Viracon unveils expansion

Viracon marked the opening of a $12 million, 60,000-square-foot expansion of its Statesboro plant with a ribbon cutting and tour at its site in Gateway Industrial Park. According to Mike Diedrich, vice president of operations in Statesboro, the expansion of the facility has created 125 new jobs. "The jobs vary from entry level to upper level positions," Deidrich said. "We have filled 110 of them or so. As we find the right people for them, we will continue to fill those positions that remain." Speaking to a packed room of guests, Deidrich thanked the city of Statesboro, Bulloch County, and the state of Georgia on Viracon´s behalf. "There were a lot of promises that were made to us when we decided to put a Viracon plant in Statesboro," Deidrich said. "Everyone has lived up to and exceeded those promises. We are so happy to be here. This plant has far exceeded everyone´s expectations." Viracon, based in Owatonna, Minn., with a second plant in Statesboro, is an international company of Apogee Enterprises, Inc. Viracon is a producer of high-performance glass products, including tempered, laminated, insulating, silk-screened and high-performance coatings. The expansion of the Statesboro facility included three new fabrication lines, one each for coating, insulating, and silk-screening. The president of Viracon, Don Pyatt, said that as economic conditions improved, Viracon knew that it had to expand its production capabilities. "We looked at various avenues to increase production," Pyatt said. "It just made more sense to expand the facilities that we already had. When you are running at record levels like we are, the last thing that you want to do is to tear the place up and move equipment around because it costs productivity." "However, we´ve expanded at a good time," he said. "This will increase the production capability of this plant some 30 million dollars or so." Pyatt said that it has been a unique challenge to meet the demands of the current marketplace. "It has been very interesting because we have had two major international competitors go out of business," Pyatt said. "In fact, the equipment that we have added to this plant came from one of them. At this point the number of suppliers has decreased by two and demand has increased. It´s a nice problem to have, but we know that we have to continue to improve and look ahead." Constructed in 1998, Viracon´s Statesboro plant employs more than 500 people with an annual payroll exceeding $5 million. Recently named Georgia´s Medium Manufacturer of the Year for 2005, the Statesboro plant now exceeds 300,000 square feet in size with the new addition. Many who attended the ceremony Tuesday praised the positive effect that Viracon has had on the economies of Statesboro and surrounding areas. "They are a great corporate citizen that has provided good jobs resulting in a better quality of life for many in our community," said Gary Johnson, chairman of the Statesboro-Bulloch Chamber of Commerce. "We are grateful to have them here." Founded in 1970, Viracon has lended technical assistance and provided products to the construction of such world-famous buildings as the Taipei Financial Center in Taipei Taiwan, Seven World Trade Center in New York, and Aurora Place in Sydney, Australia. Viracon´s parent company, Apogee Enterprises, Inc. is a leading fabricator, distributor and installer of glass products and systems. Headquartered in Minneapolis, the company´s stock is traded on the NASDAQ stock market under the symbol APOG.