01 oe i/. C-H6n?/c/u Just the facts Q Mobil Chemical Canada Ltd., films division, is located on University Avenue in the city's Northeast Industrial Park. GThe company manufacturers polypropylene (plastic) packaging materials for customers around the world. The final product is in everything inside potato chip bags to pop, beer and shampoo bottles and soaps. QThe company employs 180 people who work around the clock, 52 weeks a year, from its 112,000-square-foot manufacturing facility. Q Mobil spent $15 million in technological upgrades over the past two years and is now poised to expand into even more worldwide markets. G The Belleville plant's sales last year topped the $60-million mark. DA < ner into how to use this new equipment and now the focus is to do the day-to-day job." Already this year, Mobil has gotten off to a "good start," he says. Mobil's 180 employees expect to produce between 30 and 32 million pounds of plastic film this year on an even greater mix of products. To the employees at Mobil, it starts out as pellets of resin, which later turn into roomwidth sheets of thin, filmy packaging material and is shipped out in huge rolls. "Both the metal (potato chip bags) and label products are fast growing markets and we expect to meet that demand," Hallahan said. The city plant's technological upgrade has eased its ability to expand into worldwide markets. Three years ago, for example, 20 per cent of Mobil's production was exported; that will jump to more than 85 per cent this year into such countries as the United States, South America and the Pacific Rim. The entire plastic packaging market, in fact, has been growing by leaps and bounds, and Hallahan said Mobil is determined to meet that need. "This year, we're much more confident and bullish and we expect a very good year." The company's future is bright for three key reasons, said Hallahan. "We have state-of-the-art equipment technology. We have fast-growing product markets to sell into, and we have very good people in our employ." The Belleville plant, owned by the American giant Mobil Corp., began operations in 1971. A major expansion was completed in 1979 and, last year, the firm celebrated its 25th anniversary. Michael Nolan, human resources manager, said the key to the Belleville plant is safety, quality and productivity -- even after the technological changes. "We're now just settling in and we're going to run our equipment to get the best quality, most pounds and don't hurt anybody along the way," Nolan said. He said the success of the company rests with its 180 employees. The plant, said Nolan, introduced an incentive bonus plan for workers last year "and we expect that if the results hold in 1997, employees will enjoy a payout from that plan. ... Employees will be rewarded for the success of the business outside of traditional compensation methods." , S