Rockland Absorbs Baltimore Plant in Bamberg
July 3, 2007
BALTIMORE, Maryland—Rockland Industries Inc., producers of Roc-Lon® drapery linings, is moving all of its production to its 400,000-square-foot, state of the art facility in Bamberg, S.C., 40 miles outside of Columbia, according to Stanley Fradin president of the Rockland Mills Inc. division. Fradin has been with the company for 41 years.
"What we have been doing is adding and building equipment while expanding our southern operation in Bamberg; this includes a wide width coating and finishing line, calendaring, double width bleaching line and inspection and put up machines. We can now run goods at twice the speed at yards per minute. We'll now do everything in wide width including calendaring. The only thing left for us to do is wide width printing. The call for that has been strong. We're actually absorbing everything we did in the 300,000-square-foot Baltimore plant in Bamberg."
"With the new technology we have acquired, we can do in one plant what we were doing in two plants. Our administration, including back office and customer service, will continue to function out of Baltimore but at some point in time, we will sell our Baltimore factory. Key Rockland production workers in the Baltimore plant will be offered jobs at Bamberg," he said.
"This is a big thing for us at Rockland, certainly as big as the I-Phone is to Apple Computer," he laughed. "For us, this undertaking is a tremendously exciting task. All of our printing facilities and all production of polyester blackout has always been in Bamberg. Everything we run is double width so we can run two yards for the cost of one yard. Nobody else can do this," Fradin said.
"In the past, our customers had a dilemma; some of our goods got shipped out of Baltimore and other goods were shipped out of the Bamberg plant causing the customer to pay double freight charges in some cases, but that's now a thing of the past. In Bamberg, all of the new equipment has been thoroughly tested and working. The savings for us are phenomenal because the cost of production is considerably less in South Carolina and the labor force is more stable. This is a smoother opportunity with increased profitability and a vast improvement in our operations."
"We have passed the midpoint of transition. As a result, we can now compete with whatever might come into the States from off shore. In spite of producing in the two plants, Rockland Industries has not lost a step in the Middle East or Europe. We have actually increased our lining business through export. Our customers in Saudi and in other Middle East markets are solid."
"This is a business of trust and confidence. If you're going to buy decoration, that's one thing; but technical products like Roc-Lon have to perform and you need someone to talk with in case there is a problem. We already have the bulk of the market place in the U.S. With well over half of the U.S. lining market to Rockland's credit, we can still continue to grow in the contract market—the single fastest growing segment of the industry and secondly, we can also grow anyplace where consumer draperies are sold. Thirdly, printed blackout or blackout with woven decorative fabric in an all-in-one construction still offers us great growth potential. All-in-one offers better decoration at better cost.
"As far as international is concerned, the ports of Charleston and Savannah are a stone's throw away from Bamberg. The advantages to the customer are obvious; shipping out of one point, producing with the latest technology and with newer equipment. This gives Rockland the ability to compete from the standpoint of immediate delivery to jobbers and workrooms and just in time delivery for our customers located in the South."
Rockland Industries dates back to 1830 but the Lederman family has owned it since 1947.
"What we have been doing is adding and building equipment while expanding our southern operation in Bamberg; this includes a wide width coating and finishing line, calendaring, double width bleaching line and inspection and put up machines. We can now run goods at twice the speed at yards per minute. We'll now do everything in wide width including calendaring. The only thing left for us to do is wide width printing. The call for that has been strong. We're actually absorbing everything we did in the 300,000-square-foot Baltimore plant in Bamberg."
"With the new technology we have acquired, we can do in one plant what we were doing in two plants. Our administration, including back office and customer service, will continue to function out of Baltimore but at some point in time, we will sell our Baltimore factory. Key Rockland production workers in the Baltimore plant will be offered jobs at Bamberg," he said.
"This is a big thing for us at Rockland, certainly as big as the I-Phone is to Apple Computer," he laughed. "For us, this undertaking is a tremendously exciting task. All of our printing facilities and all production of polyester blackout has always been in Bamberg. Everything we run is double width so we can run two yards for the cost of one yard. Nobody else can do this," Fradin said.
"In the past, our customers had a dilemma; some of our goods got shipped out of Baltimore and other goods were shipped out of the Bamberg plant causing the customer to pay double freight charges in some cases, but that's now a thing of the past. In Bamberg, all of the new equipment has been thoroughly tested and working. The savings for us are phenomenal because the cost of production is considerably less in South Carolina and the labor force is more stable. This is a smoother opportunity with increased profitability and a vast improvement in our operations."
"We have passed the midpoint of transition. As a result, we can now compete with whatever might come into the States from off shore. In spite of producing in the two plants, Rockland Industries has not lost a step in the Middle East or Europe. We have actually increased our lining business through export. Our customers in Saudi and in other Middle East markets are solid."
"This is a business of trust and confidence. If you're going to buy decoration, that's one thing; but technical products like Roc-Lon have to perform and you need someone to talk with in case there is a problem. We already have the bulk of the market place in the U.S. With well over half of the U.S. lining market to Rockland's credit, we can still continue to grow in the contract market—the single fastest growing segment of the industry and secondly, we can also grow anyplace where consumer draperies are sold. Thirdly, printed blackout or blackout with woven decorative fabric in an all-in-one construction still offers us great growth potential. All-in-one offers better decoration at better cost.
"As far as international is concerned, the ports of Charleston and Savannah are a stone's throw away from Bamberg. The advantages to the customer are obvious; shipping out of one point, producing with the latest technology and with newer equipment. This gives Rockland the ability to compete from the standpoint of immediate delivery to jobbers and workrooms and just in time delivery for our customers located in the South."
Rockland Industries dates back to 1830 but the Lederman family has owned it since 1947.
