Glen Raven, N.C.-- Glen Raven Custom Fabrics is creating a new yarn plant in Burlington, N.C. by retrofitting a plant previously used for apparel yarn production.

The new operation represents a $10 million investment according to Glen Raven.

It is being designed specifically to meet customer requests for increasingly diverse and highly decorative Sunbrella fabrics.  “Innovation remains the driving force at Glen Raven, and this latest investment will assure that we are applying the latest technology within a creatively designed production environment,” said Allen E. Gant, Jr. president and CEO of Glen Raven, Inc.

The new plant will be located in an existing 130,000-square-foot facility that formerly operated as Glen Raven’s Ultra Spun division. It will be equipped with the latest in automated yarn manufacturing systems and configured around a manufacturing model engineered to support high levels of flexibility and customization.  Glen Raven’s Ultra Spun facility, built in 1990, was originally dedicated to synthetic yarns for apparel markets, which Glen Raven discontinued in 2001. National Spinning operated the facility as a yarn plant until 2009.  

Retrofitting of the 130,000-square-foot facility has begun with a projected completion date of late summer 2013. Glen Raven employees currently working at the company’s existing Link Spinning facility in Burlington will transition to the newly renovated facility, which will result in 30 new positions for a total workforce at the new plant of 80. Planning is underway for repurposing the Link Spinning facility.

“Sunbrella brand fabrics are design-driven, which requires new colors and new specialty yarn blends with every season,” said Randy Blackston, vice president of operations for Glen Raven Custom Fabrics. “This new yarn plant will enhance our ability to meet the market’s growing demand for Sunbrella fabrics in fashion-oriented colors and styles.”

The new Burlington Yarn Plant reportedly resembles Glen Raven’s flagship Anderson, S.C., plant with a modular, highly automated environment featuring lean manufacturing processes, the company said. Yarns produced at the Burlington Yarn facility will be woven into Sunbrella fabrics in Anderson.

“While our Anderson, S.C., and Norlina, N.C., Sunbrella yarn facilities are highly flexible and capable of supporting a broad array of yarn and fabric SKUs, our new plant will take this quick change capability to an entirely new level,” Blackston said. “The process of design engineering and machine selection began two years ago and will result in a unique operation focused on specialty, blended and novelty yarns for Sunbrella fabrics.”

Glen Raven, Inc. was founded in 1880 in Alamance County, North Carolina. Glen Raven said it is a global company with product sales into more than 120 countries.  The company is best known for its Sunbrella® brand for awning, marine and furniture applications but it is also active in automotive, military, water filtration, mining and protective work apparel markets. It also said that it  operates national distribution and logistics subsidiaries.