Oxford flooring company to add up to 200 jobs in major expansion

Published: Jun. 23, 2016 at 8:49 PM CDT|Updated: Jun. 23, 2016 at 8:56 PM CDT
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OXFORD, AL (WBRC) - A major industry on the outskirts of Oxford is expected to expand, and more than double in jobs, within the next year.

Germany-based flooring maker Kronospan, which has been operating in the area since 2008, announced Thursday plans for a $362 million expansion that would bring at least 160 and up to 200 new jobs, to its current facility on Bynum Drive in Eastaboga.

The expansion involves four projects: laminate flooring, particleboard, and expanding the capacity of the KronoChem resin plant. The fourth project would be the construction of a furniture cluster meant to attract other manufacturing companies to the area.

"Kronospan would not manufacture the furniture," says Kronospan CFO Tim Pack. "What we will do is, we will provide the infrastructure for furniture manufacturing companies to come to the area and set up their own operations."

The announcement came at a news conference featuring representatives of the Calhoun County Economic Development Council, the Oxford City Council, the Calhoun County Commission and ADECA, and was held in the council chambers at Oxford City Hall.

"Today is a great day for the city of Oxford and for Calhoun County as a whole," said Oxford City Council President Steven Waits. He went on to say the council's priorities set four years ago when they took office, included attracting higher paying jobs.

The new jobs will start at about $22 an hour.

Pack says hiring should begin in the fall with a job fair in the near future at the Cheaha Career Center in Anniston. He expects the first panel of laminate flooring to roll off the assembly line later this year or early in 2017.

Kronospan has been operating in the Oxford area since 2008. Once the expansion is complete, the company, according to a news release, will have invested some $650 million in Calhoun County and will employ a total of 270 workers at the Oxford location, its first ever in North America. In fact, not until last December did the company have any other North American operations until they bought out Clarion Industries in Shippendale, Pennsylvania. The company will actually send its new hires to the Pennsylvania facility for training.

Pack says the Oxford and Calhoun County area and its leaders and residents have worked very well together.

"It was just the logical next step to grow Kronospan in the United States, here in Oxford, Alabama," Pack said of the company's decision to expand in Oxford as opposed to another plant.

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