Alliance Supply and Piping to locate in Franklin County

ATLANTA, Feb. 7, 2007 - The Georgia Department of Economic Development announced today that Alliance Supply and Piping, LLC (ASAP, LLC) will open a manufacturing and distribution facility in Franklin County. The company will invest about $3.7 million, and expects to employ 15 to 25 workers within the first two years and up to 50 workers in three to five years. 'We are pleased that Alliance Supply and Piping has chosen Georgia as the ideal location to grow its business,' said Ken Stewart, commissioner of the Georgia Department of Economic Development. 'Our comprehensive transportation network and logistics infrastructure will assist the company in quickly reaching its target markets.' ASAP has selected a new 52,500-square-foot building in the Gerrard Road Industrial Park in Lavonia for its new manufacturing facility. The structure is situated on 7.5 acres and will include light assembly and manufacturing, warehousing, and administrative offices. This facility will also house a new state-of-the-art automated line of metal fabricating equipment that will produce commercial and residential duct work for HVAC contractors in Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina. The company plans to be operational in the second quarter of 2007 and will hold its first job fair on Feb. 19, 2007, at the facility location, 1403 Gerrard Road in Lavonia. 'This new operation will allow ASAP, LLC, to provide timely and localized service to our customers in Georgia and the Carolinas, where growth has been consistently strong,' said Lisa Shumate, president of Alliance Supply and Piping, LLC. 'We plan to capitalize on that trend with this new production facility.' 'Our products include rectangular HVAC ductwork and fittings, roof curbs, and piping assemblies,' added Mikhail Britt, the company's CFO. 'Products made in the Franklin County facility will be sold to heating and air conditioning contractors in Georgia and neighboring states, and will be distributed through wholesalers as well.' 'Once again, Franklin County has attracted a new industry that promises to be a great corporate citizen for our area,' said Lyn Brumby Allen, director of economic development for the Franklin County Industrial Building Authority. 'Alliance Supply and Piping is a Georgia-grown family business, and their product distribution will carry the 'Lavonia, Georgia' name up and down the I-85 corridor to other parts of the southeastern U.S. We are thrilled to have ASAP, LLC, join the many other manufacturing and distribution companies that have found Franklin County a great place to do business.' Matthew Patterson, project manager for the Georgia Department of Economic Development (GDEcD), noted that ASAP, LLC looked at sites and existing buildings in South Carolina and Georgia along the I-85 corridor. In addition to GDEcD and the Franklin County Industrial Authority, others providing assistance to the project included Elbert Rivers with John Rooker and Associates, the developer of the facility; Industrial Properties Group, broker for the developer; Georgian Bank; and the Stephen W. Wright Company, the company's site consultant. The Georgia Department of Economic Development (GDEcD) is the state's sales and marketing arm, the lead agency for attracting new business investment, encouraging the expansion of existing industry and small businesses, locating new markets for Georgia products, attracting tourists to Georgia, and promoting the state as a location for film, video and music projects, as well as planning and mobilizing state resources for economic development. For more information, visit www.georgia.org