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Jerry Brower, an electrician at Roseburg Forest Products plywood plant in Dillard, takes notes during a training session at the Riddle plant Tuesday. Every RFP electrician, company-wide, is taking part in a training program costing about $500,000 to keep up with technology in the industry.
Technology continues to change the wood products industry.
A drier machine in Roseburg Forest Products’ engineered wood products plant in Riddle has four people operating it.
At the older, neighboring plywood plant, that same process might require five times as many people.
Though new technology might mean fewer workers manning a machine, those employees have to be better trained to handle it.
That’s why every RFP electrician, company-wide, is currently part of a training program costing a half million dollars.
“It’s a huge commitment,” said John McAmis, director of human resources and training at RFP.
RFP is paying nearly $415,000 for training and tuition costs, while also paying employees salaries during the training. An additional $83,000 came in a grant from the Douglas County Workforce Response Team.
More than 60 electricians will go through the training. The goal is to have every electrician in the company, from Oregon, California and Montana, take it.
It’s upward of 15 different classes on different technical and electrical aspects of operating a plant.
“If you want to be competitive, you’ve got to put in new machinery,” said Darreld Hanna, a shift electrician for RFP in Dillard. “If you put in new machinery, you’ve got to train your employees to use it.”
Hanna has worked for RFP for around 30 years. In that time, he’s seen the role of an electrician change, even in just the last several years.
They are programmers now, Hanna said. In the past, electricians just kept the machines running.
Now they wire machines, set them up and program them, while also testing and troubleshooting.
“We’re no longer just electricians,” he said.
“In order to do that, we have to educate,” he continued. “This is a huge investment.”
Hanna was one of several electricians from Dillard’s Plywood Plant No. 2 taking a course called “Control Logistics: Troubleshooting and Diagnostics” last week. They joined two employees from Montana.
They were set up on computers connected to training machines. They programmed variables into the system to cause a light on the machines to blink.
In a real world application, they could program a machine to stop at a certain temperature or a pallet to be removed when it reaches a certain capacity.
“It’s all automation taking control,” Hanna said.
Machines at Riddle’s engineered wood products facility, for example, can instantly find faults or knots in wood as it briskly passes by on a conveyor.
Photographs are even taken of individual pieces of wood for record-keeping.
These kinds of new technology systems aren’t just beneficial to the bottom line, they help office staff understand the bottom line more quickly.
The machines processing the wood provide real-time sales and production information, which can assist business and sales staff with projects and planning.
“They come right from the plant floor,” said Brad Johnson, a shift electrician for Dillard Plywood Plant No. 2.
Johnson said the training helped him better understand how different equipment works. He said he didn’t have a very good understanding of a new layout line the company is using until he took a class, as part of the electricians training, on it.
McAmis said the training, which will likely continue throughout the year, has many benefits.
“We’re investing in their future to help them keep pace in technology,” he said of the employees.
That helps with employee retention.
McAmis also said that as some employees retire or move on, others will see what the company is providing.
“We want to be known as the company that’s going to help people come here, be trained and be able to work on state of the art equipment,” he said.
Hanna said it’s going to be necessary to simply stay competitive in the industry.
“We’re seeing a more technical field,” he said. “It’s going to get more and more high-skilled as time goes on.”
• You can reach reporter Paul Craig at 957-4211 or by e-mail at pcraig@newsreview.info.
A drier machine in Roseburg Forest Products’ engineered wood products plant in Riddle has four people operating it.
At the older, neighboring plywood plant, that same process might require five times as many people.
Though new technology might mean fewer workers manning a machine, those employees have to be better trained to handle it.
That’s why every RFP electrician, company-wide, is currently part of a training program costing a half million dollars.
“It’s a huge commitment,” said John McAmis, director of human resources and training at RFP.
RFP is paying nearly $415,000 for training and tuition costs, while also paying employees salaries during the training. An additional $83,000 came in a grant from the Douglas County Workforce Response Team.
More than 60 electricians will go through the training. The goal is to have every electrician in the company, from Oregon, California and Montana, take it.
It’s upward of 15 different classes on different technical and electrical aspects of operating a plant.
“If you want to be competitive, you’ve got to put in new machinery,” said Darreld Hanna, a shift electrician for RFP in Dillard. “If you put in new machinery, you’ve got to train your employees to use it.”
Hanna has worked for RFP for around 30 years. In that time, he’s seen the role of an electrician change, even in just the last several years.
They are programmers now, Hanna said. In the past, electricians just kept the machines running.
Now they wire machines, set them up and program them, while also testing and troubleshooting.
“We’re no longer just electricians,” he said.
“In order to do that, we have to educate,” he continued. “This is a huge investment.”
Hanna was one of several electricians from Dillard’s Plywood Plant No. 2 taking a course called “Control Logistics: Troubleshooting and Diagnostics” last week. They joined two employees from Montana.
They were set up on computers connected to training machines. They programmed variables into the system to cause a light on the machines to blink.
In a real world application, they could program a machine to stop at a certain temperature or a pallet to be removed when it reaches a certain capacity.
“It’s all automation taking control,” Hanna said.
Machines at Riddle’s engineered wood products facility, for example, can instantly find faults or knots in wood as it briskly passes by on a conveyor.
Photographs are even taken of individual pieces of wood for record-keeping.
These kinds of new technology systems aren’t just beneficial to the bottom line, they help office staff understand the bottom line more quickly.
The machines processing the wood provide real-time sales and production information, which can assist business and sales staff with projects and planning.
“They come right from the plant floor,” said Brad Johnson, a shift electrician for Dillard Plywood Plant No. 2.
Johnson said the training helped him better understand how different equipment works. He said he didn’t have a very good understanding of a new layout line the company is using until he took a class, as part of the electricians training, on it.
McAmis said the training, which will likely continue throughout the year, has many benefits.
“We’re investing in their future to help them keep pace in technology,” he said of the employees.
That helps with employee retention.
McAmis also said that as some employees retire or move on, others will see what the company is providing.
“We want to be known as the company that’s going to help people come here, be trained and be able to work on state of the art equipment,” he said.
Hanna said it’s going to be necessary to simply stay competitive in the industry.
“We’re seeing a more technical field,” he said. “It’s going to get more and more high-skilled as time goes on.”
• You can reach reporter Paul Craig at 957-4211 or by e-mail at pcraig@newsreview.info.
