LAFARGE ANNOUNCES NEW JOINT COMPOUND PLANT IN KENTUCKY

Lafarge North America Inc. announced last month that it has begun construction on a new state-of-the-art joint compound production manufacturing facility adjacent to its Silver Grove, Ky., gypsum wallboard plant.

The fully automated production line is expected to be completed next January and will produce a complete range of Lafarge’s current ready-mixed joint compound product offerings, including Rapid Coat, Classic Coat, Rapid Coat Mid-weight and Rapid Deco brands. It will also produce its newest product, Rapid Coat Low Dust.

“With the addition of this new Silver Grove joint compound facility, we can now offer greater value to our customers with an improved level of user-friendliness and innovation,” said Lafarge Vice President of Sales Stephen DeMay. “This is a major step in our evolution to be a total solution provider. It enables us to offer our customers a larger suite of products to meet all of their project requirements. At the same time, it enhances the efficiency of our delivery process by providing the ability to ship multiple products to a larger area.”

Lafarge has 90,000 employees in 76 countries and posted sales of 17.6 billion euros in 2007.