Acme Brick Co. hosted a ceremony Feb. 5 at Acme’s Bennett, Texas, plant observing the first load of brick produced by the company’s newly reopened Bennett location. This plant, just west of Dallas/Fort Worth and built in 1996, is located on the site of Acme’s first brick-making facility that began producing hard-fired brick in April, 1891. Acme is also reopening a portion of the company’s Texas Clay plant located in Malakoff near Athens, Texas.
Dennis Knautz, Acme president and CEO
said, “It’s very exciting and to see this brick plant back in the business of
making quality brick for our region’s homes. In December 2006, annual construction activity
in the DFW area peaked at 182 million square feet. We then witnessed
plummet by nearly 70 percent, to a low of only 57 million square feet by the start of
2011. Over the course of the past year, we have seen a rebirth of
activity here in the Metroplex with construction now totaling 83 million square
feet and forecasted to rise by double digits in 2013.
"Nearly the same story can
be told about our Texas Clay plant in Malakoff," he continues. "The year 2012 witnessed
greater order demand for that plant's brick products. In response,
we restarted that plant's third kiln in late-December with the plan to bring
Texas Clay to full capacity as quickly as possible.
"It is also important to note that during the
"down time," we consciously retained a select group of key associates
on the payroll who were assigned to a variety of projects - mostly at other
Acme facilities - requiring them to travel and spend much time away from their
families. While this group welcomes the end of travel and the return to
working locally, they will work with and help train about 60 new associates who
will be joining the company."
At full
production, the Bennett plant is capable of producing over 2 million
residential brick per week or roughly enough brick for 150 average sized homes.
No comments:
Post a Comment