HOULTON – In New Limerick, Louisiana-Pacific Corp.’s plant is growing, and both Northern Maine Community College and the Maine Quality Centers program are now poised to help train the workers who will help it expand.

As a region, all of southern Aroostook will reap the benefits of both L-P’s growth and its newly forged partnership with NMCC and the MQC program, officials said Tuesday.

During a press conference at the Houlton Higher Education Center on Tuesday afternoon, representatives from all three entities signed an agreement that officially solidified the partnership that will institute a training program that is geared toward helping L-P as it blossoms.

The agreement will have NMCC, in collaboration with MQC, provide education and training for as many as 45 L-P employees over an eight-month period beginning in July, said James McGowan, state director of the Maine Quality Centers.

As part of the understanding, NMCC’s continuing education division will facilitate training for the L-P employees in various areas identified by the company as critical to its growth.

Training in areas such as forklift operation, safety practices, fire protection and other areas will be conducted by NMCC faculty in collaboration with MQC at the New Limerick plant, officials said Tuesday.

The joint initiative has an $80,000 value.

The Maine Quality Centers program is an economic development initiative of the Maine Community College System. The Quality Centers furnish job-specific work force training for new and expanding businesses and new employment and career advancement opportunities for residents throughout the state.

“We are pleased to assist NMCC in providing this training to an expanding business in Aroostook County,” McGowan said, touting the project as “an investment in the continued economic development of both the County’s businesses and work force.”

Since the first joint NMCC-MQC program was spearheaded in 1997, 22 businesses have benefited from training partnership agreements, according to NMCC officials.

The customized training is provided at no cost to either businesses or trainees.

“This is a major step forward for the state of Maine and for southern Aroostook and Aroostook County,” Timothy Crowley, NMCC’s president, said Tuesday.

He added that NMCC has worked for years with companies and organizations across northern Maine to address the continuing education needs of regional employers.

The training agreement comes on the heels of the start of a major expansion at the New Limerick plant.

Founded in 1973, L-P is one of the leading manufacturers of premium building products in North America. The company fabricates home-building products at 29 manufacturing plants throughout the United States, Canada and Chile.

The New Limerick plant, which has approximately 124 employees, was established in 1982.

Last February, the L-P Corp. announced plans to convert the site from oriented strand board production to oriented strand lumber production by late 2007.

While oriented strand board is a plywoodlike wood product that is made from wafers of wood, oriented strand lumber is a high-tech engineered wood product that L-P officials said would increase design flexibility and decrease labor costs for builders.

Once in operation, the plant will serve as the exclusive manufacturer of the L-P product while also becoming one of the few producers of oriented strand lumber in North America.

The $105 million expansion is slated to take place over several years, and L-P officials anticipate employing an additional 40 people when it is completed.

Officials hope to produce their first piece of oriented strand lumber later this year.

Skip Cleary, the New Limerick plant manager, said that forging the bond with the college and MQC would enable the company to “provide the highest-quality training to our new hires.”

He noted that the new employees will not only assist the plant; they also will pump money into the region’s economy.

Maine Labor Commissioner Laura Fortman also was on hand for Tuesday’s event and congratulated officials from all three entities on the new agreement.

“It’s all about partnerships,” she noted. “And the ultimate product is a skilled worker for the industry.”