Economic Development Group Meets At Witt Plant

Left to Right:  Marty Ree, Environment, Health & Safety Manager; Bob Smalling, John Lipton, and Rev. Gary Harrison

The monthly meeting of the Bradley County Economic Development Commission was held Monday September 28th in the board room of the Armstrong Witt Plant in Warren.  Minutes of the last meeting were approved and Bob Milton presented the monthly and year to date financial report.  The board then voted to contribute $100.00 to the Buck Fever festival for 2015.

Mayor Bryan Martin, Chamber President David King,
State Representative Jeff Wardlaw

Marty Reep, Environmental, Health & Safety Manager for the Witt Plant presented a program on the status of the plant's operation and staff.  He showed a power point that provided information about Armstrong, the Witt Plant and personnel.  The management staff for Witt is as follows:
James Cooper-Plant Manager
Marty Reep-EHS
Human Resources-Keith Van Dee
Production Manager for the Mill-Gary Trussell
Production Manager Finish-Jorge Miranda
Lumber Procurement-John Hamaker
Lumber Yard Kiln Manager-Tim Butler
Quality Manager-Ed Gates
Purchasing-Patsy Watson
Lean Leader-Steve Ellis

Mr. Reep informed the group that Armstrong was founded in 1860 and is headquartered in Lancaster, Pennsylvania and operates 34 manufacturing facilities with 20 located in North America.  The company works 9000 employees.  The local Witt Plant sets on a 90 acre site and produces around 25 million square feet of flooring per year.  Witt works 250 people and runs two shifts.  The annual payroll is 10 million dollars.  Flooring is made form Oak, Hickory and some Ash lumber.  The average hourly wage is $14.88 per hour with substantial benefits available such as insurance and retirement.  Keith Van Dee, Human Resource Manager told those present that 60-70 percent of the employees working at the plant have been with Witt for ten years or more.

Marty Reep talked about the commitment to safety the company practices and said their slogan is "if you can't work safe, you can't work here."  He showed the BCEDC a video produced by  Raptor Productions of Warren that is shown to all new employees before they are allowed on the plant site.  The video promotes safety and informs the new workers that they must have a mine set for safety from the beginning of their working career at Witt and at all times they are on the mill property.

The program was completed with a visit to the plant's quality control room where flooring is randomly selected weekly to be inspected by company employees to assure they are happy with the product being turned out by the Witt facility.  They are asked, "would you buy this flooring for your home or business?"  The second shift was on the job while the BCEDC meeting was occurring.