Published: July 02, 2008 10:35 pm            

Shaw buys hardwood manufacturer

Dalton-based Shaw Industries has purchased Zickgraf Hardwood Flooring Co., an unfinished and pre-finished solid hardwood flooring manufacturer headquartered in Franklin, N.C., to expand its hard surface division.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Shaw Industries, currently the world’s largest broadloom carpet producer, has weathered tough times in the floorcovering industry recently partly due to a downturn in the housing market. The company has looked to hard surface products, including wood, to help offset lower carpet sales. In September 2007, Shaw Industries bought hardwood flooring manufacturer Anderson and also has a wood plant in South Pittsburg, Tenn.

“Zickgraf has excellent capabilities in solid wood manufacturing and allows Shaw to continue rounding out our product portfolio in the hardwood category,” Shaw CEO Vance Bell said. “With our innovative Epic product line, the multidimensional capability of Anderson and now solid wood manufacturing, Shaw has one of the most comprehensive product offerings in the wood industry. We look forward to further growth in this category.”

W.C. Zickgraf founded Zickgraf Hardwood Co. in 1933 as a sawmill with 18 employees. Zickgraf’s son, Grant Zickgraf, became owner and president of Zickgraf in 1953. The younger Zickgraf sold the company to F.P. Bodenheimer Jr. in 1991, who has remained as its CEO.

Manufacturing operations at Zickgraf have grown as the company expanded to more than 50 acres to support an increase in hardwood flooring production. A pre-finished hardwood flooring plant was built in Bryson City, N.C., in 2000.

Zickgraf is the largest employer in the Franklin community with an average of 320 employees, according to the company’s Web site.

Shaw Industries is a subsidiary of Berkshire Hathaway. In 2007, Shaw had more than $5 billion in annual sales and about 31,000 employees.

        

• Click to discuss this story with other readers on our forums.