KANKAKEE, Ill. — IKO Industries Ltd. has announced the official grand opening of its newest facility, a state-of-the-art manufacturing plant in Sylacauga, Ala.

Marketing Director Carol Perkins said that local dignitaries and IKO associates, such as members of the company’s distribution, supply and contractor networks, were invited to attend the ribbon-cutting ceremony and tour the plant during its official grand opening celebration on October.

IKO broke ground on the project in March 2010, collaborating with a team of outside professionals to design and engineer the facility — IKO’s very first entry into the Southeastern U.S. market.

According to Vice President of Sales (US) Keith Lowe, the flagship facility is a vital component of the company’s long-term strategic expansion plan. “IKO has made a substantial investment of capital and expertise in the Sylacauga plant,” he explained. “We’ve put into it our best practices, processes, technology and learning from all our operations — not just manufacturing, but quality assurance, research and development, too. Sylacauga is both the culmination of our past experience and our starting point to pioneer and drive future innovation.”

The new plant is approximately 330,000 square feet and is capable of producing as much as 900,000 bundles of shingles per month. According to the company, the plant — IKO’s largest — currently employs 60 people with the potential to add more workers in the future.

“The key to IKO’s success and competitive edge is that it’s a vertically integrated company,” Lowe continued. “That means we control more aspects of our raw material supply and production than most of our competitors. When you combine that strategy with the production capabilities of our new plant in Sylacauga, IKO is ideally positioned to better serve the Southeastern United States market.”

IKO’s main Research and Quality Control facility — as well as its centralized marketing services — will fully support this latest one of more than 30 plants the company operates in North America and Europe.

 For more information, visit www.iko.com.