LEETONIA Company prepares for plant startup

General Extrusions has so far hired about a dozen employees.
THE VINDICATOR, YOUNGSTOWN
By NANCY TULLIS
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
LEETONIA -- Herb Schuler Sr., president of General Extrusions Inc. of Boardman, said the company's expansion plant here will be in production by the end of April.
Schuler said about a dozen employees have been hired so far, most of them in salaried positions.
He said the plant will employ about 15 production workers to start. He did not want to speculate on how many additional production employees might be hired this year.
Schuler said the plant will operate exclusively during the midnight shift, 11 p.m. to 7 a.m., for at least the first year. He said the cost of electricity is much lower during those hours, and midnight operation will significantly reduce the plant's electric bills.
Officials are in the first week of a three-week test of the equipment, Schuler said. Although the equipment is operated by computers, now it is being operated manually to see if the equipment itself is functioning as it should.
After testing the extrusion equipment by "pushing the buttons ourselves," Schuler said the next step will be to see if the computers are capable of running the equipment.
Jobs: Schuler said he couldn't estimate how many people have applied for jobs at the Leetonia plant.
Company officials have stated the goal is to hire about 30 employees in the first year and 65 within three years.
Schuler said ever since GEI officials announced in 2000 that they would build the expansion plant in Leetonia, there has been a great amount of interest in those jobs.
He said anyone interested in the Leetonia plant positions should apply at the Boardman office.
More capacity: Schuler has said the expansion will give GEI more production capacity and state-of-the-art equipment necessary for precise extrusion work.
GEI makes aluminum parts for the hydraulic, pneumatic, electronic and transportation industries.
About 365 workers are employed at GEI's main plant on Lake Park Road in Boardman.
GEI is the first tenant of the Columbiana County Port Authority's industrial park here. The park contains about 24 lots ranging in size from 2.5 to about 10 acres. GEI bought four lots on the northwest side of the park.