American Wonder Porcelain is expanding its production capacity

Apr 11, 2019

Ahead of the appointment with Coverings 2019 (Orlando, 9 to 12 April), we asked some of the leading figures in the US ceramic industry to comment on the current state and future prospects of the US market.

Michael Kephart, President & CEO of American Wonder Porcelain

“ The first year of activity at American Wonder Porcelain (Lebanon, Tennessee) was both dynamic and diligent. Several years of planning coalesced with training, culture development, market penetration, production, leadership opportunities and credibility development in all aspects of the community and market. Our employees, with State and Local officials, worked very hard to create a foundation here in Middle Tennessee from which to grow, learn and innovate. We are investing in US production to serve our value distribution customer and support the future of the ceramic tile industry with American manufacturing. Our products are highly sustainable, ECO and VOC friendly, durable, versatile, practical and highly styled for the American market customer.
Our technology is primarily Italian equipment from our starting point in 2017. We have worked closely with key suppliers to assure we optimize our operations while growing our capacity and capabilities with new lines in 2019 to produce high quality porcelain tile. We are investing for beyond 2019 opportunities. As one of the newer suppliers to the market, we must expect and drive for growth. 2019 will be a difficult year to forecast but it should present opportunities. We are fighting lots of headwinds and negativity with inflation, transportation, rising interest rates and geopolitical dynamics outside our own control. So much market supply is still coming to the US from world sourcing. If the US ceramic industry producers can continue to invest and innovate to influence the supply side and market conditions are stable, opportunities for growth and penetration will exist. We expect 2019 US ceramic tile consumption to grow at least marginally over the 2018 actual level. „