Shaw Industries Group plans to spend $20 million to expand production of luxury vinyl tile flooring in its Ringgold, Georgia, plant, according to the company.
The investment is the second of a three-phase expansion that will create about 55 new jobs at the factory, the Dalton, Georgia-based company said Friday.
The company plans to add to its existing SPC resilient flooring manufacturing. Shaw started manufacturing luxury vinyl tile in the state-of-the-art facility in 2016, the company said. About 240 employees now work at the facility.
David Morgan, executive vice president of operations at Shaw, said the latest investments address "the growing demand for SPC within the resilient category while illustrating our commitment to U.S. manufacturing."
"We'll continue to invest in manufacturing capabilities, strong sourcing partnerships, robust distribution networks and innovation to continue to be the leader in this category," he said.
Shaw's latest expansion will come online early in 2021 with an additional phase fully realized about a year later, the company said.
Kemp Harr, publisher of Floor Focus magazine, said the product in which Shaw is investing is a durable one used in both residential and commercial buildings.
He noted that several Chinese companies have announced new spending for projects in Northwest Georgia in the the same flooring segment.
"It's the fastest growing category in the flooring industry," Harr said. "You've got both domestic and Chinese producers investing heavily."
Harr said that U.S. tariffs on Chinese products are helping drive the investments.
"It makes sense for these companies to development manufacturing capabilities for this product," he said.
Earlier this summer, Creative Flooring Solutions announced it will build a $70 million manufacturing facility in Calhoun, Georgia, and create 300 jobs. It was the fourth China-based flooring company to unveil plans to open a plant in Northwest Georgia in the past seven months.
Also, an Oregon company later unveiled plans to invest more than $35 million in a new manufacturing plant. Wellmade Flooring will create 240 jobs in the facility in Bartow County.
Shaw is a wholly owned subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway with more than $6 billion in annual revenue.
Contact Mike Pare at mpare@timesfreepress.com. Follow him on Twitter @MikePareTFP.