KoSa Begins Expansion in North Carolina

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Researched by Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources, Incorporated; Houston, Texas). KoSa (Houston, Texas) begins Phase I of its three phased expansion early 2003 in Shelby, North Carolina. This multi-million dollar expansion will include substantial upgrades to the spinning process as well as installing new innovative draw-twist spinning equipment for the thread that is used in making polyester. Capacity for low denier polyester technical filament will increase by 8,000,000 pounds per year.

The first phase was designed and engineered by Perigon Architects and Engineering Associates (Matthew, North Carolina). Construction on the first phase will be completed November 2003. Phase two, which also includes adding new equipment and upgrading capacity, is estimated at $5 million and will commence construction after phase one is complete. The second and third phase of the series of projects will be ongoing for the next several years and it has not been determined if Perigon will be the design engineer on the next two phases.

Headquartered in Houston, Texas, KoSa has fourteen manufacturing sites in five countries and is one of the world's largest producers of specialty polyester fibers, polymers, and intermediates. A similar manufacturing upgrade was recently completed at KoSa's Bad Hersfeld, Germany site and along with the Shelby expansion will enable KoSa to continue to compete on a global level.