ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, January 24, 1996 TAG: 9601240031
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-8 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: JEFF STURGEON STAFF WRITER
Jacuzzi Whirlpool Bath has begun hiring production workers for its proposed Salem factory, after putting the project on hold last summer because of problems getting raw materials and equipment.
The Walnut Creek, Calif., company began advertising for its first four manufacturing employees this month and intends to hire 15 more workers next month, said Marjorie Skidmore, job services manager at the Virginia Employment Commission.
"They are gearing up," company spokeswoman Michelle Peterson said Tuesday. She declined to comment further, saying that Jacuzzi will make a statement on production schedules and other matters at an unspecified future date.
The full-time jobs, all paying $5 an hour, involve molding the company's well-known bathtubs and spas from acrylic sheets, and related work, according to an advertisement posted on employment commission computers about Jan. 4.
Jacuzzi has leased its new location, 2050 Cook Drive, the former home of Grove Worldwide Manlift Operations, which stopped using the plant in 1993. The building, owned by an out-of-town partnership, has about 31/2 acres of indoor space.
A year ago, company president Roy Jacuzzi announced the company would open a new factory at the Cook Drive location to serve customers in the East, Midwest, Mexico and Central America. At the time of the announcement, Jacuzzi officials said the Salem operation eventually would support 150 to 300 jobs.
But a national fiberglass shortage and unspecified problems getting equipment postponed the start of production, which had been set for July1.
The computer ad said Jacuzzi wants to fill current openings immediately. The plant will begin with one shift, 7 a.m to 3:30 p.m. Job tasks will range from spraying fiberglass to packaging finished goods.
Jacuzzi calls itself the world's largest whirlpool products manufacturer and has said it achieved sales and profit records in recent years. Company officials said in January 1995 that the Salem plant would eventually produce 150 to 200 units daily, including whirlpool bathtubs, spas, and deluxe shower units with sound systems. The Salem facility is also intended to double as a warehouse, officials have said.
LENGTH: Short : 46 linesby CNB