Legget & Platt constructing new plant for Briggs & Stratton diecasting contract.

Legget & Platt Inc., Carthage, Mo., broke ground on a 140,000-sq.-ft. aluminum diecasting facility in Auburn, Ala., to supply components to a Briggs & Stratton, Milwaukee, facility.

With a capital investment of more than $20 million, the companies expect the construction of the facility to take a year and be in full operation by the end of 2005. The facility will be located in proximity to Briggs & Stratton's assembly plant, also in Auburn, which produces small power equipment, such as lawn movers. At full production, Leggett expects the output of the plant, which is expected to have more than 150 employees, to contribute $45 million of annual revenue to its aluminum segment.

"Briggs & Stratton has been a wonderful, long-time customer of Leggett's, and we are thrilled to be expanding our relationship with them," said David S. Haffner, president and COO of Leggett & Platt. "This project is an outstanding example of our 'deverticalization' strategy, whereby Leggett assumes component production responsibility for vertically integrated manufacturers, enabling them to concentrate more effort on their core strengths of design and marketing, while simultaneously reducing capital needs."

"This is truly a win-win project," commented James E. Brenn, senior vice president and CFO of Briggs & Stratton. "Briggs should see higher EVA and lower capital requirements, since Leggett will fund the project. At the same time, we benefit from Leggett's technical expertise while ensuring a supply of diecast components to meet our needs."