Georgia-Pacific Echoes Nationwide Gypsum Wallboard Expansion Trend

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Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas). Georgia-Pacific Corporation (Atlanta, Georgia), a subsidiary of the privately held Koch Industries, Incorporated (Wichita, Kansas), has broken ground on the $115 million expansion at the Savannah gypsum wallboard plant in July of this year. Georgia-Pacific is acting as its own general contractor for the multi-million dollar project. It was in late 2005 that the board of directors approved the expenditure to expand and modernize its Savannah plant to support the company's growing wallboard product lines. Early on it was stated that the project would include improvements to the gypsum rock handling system, a new mill and related systems, along with a new wallboard manufacturing line. The project is expected to be complete in early 2007, doubling the plant’s production capacity.

While acting as the general contractor, Georgia-Pacific has not acted alone in the execution of the project, Hussey Gay Bell and De Young, a Savannah, Georgia engineering firm, was hired to perform permitting and worked as the liaison with the local planning commission. Jacobs Engineering (Greensville, South Carolina) is providing engineering and construction management services for the expansion. Milton J. Wood (Jacksonville, Florida) is responsible for the site development as well as concrete and foundation work.

It was late 2005 when the headlines read “Georgia-Pacific Plans $100 Million Upgrade of Georgia Gypsum Plant”. A cry, far different from the headline of only four short years before when the headlines proclaimed “Georgia-Pacific Announces Reductions in Gypsum Wallboard Production” heralding plant closures and indefinite curtailments equaling approximately 45% of the company's gypsum wallboard production capacity in the United States and Canada. The company announced that it would close plants in Long Beach, California; Savannah, Georgia and Winnipeg, Manitoba, and that wallboard production at three other plants, Blue Rapids, Kansas; Acme, Texas and Sigurd, Utah would be suspended. Georgia-Pacific also announced it would reduce operations at all of its remaining gypsum wallboard production facilities. The company cited slow demand as the reason for the closures. Today, the Blue Rapids, Long Beach, and Acme plant are operational, and while the Sigurd plant closed, it was relocated to Las Vegas, Nevada. The Winnipeg, Manitoba plant remains closed.

The Savannah expansion will create 50 new full-time employees that will be added to the workforce of about 100 already working at the plant. Today, Georgia-Pacific has more than 300 locations and 55,000 employees in North America and Europe. Georgia-Pacific is considered one of the world's leading manufacturers and marketers of tissue, packaging, paper, building products and related chemicals products.

It would seem that the downward spiral of only a few short years ago has reversed. Industrial info Resources (IIR) is currently tracking over 40 capital and maintenance projects in North America in the gypsum product sector. The total investment value for these projects is over one billion dollars.

Click on the image at right to view a breakdown of gypsum wallboard manufacturing plant activity in North America.

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View Project Report - 17002174

Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is a Marketing Information Service company that has been doing business for over 23 years. IIR is respected as the leader in providing comprehensive market intelligence pertaining to the industrial processing, heavy manufacturing, and energy-related industries throughout the world.