Mohawk to Expand Bennettsville, SC, Yarn Facility

Calhoun, GA, November 15--Mohawk Industries has announced plans to significantly expand its presence in Bennettsville, SC in 2005. The company plans to build a new yarn manufacturing facility near Bennettsville to complement its existing Oak River plant. The plant currently provides jobs for over 600 employees and the expansion is expected to initially create approximately 300 new jobs. Steve Powers, Vice President of Yarn Manufacturing, commented, "Our Oak River plant is one of our largest yarn operations and the history of success that the company has enjoyed here in Bennettsville makes us eager to grow this operation." Powers added that Mohawk expects the facility to be operational by the end of 2005. The new facility will be built on property adjacent to Mohawk's Oak River plant, near Bennettsville S.C. The Oak River site presently produces over 50 million pounds of spun and filament fiber annually. Jerry Hendrix, Director of Human Resources for Mohawk's Yarn Division, said, "We are very excited about the opportunity to expand our operations in Bennettsville. This is a tremendous community of hard working, conscientious people, and we look forward to welcoming more of them into the Mohawk family." Mohawk currently operates five facilities in South Carolina located in: Ulmer, Calhoun Falls, Dillon, Landrum and Bennettsville.