Carpet yarn producer Aquafil USA, Cartersville, Ga. — the U.S. subsidiary of Italy-based Aquafil S.p.A. — is investing $20 million to $25 million to expand its operations by approximately 50 percent and add 100 new associates to its workforce of 284 people.
The U.S. subsidiary opened in 1999 as a distributor of fiber imported from Europe, with a small reprocessing and finishing operation. It began producing fibers in 2006, said President and CEO Franco Rossi. “In 2006, our company finally decided to put a larger and more significant footprint in the North American market, and so we started to install fiber extrusion equipment,” he said. “We’ve gone through four expansions now, with more fiber extrusion and processing equipment added each time.”
Aquafil USA produces bulk continuous filament (BCF) nylon 6 yarn, 99 percent of which is solution-dyed, to carpet makers mostly in North and West Georgia. Rossi said the company has a very strong position in the carpet tile sector. Some 40 percent of its yarn is made using Aquafil’s ECONYL® fiber with 100-percent-recycled content. Econyl resin is produced in Europe using post-consumer recycled fishing nets and carpet, and post-industrial waste.
The new expansion will increase annual production capacity from 35 million pounds to more than 50 million pounds. In addition to expanding its existing 312,000-square-foot manufacturing facility, the company is refurbishing and equipping a second facility in Cartersville. The project should be completed in the next six months.
May/June 2014
