- South Carolina plant
ramp-up proceeding on time and on budget -
TORONTO,
Jan. 26, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -
Innovative Composites International Inc. (TSXV: IC) (OTCQX: ICIZF),
("ICI" or the "Company"), a producer of patented protected
composite materials targeting the multi-billion dollar
Prefabricated Modular housing and transportation markets, reported
today that it has strengthened its management team with the
additions of Rubens Roque as Chief Operating Officer and
Allan Landosky as Director of
Engineering.
"Both Rubens and Allan bring decades of relevant
operations and engineering experience and will help to not only
ensure that the start up of the new South
Carolina facility continues to progress on time, but also
that the subsequent plant operations maximizes product quality and
shareholder value," said Terry Ball,
President and CEO of ICI. "We are fortunate to be able to add
two individuals of this caliber to the ICI team and look forward to
their contributions as we continue to execute our business
plan. Additionally, we are pleased to report that
preparations for the start-up of the plant in South Carolina are going according to plan and
we look forward to commencing operations within 60 days."
Mr. Roque has
over 25 years of experience in plant operations, M&A and plant
start ups with companies such as Woodbridge Corporation,
BorgWarner, TRW and Fehrer Automotive, and is now joining the ICI
team as COO/General Manager for Orangeburg Operations. Most
recently, Mr. Roque was CEO for
Fehrer Automotive North America where he led a major business
turnaround in US operations and was directly responsible for the
start up of a new facility in Alabama supplying parts to the Volkswagen
Chattanooga operations as well as Daimler's Tuscaloosa car assembly plant.
Prior to Fehrer, Mr. Roque worked for TRW as corporate master lean
officer, working with eight plants in the US, Canada and Mexico developing the strategic direction for
lean manufacturing practices and continuous process improvement to
meet company's financial and operational results. He also
participated in the start-up of plants in China, India,
Mexico, Brazil and Eastern
Europe and developed new operations strategies for the US,
Europe and Latin America. Mr. Roque will play an integral part in the
execution of the recently announced Brazilian housing agreement as
he is originally from Brazil and
speaks fluent Portuguese.
Allan Landosky
has over 30 years experience in complex system design and
engineering applications, with General Electric, General Motors and
Caterpillar. Prior to joining ICI Mr. Landosky was a manager of new
product design at Caterpillar. His responsibilities included the
introduction of significantly more efficient and environmentally
friendlier equipment to the international marketplace. Prior to
Caterpillar, Mr. Landosky was Global Validation Engineering Manager
for 10 of his 23 years at GM where he worked at designing
validation activity for the new line of hybrid vehicles. His
experience with complex engineering applications and a track record
in introducing new products are a valuable addition to ICI's
engineering team.
South Carolina Plant Update
ICI is pleased to report that the South
Carolina manufacturing facility is progressing on schedule
and on budget. Approximately 20% of the required equipment has
arrived on site with the balance of the machinery expected through
the end of February. ICI is currently completing minor leasehold
improvements to prepare the building for the launch of operations.
The newly appointed COO of the Company, Rubens Roque, has also
begun the process of staffing the plant. A large, qualified labour
pool is available in the area and ICI does not foresee any issues
building a strong team to run the facility.
The 126,000 sq. ft. manufacturing facility is
located in Orangeburg, South
Carolina, 60 miles from the Charleston ocean port and is designed to
produce approximately 5,000,000 sq. ft. of affordable housing per
annum. At full capacity, the facility will generate over 300 jobs,
and state and local authorities have assembled an incentive package
totaling approximately $17 million to
attract ICI. Initial production of the facility is scheduled for
March 2012 with an official
ribbon-cutting ceremony planned for April.
About Innovative Composites International Inc.
Headquartered in Toronto,
Canada, Innovative Composite International Inc. (TSXV:
IC) (OTCQX: ICIZF) is a high-tech engineering and manufacturing
company that is successfully commercializing a patent protected
line of state-of-the-art Structure Lite composite products targeted
at the multi-billion dollar transportation and Prefabricated
Modular housing markets.
Led by a team of commercialization experts ICI
has adopted a tier two business model: It designs and
manufactures game-changing products and partners with established
companies in its target markets to utilize their sales channels for
faster product roll-out.
This strategy and the superior characteristics
of the products have resulted in rapidly growing sales in both
markets and opened up opportunities that could lead to large scale
contracts on an ongoing basis.
To find out more about ICI please visit our
website at: www.innovativecompositesinc.com.
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Neither TSX Venture Exchange nor its Regulation Services
Provider (as that term is defined in the policies of the TSX
Venture Exchange) accepts responsibility for the adequacy or
accuracy of this release.
"Statements made in this press release
include forward-looking statements that involve a number of risks
and uncertainties. These statements relate to future events or
future performance and reflect management's current expectations
and assumptions. A number of factors could cause actual events,
performance or results to differ materially from the events,
performance and results discussed in the forward-looking
statements, such as the economy, generally, competition in its
target markets, the demand for ICI's products and the availability
of funding. These forward-looking statements are made as of the
date hereof and ICI does not assume any obligation to update or
revise them to reflect new events or circumstances. Actual events
or results could differ materially from ICI's expectations and
projections."
SOURCE Innovative Composites International Inc.