Intertape Group Inc. says damages from flooding have caused it to permanently shut down its Columbia, S.C., facility.
The company said that the facility suffered considerable damage, and that it is continuing to assess the damage. It has impacted the production of several masking tapes and stencil products that represents about $55 million of total annualized sales.
Intertape said that production at its new Blythewood facility was not affected, but had shut down for two days to ensure that it was safe for employees to return to work. It is producing duct tape and is gearing up for masking tape there. Production has been moved from Columbia to other facilities including Blythewood and Marysville, Md.
Any masking tape work moved to Marysville will be transferred back to Blythewood as production ramps up.
“Trial manufacturing tests on masking tapes are currently being conducted which will enable us to better determine the timeline of the completion of the production transfer. However, we expect that we will be producing masking tape in Blythewood significantly earlier than previously announced,” said Greg Yull, president and CEO of Intertape in statement.
The company said that it believes that it has sufficient property and business interruption insurance coverage and those losses will substantially be covered by its policies.
South Carolina was hit hard by a storm in early October that brought as many as 20 inches of rain to some areas. It closed part of one interstate for over a week. The state Department of Transportation said that all interstates are now open, but they are still repairing 153 roads. A total of 541 roads had been damaged.
Intertape, which has headquarters in Montreal and Sarasota, Fla., makes paper and film-based pressure sensitive and water activated tapes, polyethylene and specialized polyolefin films, woven coated fabrics and packaging systems.