Concerning Reasons to build a new mill

Jim,

I agree with your comments about reasons to build a new mill. I would add one item to your list of categories – Existing infrastructure ($$$$). The new mill projects that I am currently involved with are taking advantage of existing infrastructure – installed and paid for by a previous owner in another industry that subsequently became no longer competitive and shut down. These types of sites often are in locations where economic development grants, tax holidays, etc. are available as the government agencies seek to offset the loss of employment from the shut down of the previous plant.

Best regards,

Chuck Klass

Redington Beach, Florida
USA

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Hi Jim,

Steve & I just got back from the 2007 Clemson Brick Forum this week - an annual industry meeting for brick manufacturers. The afternoon session was devoted to "New Plants and Major Improvements". Several of the speakers showed slides of the complete demolition of their older brick kilns and product lines and subsequent building of newer, more efficient kilns after the rubble was cleared off. The message here was that technology has advanced so rapidly that the 30+ year old kilns were not competitive, and it was more economical and technically sound to completely rebuild, rather than try and upgrade the existing structure.

One company, Jenkins Brick (www.jenkinsbrick.com) was recently featured by the EPA because they made the decision to locate their new plant adjacent to an interstate (for improved logistics) and adjacent to a landfill to allow the kilns to fire primarily on methane gas from the landfill (for improved energy costs). You can see the news release on their website - they partnered with DTE Biomass Energy (part of DTE Energy Services) to make this project a reality.

Another company, Sioux City Brick & Tile (www.siouxcitybrick.com) built their new Adel, Iowa plant with major upgrades in robotics and with the ability to take advantage of a cheaper energy source for the kiln that is commonly used in Spain and other European countries - the use of petcoke produced and exported from the USA. You can see a description of their project on their website.

Thought you might find this of interest as it relates to your article this week.

Regards,

Chris Dietel
Atlanta, Georgia
USA

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On the issue of building a new mill, you are so right, again, as usual. To paraphrase, again, as usual, I think it is called running the business the way it should be run, to make money, instead of cowering to Wall-Street.

It's also an interesting side-note that those who create or at least get in on the ground floor of a "new"(?) idea invariably wind up for a time in better position than the timid folks who are afraid or unwilling to take the plunge.

Laurence L Coulson
Knoxville, Tennessee
USA




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