By SHERRI TAYLOR
Journal News Editor

Michael Entz, new General Manager at Smurfit-Stone in Hodge, Louisiana said he feels right at home there.

"I've worked at four different mills," Entz told us. "This plant has the most talented, most interested and the hardest working employees I've seen. The work force here is outstanding."

Although Entz was born in Ohio, he spent his formative years in Dothan, Alabama, graduating from Auburn University in 1980. During his academic career, Entz played baseball, hoped to turn pro, but never quite made it.

"I started my carer working for West Point- Pepperell in human resources," explained Entz. However, in 1986, he joined the staff at Container Corporation of America which later became a part of the Smurfit group.

His first job in plant management was in Carthage, Indiana where he held the position of General Manger of a small mill with one paper machine.

"That was a great experience with good people," Entz recalled. His next move was to Brewton, Alabama where Entz served as Plant Manager.

When the opportunity to move to Hodge arose, Entz said he didn't have to think about it long.

"I'd never been to Hodge, but I took the job, sight unseen based on the reputation of the plant here," Entz stated. Having kept up with the reports form all mills within the Smurfit-Stone group, he already knew the Hodge record for safety and their high performance standards.

With Entz came his wife Lorraine and son Michael, who attends Cedar Creek High School in Ruston. Their daughter Kristin is a freshman at the University of Alabama in Birmingham.

Entz can quote statistics about the Hodge mill as if he'd always been there. He told us they employ 640 people and their annual payroll, with benefits amounts to $38 million.

"In the last few years, Smurfit-Stone has undergone what the company calls 'staffing optimization,'" Entz said. Simply stated, the company evaluated jobs, necessary manpower, and acted accordingly.

"We had no lay-offs here. People were placed in other departments," Entz explained. "But it would be naive to say we won't have layoffs in the future. There's no way to predict contingencies and the company has to stay competitive to survive."

So far, the Hodge mill has done all that's possible to ensure survival, profitability, and productivity. That mill houses four paper machines which produce two primary products, liner board and kraft bag paper. The plant produces 400,000 tons each year of liner board, which is used in the manufacturing of corrugated boxes and 290,000 tons of paper that primarily serves to make paper bags of many varieties.

The machine designated Number One is capable of a wide variety of grades of paper and is budgeted for 239 tons of paper a day. This machine can send out 1,250 feet of paper each minute. Number Four machine, approximately the same size as One, is budgeted to 462 tons per day, and speeds paper out at 2,500 feet per minute. This machine also can produce a wide variety of grades of paper, but focuses on making a heavy-weight paper used for such things as dog feed bags, usually composed of several layers of paper.

Number Two paper machine is the smallest of all, but Entz stated it was also the most efficient machine overall. It has been budgeted to 111 tons of paper a day and can produce 1,250 feet per minute. Primarily, this machine produces light-weight paper for such items as bags used by McDonald's restaurants worldwide.

The biggest machine in Hodge is the mammoth Number Five paper machine. This monster can shoot out 3,000 feet per minute. It is about 30 feet wide and specializes in liner board. Its budget stipulates 1,136 tons per day.

"Our primary mission here continues to be light liner board," Entz said.

Two-thirds of what the plant produces it sells to other plants in the Smurfit-Stone group. The rest goes to the open market. There is no sales staff in place in Hodge. Orders are sent from a central location to the plants capable of producing the product needed.

"We work a little differently now than in the past," Entz said. "We match productivity to orders."

Rather than warehouse paper products, then be forced to sell them at a discount, Smurfit-Stone has found it more efficient to match supply to market demand.

The plant in Hodge is operating at 100% capacity at present. However, over the last few months, Entz said they had experienced periods where they slowed down, mostly due to market conditions.

"That wasn't only in Hodge," Entz said. The entire paper industry experienced a slowed economy last year.

Entz pointed to an important difference in the Hodge facility.

"A key to this mill's success is its flexibility to run a variety of grades of paper on each machine. We can change fast to different grades and we continue to look for new ways to utilize that flexibility," Entz told the Piney Woods Journal.

About 5% of the material used to produce paper in Hodge comes from recycled materials. Bales of old corrugated boxes are shipped in for the paper making process. The remaining 95% of fiber comes from virgin round wood or chips.

"Our goal is to maximize quality using recycled products," Entz told us. "Already we are able to run all four machines successfully using recycled materials."

The plant uses 2.5 million tons of wood each year. The ratio of wood fiber to manufactured products is 3.7 tons of wood to produce 1 ton of finished paper.

Entz is proud of the company's record in conservation and environmental issues also. They are spending $5 million this year to put new scrubbers in the bent stacks. These take out particulate matter before air is released from the plant. New federal regulations will go into effect next year, requiring even higher air quality standards. The work being accomplished in Hodge will ensure the plant meets and exceeds those new standards.

"At present our figures are better than those required - at least 99.9% of the time," Entz said.

In addition, the plant continues to upgrade equipment and production methods. Recently they acquired three new distributive control systems that will basically computerize some processes there. Two of the machines received upgrades this year, as well as the pulp mill.

Entz concluded with three goals he has for the Hodge paper mill.

"I'd like to see this plant with a perfect safety record," he said. "We can do it. We could be injury free."

The Hodge mill already holds the best three-year safety record in the entire Smurfit-Stone group.

His second goal is to remain in compliance with all environmental regulations. The third is to make this plant a top tier supplier.

"A survey showed we've improved in what the customers think of us but we want to be the best and we want to do that as efficiently as we can."

To reach these goals, Entz has a team specifying areas to shoot for at each machine. That machine crew targets the goal and their success is measured by how close they come to reaching those goals.

Entz has a plan for the future of the Hodge plant and he's moving towards it. He believes the future looks bright not only for Hodge but for the paper industry as well. If Entz reaches his target as planned, it will be good for the community, the employees, and the company as well. Everyone at Hodge is cheering him on.

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