Canton, OH, July 10, 2006--Laufen/United States Ceramic Tile Co., will move its corporate headquarters to Miami in the first half of next year, according to the Canton Repository.
But the company that has had a Stark County presence since the early 1900s will keep production and distribution facilities in Canton.
"It’s a matter of logistics and the development of the company, said president and CEO Don Olsen. In the last 18 months, the company has opened four major distribution centers, including one in Los Angeles, and plans to open another in Miami later this year.
“Los Angeles and Miami are No. 1 and No. 2 in consumption” of the company’s products, Olsen said. The new distribution centers are important because of the cost of transporting the products.
“From a strategic standpoint, we feel it’s important to have the corporate headquarters close to one of the two top markets, and the company chose Miami," he said.
The company moved into its corporate headquarters on the southwest corner of Pittsburg Avenue and Mount Pleasant Street NW at the beginning of 2003. The move merged business functions of Laufen USA, based in Tulsa, Okla., and U.S. Ceramic Tile Co. of East Sparta.
With new jobs and jobs transferred from East Sparta and Tulsa, the corporate headquarters employs about 50, Olsen said.
The distribution center in Canton and production facility in East Sparta will remain open. Together they employ about 150, he said.
U.S. Ceramics, which makes wall, floor and counter-top products, was founded in 1913 by the merger of Canton Roofing Tile and U.S. Tile.
Laufen purchased U.S. Ceramic in 1995, and Roca Radiadores of Spain bought Laufen in 1999. Laufen, which makes floor tile, was founded in 1892 and has international headquarters in Switzerland.
Roca was founded in 1917 and is the second-largest sanitary ware manufacturer in the world. Its acquisition of Laufen created the fifth-largest ceramic tile manufacturer in the world with factories in the U.S., Spain, Brazil and Peru.
