Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: TUESDAY, July 26, 1994 TAG: 9407270056
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: C7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By GREG EDWARDS STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
A grant of $80,000 will be used by the company to renovate railroad tracks that connect the plant with the Norfolk Southern Corp. railroad.
Another $14,600 was awarded to the city of Buena Vista to acquire a spur track and other items connected with the operation of a rail line serving Georgia Bonded Fibers and two other companies. CSX had proposed abandoning the track.
Georgia Bonded Fibers, which makes a fiberboard or paperlike material used for shoe insoles, baseball cap bills, and in the automotive and luggage industries, plans a 30,000-square-foot expansion this fall, making the facility more than 200,000 square feet, plant manager James Kostelni said. Improvements to the plant's wastewater treatment plant also are planned.
The plant employs 125 people and will be adding up to 25 jobs with the expansion.
The rail lines will provide the plant with ready access to its supply of raw materials and will keep it competitive with other global manufacturers, Kostelni said.
The plant exports 45 percent of its products, which are sold in rolls and sheets. It has competitors in Europe and many Pacific Rim countries.
The addition will be a converting plant that will coat and laminate the company's products, putting it into competition with some of its current customers. "We're eliminating the middle man," Kostelni said.
The company's customers include Reebok, L.A. Gear, Adidas, Florsheim and General Motors.
by CNB