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The Tensar Corp. has broken ground on an extensive facility expansion at the company’s Atlanta-area manufacturing plant. The 23-year-old Morrow, Ga.-based company will add nearly 60,000 square feet onto its existing 172,000-square-foot facility, more than doubling its capacity to manufacture Tensar Biaxial (BX) Geogrid. The BX Geogrid is the key component of the company’s patented Spectra Roadway Improvement System used worldwide. Construction activities began on Feb. 13.
“This expansion is a significant milestone in the history of our Company,” says Phil Egan, president an CEO of the Tensar Corp. “It will house the most modern and technologically advanced equipment used to make biaxial geogrid in the world. We’re taking several quantum leaps forward in terms of production capacity, throughput speeds and process efficiencies with what is already a world-class operation.”
With new production machinery in place for the BX Geogrid, Tensar Corp. will also be able to more efficiently produce its Uniaxial Geogrids, as well as erosion control materials and other products manufactured by Tensar’s Polytechnologies division.
“It’s a very exciting time, and something we can all be proud of,” adds Bennett Suggs, The Tensar Corp.’s vice president of operations. Suggs remarked that in addition to meeting growing customer demand, “our expansion will help keep manufacturing jobs in the U.S. with continuing productivity improvements.”
Consumer demand is the driving force behind the massive expansion project. With the passage of a $286.5 billion federal transportation bill funding highway and mass transit programs through 2009, along with increased infrastructure construction in Canada and Latin America, Tensar is preparing to fulfill supply needs worldwide.
“To date, more than 250 million square meters of Tensar BX Geogrid have been installed on roadway projects worldwide,” noted Bob Vevoda, president of Tensar Earth Technologies, in September when the company’s board of directors agreed to the expansion project. Tensar Earth Technologies is a wholly owned subsidiary of The Tensar Corp. “We see this as only the beginning – and with our plant expansion, we’ll be able to accommodate the future demand we anticipate.”
Tensar reported in 2005 that continuous improvements and capital investments resulted in a 20-percent compound annual production capacity growth rate over the past four years. By late 2005, the company was already seeing a 12-percent productivity increase over 2004. “With the plant’s expansion, we expect to maintain or exceed that record quickly and consistently,” Suggs said.
Along with an increase in size, Tensar will experience an increase in staff as part of the expansion. The company estimates 15 to 20 new positions will be added to its current crew of 125. The Tensar facility is located on an 18-acre site 15 miles south of downtown Atlanta. Both installation of new equipment and relocation of existing equipment are scheduled to begin in June, with all manufacturing processes online by November. Peachtree City-based Tiernan & Patrylo, the design-build firm involved in the plant’s original construction, has completed other facility renovations through the years.