RSS Feed
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
LP looking for workers as OSB plant moves closer to completion by late 2007
The company is looking for about 110 hourly employees to work at the plant and has already had a couple of application sessions. One thing that is important to the company is hiring local people. "We wanted to make sure we got the word out to Thomasville and the surrounding communities so they would have an opportunity to apply," said Steve Doffitt, plant manager. The company has already hired a number of people and they are currently undergoing the training process to work at the plant, but more are needed. They are looking for crane operators, dryer operators, utility operators and others. With such a modern plant, much of the work comes down to being able to monitor the processes and being able to input a series of commands into the computers that control the machines. "You have to be able to learn the commands to make adjustments to the equipment in the field," said Claes Rossby, production superintendent.
Of course, being a manufacturing facility, the positions also require of the employees the ability to participate in clean up and maintenance days. Those with previous experience that could be applied to these positions are of particular interest to the L-P managers. "The biggest thing is the ability to learn and retain process sequences," Rossby said. Along with that, safety awareness in a manufacturing setting and environmental compliance are issues that L-P places at a high priority. "We're looking to team oriented people," Doffitt said, because the plant's personnel will be divided up into teams for the various functions of the operation. The plant will operate 24 hours per day; seven days per week and employees will work on rotating 12-hour shifts. When construction is complete, the plant will take in raw materials at one end and the finished product will come out the other end. Trees will be dropped off at a large loading area where cranes will lift them and take them to a building where giant rollers strip the bark off the trees. From there, they will be taken down further to the pieces needed to make the oriented strand board. Those strands will be dried, assembled into forms and compressed under a massive press to create the product. When it opens for business near the end of this year, the plant will be one of the largest in North America, producing 750 million square feet of oriented strand board per year. Company officials say they want to be fully staffed by Nov. 1. More than 300 construction workers are currently on site building the L-P mill, working five days per week and they are expected to begin six-day workweeks soon, with more contractors coming on board next month.
Some of the equipment for the plant is currently being installed, including the hydraulic press used to compress the sheets of oriented strand board and the massive dryers that will dry the strands for making up the boards.
|
for larger version       |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
)
)
