Shaw Industries' expansion will bring hundreds of new, higher paying jobs to Aiken County

Shaw Industries Group Inc.'s Plant 78 is in the midst of an expansion that will bring more than 300 new jobs to Aiken County.

"It's the largest capital expenditure ever in Shaw Industries’ history. It's a pretty big spend," said the Plant 78's manager, John Riley, during his presentation to the Rotary Club of Aiken on Monday at Newberry Hall.

When Shaw Industries announced the expansion in the fall of 2021, the company estimated the cost of its investment at approximately $400 million.

That amount now "is approaching $500 million," Riley said. "It's very close … we’re already at $493 million committed."

Headquartered in Dalton, Georgia, Shaw is among the world's three largest flooring companies, Riley said, with more than 20,000 employees, 80-plus manufacturing and distribution facilities in three countries and more than $6 billion in annual sales.

Plant 78 is at 136 East Frontage Road north of Aiken near Interstate 20's Exit 22.

"Right now, we are a 100% nylon fibers plant," Riley said. "We take nylon chip and we extrude it into fibers. Then we take those fibers and we twist them into carpet yarns. Then we run them through a heat-setting process to make the final product."

The expansion that is underway at Plant 78 is preparing the facility to begin manufacturing polyester carpet yarns as well.

"Traditionally, nobody wanted to buy polyester because polyester was thought of as an inferior fabric," Riley said.

But improvements have been made to the material in the last 15 years.

"If you go to Lowe's or The Home Depot or wherever and you look at carpet, you’re going to have a hard time differentiating between nylon and polyester," Riley said. "There's not that much difference from a performance standpoint or a looks standpoint."

When the expansion was getting underway at Plant 78 last year, the facility was around 489,200 square feet in size, according to Aiken County land records. It had a 40-acre campus, a production capacity of around 1.5 million pounds of yarn per week and 620 employees.

Following the project's completion, Plant 78 will be a 1.020-million-square-foot facility and, it will have a 127-acre campus.

There will be 940 employees and the production capacity will be 3 million pounds of yarn per week.

"We are trying to change the game in terms of what's going on in textiles," Riley said. "This will be the most modernized automated yarn and carpet plant not just within Shaw Industries and not just in the U.S., but in the world. We are going to have higher paying jobs and better paying jobs, and we’re going to require a higher skill set."

Current employees will get the training they need to operate cobots, which are robots designed to work alongside and assist human workers, Riley added.

In the future, there also will be an on-site health clinic at Plant 78, and on-site daycare will be available.

There is "a lot of cool stuff going on, really," Riley said.

"This will be the most modernized automated yarn and carpet plant not just within Shaw Industries and not just in the U.S., but in the world. We are going to have higher paying jobs and better paying jobs, and we’re going to require a higher skill set."

John Riley, manager of Shaw Indisutries Plant 78

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