Beaulieu to close plant, consolidate operations

Beaulieu of America will close its Riverbend plant in Dalton this year and consolidate its operations within the area. Equipment and most of the jobs will be redeployed to other plants in Georgia, CEO Ralph Poe said.

The plant has produced carpet for Beaulieu since 1988. He said about two-thirds of the jobs will be retained.

"If you look at the carpet business in the last several years, it is down significantly from 2005 and 2006. We were anticipating there would be a recovery, but we are not seeing that happening," Poe said.