Armstrong To Produce Engineered Handscrapes in U.S.

Lancaster, PA, July 29 –-Armstrong said it is onshoring the manufacture of scraped engineered hardwood flooring to its Somerset, Kentucky, facility and closing its facility in Kunshan, China, where the products are currently made.

Production will stop in Kunshan September 30, and shortly thereafter the facility will be for sale, the company said.

Armstrong Flooring CEO Tom Mangas said, “This is a business decision driven by strides in innovation and logistical realities. With the increasing cost of freight and labor in China, it just makes sense to move our production here where we actually sell the product. This helps us offset raw material cost inflation, and at the same time, we eliminate several months in lead time, and we
improve our response to design trends and service requirements."

"This is an important step in helping us to restore our wood business to acceptable return on capital.”

The company said that scraped engineered wood floor demand in the U.S. has grown substantially over the last several and last year Armstrong began to manufacture a scraped wood product in Somerset.