“Manufacturing in Australia has been under the spotlight in recent years,” Interface Australian managing director Clinton Squires said.
“I honestly believe the outlook can be far more positive. Today is a celebration of manufacturing in Australia.
“(It) is a $65 million demonstration that manufacturing can thrive locally.”
The new factory currently employs nearly 150 people, most of which previously worked at the company’s Picton site before the fire in 2012.
“If you talk to the 25-year-olds now in the job marketplace and ask, ‘Would you like to come work for a carpet-tile company?’ I don't imagine many would say yes,” says Nigel Stansfield. “But, ‘Do you want to come work for one of the world's most sustainable manufacturing businesses?’ It's a very different conversation to have.”