Packaging Corporation of America plans to hire 100 people, open in mid-November

Construction

is underway on a $26 million cardboard box manufacturing plant that eventually

will employ 100 people in the Horn Rapids Industrial Park in Richland.

Packaging

Corporation of America, an Illinois-based company, expects to open the plant in

mid-November.

The city of Richland sold 42 acres of land at 3003 Kingsgate Way to PCA for $1.7 million.

The

plant will be nearly a quarter-million square feet with a steel frame.

Its

opening is expected to bring about 65 family-wage jobs to start. Starting pay

is about $20 hourly for workers with no experience, up to $38 hourly,

plus benefits.

“We’re

looking for highly-skilled maintenance personnel and people with shipping

backgrounds who can operate mobile equipment to load products,” said Katy

Conlan, regional general manager for PCA. “We’re also hiring general associates

who can start in assistant roles and move up to operating high-speed converting

equipment.”

The

first wave of hiring started in April, with those workers visiting similar

plants around the country and now assisting with the hiring process for the

second wave. Those workers are set to begin Sept. 30.

Conlan

said the plant should employ “well more” than 100 workers when fully

operational.

The

corrugated box manufacturer’s job description for positions at the Richland

plant said the company seeks to be “the leader in helping our customers—large

and small—package, transport and display products of all kinds.”

The

general contractor for the project is Fisher Construction Group of Burlington,

Washington.

PCA,

which also owns Boise Paper, operates a paper mill and full-line manufacturing

plant, both in Wallula.

Conlan

declined to say how many boxes will be made at the Richland site annually, but

said its purpose is much different than the

Wallula plants on Highway 12, which primarily serve the fresh produce and

processed food and beverage markets.

“People say, ‘Is it going to smell like the paper mill

out in Wallula?’ No, it’s not,” Conlan said. “That’s the paper-making process,

this is just a corrugated box plant. We take 7,000 to 8,000 rolls of paper and

make corrugated containers.”

Conlan said the Horn Rapids site was chosen for its

location and for the pool of local talent and skilled employee base.

“Richland is very strong in their economic development,”

Conlan said. “I would give the city a lot of kudos for their willingness to

work with us. We didn’t have a lot of time and they were very helpful. They did

what they said, they moved quickly, and I really appreciated that.”

PCA is a publicly-traded company and

North America’s third largest producer of containerboard products and uncoated

freesheet paper. It operates eight mills and 94 corrugated products plants and related facilities.