Continental Baking (National) has listed 11 companies who will be showcased in their sponsored programme ‘Bold Ones’ to recognize outstanding new Jamaican manufacturers. Sunday Finance will feature a different company for each of the next several weeks.

If you’ve recently walked through the terminal building at Norman Manley International Airport or pent a night hanging out at popular lounge Christopher’s in the Quad, chances are you hardly bothered to look up.

If you did, you’d be admiring one of the end products of mining and manufacturing outfit West Indies Gypsum, located about 20 minutes from the airport in the eastern foothills of the Blue Mountains. This high rugged country is the “El Dorado” of the gypsum business, according to WI Gypsum managing director Brian Walks. “The raw material here is extremely high quality, very good deposits,” he says.

Once mined, that high quality ore travels a couple hundred feet down to the factory, where it is first calcined then cooled and stabilized before being pulverized and purified. The finished product is termed gypsum plaster of paris and this is then either bagged for distribution or made into ceiling tiles installed in the aforementioned buildings and others such as the Jamaica Pegasus and the Jamaican headquarters of RBTT Bank.

These Gypsum Ceiling tiles, made under a franchise agreement from GSP , United Kingdom, offer an improvement in aesthetics, are non staining when exposed to accidental drops of water, fire and mould-resistant, and are environmentally safe with no carcinogens. “These tiles will essentially last the life of the building”, says Walks, adding that they enhance building acoustics, a plus when one is taking in a live show at Christopher’s, for example.

The company also makes a number of finishing plasters for interior and exterior applications, and joint compounds for filling in the joints in gypsum wallboard and sheetrock. Also being produced is stamped and textured concrete under the Increte brand for walkways, driveways, patios and decks.

Since starting operations five years ago, WI Gypsum has grown steadily and now employs some 30 persons who work across two shifts. In addition to the local markets served, WI Gypsum exports to customers in the US, and the Caribbean. Prior to the recession, total output topped 500 tons per month toward the end of last year. A recessionary climate has also made working capital that more difficult to come by. But Walks is optimistic about a rebound in market demand and is digging his heels in. “We understand that these things are part of a cycle so it’s just a matter of staying in shape production-wise and keeping our costs in line until things turn around.”

So when next you’re in a home, office or entertainment venue take a look at the ceiling, you’ll see that things are looking up for Jamaican manufacturing.