Atrium Cos. Inc. is being welcomed into North Carolina, where it is purchasing its third vinyl-window extrusion plant. The Dallas-based manufacturer and fabricator of vinyl building products is acquiring Ellison Co. Inc. of Welcome, N.C., in a $125 million deal set to close next month, said Jeff Hull, Atrium's chief financial officer.
The 400,000-square-foot facility is "a good fit" and there will be no consolidation between it and the company's two existing extrusion plants in Carrollton, Texas, and Pittsburgh, he said.
Ellison Co. employs about 1,000 and runs eight extruders 24 hours a day. So far, the only changes for the plant will include expansion, Hull said.
"We have two lines on order and there's room for 13 more," he said.
Atrium hopes to have the building up to capacity with a steady stream of expansion during the next several years.
"We won't do it all at once. Out of the 30 million pounds [of PVC resin] we're currently outsourcing, we'll do only about 14 [million pounds] of it," Hull said.
Currently, Atrium's two extrusion facilities process about 40 million pounds a year.
With its history in the aluminum window and door industry, Ellison was able to rise quickly in the vinyl world, with sales topping $100 million.
The firm, formerly called APC Products, sold aluminum profiles until it switched to vinyl in 1988. However, it did not begin extruding until 1994, Hull said.
Now, six years later, Ellison makes new construction and replacement window profiles. Its largest customers include Owens Corning's Norandex/ Reynolds subsidiary and Lowe's home improvement centers, he said.
With three extrusion plants and five fabrication plants, Atrium is nearing its goal of becoming one of North America's largest vinyl window manufacturers. The firm has $250 million in vinyl window sales and 16 extrusion lines.
Atrium, which reported 1999 total company sales of $498 million, has said it wants to become a billion-dollar company.
