FIBER TEK • Left to Right: Justin Seely, Nephi City Council; Les Prall, Rural Development with the Governor’s Office of Economic Development; Tamy Dayley, CPA, Senior Financial Analyst with the Governor’s Office of Economic development; Glenn Greenhalgh, Juab County Planning Director; Jordan Radman, FiberTEK President; Kent Park, Nephi City Council; Robert Painter, Nephi City Council; Byron Woodland, Juab County Economic Development Director; Blair Painter, Nephi City Recorder.

By Myrna Trauntvein
Times-News Correspondent

A $1.25 million Industrial Assistance Fund grant was awarded to FiberTEK at its Nephi plant on Thursday.
The money was a state incentive to draw the fiberglass insulation plant to Utah in the form of a grant which was to be presented once the Nephi plant was built, workers were hired and production had begun.
“We now have 80 employees and are at about one-third of our capacity,” said Jordan Radman, President of FiberTEK.
Radman was present to accept the check in behalf of FiberTEK.
On hand to present the check were Les Prall, Rural Development, with the State of Utah Governor’s Office of Economic Development, and Tamy Dayley, CPA, Senior Financial Analyst with the Corporate Recruitment and State Incentives with the Governor’s Office of Economic Development.
Also present were: Justin Seely, Nephi City Council; Glenn Greenhalgh, Juab County Planning Director; Kent Park, Nephi City Council; Robert Painter, Nephi City Council; Byron Woodland, Juab County Economic Development Director; Blair Painter, Nephi City Recorder.
“All of you here were helpful,” said Radman, “and the city was good to work with.”
FiberTEK Insulation LLC constructed the new 300,000-square-foot distribution plant in Nephi to serve the residential, industrial and commercial building industry in the Western United States and to an expanding international market.
The company already serves its clients in the East through a 275,000-square-foot manufacturing plant near Tampa, Florida.
“Energy costs in Utah are quite reasonable,” said Radman.
The big draw on utilities comes from the electric power consumption at the facility. Water, another utility used in the manufacturing process, is recycled and only water lost to evaporation is replaced.
“Our investment in equipment is approximately $15 million,” said Radman.
Employees now at work at the plant were trained in Florida at the company’s plant there.
The company is run by the various members of the family, said Radman. There were six children of Ivan Radman, founder of the company who died before the plant was finished, and all are involved. In addition to making fiberglass insulation, the family has engineering shops in Salt Lake City and in Hong Kong.
“We have a sister company, American Diamond Tool, in Salt Lake City, that makes industrial diamonds and drill bits for oil and gas exploration and minerals mining,” said Radman.
The first 40-tons of insulation produced at the plant were shipped to Australia. There had been a government insulation incentive promotion program there which was stopped and the orders ended. However, in spite of the unprecedented drop in housing construction, there are large companies in the U.S. which are willing to take the product.
“The weak U.S. dollar has actually helped us internationally,” said Radman.
Many countries peg their currency to the dollar. Because of that, he said, the company was attractive to those foreign markets.
Countries such as India and Germany are considering contracts to purchase fiberglass insulation from FiberTEK. The insulation business is an international market.
If either of those proposals pan out, the company will set up their planned second line.
“Fiberglass insulation is a business that has a good long-term future,” he said.
Now that the IAF grant has been awarded, FiberTEK can request an Economic Development Tax Increment Finance, or EDTIF, rebate of up to $2.75 million, or a rebate on corporate, payroll and sales taxes paid for up to 10 years on a post performance basis.
Additional funding or rebates could come from being a company that recycles, said Prall.
Recycled glass, lots of it, is used to make the fiberglass insulation. The old glass is mixed with new glass to form glass fibers.
“We use 40 tons of crushed glass a day or about 1,200 tons a month,” Radman said. “We pay $65 to have a ton crushed at Salt Lake and another $17 freight.”
The amount generated in-state is not sufficient and there is not a good source for recycled glass in Utah at present.
There needs to be some care in providing glass, brown glass is not good and no more than 5 percent of a load should be brown. Brown glass has iron in it and that is not good for electric components.
“Brown glass can be aggressive to electric components,” said Radman.
Vehicle windshield glass is not used at all because it has too much plastic in it.
Currently, much of the glass, which is melted at the plant to be spun into the glass fibers making up the insulation, comes from Las Vegas, Nevada. That is clean bottle glass and is hauled as crushed glass. It is less expensive to haul the crushed glass.
In her city, said Dayley, the recycling program picks up everything but glass at curbside. Perhaps, homeowners in her area could have curb side recycling and could use different bins for glass and other recyclables.
“This would be a good business opportunity for someone in Juab County,” said Prall.
There is also not a local producer of silica sand which is used to make glass.
The Governor’s Office of Economic Development estimates the plant will bring more than $36 million in new wages to Nephi over the next 10 years and that state revenues will be boosted by $13.2 million.