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Plant to add seven jobs
Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics officials have announced the company will be adding jobs at its 1 Sealant Park location in Granville sometime this summer.
The seven jobs come as a result of the acquisition of a high performance sound-proofing materials company known as ‘Green Glue.’
The operation is being relocated to Granville from West Fargo, N.D., and will include all production, sales and administration functions of the Green Glue business, officials said.
“It’s obviously a good thing for our site,” Saint-Gobain plant manager Kevin Borkowski said.
Borkowski declined further comment on the matter, including whether the company would be hiring to fill the new positions.
Company communications manager Bill Seiberlich said it was not clear how many of the seven positions would be new hires. Several of the positions will be moving from North Dakota to New York, he said.
“I don’t know how many people they’ve got moving from the original site. I think they’ve got five or six; this is not going to change the employment situation in Granville that much,” Seiberlich said.
“The payroll at the site will be higher, but I don’t think there’ll be many hired,” Seiberlich said.
Seiberlich said the equipment for the entire process — manufacturing through packaging – would be moving into the Granville factory.
When asked if he aware of any additional moves planned for the Granville location of the plastics company, Seiberlich said, “Not that I’m aware of.”
The acoustic materials company was acquired by Saint-Gobain in 2008.
According to the company Web site, the materials are used to dampen noise between rooms in residential or commercial construction.
The material comes in two different types, one a sealant and the other a noise-proofing compound. The noise-proofing compound is applied to drywall before the sheets are screwed into place. The sealant is used to fill gaps in building materials. Both materials are sold in tubes for caulking guns; the noise-proofing compound is also sold in 5-gallon buckets.
Saint-Gobain officials said the plant is in the process of converting 5,000 square feet of existing warehouse space to house the new manufacturing operation. The move is expected to be completed sometime in August, officials said.
As recently as February Saint-Gobain had been taking part in the Shared Work program. Shared Work, a program of the New York State Department of Labor, was created to help companies weather fluctuations in the market by providing an alternative to letting full- time workers go.
Instead of cutting staffing levels, companies in the program reduce the number of hours some or all employees work and those employees are allowed to collect partial unemployment.
Seiberlich said he was not aware if the Granville location is continuing to participate in the program.
Saint-Gobain officials said Green Glue has become the best-selling product of its kind worldwide.
The business is part of Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics’ foams business unit.
Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics’ worldwide business includes 4,400 employees in 45 plants in 15 countries, generating more than $1 billion in sales.
In the United States, Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics has approximately 2,400 employees based at 18 manufacturing facilities.
The company is a leading supplier of fluoropolymer and silicone products used in a wide range of markets, including construction, transportation, medical and industrial.
The company’s Granville plant supplies a wide range of polymer-based foam sealing, bonding and gasket products for customers throughout North America.
Founded in 1665 and headquartered in Paris, Saint-Gobain had worldwide sales of $64.4 billion in 2008 and employs approximately 210,000 people globally.
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