Lacey box plant endured tough times

By Rolf Boone | The Olympian • Published September 12, 2007

Besides the houses it builds and the trees it grows in Thurston County, Weyerhaeuser's presence here also includes a containerboard packaging plant.

The plant, located off Union Mill Road in Lacey, has been manufacturing corrugated boxes since 1961.

Forty-six years ago the business was launched to serve customers in British Columbia, Alaska and Western Washington, including the Olympia brewery, one of its key customers for many years, plant superintendent Louie Parcher said.

When the brewery closed in 2003, Weyerhaeuser Co.'s Lacey box plant lost a portion of its business, though since then it has regained much of that business with new customers, he said.

Today the company makes corrugated boxes for Starbucks, Trident Seafoods, Domino's Pizza and the U.S. Postal Service, Parcher said.

And while business and employment levels have remained fairly consistent over the years, the plant is in the process of adding 10 to 12 full-time employees, he said.

The plant has about 132 workers, 110 of which are hourly workers represented by the Teamsters, while the rest are salaried employees, Parcher said.

Among the hourly production workers are 13 women, including Kayla Johnson, who has worked at the plant for seven years.

Johnson, 30, said she prefers blue-collar labor to office work because it requires her to be more active.

Johnson typically works a graveyard shift in the 159,000-square-foot plant that earns her an hourly wage of $17.65. But on Tuesday, Johnson was filling in for another worker whose job pays $19.05 an hour.

"I just like the physical activity," said Johnson, who was busy tying up stacks of boxes.

Besides being one of the larger employers in the county, the plant also works with other South Sound businesses such as Capital Machine of Tumwater, co-owner Mike Ray said.

Ray said his business is on-call 24 hours a day with the plant to respond to any breakdowns of machinery or parts.

At one time, an estimated 11 percent of Capital Machine's business was tied to the former brewery in Tumwater, Ray said.

"I'm sure the Weyerhaeuser (plant) is that big now," he said.

Meanwhile, the Lacey containerboard plant is one of Weyerhaeuser's assets that has been under review by the company since May, Weyerhaeuser spokesman Frank Mendizabal said.

Future options for the plant include continuing to operate it, or possibly selling the plant, he said.

"Our review is ongoing," Mendizabal said.