Organization Name:

Note: Representatives submitting on behalf of an organization must enter information below.

Requestor Representative:

Section 301 Investigation: China's Acts, Policies, and Practices Related to Technology 

Transfer, Intellectual Property, and Innovation - Form to Request Exclusion of Product

When submitting a product exclusion request using this form, enter the specified 

information in the following fields and explain the basis and rationale for your statements. 

By completing this form, you certify that the information provided is complete and 

correct to the best of your knowledge. 

1. Indicate whether the comment contains business confidential information (BCI), is a public

document, or is a public version of a BCI document.

3.

2. Please provide a complete and detailed description of the product of concern:

4.

5. Requestor's relationship to the product:

CONTINUED BELOW

*

10-digit HTSUS item number* for product you wish to address in this product exclusion request:

Use numerical characters only with no special characters (example: 1023456789). For help in finding 

the HTSUS item number associated with your product, see https://hts.usitc.gov/

1

7.

6. Does this submission in regulations.gov include additional attachments?

Please indicate whether any additional attachment contains business confidential

information (BCI), is a public document, or is a public version of a BCI document.

VERSION 1

Requestor Information

Requestor Name (Last, First):
END 2

8. Is this product, or a comparable product, available from sources in the United States?:

VERSION 1

11. Please provide information in support your request, taking account of the instructions

provided in Section B of the Federal Register notice (note: text entered below can extend

beyond the apparent size of this box).

9. Is this product, or a comparable product, available from sources in third countries?:

10. Please provide the value and quantity (with units) of the Chinese-origin product of concern

that you purchased for each calendar year specified. Limit this figure to the products

purchased by your firm (or by members of your trade association) alone. Please provide 

estimates if precise figures are unavailable.

2016 Value:

2015 Value:

2017 Value:

2016 Quantity:

2015 Quantity:

2017 Quantity:
1

Via online submission at regulations.gov, docket number USTR-2018-0025

PUBLIC DOCUMENT

October 9, 2018

The Honorable Robert E. Lighthizer

U.S. Trade Representative

Office of the U.S. Trade Representative

600 17th Street, NW

Washington, DC 20006

Re: USTR-2018-0025 — Request for Exclusion of Particular Products from the Determination 

of Action Pursuant to Section 301: China's Acts, Policies, and Practices Related to 

Technology Transfer, Intellectual Property, and Innovation

Dear Ambassador Lighthizer:

In May 2017, James Hardie Building Products Inc. (“James Hardie”) announced plans to invest more 

than $220 million to build a new, state-of-the-art fiber cement manufacturing facility in Prattville, 

Alabama. The facility will create over 200 well-paying jobs and deliver a range of other economic 

benefits to the surrounding central Alabama community; the cumulative payroll over the plant’s first 20 

years of operation is projected to exceed $200 million. Construction of the facility is well underway and is 

scheduled for completion in 2019.

This is precisely the kind of high-value manufacturing activity that President Trump pledged to bolster 

and grow in the United States, and that has been a strategic focal point for his Administration. However, a 

number of the critical production line components for our new Alabama facility are covered by the tariffs 

imposed by USTR’s Notice of Action dated June 20, 2018 (the “Notice of Action”).1 As more fully 

described in this submission, various commercial, technical, and legal constraints leave us with no option 

to source these components other than from China. In addition, we believe that continued imposition of 

tariffs on these components would be at odds with the Administration’s broader policy of support for 

American manufacturing. We therefore urge you to exclude the following product2 from the tariffs 

imposed by the Notice of Action:

 1 83 Fed. Reg. 28710 (June 20, 2018).

2 James Hardie has filed a separate exclusion request for each distinct production line component imported from China. We have 

filed a total of 13 exclusion requests. 
2

Product Name 10-Digit HTS 

Classification

Physical Description & Proposed Tariff Language

Short Chain Conveyer 

(Autoclave Equipment)

8428.90.02.90

Machinery for lifting, 

handling, loading or 

unloading, nesoi 

The imported item is known as a Chain Conveyor and is used to 

transfer heavy steel pallets, stacked with unfinished product, from one 

area to another automatically. The conveyors are designed with 4 

heavy structural tube chain ways running in the machine direction, 

which each support an ASA100-2 chain. Chain way structural frame is 

of welded steel construction and chains are driven by sprockets, 

connected by a common shaft and powered by a direct-coupled 

gearbox and C-Face NEMA frame motor. The drive assemblies are to 

be attached to the chain way frame via bolted connection. The 

conveyor may be shipped partially or fully disassembled and is usually 

strapped to a custom wood pallet built to fit into a shipping container; 

other equipment may also be on the same wood pallet. Equipment is 

usually wrapped in plastic to prevent corrosion of exposed metal 

surfaces while in transit on the ocean. When the conveyor is fully 

assembled, working width is approximately 3700MM, pass line height 

(top of chains) is approximately 1270MM, and length is approximately 

2300MM.

