Texarkana Aluminum continues on course to full operational status, estimated to begin in August of this year.
The plant, under its new owners, celebrated the return of operational status in October of 2019. Since then, work has continued.
Recently, production took a bit of a pause during the pandemic, but since then, the plant has resumed making progress.
"During the plant's years in idle mode, Alcoa still had a crew doing basic maintenance on the machinery, running current, lubricating parts, as the company examined market conditions, to decide whether full operations were warranted," said Calum Donnachi, chief operation officer, "At the nine-year mark, they decided to sell the plant. And now, as Texarkana Aluminum, we've begun the process to bring it back to full operations."
The plant geared up to 90% capacity. Then, COVID-19 came along.
"We were considered an essential business, so we could continue operations," Donnachi said. "But some of the workers were concerned about COVID. Then Cooper Tire shut down. And finally, our chief supplier in Tennessee shut down for the crisis. So we shut down for a few weeks, with just a skeleton crew of minders keeping the machinery ready to go."
Texarkana Aluminum was shut down for three weeks. And since then, the plant has adopted a set of protocols so personnel can work safely.
"Our main priority is that our people did what they needed to do successfully," said Heather D'Orvilliers, human resources manager. "We took this thing seriously from the beginning and made sure our folks had what they needed to feel safe."
From masks while at work, to disinfectant and hand sanitizer widely available, to cleaning up work stations after each shift, as well as entrances strictly controlled, the Texarkana Aluminum workforce stepped up to the challenge, company officials said.
"When we had our three weeks off, our folks did not want to idle," Donnachi said. "Some workers were anxious. When Cooper went down, they became more anxious, but most still wanted to work. We are glad to be back."