Florida Tile, Inc said it will spend about $20 million over the next two years to add a porcelain tile production line to its plant in Lawrenceburg, Ky. When completed, the line is expected to yield about 40 million square feet of porcelain tile annually. The first production is expected to be available in May 2007 with completion slated for October 2008. The project will bring 67 new jobs to the area.

"This project is part of our overall long term plan to upgrade and modernize our company's product offering, improve service and reduce response time to our customers," said the company's CEO Buck Burwell. "We will soon have domestic state-of-the art porcelain floor tile production, domestic wall tile production and our National Distribution Center, all located together in Lawrenceburg."

In a related announcement, Florida Tile said it plans to gradually phase out operations at the company's Shannon, Ga., clay tile plant as porcelain production in Kentucky becomes available. The company estimates that the plant will close within a year.

At that time Florida Tile's "bestselling clay products will be either outsourced or converted to porcelain," Burwell said.