That's Ceramic Tile in Florence...Alabama, Not Italy

---

Researched by Industrialinfo.com (Industrial Information Resources, Incorporated; Houston, Texas). Just one year after a $5.3 million dollar expansion that increased its work force by about 30 employees, The Monarch Ceramic Tile Company is investing another $17 million into its Florence, Alabama, tile manufacturing plant. Monarch Ceramic Tile is a division of American Marazzi Tile, a wholly-owned subsidiary of The Marazzi Group, a privately-held company based in Sassuolo, Italy. The Marazzi Group has factories in Italy, Spain, France, and the United States. They manufacture over half-a-billion square feet of tile a year. Marazzi purchased Monarch's Florence, Alabama, operation in August 1998. Having found a niche in the flooring tile business has meant good news for the Florence operation.

B. H. Craig Construction of Florence, Alabama, was selected as the General Contractor for the expansion. The new 160,000-square-foot tile manufacturing plant is being constructed adjacent to the existing operations and is expected to be complete by the end of 2004. The majority of the expansion was completed in less than six months without interrupting existing operations. Work included all concrete (foundations, subsurface pits and tanks, storage bins, slab, and footings), steel building, fire protection, process piping, HVAC, plumbing, equipment setting, and landscaping.

Monarch had plans to add 20 new employees in the early phases of the expansion, and these employees are almost all in place and ready for operations to begin in December 2004. Monarch currently employs about 115 workers. The second stage of the new operation is expected to be ready in early 2005. At that time, Monarch expects to add an additional 30 new employees. The expansion involves a second porcelain tile production line and is expected to almost double the production capacity at the plant. The majority of new equipment was brought in from Europe. The Florence Plant produces only glazed porcelain floor tile. Before being purchased by Monarch Tile in 1998 the plant was on the brink of closure. Now the outlook looks bright for this ceramic tile manufacturing plant in the northwest area of Alabama.

View Plant Profile - 1021266

Industrialinfo.com is the leading provider of global industrial market research. We specialize in helping companies develop information solutions to maximize their sales and marketing efforts.