Import Volume & Value Information3

Year Volume Value

2015 0 $0

2016 0 $0

2017 0 $0

1. James Hardie’s Commitment to American Manufacturing

We are the global leader in fiber cement technology, and have been furthering our founder James 

Hardie’s innovative, entrepreneurial legacy around the world for more than 125 years. Our company 

invented fiber cement siding products in the early 1980s as a durable, lower-maintenance alternative to 

wood and vinyl. Today, our fiber cement products combine innovation and versatility to offer a variety of 

design possibilities, matched with specific performance attributes relative to the climate where the 

product is being used. James Hardie products are currently installed on more than 5.5 million homes in 

North America.

Our manufacturing presence in the United States has been instrumental to our success, and dates back to 

1990 when we opened our first U.S. fiber cement plant in Fontana, California. Today, we operate 

manufacturing facilities across the country, in Cleburne, Texas; Peru, Illinois; Plant City, Florida; Pulaski, 

Virginia; Reno, Nevada; Tacoma, Washington; Waxahachie, Texas; and Summerville, South Carolina, in 

addition to the original Fontana plant. In addition, we operate research and development facilities in 

Fontana as well as in Naperville, Illinois. 

Together, our manufacturing, R&D, and corporate operations employ nearly 3,000 people in the United 

States. We are especially proud of the fact that the vast majority of these jobs, like our manufacturing 

facilities themselves, are concentrated in rural areas. In many cases, we are either the single largest or one 

of the largest employers in our communities.

 3 Because these products are being custom-made to specifications for our Prattville facility, there is no prior import history.
3

2. James Hardie is Constructing a New Manufacturing Facility in Alabama

The manufacturing facility currently under construction in Prattville, Alabama will significantly expand 

our production of fiber-cement building products for the Southern and Eastern U.S. markets. When 

complete, the facility is expected to annually produce up to 600 million square feet of siding and trim, 

together with a number of the company’s other fiber cement products.

Our Prattville facility represents the most significant local industrial development project in more than 50 

years. As noted above, James Hardie is investing hundreds of millions of dollars in Alabama to develop 

the facility, which will create hundreds of well-paying jobs — with an average hourly wage of $25 per 

hour — in an area that suffers from high unemployment. Government officials in Alabama have been 

strong supporters of the project, including Alabama Governor Kay Ivey, who attended the project kickoff. Alabama Secretary of Commerce Greg Canfield has also praised the project, stating “James Hardie’s 

decision to locate this advanced production center in Prattville will bring high-paying jobs and new 

opportunities to people in the area.” News reports describing the facility and highlighting the local 

reaction are included as Annex A to this submission.

By creating new, well-paying jobs and generating broader economic benefits for a small community, the 

Prattville facility is fully consistent with James Hardie’s legacy of support for American manufacturing. 

We believe the project is fully consistent with President Trump’s goal, expressed in a speech before the 

National Association of Manufacturers, “to keep jobs in America, to bring jobs to America, to create real 

prosperity for America, the country that we love.”

3. The Relevant Product is an Integral Component of an Innovative Manufacturing Process 

and Production Line

James Hardie is seeking exclusions for certain machine components that are critical components of the 

new production lines being constructed at the Prattville facility. These components are designed to James 

Hardie’s specifications by our longtime supplier Grenzebach Maschinenbau GmbH (“Grenzebach”), a 

German equipment manufacturer. Grenzebach supplies a wide variety of equipment for our Prattville and 

other U.S. facilities, most of which it manufactures directly in Germany. However, in some cases 

Grenzebach sources customized components from a Grenzebach subsidiary in China, including the 

product referenced above.

These production line components are used in three integral parts of our fiber cement manufacturing 

process, as described below. The process to which the individual component that is the subject of this 

exclusion request relates is identified in the product description above.

a. Sheet Machine

The sheet machine makes the basic fiber cement board that is the foundation for our products. The only 

elements of the machine that are sourced from China are conveyers built to James Hardies’ specifications 

that move material along the sheet machine section of the production line.
4

b. Autoclave Equipment

After the basic fiber cement board is manufactured on the sheet machine it must be “cured.” Curing is 

done in large, high-pressure, high-temperature steam autoclaves. Historically, loading and unloading of 

the autoclaves has been performed manually. As part of the sheet machine process, the freshly 

manufactured board is stacked on steel pallets. These palletized stacks of board are then moved manually 

to the curing area and eventually loaded via forklifts onto a movable platform (or “train”). These trains of 

pallets are then manually pushed into the autoclaves for curing. Once complete, the process is reversed, 

with the trains being manually pulled out of the autoclave and the individual pallet stacks being removed 

from the train via forklift and sent to another area to await further processing and finishing. The pallet 

stacks are eventually broken down, with the steel pallets being returned manually to the sheet machines 

for re-use, and the cured board being put on wooden pallets and moved on to await finishing.

