Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 8, 1994 TAG: 9406080080
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: C7 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Short
Francis Blake, president of Performance Roof Systems Inc. of Kansas City, Mo., and of its parent, Derbigum S.A. of Perwez, Belgium, said he is looking for a site in the Southeast to serve a growing U.S. market.
The company operates plants in Kansas City, at its headquarters south of Brussels, and at Bologna, Italy, together producing annually about 200 million square feet of rolled roofing material. Its roofs are made of asphalt modified with polymers to extend its life, Blake said. The rolled material is used chiefly for flat-roofed commercial and industrial buildings.
"The U.S. market represents our biggest growth potential," he said. "We are thinking of starting a facility on the East Coast because of transportation costs" from the Missouri plant.
He came to the Roanoke Valley at the urging of a customer, Roanoke Roofing & Sheet Metal Inc. of Vinton. "I knew they were expanding, and said why not in Roanoke?" said Edward T. Bowles, president.
The proposed plant would employ 40 people. The company is looking for a 100,000-square-foot building to lease and would invest $4 million to equip it.
Blake said he plans to have a new plant operating within two years.
|-Staff report
by CNB