Armstrong World Industries is closing its scraped engineered hardwood flooring facility in Kunshun, China, and moving the operation to Somerset, Ky.
While the plant in Kunshun has performed well, Armstrong believes it will save on costs and improve service by moving the operations to the United States, according to a statement.
"With the increasing cost of freight and labor in China, it just makes sense to move our production here where we actually sell the product," said Armstrong Flooring CEO Tom Mangas in a statement. "This helps us offset raw material cost inflation, and at the same time, we eliminate several months in lead time, and we improve our response to design trends and service requirements."
The company has been investing in people and processes at the Somerset facility for 18 months. Already, 20 jobs have been created at the facility, and Armstrong could add another 80 jobs when the transition is complete.
Production in Kunshan will end September 30. Armstrong will begin by transitioning its Frontier Hickory product line first, followed by Century Farm, Rural Living and Legacy Manor.
