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42 • JANUARY 2012 • WORLD FENCE NEWS Will continue to produce decking and railing Royal Building Products announces decision to discontinue making vinyl fence products On December 13, 2011, Royal Building Products issued WARN notices to approximately 70 employees at its vinyl decking, fence and rail manufac- turing plant in Milford, Indiana, as a first step toward closing the facility in early 2012. "We plan to discontinue manufacturing vinyl fence, and will move many of the decking (Brock Deck® and Deck Lok® ) and rail product lines to an- other one of our other Royal Building Products facilities where these com- plementary products will provide greater synergies for our business and our customers," said Alan Chapple, director, corporate communications and pub- lic relations. "When Georgia Gulf acquired Royal Building Products in 2006, it was anticipated that the high-quality fence components manufactured at the Milford plant would be a solid contributor to our earnings. Unfortunately, the prolonged downturn in North American housing and home remodeling has significantly impacted sales and the profitability of these products," he stated. "Discontinuing a product line is always a difficult decision because of the resulting impacts on those employees, customers and the community. However, we have a duty to the 3,600 employees elsewhere in our organiza- tion – as well as our shareholders and business partners – to ensure that Geor- gia Gulf and Royal Building Products are profitable and healthy businesses, and that is the driving force behind this decision," Chapple said. Royal Building Products is a leading manufacturer and distributor of building materials and provides vertical integration from raw materials from its parent company, Georgia Gulf Corporation, through to manufacturing and to distribution. Proud To Be A The Dodge Report continued from page 40 be one of the brighter categories for construction in 2011, as it climbed 5% in October. Large multifamily projects that reached groundbreaking in October in- cluded a $95 million apartment build- ing in Boston and an $86 million townhome complex in Maryland. Through the first 10 months of 2011, the top five metropolitan areas in terms of the dollar volume of multi- family starts were the following – New York, N.Y., Washington, D.C., Boston, Dallas/Ft. Worth, and Chicago. Single family housing in October edged up 1%, and has seen very grad- ual upward movement after retreating during the first four months of this year. During the January-October pe- riod of 2011, the regional pattern for single family housing showed this per- formance: the South Atlantic, no change; the South Central, down 3%; the West, down 4%; the Midwest, down 7%; and the Northeast, down 13%. Sponsor! Non-building construction in Oc- tober was reported at $160.2 billion (annual rate), the same amount as Sep- tember. The electric utility category continued to see robust activity, rising 35% in October. Large electric utility projects that reached the construction start stage in- cluded $1.5 billion for work at Units 3 and 4 of the Vogtle nuclear power plant facility in Waynesboro, Ga., a $1.2 billion solar power plant in Cali- fornia, a $900 million solar power plant in Nevada, a $454 million hy- droelectric facility in Kentucky, a $195 million wind farm in Kansas, and a $165 million wind farm in Illinois. Murray indicated, "The electric power category is on track this year to post a new current dollar high for con- struction starts, helped in particular by further gains for solar and wind proj- ects. However, with the expiration of federal incentives for alternative en- ergy projects, next year is likely to see a slower pace for electric utility starts." Kroy by Ply Gem will demo new Kroy Website Builder at FENCETECH At FENCETECH'12, Kroy® by Ply Gem will introduce its new Kroy Website Builder, a valuable tool the company is offering to its customers. This simple, quick and affordable solution allows customers to promote their own businesses on the Web. Kroy has done the advance work to develop templates that are appropri- ate for fence and rail fabricators and installers. Customers who use the Kroy Website Builder can select an in- dustry-specific template and use that to develop their own website, elimi- nating the need to hire an expensive Web developer, the company said. By using the Kroy Website BOOTH NO. 1705! BOOTH NO. 1705! Builder, companies can get in front of thousands of potential customers at a fraction of the time and cost associated with a custom website. The site features include a built-in lead capturing tool, custom domain name, e-mail addresses, photo gal- leries, and SEO (search engine opti- mization) so companies can be found where their customers are searching. Customers at FENCETECH can meet with a Kroy website develop- ment partner to customize a site from the show floor. The only cost is $19.99 per year for the URL and $9.99 per month for site hosting. To schedule a time to visit with a Kroy Web Builder representative, e-mail kroy- builder@farininnovations.com or to learn more, visit Kroy in booth 1709.