Working with our equipment suppliers, James Hardie has developed a method to automate this process —

in order to enhance the safety and efficiency of our facility. Now, on the “infeed,” our employees will 

deliver palletized board via fork lift to an automated conveyor system which channels pallets into the 

autoclaves for curing. On the “outfeed” step, palletized stacks will move through an integrated automated 

conveyor system to a “break down machine” that will de-palletize, removing the steel pallets. The 

“outfeed” conveyors will then return the steel pallets to the “infeed” conveyors for delivery and re-use 

back at the sheet machine.

This process and the new automated equipment designed to accomplish it are unique to our 

manufacturing process, products, and needs. As with the sheet machine, the autoclave process for the 

Prattville facility will employ certain customized conveyers, alignment stations, and corner transfer 

equipment that are currently being constructed to James Hardies’ specifications by Grenzebach in China.

c. Backer Line

Subsequently in the manufacturing process for James Hardie backer products, the backer line equipment 

is used to turn the basic fiber cement sheets into backer board, cutting larger sheets of fiber cement into 

smaller individual backer sheets/boards. As with the sheet machine and autoclave equipment, the only 

elements of the production lines that are sourced from China are customized conveyers that move 

material through the machine.

In summary, the products that are the subject of this exclusion request are crucial components of much 

larger manufacturing production lines. Although these components are being constructed in China, the 

more sophisticated and advanced machinery used in the facility is not, and the process as a whole reflects 

significant American ingenuity and know-how.

4. Commercial, Technical, and Governmental Constraints Compel Our Sourcing of Certain 

Production Line Components from China

James Hardie entered into an agreement to procure the relevant components from Grenzebach in May 

2018, before the tariffs imposed by the Notice of Action took effect. Grenzebach is the preferred, and in 

some cases, the exclusive provider of equipment under this agreement. At this stage in the construction of 
5

our new Alabama facility, including the new production lines, we are severely limited in our ability to 

shift our procurement away from Grenzebach and, in turn, Grenzebach’s preferred suppliers because 

construction of the relevant production line components is already underway.

Even if we were able to do so, this alternative is not feasible for technical reasons. The manufacturing 

process described above, including the new automated equipment and its integration together, is unique to 

James Hardie’s specific manufacturing process, products, needs, and production line. There is no other 

equipment manufacturer positioned to simply replicate or step into Grenzebach’s position to manufacture 

these components – either from a know-how, intellectual property/design ownership, or timing 

standpoint. This special expertise extends to the production line components being manufactured in 

China. 

These components are part of an integrated manufacturing production line. As such, they must integrate 

with the other components being manufactured by Grenzebach which, given the unique designs and 

intellectual property of Grenzebach in their manufacture of the overall production lines, means we cannot 

outsource these pieces and parts to another manufacturer. In addition, certain segments of the Grenzebach 

equipment require integration with equipment supplied by another manufacturer, which precludes the 

possibility of switching suppliers at this stage. The required integration, design and engineering was 

achieved by Grenzebach and this other equipment manufacturer partnering together to meet James 

Hardie’s unique process, product and equipment needs. 

Time is the final obstacle we face. We have contractual commitments to the City of Prattville, Autauga 

County, and the State of Alabama to achieve full commissioning and operations at the Prattville facility 

no later than January 1, 2021. Any delay occasioned by a shift to an alternative supplier for the 

components covered by the tariffs could cause us to miss this deadline, placing us in violation of our 

obligations to the State, and the local and county governments.

For these reasons, China is effectively the only source of the product referenced above.

5. The Tariffs Will Harm Our U.S. Manufacturing Activities in the Short Term and the Long 

Term

Because we are constrained in our ability to shift sourcing of the relevant components away from China, 

the immediate impact of the tariffs will be to substantially increase the cost of completing the Prattville 

facility. The market for building product supplies like fiber cement is highly price competitive. Anything 

that increases our cost of doing business could potentially increase our prices to the market, where foreign 

competitors are continually looking to undercut our pricing.

Our Prattville Alabama facility was conceived as part of a larger expansion of our U.S. manufacturing 

capacity to meet the increased demand for building products as the U.S. homebuilding industry has 

recovered following the 2008 financial crisis. Lack of capacity has limited our ability to meet the building 

industry’s demands for products, thus hindering our growth and that of the general home building 

industry. The additional costs associated with the tariffs will potentially impact our ability to continue 

these U.S. expansion efforts (including the potential development of additional manufacturing facilities), 
6

by making our capacity expansion work more expensive and our products more expensive. This translates 

to lost opportunities for creating jobs and products for the housing market.

