EGGER Wood Products Receives Project of the Year & Excellence in Safety Awards by ENR Southeast

As part of the publication’s annual project awards, nearly 100 entries were submitted. For this project, Gray participated in a SHARP partnership with the North Carolina Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety & Health Division to monitor and assess safety in real time on the project.

EGGER is a family-owned, Austrian-based wood manufacturing company that produces panel products. The company selected Gray to design and build its first U.S. facility and 20^th manufacturing operation worldwide.

“EGGER is a fantastic company, and this project is a prime example of the excellence that can be produced through an effective partnership,” says Brett Goode, senior vice president of Gray’s South Atlantic Office in Charlotte, NC. “We are proud to be a part of this great facility that will continue to produce quality products for decades to come.”

The 815,000 s.f., highly automated facility is located on more than 200 acres near Lexington, NC, and took 18 months to complete.

“Gray and EGGER partnered with full collaboration on all aspects of the project including schedule, cost, and design. We worked with EGGER, and not for them,” says John Slone, director, operations, distribution, & commercial with Gray. “Both companies joined together to become one team, which developed a high level of trust among everyone.”

The project was deemed a winner for many reasons from severe weather impacts to supply chain. One judge also called out the project’s safety record stating, “From a safety perspective, lots of moving parts.”

Carsten Ritterbach, plant manager, commercial services for EGGER, describes this facility as “the most modern plant in the world for this type of product.” The innovative design features considerable production automation, facilitated by the latest Industry 4.0 technologies, and state-of-the-art production equipment and technology, including 85,000 s.f. of AS/RS.

EGGER’s new facility allows for greater flexibility in serving its North American customer base to provide them with an American-made product, as well as faster services through more local supply chains with shorter lead times.

“The cooperation and open communication between Gray and EGGER’s safety team was critical in successfully completing this project with an excellent safety record,” says Bradley Teague, environmental, health, & safety manager with EGGER Wood Products. “It was a team effort to make sure all Gray, EGGER and sub-contractor employees went home safely at the end of each day.”

Currently, this location employs more than 400 people, with the goal of hiring a total of 770 employees by the time the three-phase, 15-year development process is complete.

About Gray

Gray is a fully integrated, global service provider deeply rooted in engineering, design, construction, smart manufacturing, and equipment manufacturing services. Consistently ranked among the top industrial contractors in the U.S., we focus on the following markets for domestic and international customers: Food & Beverage, Manufacturing, Automotive, Distribution, Mission Critical, and Commercial.

Founded in 1960, Gray has grown to encompass a complementary family of brands designed to augment and enhance each other’s specialized capabilities without gaps or redundancies. Our robust offering—which includes strategy, operational improvements, construction, extensive engineering, automation & controls, and equipment manufacturing—enables us to create one-of-a-kind solutions at the highest levels of customization, delivering unmatched precision and partnership to some of the world’s most sophisticated organizations.

For more information on Gray, visit gray.com and follow us @Gray.