Owens Corning hopes EcoTouch insulation will lead to new jobs
Insulation maker Owens Corning is hoping to increase its workforce in the not too distant future after two rounds of recession-triggered layoffs have nearly halved the number of workers at its Delmar plant.
This hope for expansion is driven not only by a possible upturn in the housing market but by the new product the plant is producing. The Delmar facility (actually located in Feura Bush) recently took over three months to retool its lines to produce the company’s new EcoTouch insulation, which consists of at least 50 percent recycled material.
Owens Corning showcased the new product and procedures to the public on Wednesday, May 4. Not only has the $8 million upgrade to the Delmar facility made a new, almost all-natural product possible, it has reduced the plant’s emissions, said Plant Manager Louis St. Pierre.
It gets down to a people thing. I think that’s so important to us, and this product I think is a real people product, he said.
Also on Wednesday, the company presented Pastor Perry Jones of the Capital City Rescue Mission with a check for $5,000. Owens Corning has been involved in the organization’s efforts to build a 44-unit apartment complex in an old warehouse to act as transitional housing for the homeless, and the company is donating the insulation needed for the building and labor to install it. The recent donation will go towards purchasing materials for the $3.5 million project, Jones said.
`If we hadn’t had the help of Owens Corning and other volunteer groups, we would have had to spend $6 million,` he said.
The company is hoping that the EcoTouch insulation and its other environmentally friendly products will help boost business. The company has committed $17 million to expanding the Delmar factory to include another production line. That would also boost employment from the current 196 workers up to around 280. Back in early 2008, the plant employed 360.
There’s no timeline in place for the upgrade, however. It will be market driven, so when the housing market picks up and people start building again, it will be a boon for the Delmar factory, as well. Rising energy costs could also increase demand for insulation.
The plant will celebrate its 35th anniversary this June.
The new insulation is produced in much the same way as traditional insulation. Broken up glass is heated up to about 1,250 degrees and forced through tiny openings in a centrifuge, creating the glass fibers. It’s then mixed with chemicals, compressed and stuck on to a paper backing.
The Eco-Touch insulation moves away from using formaldehyde and instead employs a maltodextrine additive (a corn-based sweetener). This makes the pink insulation take on the vague odor of cotton candy as well as the appearance.
But it still performs well, employees said, and thus far contractors have been happy with the way it installs and smells.
`[EcoTouch] represents the reinvention of the product…we believe EcoTouch resets the industry standards,` said Matt Parish, East Regional Sales Lead for Owens Corning.
The Delmar facility is churning out a huge amount of the stuff, too. Running 24 hours a day, the plant makes enough EcoTouch to insulate 450 homes every day. That’s distributed all over the northeast (the Delmar plant is one of eight such Owens Corning operations in North America).“
