Dalton-based Shaw Industries said it is exiting the area rug business and investing more than $100 million to convert a Ringgold plant to produce luxury vinyl tile.
The Shaw Living Rug Division employs 400, and the company said the majority of the workers will have opportunities in other parts of the company. A company spokeswoman said Shaw will be looking to hire at least 600 workers in the first half of this year.
In addition to those jobs, the new luxury vinyl tile operation will employ about 200 workers when the retrofitted plant opens in the second quarter of 2015, spokeswoman Susan Rich said.
Shaw Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Vance Bell said the company does not foresee any growth in the market for the area rugs now produced in Ringgold, an hour and 30 minutes northwest of Atlanta. The company said area rugs account for 2 percent of its $4.5 billion business.
“The economics of the rug business today simply do not allow for future growth or encourage further investment,” Bell said in announcing the company’s plans. “We have been intentional about exiting this business at a time when more opportunities exist for our associates.”
Rich said the 600 jobs that will be added this year reflect the economic rebound in the region, partly fueled by more housing and commercial construction.
“The openings are primarily due to the recovery of the flooring market overall,” Rich said. Last August, Shaw announced it would open a new $85 million carpet plant in Adairsville that would employ 500 people.
The Ringgold plant will allow Shaw to enter the luxury vinyl tile market for the first time as a manufacturer. For the past three years, it has purchased tile from other producers.
Rich said the company will continue producing area rugs for a period before production is gradually phased out and equipment is removed from the plant to make way for new assemblies.
Shaw, the world’s largest carpet producer, is a wholly owned subsidiary of billionaire Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway investment company.
