Marathon getting closer to opening doors

As construction on their new packaging plant nears its final leg, the Marathon Cheese Corporation has announced a plant manager for their new facility located in Scott Industrial Park.

The company announced last week that Jay Phillips, a former supervisor at a food processing plant in Utah, would take over foreman duties when the plant begins operations in January.

While Phillips is new to Marathon Cheese, he has worked in the food processing business for over 25 years, according to Mountain Home Economic Development Director Ron Swearingen.

Swearingen also said Marathon is currently in the process of hiring people for other supervisory positions at the facility.

"Once those positions are filled, it's my understanding that those people will then head back to Wisconsin for extensive training," he said. "Then they will be able to come out here and help train other employees."

Vice President of Human Resources for Marathon Cheese, Ron Leszczynski, confirmed that the company is still looking for machine operators, maintenance workers, and anyone that has industrial background.

"Basically anyone who's interested and has experience in this field, that's who were looking for," he said.

Leszczynski also said that once these positions are filled, the new employees will indeed be flown back to the company's headquarters in Marathon, Wisc., for paid on-site training.

"Since we are so close to opening our new facility in Mountain Home, we need to get these positions filled and get these people the proper training," he said. "We are working diligently right now to locate and identify those who we think are qualified."

He encouraged all interested parties to contact the Idaho Department of Commerce and Labor, who is handling the hiring process for Marathon, as soon as possible.

"Since we want the majority of our employees to be from the Mountain Home area, we need some local people to start applying," he said.

Bob Fick, of the Idaho Department of Commerce and Labor, said that while not a lot of information has been provided to them from Marathon Cheese, they are accepting all applications at this time.

"It is my understanding that there are about 50 jobs that they are currently testing for," he said, "those tests include evaluating specific skills and aptitude as they apply to cheese packaging."

According to Leszczynski, the hiring process will continue to be steady over the next couple years.

"Our plan is to start small and then continue to bring in additional people as we build up to full capacity," he said. "It will be a continuous process that will take place over about a two-year period."

"We are going to do it right," he continued, "because we want people to succeed."

As for the actual construction of the packaging facility itself, on-site superintendent Don Tears, of H & M Construction, said things are progressing as quickly as possible.

Swearingen said the plan is for Marathon to receive the building and begin moving in around the first of December.

"They will start bringing in and setting up all of their equipment necessary to begin production," he said, "then hopefully they will be all set to begin operation sometime in January."

This past week, Swearingen said paving began at the facility as Marathon Way was completely paved in less than two days, thanks to efforts of the Mountain Home Street Department.

"The new Marathon Way looks fabulous and those guys deserve a lot of credit for getting it done that fast," he said.

Several parking lots for employees along with the shipping/receiving areas were also being paved and Swearingen said once those are completed, the company plans to do some extensive landscaping in the surrounding area.

"They are very conscious about the look and feel of their facilities," he said, "they want them to be entirely professional."

Professionalism appears to be important for more than just the landscape of the new packaging plant as construction continues on a 10,000 square foot administration building that will feature a large employee break room, complete with a porch/patio for outdoor events.

A gift shop featuring a variety of cheeses that Marathon packages will also be located in the administraton building.

Last week, crews finished work on the heating/cooling generators and put up the remaining sections of the outer wall; the outside of which was beginning to show signs of the white paint that will cover the entirety of the building.

One area that Swearingen pointed out as one of interest was the space just inside the shipping/receiving docks, where the 640-lb. blocks of cheese would be kept before being packaged.

"This area will be constantly refrigerated and be full of these massive blocks of cheese as they come in off the trucks," he said. "It's going to be quite a sight."

Leszczynski wished to say that while the company is still, "in the infancy of the whole thing," they are extremely excited about getting the new facility up and running.

"We couldn't be happier to be in Mountain Home and to see just how much both Marathon Cheese and the the city are going to prosper," he said.

"Come January, I think people are going to be blown away."