Georgia-Pacific to Idle Two South Carolina Mills

Georgia-Pacific announced today that it will idle operations at its McCormick lumber and Allendale oriented strand board (“OSB”) facilities due to overall market conditions.

Production will continue for up to 60 days while the company prepares the facilities to be idled. Georgia-Pacific is still working on overall scheduling and will ship existing inventory during the next couple of months. The shipping department will continue to operate until each site’s inventory is depleted. All employees will be released at the end of production, except for those needed to manage inventory and maintain the sites.

Both facilities will be “idled” and maintained in a ready state to begin production should the long-range forecast for market conditions change. Georgia-Pacific chose to idle both of these facilities, but maintain the equipment in working order so they can respond to stronger market conditions in the future.

“Although new-home construction demand has returned somewhat since the recession in 2007/2008, it has not returned to pre-recession levels,” said Satrick Anthony, Georgia-Pacific vice president, Building Products operations. “We are very proud of the employees at these facilities; they have done everything they can to make the sites profitable – but unfortunately, it has not been enough to overcome the current market conditions.”

The McCormick lumber mill employs 98 fulltime employees. The Allendale OSB facility employs 142 fulltime employees. All affected employees will be eligible for unemployment benefits.

The company will ensure that all employees will be paid all earned wages and agreed upon benefits at the time of their discharge. The company plans to hold local job fairs at each location to assist employees with their job search.

The McCormick facility began producing lumber in 1966 and was acquired by Georgia-Pacific in 1988. The Allendale facility began producing OSB in 2006 and was acquired by Georgia-Pacific in 2010.

About Georgia-Pacific

Based in Atlanta, Georgia-Pacific and its subsidiaries are among the world’s leading manufacturers and marketers of bath tissue, paper towels and napkins, tableware, paper-based packaging, cellulose, specialty fibers, nonwoven fabrics, building products and related chemicals. Our familiar consumer brands include Quilted Northern®, Angel Soft®, Brawny®, Dixie®, enMotion®, Sparkle®, Mardi Gras® and Vanity Fair®. Georgia-Pacific has long been a leading supplier of building products to lumber and building materials dealers and large do-it-yourself warehouse retailers. Its Georgia-Pacific Recycling subsidiary is among the world’s largest recyclers of paper, metal and plastics. The company operates more than 180 facilities and employs more than 30,000 people directly and creates approximately 89,000 jobs indirectly. For more information, visit: gp.com.

Contact:

Rick Kimble – Media Contact – rick.kimble@gapac.com – (470) 658-8047

Source: Georgia-Pacific, LLC