In mid-December, HUESKER Inc. held a ribbon-cutting ceremony to officially open its state-of-the-art, new manufacturing facility in Shelby, North Carolina. The 150,000 sq. ft. facility was built on the site of the previous plant and represents a tripling of the space.
The company also celebrated the 25th anniversary in 2016 for its North America operations.
In a release on the new center’s opening, HUESKER noted that its team was excited to manufacture its core products locally for the North American market. It and its customers will also benefit from the flexibility of the facility to produce and fabricate materials to the highest quality standards specific to the region’s infrastructure needs.
The company has been seeing tremendous growth in North and Central America, with applications such as coal ash management, mining, and water resources growing alongside long-standing markets of interaction (e.g., slope stabilization, MSE walls, roads).
NEW MANUFACTURING FACILITY GRAND OPENING
The December 13 inauguration ceremony brought in international company leadership and local officials, who helped make the $8.5 million facility happen.
“It took some vision to build this state-of-the-art and high-performance production plant,” said HUESKER Group CEO Dr. F. -Hans Grandin, who flew in from Germany to celebrate the milestone. He emphasized the importance of creating ever-stronger, lasting connections “in the United States, the community, the industry and with their customers.”
It’s a guiding notion that has steered the company’s global development. In Brazil, for example, HUESKER’s South American company has developed quite similarly to the North American company. The Brazilian operations also moved into a new manufacturing, fabrication, and storage center in 2016 too and endeavor to target production and market interaction to local needs, engineering standards, and relationships.
“We thank you for believing in our community and our community certainly believes in you,” said Dr. Steve Thornburg, Board Chair of the Cleveland County Economic Development Partnership. “We wish you great success with your products and your new innovations that we know will come in the future as a result of this expansion.”
HUESKER has a long history of work and employment in the county.
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HUESKER inc. CEO Sven Schröer noted that “We believe this expansion is adding value to our industry – making the products in the US for the North American market will give our customers even more confident that geosynthetics are the most viable option for their applications.”
Dr. Grandin provided strong, parting thoughts.
“When we decided for such a substantial investment in times of worldwide economic and political instability, we were not sure if this decision is foolish or courageous,” he said. “[But] I am confident that looking back in ten years, we will say, ‘Yes, we have been very courageous and it paid back.’”
Learn more about HUESKER’s new manufacturing facility, its geosynthetic products, applications, and engineering services at www.huesker.com.
