Guidoni to Open Quartz-Surfaces Plant in Georgia
McRAE-HELENA , Ga. – Brazilian hard-surfaces company Guidoni Group will open a quartz-slab plant here next year, bringing 455 jobs to this south-central Georgia community.
Guidoni, manufacturer of the Topzstone line of quartz surfaces, will invest $96 million in the facility, slated for location at a recently vacated Husqvarna lawnmower factory.
The São Domingos do Norte, Brazil-based company plans to begin operations by next fall.
Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp announced the facility in a news release earlier this week.
“With access to Georgia’s world-class ports system, logistics infrastructure, and top-ranked workforce, I am confident that Guidoni will find success as they create great opportunities for hardworking Georgians in Telfair County,” Gov. Kemp stated in the release. “It is truly an exciting announcement, and I am grateful that Guidoni chose to invest in Georgia.”
McRae-Helena, located 150 miles southeast of Atlanta, will also serve as the company’s U.S. headquarters.
Guidoni Group began in 1989 by quarrying and processing natural stone in Brazil’s Espirito Santo state, becoming one of the country’s largest slab producers with more than 40 quarries.
In 2015, the company expanded into quartz-slab production. In addition to the new Georgia plant, Guidoni also operates quartz-slab factories with Breton S.P.A. equipment in Brazil and Spain.
Company CEO Rafael Dalmaso Guidoni will directly oversee the new U.S. project.
“We are pleased to announce that operations at our Georgia facility are scheduled to begin in the third quarter of 2020,” he said. “Guidoni Group was built upon the great pillars of a prosperous business: commitment, perseverance, dedication, and passion.
“On behalf of our company, I would like to express what a great honor it is to start this new chapter of our history in the State of Georgia, which, thanks to all of the efforts of state and local officials, we can now call our new home. The hard work of all our team members in McRae-Helena will perpetuate the history of excellence reflected in our mission, vision and values.”
The Guidoni facility will provide a welcome boost to the economy of McRae-Helena and surrounding Telfair County, which lost 1,000 jobs earlier this year when Husqvarna closed its 750,000 ft² plant that made consumer-grade lawnmowers, lawn tractors and snowblowers.
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