G-P’s Old Town mill to get new supervisor

OLD TOWN – The Northeast Region of Georgia-Pacific Corp. soon will become more unified.

Old Town mill Vice President Ralph Feck is relocating to a larger G-P facility in Rincon, Ga., and the New York facility’s vice president now will oversee operations at the Old Town and Plattsburgh, N.Y., facilities.

Karen Dickinson has been with the company since 1992 and will add Old Town’s 450 employees to the 472 she oversees in New York on Thursday, July 1.

“Essentially she’s going to have two residences and she’ll split her time up between the two facilities,” Kelli Manigault, G-P manager of administrative services in Old Town, said Wednesday. “The whole process for this change is to make the Northeast region stronger and more unified under one leadership.”

The move is considered a promotion for Feck, who will be in charge of five paper machines and more than 80 converting lines.

“When you look at our facility, we have one paper machine and eight converting lines,” Manigault said of the Old Town facility. “This is a wonderful move for Ralph.”

Dickinson already is familiar with the biomass boiler project to reduce energy costs under way at the mill and plans to continue efforts to make G-P’s Northeast region more viable.

“Once [Dickinson] gets settled in here, she’s going to take a look at the whole organization,” Manigault said.

The goal is to increase the sharing of efficient practices to improve the cost-competitive position of both locations, the G-P official said.