled only to allow the attorneys for both entities to agree on the verbiage of the agreements and is expected to pass very soon.

“The expansion area will enable us to purchase and run additional equipment, increasing our production capacity while improving our efficiency,” said Janet Lynch, plant manager for the McPherson plant. “The plant has launched three new products in the past year, which will help drive the sales increase, along with more jobs and revues from visitors to the plant.”

These new products include 5-inch sawmill shingles that look like natural Eastern White Cedar and Western Red Cedar; 5-inch straight edge sawmill shingles with authentic texture, available in 28 colors; and 7-inch straight edge perfection shingles that use a patent-pending process to blend color through the shingle to give an authentic, blended-wood look.

McPherson is the only producer of these product lines, and CertainTeed expects sales to increase over the next 5 years. In addition to increasing production, the expansion will also bring 14 new jobs to McPherson, a 20-percent increase.

The McPherson plant was in competition with sister locations in Georgia, North Carolina and Maryland for this expansion. Lynch said her plant’s knowledgable workforce and performance history contributed to the decision to bring the expansion to McPherson.

“McPherson was selected for a few reasons. The depth of injection molding and plastics processing knowledge of the workforce synergies with the existing operations and the plant’s safety and operations historical performance,” she said. “The plant has more than 2 million hours and has gone 10 years without a lost time accident. These factors provide a great foundation to expand the Cedar Impressions business in McPherson.”

More information about CertainTeed jobs can be found at http://www.certainteed.com/careers/. For more information on CertainTeed and its products, visit http://www.certainteed.com.