Carpet backing maker to build $60 million plant in Murray County, add 200 jobs

Wednesday, May 8, 2013

VIDEO

This story is featured in today's TimesFreePress newscast.

Arkansas-LSU Live Blog

A Dubai and Saudi Arabia carpet backings producer plans to build a $60 million extrusion manufacturing plant in Murray County and add 200 jobs.

The Mattex Group announced today that it is building its first manufacturing facility outside of the Middle East to expand its U.S. operations, where it already operates a warehouse and sales office in Georgia.

"Our mission to be the 'preferred global partner of choice' led us to build a state-of-the-art carpet-backing facility in North Georgia as the next logical step for better servicing our current customer base," said Luc Blommaert, CEO of Mattex Group. "The period we've been operating out of our existing distribution center can be referred to as our engagement period. Now it's time to get married, so we are building a plant."

The new facility is Mattex fifth plant addition.

"The choice of North Georgia was easy: The available business assets spoke for themselves, and after careful consideration we decided to build and grow in and with Murray County," Blommaert said.

The manufacturing plant is anticipated to be between 275,000 and 375,000 square feet. The company, which is building the facility in order to be closer to its North American markets, plans to start construction this summer and begin operations in 2014.

Gov. Nathan Deal, R-Ga., said the announcement "speaks to the continued revitalization of the floor covering industry in northwest Georgia."

Last week, Engineered Flooring announced plans to build new carpet mills in Whitfield and Murray counties that are projected to eventually add up to 2,400 jobs.

"Georgia's rich history in the industry, skilled talent and workforce training foster the ideal business environment for companies in this industry to succeed," Deal said in a statement today.

Headquartered in Dubai, Mattex Group is a leading provider for polyolefin-based textiles, developing and producing primary and secondary carpet backings, artificial grass backings, and woven and nonwoven geotextiles. The company has four state-of-the-art production facilities in the Middle East and warehouse and representative offices in Australia/New Zealand, Europe, the Middle East, the United States and Africa. The company currently has a warehouse in Calhoun under the brand Mattex USA.

Barclay Payne, general manager of Mattex USA., said with the new plant, "we can truly say Mattex Group is coming to America.