Summitville Tiles comes back from bankruptcy

The CEO says the company fought hard to 'reinvent itself.'
YOUNGSTOWN -- Summitville Tiles has emerged from Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection effective Friday.
The company filed its plan of reorganization in July with U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Youngstown. David W. Johnson, company CEO, has said that the plan called for financing from PNC Bank and Washington Mutual and listed how creditors would be paid. The company filed for protection in December 2003 with debts of $24 million and assets of $15 million.
In a letter sent to employees, customers and suppliers Friday, Johnson said: "At a time when so many American manufacturers are outsourcing their products to Mexico and China, this is a story about a company that has fought hard to re-invent itself and to recover from the ravages of global competition ... and that has stood by its employees and its community. Summitville Tiles will remain, proudly & quot;made in America! & quot;
The company employs about 250 people at plants in Summitville, Minerva and Pekin, which is near Minerva. Three years ago, it had 650 employees.
The trouble for the 92-year-old family owned company started in the 1990s when a rise in imports forced down tile prices. The company had just spent $18 million in 1990 to build a highly automated tile plant in North Carolina. The plant closed in 2001.
Johnson said the company has eliminated product lines that were most vulnerable to imports. Remaining products are more specialized, making them harder to duplicate, he said.
Besides China, the quarry tile is being exported to numerous countries, including Japan, Korea and Australia.