LP to boost Swan River staff

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This article was published 08/05/2015 (3985 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

LOUISIANA-PACIFIC is spending $95 million to convert its oriented-strand-board (OSB) plant near Swan River into a mill which will produce wood siding for the residential, industrial and light-commercial construction sectors.

The conversion, announced Wednesday, will add at least 43 new jobs to the Swan River Valley facility’s current staff of 160.

“Once we start making this product we might say, ‘We need to add a couple more,’ ” plant manager Kevin Betcher said in an interview. “But we feel 43 is a real good number.”

Betcher said the company expects to fill some of the new positions with local applicants. “But I do believe we will also require some external applicants from throughout Manitoba or wherever.”

He said most of the new jobs are for equipment operators, although about a half-dozen are millwright and electrician positions.

LP hopes to begin the conversion, which needs approval from provincial regulators, by late summer. It hopes to complete it sometime in the fourth quarter of the year.

LP Swan Valley, as the plant is called, will be the company’s first and only Canadian mill producing SmartSide-brand wood siding. It has another siding mill in Nova Scotia, but it produces a different type of siding.

A growing demand for wood siding and stagnating OSB sales are the main reasons for conversion.

“We have had record shipments of SmartSide for each of the past three years and converting Swan Valley to SmartSide production will allow us to provide product for that growing market well into the future,” said Brian Luoma, LP executive vice-president for siding.

Betcher said most of the siding the new mill produces will be destined for the U.S. market. “There is the Canadian market as well, but Canada is not a real large player just because of the (smaller) population.”

He said the Swan Valley mill will still be able to produce OSB panels if required. “Much of the (production) process remains the same. But given the growth in demand for siding, we don’t believe it’s going to be required.”

Although the plant will shut down for about six weeks during the conversion process, Betcher said all of the employees will continue to come to work.

“There are various maintenance projects to assist with… so we’ll be taking advantage of that.”

The Swan Valley plant will be LP’s fifth strand-siding mill, joining others in Hayward, Wis., Tomahawk, Wis., Two Harbors, Minn. and Newberry, Mich. It also operates fibre-siding mills in East River, N.S., and Roaring River, N.C.

The Nashville-based company is a leading manufacturer of engineered wood building materials, OSB and structural framing products.

murray.mcneill@freepress.mb.ca