Former Wayn-Tex Virginia Backing Plant Closes

Waynesboro, VA, Dec. 18, 2009--A long-time Waynesboro, Virginia carpet backing plant closed this week. shuttering one of the oldest primary and secondary backing plants in the carpet business.

In its move to backwards integrate, Mohawk came to Waynesboro in 2005 and bought the Wayn-Tex facility that first opened under another name in 1950. That year, Wayn-Tex equipment was perhaps the first of its kind in the country, symbolizing the beginning of a new era of carpet production, industry experts said.

The plant at 901 S. Delphine Ave. long has been one of the area’s leading employers, but rounds of layoffs hit this year as the continued slump in the housing market made for dwindling demand for carpet.

The company announced Oct. 19 that it would close its Waynesboro plant.

For many years, after carpet backing switched from natural jute to polypropylene, Wayn-Tex, Amoco and Synthetic Industries were the three largest suppliers of backing and this plant served a key role in the business. It could take rail cars of plastic pellets in on one side, and shlp rolls of primary and secondary backing out on the other. This required expertise in extrusion, spinning, creeling, beaming and weaving.

Meanwhile, the flooring industry received some tentative good news this week. In November, for the first time in three years, monthly demand for carpet backing surpassed the demand in the same month in the previous year.

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