Local Canfor Boss Says Decision on Rebuilding North Central Plywood is Months Away
By 250 News
Wednesday, May 28, 2008 03:12 PM
Canfor V.P. Manufacturing, Mark Feldinger talks with media about future of NCP (photo opinion250 staff)
Prince George, B.C. - Canfor’s Vice President Manufacturing, Mark Feldinger, says it could be months before there is a final decision on rebuilding the North Central Plywood plant that was destroyed by flames earlier this week and if that decision is to rebuild, it could take 18 months from the time of that decision to the plant being operational.
Feldinger says the future of the mill was the big question today when he met with workers at the Civic Centre. “I can’t answer that question with any clarity” says Feldinger. He says it’s too early in the process and there are a lot of factors in the process:
1. An evaluation of the asset itself, although Feldinger believes they have replacement insurance. That mill could cost somewhere in the range of $80 million dollars to rebuild.
2. Examine the importance of the North Central Plywood plant in the fibre supply and fibre flow to other Canfor operations in Prince George.
3. The latitude Canfor would have to rebuild on that site as opposed to other sites
4. What are the time lines
5. What are the issues with respect to supply of materials, availability of contractors
6. What are the impacts of the Mountain Pine beetle situation and future downfalls in supply
7. Will that investment situation be the right thing to do.
In the short term, Feldinger says the plywood plant in Ft. Nelson, the Tackama plant, is still running and could be ramped up to help meet customer demand, but the reality is, plywood sales were starting to slow “ We are already seeing some signs of recession emerging back east which causes us some concerns so I don’t think immediately we’ll ratchet up our production except to potentially fill orders that exist today.”
Feldinger’s voice started to waiver as he talked about standing up in front of 200 workers, 15% of the Canfor workforce in Prince George, and telling them they were being laid off. “This is probably one of most difficult things you ever have to do in a career, I would not wish it on anyone. That being said, somebody has to tell them the information and be as straight up as you can, don’t sugar coat anything.”
Feldinger says the bottom line today, was that workers are laid off “Effective immediately the workers are laid off, we will be topping up their employment for this current week even though there’s no activities on site. They will be served lay off notice, and they will receive Records of Employment so they can initiate employment insurance claims.”
Feldinger says the employees are excellent people and there is always a concern that if the decision to rebuild is made, that a skilled workforce will have already moved on. “We’ve committed to offering them all the employment opportunities that are available in our business units with a provision that if there is a decision to rebuild they can come back to that site.”
Feldinger says it is likely the 30 managers will be placed within Canfor “Based on the degree of turnover, we’ve had a number of people relocated, so based upon the degree of turnover, I think we will be able to land homes for those people within Canfor.”
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Posted by: camoose on May 28 2008 3:38 PM
metalman.