Wood-plastic composite deck maker Integrated Composite Technologies Inc. is suspending its manufacturing operations and is considering selling some or all of its assets.
Production stopped and nearly 80 workers were fired on Aug. 23 at the Montezuma, Ga.-based facility. ICT officials have not returned phone calls seeking comment.
Jimmy Davis, executive director of the Montezuma-based Macon County Chamber of Commerce, said ICT ran out of money needed to continue operations after a number of investors pulled out.
``[ICT] had finally gotten the bugs worked out, but when you've got investors, they don't always quite understand you need to go a little bit further before you start making a profit,'' Davis said in a Sept. 14 telephone interview.
The company is in voluntary receivership, he said.
``The board of directors of the company is aggressively pursuing solutions that are in the best interest of ICT's creditors,'' said ICT President and Chief Executive Bill Thornton in a news release given to the Chamber of Commerce. ``Potential options include the sale of all or substantially all assets to an entity that would elect to resume operations or the wholesale liquidation of the assets.''
Davis said a few companies have paid recent visits to Thornton and ICT's facility to gauge interest in buying it.
``I think there's a possibility that that's going to take place,'' he said, adding that a wood-plastic composite deck maker from the western United States was considering buying the Montezuma facility to serve as its eastern location.