ROME, Georgia (From news reports) -- Georgia-Pacific plans to invest $30 million to acquire and install new equipment at the company's Rome lumber mill.
The reinvestment in Rome will not directly result in a large gain of employees, but does ensure the viability of existing jobs into the future.
The Rome mill, which was opened on a 38-acre tract right next to what is now International Paper, currently employs 163 people. G-P spokesman Rick Kimble said he does not believe the technology upgrades will lead directly to any new hires.
"We are in the business right now in all of our building product sites, lumber, plywood, OSB, trying to get these sites more efficient," Kimble said. "It is an investment for the future and ensures the jobs we do have and, quite honestly, may make those jobs better."
Significant upgrades to a number of the leading manufacturers in the immediate Rome area arguably began just prior to the recession a decade ago when Profile received $7 million in bond financing in 2005 for the addition of a new press. The amount was actually increased to $8 million a year later. The new extrusion press proved to be a stroke of genius because it allowed Profile to dramatically improve the company's productivity.
"We could drop prices and still be competitive and put out a great product," David Newby, division president for Profile Custom Extrusions said. "It also allowed us to go into markets we were not able to access beforehand."
The Georgia-Pacific investment will allow the building products division of the industrial giant to push out approximately 20 percent more lumber with enhanced quality and additional varieties.
The new equipment includes a planer, which is critical to getting lumber into the process to begin with.
"Every piece of lumber produced has to go through the planer, so you've got to have a functioning efficient planer," Kimble said. "Once it comes out of the planer it has to be sorted and graded and having additional bays will help that as well." The company plans to expand the number of bays from 27 to 65.
"A capital investment such as this means Georgia-Pacific believes in this site and is committed to it for the long haul," said plant manager Ken McDonald in a press release. "Our employees, our customers and the community will benefit from these improvements."
Engineering work for the upgrade at Georgia-Pacific is underway and the company expects concrete work to get underway early this summer. The equipment could be installed by mid-summer and the upgrades ready to start producing finished lumber shortly after Thanksgiving. The mill will shut down briefly to tie in the new equipment and reopen in early December.
