ODENTON, MD. — Solid countertop surfacing manufacturer Formica Corp. has formed a joint venture with Schock & Co. GmbH to distribute that company's solid surfacing in the United States. Both of those companies make solid-surfacing thermosets but, until Inova Joint Venture LLC was formed, Schorndorf, Germany-based Schock did not market its products in the United States, said Jean-Pierre Clement, president of Formica's solid-surfacing division.
Formica will own 51 percent of Inova, and the new company will share its headquarters with Formica's North American plant in Odenton. Formica will continue to manufacture and distribute its surfacing brands in the United States, but Schock's will be imported from Germany, he said.
Inova will operate as a separate entity.
Meanwhile, Formica recently completed a consolidation of its two solid-surfacing plants. The company closed its Mount Bethel, Pa., facility and moved those operations to the 250,000-square-foot Odenton plant, Clement said.
"We could not expand," he said of the 40,000-square-foot plant in Pennsylvania, which Formica plans to sell.
