Fiber Industries launches strategic transition, temporarily suspends Polyester Staple Fiber production
Fiber Industries, a leading U.S. fiber manufacturer known for cutting-edge and innovative market leading solutions for the fabric, garment, and fashion industry, today announced a strategic transition to capitalize on what the company sees as promising opportunities for continued growth and expansion in the years ahead. As part of this realignment, Fiber Industries intends to temporarily suspend Polyester Staple Fiber production as it rebrands, advances its approach toward sustainability, and seeks to co-locate new enterprise partners to Fiber Industries’ Darlington facility, located at 1000 East McIver Road.
Operations will resume once the transition is complete and market dynamics enable the company to leverage the scale of its assets. Chief Sustainability Officer George Bandy, Jr. will lead the rebranding and sustainability initiatives. During the transition, Fiber Industries will retain a core group of employees to drive targeted improvements and support an optimal restart. As a necessary consequence, Fiber Industries provided 250 workers at the Darlington facility with the required notices according to the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (WARN) which were filed with the State Dislocated Worker Unit today.
“Fiber Industries is taking these steps to enhance the long-term viability of the company to diversify its product offerings and attract industry partnerships.” said Don Bockoven, CEO of Fiber Industries. “Fiber Industries is deeply grateful for the entire team’s contributions to the company’s success during the past two-plus years of operations and looks forward to re-hiring personnel once manufacturing resumes.”
Fiber Industries will also use this period to build on and improve standard corporate operating procedures including those related to Human Resources – employee advancement, training and development – as well as Purchasing, Maintenance, Engineering and Capital Management. The company will continue overall facility maintenance including utilities and wastewater treatment.
For its customers, Fiber Industries stands committed to shipping material from its existing inventory until it’s depleted. Based on current order patterns the company anticipates its inventory will last through early- to mid-January 2023. Fiber Industries thanks its customers and employees for their patience and support through this important time in the company’s evolution and development.
