Lanier Color Co. of Gainesville, Ga., will almost double the size of its compounding operations by building a 40,000-square-foot plant.
The plant will be about two miles from Lanier's original building and is to be completed by September, said Rob Allen, vice president of sales and marketing. Lanier will vacate the original site.
The new facility will house five twin-screw extrusion lines, including a new line. The building will have room for three more lines. The site also has room for further expansion.
Lanier is spending more than $2 million on the project, which Allen said is needed to handle growth in construction and other markets.
``We've outgrown our existing facility and need room to do the things we want to do,'' he said. ``The new building will have triple the lab space and double the warehouse space.''
Lanier employs 45 and expects to post sales of more than $10 million in 2006. The firm does about half of its business in colored PVC compounds, with the rest coming from acrylic, polyethylene, ABS and engineering resins.
Typical uses for Lanier's products include outdoor applications such as vinyl siding, fence and decking, as well as several types of sheet and profiles. The firm's product mix also includes weatherable pigment systems.
Lanier is off to a great start in 2006, Allen said, recording its best-ever sales month in February.