Interceramic Inc. is closing its U.S. operations.
The Chihuahua, Mexico-based company is known as North America’s largest glazed floor tile manufacturer, with a sizable presence in DFW, including a Carrollton corporate office, a Garland manufacturing plant, and multiple showrooms in Texas.
The decision will cost nearly 400 Texans their jobs, according to The Dallas Morning News.
While the company did not offer a reason for the closure, its fourth-quarter earnings report showed a sales decline in its international markets segment, which fell $3 million year-over-year to $35 million, according to Real Estate Market.
Mexico is Texas’ most significant trading partner by far. In 2021, Texas imported $108.4 billion worth of goods from its neighbor to the south while exporting $122.7 billion in goods there.
Roughly 27 Mexican corporations call North Texas their U.S. regional headquarters due to its business-friendly environment, major airports, and proximity to their headquarters in Mexico, according to The Dallas Morning News.
In 2016, the company transferred its U.S. headquarters from Garland to a 330,000-square-foot office in Carrollton, bringing 150 employees to the site.
Now, as a result of the company shuttering its U.S. operations, 161 jobs will be lost at its Garland site, and 118 workers from the Carrollton office will also be terminated. One hundred employees who worked at the company’s showrooms in Austin, Fort Worth, Houston, Spring, Plano, and San Antonio will also be laid off, according to The Dallas Morning News.
Interceramic announced the decision in a filing with the Texas Workforce Commission.
Under the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act, companies with over 100 full-time workers must provide a 60-day notice before laying off 50 or more workers at a single site.
The law is intended to give workers time to look for new employment.
