Glatfelter to Build Soft Pulp Airlaid Materials Plant in Arkansas
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Glatfelter, Pennsylvania, USA, maker of specialty paper products, on Tuesday announced its intention to purchase the unused Mitsubishi Power Systems facility in Fort Smith, Ark.
Glatfelter a global priducer of specialty papers and fiber-based engineered materials, announced the company is locating a new manufacturing facility in Fort Smith, Ark., subject to the approval of the Fort Smith Board of Directors and closing on the purchase of the former Mitsubishi Power Systems building located in Chaffee Crossing.
Glatfelter will create up to 83 highly-skilled manufacturing jobs at the new facility with a total capital investment of approximately $80 million.
Glatfelter’s new Fort Smith facility will supply products to a variety of customers, including those who support the broader wipes and hygiene markets.
"We are truly excited to partner with the people of Fort Smith and Arkansas because we know that investing here makes great business sense for our company," said Chris Astley, president of Glatfelter’s Advanced Airlaid Materials Business Unit and a SVP of Glatfelter. "Locating here benefits our business in a number of ways. It will enable us to expand our capacity to meet our customers’ growing demand for our advanced airlaid products, provide us with closer proximity to key suppliers and customers, and link us to highly efficient transportation routes across the South. Equally important, it will allow us to tap into the area’s high-quality workforce.
In addition to the company issuing a press release, according to a report this week by Arkansas News, (Little Rock, Ark.) dormant for four years, the 200,000-sq. ft. building the company will reuse was built for windmill turbine production and went unused following instability in the wind-power market and uncertainty of continued federal tax subsidies.
Fort Smith’s workforce, centralized location to raw materials in the form of cellulose-based pulp, as well as distance to its industrial customers were determining factors in selecting the site, according to Christopher W. Astley, president of Glatfelter’s Advanced Airlaid Materials Business Unit. He said at least four other states were in contention.
Astley told Gov. Asa Hutchinson and local leaders with the Fort Smith Regional Chamber of Commerce on Tuesday that his company is prepared to create jobs paying about $25 an hour. Astley said the company expects to close on the building sale later this week.
