Huber Engineered Woods to Reopen Spring City, Tennessee Facility
Huber Engineered Woods LLC (HEW), a leading manufacturer of specialty building products, announced today it will reopen its Spring City, Tennessee, oriented strand board (OSB) facility in 2018 pending completion of various State and local incentives processes.
“The reopening of our Spring City mill is an indication of the strength and resiliency of our ZIP System® and AdvanTech® branded products,” said HEW President Brian Carlson. “This operational investment will increase our company’s production capacity and further enhance our product availability and highly regarded customer service.”
The mill, located in the Tennessee River Valley northeast of Chattanooga, is currently undergoing facility upgrades in preparation of manufacturing specialty panel products including AdvanTech® subflooring and ZIP System® sheathing beginning in April 2018. The facility is one of only five continuous press operations in North America dedicated to the production of oriented strand board products.
“The Spring City plant is in full-swing production preparation,” said Plant Manager Bryan Little. “Facility improvements and leadership team planning are underway to prepare the facility for production by 2018.” Little, a Tennessee native began his career at the Spring City mill in 1997 and cross-trained in multiple functions before landing the Plant Manager position in 2016.
Little said the number and types of positions to be filled will be announced in early 2017, with the mill scheduled to begin full production in April 2018. “We are thankful for the support we received from the State of Tennessee, TVA and Rhea County for the reopening of the Spring City facility,” Carlson said. “Governor Bill Haslam, Economic and Community Development Commissioner Randy Boyd, TVA Senior Vice President John Bradley, and Rhea County Executive George Thacker and their teams played instrumental roles in our decision-making process for the restart of our Spring City location.”
The facility originally opened in 1997, but halted production during the housing market downturn in 2011. The decision to reopen the mill comes as welcome news to executives in Rhea County, where the unemployment rate is around 6 percent. “Rhea County is one of the fastest-growing economic development regions in the state, with nearly a half million skilled workers within a 45-minute drive of the county,” said county executive George Thacker. “When the Harvest Group, an economic consulting firm, brought us this potential project in Rhea County, I immediately went to work in an effort to meet the project needs. I want to personally thank the County Commission for their full support. With the help of the State of Tennessee, TVA, and other partners, we are happy to have secured 141 new high paying jobs for our community.”
Open employment details will be released through Huber Engineered Woods and the State of Tennessee in early 2017.