Canada: WPC manufacturer shuts down

Facing mounting cost pressures and dwindling demand, Canada’s largest wood-plastic composite deck maker closed its doors 2008-06-02 and is soliciting potential buyers.

Bolton-based Brite Manufacturing Inc., a 30-year-old, publicly traded company, injection molded plastic lattice and made pressure-treated lumber and cedar boards, in addition to composite deck and railing products. “Brite had a good reputation, did well in establishing Canadian distribution, and their plastic lattice was widely distributed in the U.S.,” said Steve Van Kouteren, a principal with Exton, Pa.-based building products consulting firm Principia Partners. Brite was among the 10 or 20 largest composite decking manufacturers, he said.

Several economic factors finally caught up with Brite, said Vice President Andrew Rush in a June 9 telephone interview with Plastics News. “The combination of a rising Canadian dollar, a downturn in demand and resin prices increasing upward of 50 percent led us here,” Rush said. The burst bubble of new construction proved too much for Brite, Rush said: “The biggest thing is the slowdown in demand.”

Brite used 100 percent virgin resins to manufacture the deck, railing and lattice products, Rush said. Company officials said they hope to keep Brite intact and prefer to sell it to a strategic buyer within the industry, rather than a private equity group.

Source

PlasticsNews, 2008-06-10.

Supplier

Brite Manufacturing Inc. (Canada)

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