Owens Corning, IKO To Build Joint-Venture Glass Mat Plant

Owens Corning and IKO Industries will invest $50 million to build the world's largest glass fiber mat plant in Danville, Ill., with a start-up date scheduled for June, 2001. The new facility will be called Fiberteq LLC. Each company has a 50% share in the manufacturing joint venture, which was initially announced in September. Fiberteq will employ the latest technology to manufacture high quality wet-formed glass fiber mat used mainly in the production of asphalt roofing shingles. "Through the Fiberteq capacity addition, Owens Corning will be able to support the growth in demand for roofing mat," says Yoram Knoop, general manager, Owens Corning Composites Systems Business. "We plan to utilize the additional capacity to support the increasing needs of both our external roofing customers and the Owens Corning Roofing Systems Business. Additionally, the product produced at Fiberteq will meet customers' increasing demands for higher levels of quality IKO is a large producer of roofing products, with offices and factories in Canada, the United States, and Europe. Toledo, Ohio-based Owens Corning is a world leader in building materials systems and composites systems. The company has sales of $5 billion and employs 20,000 people worldwide.