UPDATED: Roof collapses at Truseal Technologies' Barbourville facility

Quanex officials announced power and phone lines at its Truseal Technologies plant in Barbourville, Ky., were restored as of March 19. The facility, which was damaged by severe weather last Friday, has resumed shipping finished goods and the company has assured customers that there will be no interruption in service. “With a strong inventory build of Truseal spacer products in Barbourville and in warehouses, we will continue to fill orders as planned,” said Larry Johnson, VP of sales, IG Systems, for Quanex. “Other plans are in place to begin limited production of Dura products at our Cambridge, Ohio, facility during the first week in April. With these factors considered, we are in a great position to ensure uninterrupted service to customers, but are asking that they plan for a six-day lead time on Truseal spacers going forward.”

Quanex Building Products Corp. announced March 16 that severe weather at its Truseal Technologies facility in Barbourville, Ky., caused a section of the plant’s roof to collapse. Seven employees were taken to the hospital and have been released with only minor injuries. The plant will be closed until safe operations can be resumed.

George Wilson, IG Systems general manager for Quanex, along with engineers, assessed the damage to the facility early Friday. “Employees and local emergency personnel deserve considerable credit for the way they managed the situation,” Wilson said, in a March 16 release. “Their quick response and quick evacuation of the plant minimized the harm to our employees.”

According to Wilson, about five percent of the roof collapsed. Warehouses containing finished goods were not affected, so the company hopes to resume shipping product as early as next week. Contingency plans for production are in review. Additionally, to ensure uninterrupted communication, customer service phone lines have been transferred to Quanex’s Cambridge, Ohio, facility.

Quanex CEO David Petratis also issued a statement: “The safety of Quanex employees across our facilities in the U.S. and abroad is always our number one priority. I am personally grateful to the employees of Barbourville and to first responders for doing everything possible to ensure the best outcome. As a company, we are all taking a moment to step back and be thankful that no one was seriously injured.”

Quanex Building Products will continue to provide updates as the damage is assessed.