Richmond County’s sixth largest manufacturing employer got a Bounce in its product line and celebrated a Gain in employees this morning.
Procter & Gamble unveiled recent expansions at its south Augusta powder detergent facility. About 150 people have been added to its staff to make a Bounce Dryer Bar and Gain laundry detergent in a bag.
Augusta is the only facility in the world making either product, said plant manager Marian Futrell.
Both products are now available on store shelves.
The dryer bar replaces the need to use dryer sheets for every load. The product sticks to the inside of a consumer’s clothes dryer and works as a dryer sheet for two months. There is also a four-month dryer bar being produced.
The bags of Gain, and a sister product called Ariel, is meant to target the Hispanic community. Ariel is a known brand name in Central and South America.
“The product is currently on the shelf on the West Coast, East Coast and Gulf region in the United States,” Ms. Futrell said.
Lt. Gov. Casey Cagle said P&G has been a stable force within the state.
“We want to see more expansions and more job creations,” he said during the ceremony. “What you have accomplished is very promising. You can see it in the employees’ eyes when you walk in.”
Juan Bailey, the plant’s HR manager, said the company added $5 million in annual payroll through the added products.
The plant now has 240 P&G employees and 360 contractor workers, said Ms. Futrell. The new lines resulted in 15 new company employees and 135 contractor positions, filled by their light industry labor supplier, MarketPlace.
“We’ve hired what we needed to hire. Our goal is to continue to expand, but we can’t predict the future,” Ms. Futrell said.
Ms. Futrell said the dryer bar production began in May, but the Gain in a bag got started in September.
The facility spent $1 million installing the new production lines.
“These products have come to life here in Augusta because the people at our site are making a difference every day by working safely, providing excellent customer service, quality for the customers, and being a capable, agile manufacturing organization,” Ms. Futrell said.
Walter Sprouse, director of the Development Authority of Richmond County, said it took two years to convince the corporate headquarters to make the products in Augusta. He said his organization assisted the local P&G leadership’s effort to win the additional production.
“What a week for Augusta. On Monday, Forbes magazine recognized us as the number five city in the nation in regards to bang for your buck,” said Augusta Mayor Deke Copenhaver. “On Tuesday, your local government for the third straight year was able to approve a budget with no millage rate increase, which I know is music to the ears of the business community. And then today, 150 new jobs.”
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Will any of you OBAMA STIMULUS haters apply LOL.
This goes part way toward making up for Augusta's loss of Electrolux's corporate headquarters. The real bonus is that these jobs will involve simple tasks Augusta's workforce is more suited for. Umm, lol.
Hope these are company positions and not temp staffing.
Well, I for one am glad they haven't decided to pull up stakes here and move to Cincinnati
I'm happy that P&G has decided to invest additional dollars here. Since these are production jobs, the people that got laid off by Kellogg, might have a landing zone now.
Good for them.. I will buy their products..
i make my own laundry detergent with fels naptha, super washing soda and borax. way more effective and less expensive and much better for the environment.
i work there and they are company jobs! they are getting away from temp jobs!!! thank you very much!!! great company!!!
branah, how do you get one of these jobs?
Notreally, I guess you missed Tigger's post where SRNS was hiring 2000 people for temporary jobs while laying off 2000 people from so called permanent jobs. Yeah the stimulus. It has worked so well. Those Dem idiots back-ended most of the spending in it to affect the outcome of the next election.
P&G is a very good company. My dad retired from there years ago.
Well, not everyone who is out of work is experienced in production work, so if theae are 150 production jobs, those that are experienced in production are in luck, and those of us that aren't,----well, the beat goes on!
Thank the unions up north for pricing themselves out of work. Try to be happy to have a job, don't ask for too much or in a couple of years this company will move further south too.
fishman960 those job actually have not been opened up but when they are you have apply at the pg website
themaninthemirror the jobs are not just for experienced production workers! believe me they will train!! there are a few test involved in the hiring process.
yeehaw.. Let's just all celebrate!! 150 jobs for thousands looking. Kellogg's workers and electrolux worker's most likely are not p&g workers now.
They hire perm from a labor supplier?? Well maninmirror, guess you need to go sign up with them:) Obviously they hire from inside, this was never announced until AFTER the jobs were gone.
And if they are all perm workers Bra? Then why do they have so many contractor workers? These are not perm employees. They do the work, then move on.
'Richmond County’s sixth largest manufacturing employer got a BOUNCE in its product line and celebrated a GAIN in employees this morning.' - HA -
Fels naptha? That stuff is still around? I use borax with my detergent, it's great.
Mother Procter is a good place to work. But they have an abundance of "smoke and mirrors". For factory work, they cannot be beat. Just like SRS, they play fast and loose with "permanent employee numbers." Oh, and by the way, the incentive to stay in Disgusta was as always "no corporate taxes". Look at the ARC's website, if they have not removed P&G's tax records.
Hey, at least the smell that place makes cancels out international paper. Kinda like a Glade Plug in for south augusta.