Advanced Construction Systems Inc., a Hayden Lake, Idaho-based designer of energy-efficient building materials, says it plans to open a production facility in Post Falls that it expects will boost its employment levels and revenues significantly.


The company, which does business as Acsys, also recently renegotiated its contract with a Missouri company that has made its products since 1993, and now it can license its patented products to other makers, says President Werner Nennecker. As a result, its talking with manufacturers in North America and Ireland, and expects to move forward with plants in Europe and possibly elsewhere in the U.S. within a year, Nennecker says.


Acsys designs galvanized-steel and polystyrene-foam panels for use in commercial, industrial, and high-end residential markets. For its new plant in Post Falls, the company has leased 22,000 square feet of space in the Riverbend Commerce Park, at 4752 W. Riverbend, Nennecker says. Acsys plans to invest $1 million in equipment for the facility, which it plans to open by early April, and to employ 12 workers once it reaches full production. Currently, the company employs three people at its administrative office in Hayden Lake, he says.


Nennecker declines to disclose Acsys annual revenues, but says the new production facility is expected to generate $12 million a year in revenue for the company once it reaches full capacity.


For the past three-and-a-half years, Acsys products have been produced solely through its licensing agreement with Butler Manufacturing Co., of Kansas City, Mo., under which Butler makes Acsys panels at a plant in Virginia, Nennecker says. Prior to that, Acsys also made panels out of a garage in Post Falls. Butler distributes panels it makes to its commercial customers under its Koreteck brand name, and Acsys distributes panels made by Butler to its commercial and residential customers under the Acsys name.


Demand has been increasing on the West Coast, and in light of rising energy and shipping costs, the company decided to open a plant in the West, Nennecker says. The panels manufactured in Post Falls will be distributed primarily to Acsys customers, but Butler also plans to distribute some of the panels made here to its West Coast customers, he says.


Acsys was founded in 1988 by Nennecker, Spokane-area architect Jon Sayler, Myles Phipps, and Larry Grossman, a former owner of United Paint & Coatings Inc.


Contact Emily Proffitt at (509) 344-1265 or via e-mail at emilyp@spokanejournal.com.