Calhoun, Ga.—Mohawk has approximately 50 facilities throughout the state of Georgia. Some of the buildings are manufacturing plants and some focus on distribution. Others have different functions that are integral to the company’s overall operations. To visit all of them would take the better part of a month—that is unless you take to the air.
On a recent Friday afternoon, Mohawk rolled out the red carpet—and an orange helicopter—to transport FCNews co-publisher Steven Feldman and Ken Walma, president, Mohawk North America, across the Georgia skies for an aerial view of some of the company’s many facilities. The flyover, which started in Calhoun and covered Dalton and Summerville, followed an exclusive one-on-one interview with Walma that will appear in the September 22 issue of FCNews.
Following are some of the facilities that were viewed from 6,000 feet:
Union Grove/Calhoun Campus
The Calhoun Campus, including GHB (Georgia Hard Surface & Bulk) and CAD (Calhoun distribution), flies the largest American Flag in Georgia.
The GHB building, responsible for hard surface distribution, covers 1.29 million square feet with 141 dock doors. CAD, a soft surface manufacturing and distribution facility, consists of 600,000 square feet and has 65 dock doors. With 585 trailer parking slots on the campus, this location is well-equipped for large-scale logistics and distribution.
Mohawk Home mat plant
Sugar Valley, Ga.
This plant uses 60 million pounds of recycled rubber annually, made from used car and truck tires—the equivalent to diverting 4 million tires from landfills each year. Equipped with state-of-the-art automation, including robots, vision systems and water-jet cutting, the facility produces cost-effective mats with high efficiency. The recycled rubber production line is fully automated. Mats are molded, flocked and cut inline without any human handling.
Industrial Park
Dalton
Industrial Park’s 1.5 million-square-foot facility is a hub for yarn conversion, tufting and dyeing, producing a wide range of carpet products. The facility dyes 600-700 colors every week, showcasing its versatility and capacity. By integrating multiple processes under one roof, Industrial Park achieves efficient production workflows and high-quality outputs.
Mohawk Resilient/IVC
Dalton
If one was to stretch the sheet vinyl manufacturing line, it would match the height of the Statue of Liberty. IVC’s SPC manufacturing process is fully integrated, giving the company complete control over its designs and ensuring high-quality products. As the only SPC manufacturer with automated guided vehicles (AGVs) and a fully automated storage and retrieval system (ASRS) warehouse, IVC raises the bar for efficiency and innovation in the industry.
Antioch
Dalton
Antioch is known as the world’s largest carpet operation, covering 2.4 million square feet under one roof. The facility handles various stages of carpet production such as extrusion, tufting, dyeing, coating, rug manufacturing and distribution. Antioch can store approximately 9 million square yards of finished carpet, ensuring timely delivery to customers.
Light Lab
Dalton
The 33,000-square-foot facility, originally a mid-century modern structure from the 1960s, was redesigned from the ground up and reopened in 2016 as Mohawk Group’s Light Lab Design Center. It was the first Living Building Challenge (LBC) Petal Certified project in the Southeast and the first LBC Petal Certified restoration project in the United States. All the materials that are permanent fixtures are Red List free and sourced within 500 miles.
This is where more than 100 Mohawk Group associates create new, innovative flooring solutions that align with the company’s commitment to creating healthier, more sustainable interiors. The building embodies the company’s commitment to sustainable practices, serving as a hub for Mohawk Group’s research and development in this area.
Summerville
Summerville, Ga.
Summerville is home to the largest fully integrated PET bottle recycling facility in the U.S. (and is the third-largest PET bottle recycler in the U.S.), reclaiming approximately 300 million pounds of bottles annually. With 66 active U.S. patents, Summerville’s recycling process is a testament to cutting-edge technology and innovation. The Summerville plant, home to Mohawk’s patented Continuum process, reclaims approximately 6.6 billion bottles every year, which amounts to enough bottles to circle the earth 33 times.
Hero Agriculture
Calhoun, Ga.
While not technically a Mohawk facility, Hero Agriculture in Calhoun is a cause near and dear to Mohawk’s heart. Hero Agriculture was founded in 2020 by Mike Reynolds following his long recovery from a traumatic brain injury during his deployment in Iraq as an Army medic. During this time, he volunteered at a farm and discovered his purpose in the work. He founded Hero Agriculture to offer the same to other veterans, using farming to help them find hope, heal and build purposeful lives that make tomorrow worth living.
In 2023, Hero Agriculture was gifted a donation of $100,000 by Tunnel to Towers at a Mohawk Veteran’s Day event to help build a structure to house and train veterans suffering from mental illness and PTSD on topics like crop planning and management, canning, egg candling and small engine and large farm equipment repair.
