Layoffs coming to PCA

BY BILLY BRUCE
The Valdosta Daily Times

April 19, 2008 06:43 pm

— VALDOSTA — Area job layoffs continue to creep in low numbers, but at a rate that isn’t setting off any major alarms with local economists who contend that the region is rocking steady and holding its own in the current national economic downturn.
“We have unfortunately had to endure some layoffs this year, but the good news is that our expanding and new industry announcements have exponentially outpaced any layoffs, and the majority of displaced workers have been absorbed into the local economy,” said Brad Lofton, executive director for the Valdosta-Lowndes County Industrial Authority.
The most recent reports of job layoffs have come from south of Valdosta.
In a restructuring move, Packaging Corporation of America (PCA) in Clyattville will reduce its hourly workforce beginning May 1. The company plans to eliminate its woodyard operation and contract that work to a private company that could hire the laid off workers, a source that desires anonymity told The Times.
Whether those employees, many of whom have worked several years for the company, would keep their current salary levels is yet to be seen.
The woodyard crew receives raw products and prepares them for use in the manufacture of linerboard. The company has contracted with an independent company to construct a new woodyard parallel to the existing yard. The restructuring could affect as many as 74 employees — almost 25 percent of the hourly work force, the source said.
Woodyard employees are served by a union, and a deal was in the works to prevent the company’s need to close the division and contract the work out to a private company. Now the old woodyard will be closed and the new company will build and operate a new woodyard on adjacent land, according to the source.
There are 290 hourly workers and 80 salaried employees currently at the plant. On May 1, 12 hourly employees will be laid off. On July 1, another 20 hourly employees will go. A PCA official contacted with a recorded phone message and an e-mail so far has not responded to a request for comment.
PCA manufactures a broad range of linerboard and corrugating medium at four containerboard mills. In 2007, PCA produced about 2.4 million tons of containerboard and shipped 31.2 billion square feet of corrugated products, producing net sales of $2.3 billion, the company’s Web site reports.
More reports of layoffs come from the north in Nashville, although officials at the two companies at the center of the rumors either denied any jobs have been lost or refused to confirm the reports received by The Times from callers.
Propex in Nashville, known as Nashville Mills, announced a restructuring move in February. The company said it had filed Chapter 11 bankruptcy and reported that the move most likely would not involve any layoffs.
Propex officials this week said in fact, no permanent layoffs of full time personnel have occurred.
“In the ordinary course of business, Propex routinely conducts temporary plant shutdowns in order to ensure that inventory levels are in order and to perform necessary maintenance,” a company spokesman said in an e-mail. “This is the case with the Nashville plant. The temporary shutdowns typically last one to three weeks, after which time the employees return to work.”
Similar reports that layoffs have occurred at Nashville’s Chapparal/Robalo boat plant could not be confirmed. Callers have reported layoffs, but company officials have declined to comment. Whether the jobs lost were temporary, as in the Propex case, or permanent couldn’t be verified. Chapparal is a subsidiary of Robalo, which also has a plant in Valdosta where layoffs have been reported.
A call by The Times to Chapparal offices in Nashville met firm resistance from someone in administration who declined to reveal his identity.
“We don’t give out information,” the official said. “We don’t even give it to our own local newspaper.”
Web sites for Robalo and Chapparal show advertising for major inventory reduction sales.
Job losses in industries that make products for the sagging national home building industry, or for industries that make boats for recreation, don’t reveal or prove any alarming trend here. Even the hefty layoff of 250 employees of I-Level Corporation in December 2007 doesn’t diminish the prospect for economic growth in the Valdosta Municipal Services Area, local economic watchers said.
I-Level Corp., which manufactures I-Joist structural brace supports for new homes, took a bad turn during the recent housing and real estate market crisis.
Other industries have added jobs, they noted.
• Bathcraft in Valdosta, manufacturer of fiber glass bath tubs and other products, announced plans last September to expand and add 125 employees as a result.
• Regal Marine, another boat manufacturer headquartered in Orlando, Fla., with a plant in Valdosta, announced in December that it would add 30 jobs to build a new model boat.
Other local companies that manufacture goods for the building industry have been able to stay busy and avoid layoffs by tapping into national and international markets, and their selling of state-of-the-art products recognized by their industry also favors their operations in tough times.
• Alpha ProTech of Valdosta, which manufactures Rex Synfelt, a “modern miracle” roof underlayment protection, operates a plant on either side of East U.S. 84 in Valdosta, as well as a plant in India. It is breaking into new markets across the U.S. and recruiting international customers in Japan, Canada, Turkey and the Caribbean.
• Perma R. Products Inc. of Adel, which makes modern housewrap for weather and moisture protection, has been expanding its market across the U.S. since the original company Lewpro merged with the Mississippi-based Perma R. Products.
Lofton says the few bumps in the road don’t show the wheels are coming off.
“We created nearly 1,500 new industrial jobs in 2006 and 2007, and we are on track in 2008 to create an additional 1,500,” Lofton said. “Despite the slowdown, our unemployment rates have remained fairly stable and lower than the state average, which remains lower than the national average. Our local economy is very resilient due to our rich diversification and regional retail, service, healthcare, academia, military, tourism and ever growing and expanding industrial base.”

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