AHF Products announced a consolidation of manufacturing facilities to better service customers, and as a result, the company will close its Warren, Arkansas, solid hardwood flooring manufacturing facility. Production will be moved to the AHF Beverly, West Virginia, facility, the largest solid hardwood flooring plant in North America, and the AHF West Plains, Missouri, plant. The company will idle the Warren facility on September 27, 2024.

"It was a difficult decision because closing a plant impacts people and their local towns. We are extremely grateful for the dedication and service of all the employees over the years since the plant has been in operation,” said AHF Products President and CEO Brian Carson. "The 130 employees working at the Warren plant will have employment for the next 60 days. During that time, AHF will be providing career counseling and working with several local companies to help the displaced workers find other employment."

This decision aligns with AHF’s vertical integration strategy including its recent purchase of two sawmills in West Virginia, the company said in a statement. This change to AHF’s manufacturing footprint comes after extensive internal and external market analysis to align with the company’s ongoing efforts to enhance its solid hardwood business. In addition to the sawmills, AHF invested over $25 million in its Beverly and West Plains plants to increase their capacities and capabilities and leverage the close proximity of these plants to both the lumber supply and customer base.

“Although difficult, we believe this strategic move is necessary to best service our customers. While we are indefinitely idling the plant, our plan is to retain ownership of the facility, which will allow us to restart it; however, we do not foresee this happening soon,” Carson added. This idling is being treated as a plant closing and notices were provided as required by the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act (“WARN").

“As the leader in hardwood flooring, we continue to invest in all our hardwood manufacturing facilities to increase capacities, efficiencies and to innovate new products for our customers,” Carson said. “We are bullish about solid hardwood. In West Virginia, for example, we are upgrading the front end of all the finishing lines in the plant, and we have also completely retooled our milling operations."

AHF Products said it is situated to continue its growth trajectory through continued innovation and customer service. With this plant closure, the company will encompass 12 plants, with 11 manufacturing facilities in the U.S. and one in Cambodia, including two solid wood and three engineered wood plants, three resilient plants, and two porcelain plants. With its acquisition of two sawmills in West Virginia, AHF is augmenting the lumber supply for the company’s solid wood flooring manufacturing facilities. Additionally, four domestic distribution facilities serve customers through a multi-channel strategy, including dealers, home centers and distributors.

AHF Products proudly manufactures 100% of its solid hardwood flooring in the USA, along with engineered hardwood, resilient and tile flooring. The company owns a number of flooring brands: Armstrong Flooring, Bruce, Crossville, Hartco, LM Flooring, Robbins, HomerWood, Hearthwood, and Capella, among others.