South Carolina government officials joined Georgia-Pacific, Atlanta, Ga., USA, leaders this past week to celebrate the startup of production at the company's oriented strand board (OSB) plant at Clarendon County, S.C., and the 130 new jobs these operations create. Jim Hannan, CEO and president of G-P (on the left in photo), and Bryan Stirling, chief of staff to Governor Nikki Haley, addressed a group of mill employees and officials from state, county, and city government.
"South Carolina is a major part of our focus on growing our building products business," said Hannan. "The investment in our Clarendon County facility makes us well-positioned to grow with our customers as the housing market continues its slow recovery."
Gov. Haley said in a statement that "creating a strong business environment in the state, and as a result a skilled workforce, is a priority for me as governor. The economic ties to manufacturing are a key component in this effort, and partnerships between the State of South Carolina and industry like Georgia-Pacific help South Carolina stay competitive."
The mill was part of a $400 million acquisition of Grant Forest Products in 2010 that also included a plant in Allendale County, S.C., and another plant in Englehart, Ont., Canada. G-P spent an additional $30 million to complete construction on the Clarendon facility in 2011, and in 2012 announced plans to start up operations this year.
G-P, which is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Koch Industries, headquartered in Wichita, Kan., has seven manufacturing facilities in South Carolina directly employing approximately 1,400 people. These jobs, combined with those created by other Koch companies in the state, employ more than 2,000 people directly and support nearly 7,500 South Carolina jobs overall with total compensation of $384 million annually.
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