WEST MONROE, La. (AP) — A Germany-based paper company plans about $4.5 million in expansions at paper roll servicing plants in Louisiana and Georgia.
The $3 million expansion at Voith Paper Rolls South Inc. in West Monroe, La., will add 10 jobs to the 104 already there, said Jim Gleason, the vice president who oversees that plant and the one in Austell, Ga.
Tom Panter, operations manager at the Georgia plant, said its expansion should add eight to 10 jobs to the current 41.
Construction should begin in January on the 16,000-square-foot expansion in Louisiana and the 12,000-square-foot one in Georgia, he said.
In addition to expanding each plant's mechanical roll service shop, a large capacity roll grinder will be added to each, bringing the total to five in West Monroe and three in Austell.
The paper roll servicing center rebuilds large rolls for the paper mill industry. The manufacturing shop produces paper roll covers.
The company's headquarters are in Heidenheim, Germany.
Tax exemptions granted by West Monroe and other local governments helped the West Monroe plant survive a consolidation that closed a North Carolina center in 2004, Gleason said.
Sales at the West Monroe plant have grown 36 percent since then, employment has grown almost 20 percent and payroll more than 40 percent, he said.
Gleason said the West Monroe facility is the largest of five such plants in North America, serving about 180 paper mills as far west as Arizona and north to New York.