Sapa adding 30 jobs

Sapa Extrusions, one of the northeastern Louisiana Delta's largest private employers, will create up to 30 new jobs and open a second facility in Delhi early next year, plant manager Ron Ballman said Friday.

"We see this as an exciting opportunity to grow our business and our relationship with the community," Ballman said. "We're investing in the community and our work force. It's a huge vote of confidence from our company."

Sapa, which extrudes aluminum products such as stadium seats, auto and construction parts and makes aluminum logs for raw material at the Delhi operation, will open a fabrication center in the former boat plant just north of the town on Louisiana 17.

It's a relocation of a plant from Magnolia, Ark.

"We plan to be operational by the first week of February," Ballman said. "Things are moving at quite a fast pace."

Ballman said the new facility will allow Sapa to increase its profile in the stadium and oil and gas platform businesses.

"It opens up new markets for us and complements our stadium group," he said.

Sapa already employs 241 workers with a $7.4 million annual payroll in Delhi, second in private sector jobs only to ConAgra's new sweet potato plant.

"The location here really fits well for our goals," Ballman said. "It's a credit to the hard work and diligence of the Delhi team that allowed us to sell it to our company."

The state also provided incentives for the $600,000 capital expansion.

"It's a wonderful opportunity for us to bring more highly skilled jobs to northeastern Louisiana," said state Sen. Francis Thompson, D-Delhi. "It shows we can compete with other states and win."