Boise Cascade recalls workers laid off in October, adds 40 new full-time jobs at Western Oregon mills to meet increased demand for plywood, engineered wood products
Wendy Lisney
LOS ANGELES
,
January 18, 2012
(Industry Intelligence)
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Boise Cascade has recalled nine workers laid off in October to its Western Oregon Region mills in Medford, White City and Willamina, and says it will add 40 full-time, entry-level employees to its staff, according to a report by the Mail Tribune. Boise says it received 700 applications for the 40 positions during a three-day job fair earlier this month and will continue interviewing until Feb. 3.
The Idaho-based company said it had increased market share for its plywood and engineered wood products in the U.S. and Canada, leading to expanded production schedules. Most of the recalls and new hires are at Boise's Medford and White City plants, and take the number of employees in the region to 580.
The decision was influenced by a pick-up in plywood demand, caused in part by Georgia-Pacific's (GP) closure of two southern pine plywood plants in Crossett, Arkansas and Hawthorne, Florida, in November. In addition, Latin American panel maker Arauco recently lost a major plywood plant to wildfires in Nueva Aldea, Chile.
Tim Cochran, associate editor at Random Lengths in Eugene, told the Mail Tribune the GP closures had led to prodution shortages in the Southern pine market, and buyers had started looking to the North. Higher Southern pine plywood prices made fir plywood more attractive, and Boise is servicing that market. Cochran noted that Murphy Plywood in Rogue River is expanding for similar reasons and said other Southern pine mils were likely to to ramp up production.
The primary source of this article is the Mail Tribune, Medford, Oregon, on Jan. 17, 2012.
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