With 230 employees, Shoals plant produces wallboard, sheathing and structural panels
Carol Johnson, Southern Indiana Business Report
SHOALS – Today’s wallboard has come a long way from when it was first introduced as an alternative to constructing walls of plaster and lath. Thanks to improvements in production, wallboard, also known as drywall, evolved to become easier and cheaper to use than plaster and is available in a variety of options.
The USG Shoals plant, which produces wallboard and joint treatment, has played a key role in that production since 1955. The Martin County plant shipped its first load of wallboard in June 1955. While USG first invented wallboard in 1916, the Shoals plant was constructed in the 1950s post-war housing boom, strategically located in the center of the Midwest.
Approximately 230 employees work at USG Corporation’s plant in Shoals. The plant utilizes several different shifts – typically 8 to 12 hours depending on the department – to meet production goals and also provide a work-life balance for employees.
The USG Shoals Plant produces wallboard, sheathing and structural panels – up to 30 different types of USG Sheetrock ® Brand gypsum panels in addition to USG Securock ® Brand sheathing panels and structural panel roof deck. They manufacture the majority of USG’s construction plasters, including veneer and conventional plaster finishes and basecoats.
Century of innovation
Technology and modernization have led to improvements in production and innovation has been key. For over 100 years, USG has led the building industry in drywall innovation. In that time, USG’s Sheetrock ® , Securock ® , Durock ® and Fiberock ® Brands have become the standard for high-quality and best-performing walls and ceilings, according to Dakotah Rogers, USG Shoals plant manager.
Today, USG is a market leader in wallboard and gypsum products in North America. Its product innovations such as Sheetrock ® Brand Ultralight Panels, which weigh up to 30% less than traditional drywall, help simplify work, speed up the construction process, and reduce the number of people required on job sites. “At USG, we continuously focus on product innovation, processes, and technologies that will help our customers do their jobs safer and more efficiently,” Rogers said.
An example of that is a 2021 innovation that changed the drill and blast process to a continuous mining machine, which eliminated a lot of the time and safety concerns associated with mining. USG’s Shoals mine has one of the largest continuous mining machines in North America. In 2017, the Shoals’ Specialty department was automated with modern technology to remove several manual jobs, including robotic systems to replace board feeding and stacking activities in addition to arranging and packaging products once they are produced.
Adjusting to change
Maintaining a steady workforce and adjusting to production demands during COVID was a challenge for many industries. Other factors such as market uncertainty, increasing interest rates and signs of a recession are also affecting industries.
“This is an interesting time. As seen in the news, there is uncertainty in the market – decreased housing starts, the Dodge Momentum Index is down, and home sales have slowed,” said Rogers. “Construction added 25,000 jobs in January, reflecting an employment gain in specialty trade contractors of 22,000.” Employment in the construction industry grew by an average of 22,000 per month in 2022, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor.”
Rogers said supply chain issues are improving as the availability of transportation has Increased.
“We are cautiously optimistic for this year, even though there are economic challenges. As we heard from our customers and others in the industry, companies are off to a better than anticipated start to 2023 – at both the manufacturing and distribution levels. In addition, almost all executives at a recent Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies conference had a similar view of cautious optimism for the first half of the year. Despite the challenges brought on by the pandemic, USG plants across North America were fully operational,” Rogers added, “thanks to dedicated employees and a strong demand for USG’s building materials including Sheetrock ® Brand wallboard.”
“USG continues to attract and actively recruit talent for its manufacturing operations by providing work-life balance, competitive compensation, and a number of other competitive benefits for employees and their families,” Rogers continued. “We have been able to demonstrate the potential career opportunities in manufacturing and have proven to many of our employees that manufacturing is a solid career path. There are a number of USG Plant Managers that began their careers as hourly employees in our manufacturing facilities, used the company’s education benefits to earn their degrees while working, and took on roles of increasing responsibility.”
At the same time, USG, like the manufacturing industry as a whole, is experiencing job vacancies in some locations. The U.S. manufacturing industry lost roughly 1.4 million jobs at the onset of the pandemic. Since then, the industry has struggled to fill job vacancies. As of January 2023, there were 803,000 open manufacturing jobs in the U.S., according to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce analysis, citing data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Community engagement
Rogers said USG works hard to be good corporate citizens and give back to the communities in which they operate. The USG Foundation supports a wide range of organizations that promote social, health and educational services. In 2017, the Give Local program was launched to give plant teams and sales regions an opportunity to make an even greater impact in their local communities. “The program provides a $5,000 grant for each group to donate to an organization that is important to them,” he said.
The Shoals plant has used its Give Local donations to support the following organizations:
2017 – Martin County Historical Society for Museum
2018 – Martin County Community Foundation
2019 – Shoals Park Board
2020 – Martin County Sheriff’s Office ‐ COVID supplies
2021 – Martin County 4-H Club and Saddle Club
2022 – Town of Shoals Beautification
In addition, the Shoals Plant provides two ($500) college scholarships to employees’ children, donates each year to the Special Olympics and sponsors Shoals Summer League softball.
The plant donated supplies, high visibility vests and T-shirts for the Shoals High School Beautification Day and has contributed to after prom activities at Shoals and Loogootee high schools.
USG Shoals employees have also volunteered time and USG Sheetrock ® Brand products to Orange County Habitat for Humanity for its last four builds.
A great place to work
“USG’s goal is to continue to be a great place to work where talented people can build a career. Within the communities where we operate, we attend local high school career fairs to promote the opportunities available in the manufacturing industry. At our Shoals Plant, we foster a culture of employee engagement through a variety of initiatives and activities,” Rogers said.
One of those initiatives is celebrating Employee Appreciation Week. Activities include an all- employee lunch and 10 gift raffles each day that week.
Other perks include free sodas on Monday, ice cream on Tuesdays and lunch on Wednesdays. Employees also receive turkeys at Thanksgiving, hams at Christmas and tickets to Holiday World.
Safety is a priority
On March 2, 2023, the Shoals Plant achieved a significant safety milestone – 4 million safe hours without a lost time injury.
“Safety is USG’s No. 1 core value and guides our culture,” Rogers said. “When our plants began to publish Safety Rules and Regulations as early as 1914, we were among the first companies to invest time, energy, and money into our employees’ safety. We knew then, like now, that working safely is the right thing to do for our people, our customers, and our business.” “Every company thinks they make safety a priority, but what sets USG apart is how safety is a shared responsibility. Our employees are engaged in our safety process, and we are all responsible for practicing and encouraging safe behaviors.”
When the National Safety Council toured USG plants, employees were asked if they would recommend USG to a family member. One responded, “Well, we’re all family.”
Rogers said it’s that mutual sense of care and concern that has guided USG’s safety initiatives for more than a century. “We are all responsible for our own safety and that of our co-workers, and we’re not only empowered, but accountable, to speak up,” he said.
About USG Corporation
USG Corporation is an industry-leading manufacturer of building products and innovative solutions. Headquartered in Chicago, USG serves construction markets worldwide through its Gypsum and Ceilings businesses in the U.S., Canada, and Latin America. USG wall, ceiling, flooring, sheathing, roofing, and interior finishing products enable customers to build outstanding spaces where people live, work and play. For additional information, visit www.usg.com.