AL, OH & Wi: American Excelsior Co. to Expand Facilities’ Capacity & Staff by 20%

In an effort to meet market demands, American Excelsior has added new production methods to assure that the strong demand of their Curlex^® brand of erosion and sediment control products are fulfilled to the market in a timely manner.

The new production methods include increasing their staff by 20 percent at its Rice Lake, Wisconsin manufacturing plant, as well as adding new capability methods to make a variety of rolled erosion products at its Norwalk, Ohio, and Florence, Alabama, plants. In addition, all erosion processes are now running two shifts along with added overtime hours.

The company has also secured seasoned wood from other parts of the northern forests to ensure its wood supply is capable of the strong demand. During the past months its supply of Aspen wood has more than doubled over the previous year.

To help increase production and storage space, a new 31,250-square-foot facility was added to American Excelsior's Florence, Alabama plant. In preparation of the spring demand for product, over 150 storage trailers are being used at its Rice Lake, Wisconsin, and Norwalk, Ohio, plants.

The demand for excelsior products multiplied when another producer of excelsior suffered a major fire last year. Through creativity, engineering resources and the addition of production personnel, American Excelsior has continued to satisfy the needs of their customers as it has for 130 years.

Kurt Kelsey, earth science division director, said, "Curlex brand excelsior erosion control products have been the No. 1 choice of most federal, state and local agencies to help control erosion and sediment. Many of them will not accept substitutions because of the unmatched unique features, benefits, and performance capabilities of the naturally seed-free curled and barbed aspen excelsior fibers. When the added demand hit us, we knew we could not let our customers down and quickly called upon our internal resources to make things happen. The fact that our fiber output increased by over 37 percent last quarter confirms that our associates are stepping up to the challenges of meeting market demands."

American Excelsior Company has 10 facilities in the U.S. and over 100 distributor partners. More information is available at www.curlex.com.