James Hardie, Inc.
PROJECT: Extend Public Infrastructure/Municipal Services to James Hardie, Inc.
Grant Amount: $625.391
Agency: IL Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO)
Applicant/Grantee: City of Peru
Total Project Cost: $625,391
Infrastructure Project Description: The City of Peru received a $625,391.00 grant from DCEO to facilitate the expansion of James Hardie Industries Limited in the North Peru Industrial Park. The grant was used to construct water, sewer and roadway extensions, to install a watermain loop, to purchase land for the public improvements and to pay for associated engineering, legal and grant administration fees.
The Company: James Hardie invested $49,919,383 in the project and, as a result of the expansion, created additional new full-time jobs. The facility was built to produce cement based panels and planks for the building materials industry. The panels are manufactured from wood pulp, portland cement, silica sand and a proprietary additive. The blend of materials used in the manufacturing process makes the panels and planks very durable, and completely inert to the activities of insects and fire.
The expansion was done to accommodate a new production line to make a new fiber cement trim product. The new trim line represents the latest generation of the unique Alow density@ manufacturing and product technology developed by Hardie in 1999. This allows the company to make thick lightweight cement boards for trim applications typically dominated by wood-based materials.