Columbia, S.C—Swiss Krono Group, one of the world’s leading producers of engineered wood products, and its American subsidiary, KronotexUSA, plans to expand its existing operations in Barnwell County, S.C. The company is investing $230 million to build a high-density fiberboard (HDF) mill and expand its laminate flooring production, creating 105 new jobs over the next few years.
This expansion will allow KronotexUSA to produce 300,000 cubic meters of HDF per year, which the company will use for laminate flooring manufacturing operations and sell to furniture, cabinet, fixture, door and other wood-based manufacturers. In total, the project will increase the company’s annual laminate flooring capacity by an additional 8 million square meters.
Preliminary engineering has been completed and construction is expected to start by mid-2016, with HDF operations to begin by the summer of 2018. Once completed, this expansion will increase KronotexUSA’s Barnwell County’s workforce to 275 employees.
“South Carolina has been a great investment partner for European countries,” said Max Von Tippelskirch, member of the Swiss Krono Group management board.