Johnsonville's Wellman plant to hire up 100 more employees

JOHNSONVILLE — Wellman Plastics Recycling in Johnsonville plans to resume three-shift operations seven days a week, resulting in the hire of 80 to 100 more employees.

Wellman Plastic Recycling CEO Bob Fotsch said he hopes the plant, with its 2 million square feet of building space and 600 acres of property, will become totally operational within the next two to three years.

Before the sale of the plant to J.H. Whitney & Co. about a year ago, Fotsch said, some customers were disenchanted because they didn’t know if their orders for the nylon resins, the plant’s main production project, were going to be filled and moved on to other companies.

He said it took Wellman Plastics Recycling six months to woo some of those customers back, assuring them the Whitney Group and the plastics recycling business in the Johnsonville plant were here to stay.

Fotsch said sales are now up 39 percent.

“The (last) six months (were) spent getting the equipment going and now we are operating a full five-day-per-week schedule and seven days in some departments,” he said.

The Wellman plant recently received a $500,000 grant from the state Department of Commerce to be used toward refurbishing some of its equipment, Johnsonville City Administrator Scott Tanner said. The grant was awarded with a condition of purchase and requires the company hire at least 80 new employees.

Dal Avant, vice president of administration at Wellman, said the hiring for any available positions will be handled locally through South Carolina's Employement Security Commission.

Florence County's unemployment rate tied for 30th in the state in October, according to the latest figures from the S.C. Employment Security Commission. It was 12.1 percent, up from 11.5 percent in September.

“With unemployment at 10 percent, this is a very challenging moment,” Fotsch said. “Our company is run like an entrepreneurial company with decisions that affect us made locally. We control our own destiny.”

When the Wellman plant was originally established in Johnsonville, the plant’s main product was wool combing. Today, Wellman Plastics Recycling works with engineering resins. Fotsch said the plant produces nylon resins that are specifically targeted for the automotive business and other consumer products as well as several new programs that have been introduced, which involve recycling carpet fibers.

Wellman Inc. announced in September 2008 plans to shut down its operations in Johnsonville and Darlington by November of the same year. The company employed 550 people at its Palmetto Plant off McIver Road in Darlington County, in addition to 170 people at its Johnsonville plant.

Wellman manufactured and marketed high-quality polyester products, including PermaClear brand PET (polyethylene terephthalate) packaging resins and Fortrel brand polyester fibers.

Wellman announced Feb. 22, 2008, that it and certain of its subsidiaries filed voluntary petitions under Chapter 11 of the U.S. Bankruptcy Code for the Southern District of New York, freeing it from the threat of creditors’ lawsuits while it reorganizes its finances.

In September 2006, Wellman announced it would end its fiber operations in Johnsonville, putting 360 people out of work. The move came as the company restructures its U.S. fiber operations to improve its operating results, according to a press release issued by the company.

The company consolidated all its U.S. fiber production in its Palmetto plant in Darlington, and closed the fiber production capacity at its Johnsonville plant. Wellman Inc. sold the manufacturing line of Wellstrand fiber and the rights to the trademark to David C. Poole Co. of Greenville in June 2007.

But in October 2008, Wellman Plastics Recycling investors announced a plan to create 100 jobs, in addition to retaining the 163 employees at the Johnsonville plant. The investor group, led by J.H. Whitney & Co., planned to invest $3 million in the project.

The S.C. Department of Commerce and Florence County worked to secure a purchaser of the Johnsonville facility upon hearing the news of the closure. Once the investors signed on, an agreement was made by the S.C. Department of Commerce to provide a $500,000 Community Development Block Grant to Florence County for on-site improvements for the Johnsonville facility.

Darlington Developments LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of International Process Plants, announced its purchase of the Darlington plant in September. Darlington Development specializes in marketing manufacturing facilities worldwide, and it plans to remarket the plant to one or more users.

— Mildred Browder-Hughes is a correspondent for The (Hemingway) Weekly Observer.