Plastic furniture maker Poly-Wood LLC is investing $35.3 million in a new factory in North Carolina that expands its manufacturing and recycling operations.
The investment by Syracuse, Ind.-based Poly-Wood in Roxboro, N.C., will create 384 jobs during five years, according to a news release from the Economic Development Partnership of North Carolina.
Poly-Wood executives could not be reached for comment, but the company has been steadily expanding in Indiana in recent years. In 2015, it broke ground on a 260,000-square-foot expansion in Syracuse that would double its workforce to more than 500, according to local media reports.
The company uses recycled HDPE to make its outdoor furniture.
The North Carolina release said the Roxboro facility would be both a full manufacturing and distribution center for the furniture, as well as a recycling center where the company will process and reuse recycled material.
"We are excited about opening our new full-scale production campus in North Carolina," Poly-Wood CEO Doug Rassi said in the release. "The skilled manufacturing workforce, high level of information technology and growth potential in the state make it an excellent choice for our expansion. We look forward to building long-term relationships in both the local community of Roxboro and the state."
The company was founded in 1990 by Rassi and Mark Phillabaum to use recycled milk jugs to make plastic lumber and furniture. Its flagship product is Adirondack chairs.
North Carolina state officials have agreed to give the company $3.3 million over 12 years, based on expected tax revenue from the new jobs and investment.