The greatest negative economic impact of the tariffs, however, is larger still. Like many other companies 

across the country, James Hardie answered the President’s call for a renaissance in American 

manufacturing, including by the development of the Prattville facility. The fact that our facility will use 

certain components that are manufactured abroad should not detract from the fact that the facility as a 

whole will produce high-value American-made products, and employ well-paid American workers. 

Placing a tariff on these activities — and substantially increasing our cost of doing business — sends 

exactly the wrong message to James Hardie and our peer companies that are considering expanding their 

manufacturing footprint in the United States. 

Excluding the product referenced above (along with our other production line components) from the 

tariffs, and supporting the completion of our Prattville facility in line with its original plans (which, again, 

predate the imposition of the tariffs), would send a strong statement of support for our efforts to maintain 

and grow manufacturing activity to the United States, particularly in small communities.

6. The Requested Exclusion Does Not Implicate ‘Made in China 2025’ or China’s Other 

Industrial Policies

The products covered by this exclusion request are ordinary machine components that do not convey a 

competitive advantage on their country of manufacture. They are not, to our knowledge, a focus of “Made 

in China 2025” or China’s other industrial policies. In the case of our Prattville project, China is a source 

only of relatively less-sophisticated, low-value components rather than the sophisticated engineering and 

innovation that convey true economic and geopolitical advantages. This latter type of equipment — the 

larger machines into which the conventional components from China will be integrated — was conceived 

by James Hardie’s U.S. research and development team in collaboration with Grenzebach engineers.

USTR’s investigation of Chinese technology and intellectual property practices focused on measures that 

“inhibit United States exports, deprive United States citizens of fair remuneration for their innovations, 

divert American jobs to workers in China, contribute to our trade deficit with China, and otherwise 

undermine American manufacturing, services, and innovation.”4 The situation here is exactly the 

opposite. Here, James Hardie has undertaken a substantial commitment to American manufacturing, and 

has worked with its suppliers to develop innovative equipment to support this offering. China only enters 

into our project development as a source for basic components, preserving American leadership in hightech manufacturing innovation.

Furthermore, the relief that James Hardie is requesting will not detract from USTR’s broader policy goals 

in this proceeding. We are requesting a limited, one-time exclusion of the product referenced above (as 

well as the products referenced in our other exclusion requests) for the singular purpose of completing 

construction of our Prattville Alabama facility on-budget and on-schedules. The dollar value of the 

products for which we are requesting exclusion is de minimis in comparison to the Administration’s 

broader tariff action. However, USTR’s grant of the requested exclusion would send an important 

message of support for our efforts to continue to invest in and grow U.S. manufacturing.

 4 Presidential Memorandum, 82 Fed. Reg. 39007 (Aug. 17, 2017).
7

7. Conclusion: USTR Should Support James Hardie’s Efforts to Expand American 

Manufacturing and Grant the Requested Exclusions

James Hardie’s new Prattville facility exemplifies the resurgence of American manufacturing. The new 

manufacturing facility will employ hundreds of American workers, create millions of dollars worth of 

economic value for the American economy for many years to come, and support the construction of 

thousands of American homes. In addition, the innovative manufacturing processes reflect the best of 

American know-how and ingenuity. Imposing tariffs on certain production line components would be 

contrary to the Administration’s policy of support for American manufacturing, and cause James Hardie 

and companies like ours to reconsider or delay planned investments in the United States. These 

consequences will accrue without advancing the Administration’s policy objectives with respect to 

China’s practices with respect to technology and intellectual property. We therefore urge you to grant the 

requested exclusion so that construction of the Prattville facility can continue on-budget and on-time.

We believe U.S. Customs and Border Protection (“CBP”) will be able to administer an exclusion for the 

product referenced above (as well as our other production line components). As discussed above, our 

production line components are custom-made specifically for the Prattville Alabama facility, and are thus 

readily identifiable. Each distinct production line component is specifically described in terms of its 

physical characteristics in each separate exclusion request. Furthermore, each component designed and 

destined for the Prattville project incorporates a Grenzebach nameplate and is stamped with a unique 

identifying part number. James Hardie, Grenzebach, and our other supply chain partners are willing to 

work directly with CBP to prepare for and ensure the proper identification of our production line 

components at the time of importation.

Thank you very much for your consideration. Please do not hesitate to contact me with any questions 

about this submission, or if any additional information would be helpful to USTR’s determination.

I, Joseph C. Blasko, certify that the information provided herein is complete and correct to the best of my 

knowledge.

/s/ Joseph C. Blasko

General Counsel & Company Secretary

James Hardie Building Products Inc. 
8

ANNEX A

NEWS REPORTS