Beaulieu International Group (BIG), Europe’s leading floor covering group, celebrated the foundation stone laying of its new industrial facility in Weihai, Shandong province on August 31, 2012. The ceremony took place was attended by state and local officials. The project, where technical textiles for the floor coverings industry as well as geo- and agro-textiles will be manufactured, is located in Weihai in Shandong province and covers an area of 100,000 square meters with a design that looks towards maximizing on efficiencies and keying in on the growing market demand for quality products in the region. Besides the Asian headquarters of BIG in Shanghai and the Rizhao factory, Weihai will be the second industrial facility of Beaulieu in Shandong, where state of the art equipment will be installed in order to take a decisive step towards further strengthening the group’s diversified position in China by acquiring a significant market share in the primary backing, geo-textiles and agro-textiles market segments. Since the announcement of the expansion to Weihai last March, Beaulieu has laid out the construction project, planned for the installation of state of the art equipment and set up recruitment and training programs for key staff. Production in the project’s first phase will start in the first half of next year.