General Shale Looks to Capitalize on Growing Southeast US Housing Market with the Construction of a New Brick Plant in Georgia

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Researched by Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources, Incorporated; Houston, Texas). General Shale Products LLC, a subsidiary of Wienerberger Baustoffindustrie AG (Vienna Stock Exchange: WIE)(Vienna, Austria) is constructing a new brick plant in Rome Georgia. The company is acting as its own general contractor for the $22 million first phase of the project. The first phase of construction is expected to be complete by the end of 2003 and will produce 60 million bricks per year and employ a workforce of 40.

Phase two, which will occur after phase 1 will double the capacity up to 120 million bricks per year. The total investment for both phases of this project will be close to $30 million.

With the construction of this plant, General Shale looks to secure market share in the growing southeast housing market. In previous years, the company had looked at building a plant in the Charlotte North Carolina area and in the Louisville Kentucky area, but decided last year to build in Georgia.

The Wienerberger Group, the world's largest brick producer, acquired General Shale Products LLC, in 1999. General Shale Products operates approximately 17 brick plants in the U.S., and holds a 17% share of U.S. brick production, making it the second largest producer of bricks in the U.S.

The new plant in Rome will be equipped with state-of-the-art technology for the production of high-quality facing bricks, and is scheduled to start operations by the end of 2003.