New packaging center a 'Christmas present' in tight economy

Newell Rubbermaid celebrated the opening of its packaging operations center on Friday with tours for local VIPs and on Saturday with a luncheon for employees and their families.

The 133,000-square-foot packaging center adjoins the existing 568,000-square-foot distribution center on Railroad Avenue. It includes packaging functions which were formerly located at Newell Rubbermaid's manufacturing plant on Sharpie Way.

"I was real proud and pleased," said County Mayor Eugene Ray. "This is just like a great Christmas present at this time of year."

The packaging and distribution facility's employment is seasonal, with its peak employment during the summer months as back-to-school supplies are shipped out to retail stores.

The new packaging facility incorporates design elements intended to promote safety and efficiency, said project manager Jeremy Harkins, who led one of two VIP tour groups on Friday. It has an elongated rectangular design, with warehouse racks on either side, then forklift lanes, then the packaging machines themselves, and a pedestrian aisle down the middle. The design keeps most foot traffic away from forklift traffic while keeping product close to where it is needed.

An elevated central island allows supervisors to take in the entire packaging operation at a glance. Computer monitors at each packaging machine turn red, yellow or green based on efficiency rating, allowing the supervisors to see at a glance where problems are happening.

Harkins said the new facility includes what the company calls "universal associates" -- employees who have been trained in a variety of functions and are less specialized than they were in the packaging department at the old site.

Although a reorganization of Newell Rubbermaid's office products division resulted in a net loss of jobs for Shelbyville, the investment represented by building a new packaging facility has been called an encouraging sign by company officials and local leaders.

The site has room for further expansion, and packaging operations center director Bert Salcedo Jr. said Friday that the company hopes to bring additional Newell Rubbermaid packaging business to Shelbyville in the future. Currently, only Newell Rubbermaid's office products -- like Sharpie and Expo markers -- are packaged at the site. But Newell Rubbermaid has a variety of divisions and product lines, from cookware to tools, some of which are currently being packaged by outside companies. Salcedo and his staff would like to bring some of that business here, perhaps by expanding the packaging center.

Ray said that company officials have told him the roads serving the site are a challenge but he said he would be willing to work with the state on infrastructure improvements if that's what's needed to make expansion possible.

"We welcome that challenge," Ray told the Times-Gazette.

Manufacturing of Sharpie and other marker brands has been moved from Shelbyville to Maryville in East Tennessee. The manufacturing facilities on Sharpie Way are being closed and the site will be put up for sale.

Salcedo, who has worked at Newell Rubbermaid's Mexicali plant in Baja California, Mexico, said the Shelbyville packaging center can operate more cheaply.

Ray, State Rep. Pat Marsh, Chamber of Commerce CEO Walt Wood, and a number of Bedford County commissioners were in attendance on Friday.