Middleburg Heights, Ohio-based Barrette Outdoor Living Inc. is building a 175,000-square-foot manufacturing plant for vinyl fencing and railing in Brooksville, Fla., where it expects to create 150-175 new jobs.
The facility also will handle compounding, fabrication and assembly in addition to vinyl extrusion when it is completed in early 2023.
The new Barrette site, which is at the Brooksville Tampa Bay Regional Airport (BKV) Rail Park, will complement a nearby existing 300,000-square-foot aluminum manufacturing plant and warehouse.
"We chose the location not only for customer benefit, but also due to the solid relationships we have established with the city of Brooksville and Hernando County," Gary Williams, vice president of manufacturing at Barrette Outdoor Living, said in a news release.
The new plant's direct access to a CSX rail line will provide efficient delivery of raw materials from vendors and other Barrette Outdoor Living locations.
In addition to convenience, the direct-to-plant rail delivery eliminates the need for other transportation methods, helping to reduce the company's carbon footprint.
Barrette is trying to position itself as a business that helps consumers make more environmentally responsible choices. Part of the plan is to increase the amount of products it makes using recycled materials and eco-friendly manufacturing processes.
Plans for the new Brooksville location follow October announcements about the acquisitions of Nephi, Utah-based National Vinyl Products, which has plants in Nephi and Dover, Del., and Madden Manufacturing, which is based in Lake Ozark, Mo.
The purchase of Madden, a maker of metal deck railing and screen enclosures, brought Barrette a plant in Lake Ozark and 28 employees.
NVP, which employs 280, began as a vinyl fence distributor in 2001 and became a manufacturer three years later in Nephi. The company opened a second plant in September 2020, investing $20 million in a 200,000-square-foot building on a 51-acre site in Dover that is still being developed.
"Everything we are doing is to better service our customers — not only in terms of capacity, but also in terms of proximity," David Etzkin, Barrette national sales manager, said in the release. "The recent acquisitions and new plant location enable us to get closer to our customers — cutting not only shipping times and costs, but also giving us the ability to expand our product offerings to better meet regional needs."
With estimated sales of $65 million a year, NVP ranked 56th among North American pipe, profile and tubing extruders, according to Plastics News' latest ranking.
PN estimates Barrette's total 2020 sales at $665 million. The company employs more than 2,000 people at 14 locations in North America that produce vinyl, aluminum, steel and composite fencing and railing as well as composite decking and other outdoor products for sale through specialty retailers, home centers and lumberyards.