Longview, WA, May 26--Ohio's Flexible Foam Products formally announced Tuesday that it is opening a new plant in Longview, filling a vacant building in the city's struggling Mint Farm Industrial Park, according to the Longview, Daily News.
City Manager Ed Ivey opened the company's press conference. "We have good news today -- real good news," he said.
Lewie Moeller thanked Ivey for helping make the deal happen.
"Ed, we're glad to be here," he said.
Flexible Foam has purchased the former Prudential Steel building, which has been vacant since Prudential was bought out by Arkansas-based Maverick Tube Corp. and shut down in 2001.Prudential had been the Mint Farm's largest employer.
Moeller said they'll take possession of the building today.
Locally hired contractors soon will begin altering the building to fit Flexible Foam's needs, including the installation of loading docks, a sprinkler system and other improvements. Later, polyurethane foam production equipment will be installed, generally by specialized contractors working for the manufacturers.
Total investment in the plant will be between $10 million and $12 million, Moeller said. That includes $5.85 million to purchase the property.
Flexible Foam is part of the plastics division of Ohio Decorative Products, a 55-year-old, family-owned company. It will produce 100-foot-long foam "buns" that are five feet high by eight feet wide, and cut them into a variety of foam products, such as packaging material and the padding used to make mattresses and other furniture. Between 75 and 100 rail tank cars a year will supply the plant, he said.
The long, open-span Prudential building is already laid out well for Flexible Foam's needs, he said.
"That building fits our production needs like a glove," he said.
Moeller said the plant would initially employ about 50 workers, but he hoped to further develop local markets and expand that number as the site adds production.
"With production comes people," he said. The company's other plants of this size typically employ about 100, he said.
Local wage rates have not yet been determined but will depend on a local market survey, he said. The jobs also include a benefit package, he said, and everyone in the company gets the same health-care package Moeller and other executives get.
Moeller also introduced Erik Kempf, who will be Flexible Foam's local manager. He already lives in Vancouver.
The jobs available at Flexible Foam will include manufacturing, warehousing and forklift-driving jobs, Moeller said.
The company also does a substantial business in carpet padding, which is made of foam scraps from its other products and from recycled carpet padding exchanged at retailers such as Home Depot and Lowe's. The scrap and recycled padding is shredded and reglued together in sheets known as "rebond" to make new padding. The plant may eventually use enough foam scraps that it'll have to import bales of it from overseas to keep up production, he said.
Kempf expects Flexible Foam to begin producing carpet pad by August or September and making other products by early 2005.
Having a Northwest plant will enable Flexible Foam to supply local manufacturers as well as compete for national business from companies such as Sealy, Serta and Spring Air.
Moeller and the company's real estate broker, Arie Salomon of Bellevue, said the cooperation from the city of Longview was one of the reasons they wound up at the Mint Farm. When the company first wanted to check out the building, Maverick Tube's broker was unavailable, and Salomon said Ivey got the keys to the building and showed it to them himself.
