UPDATE: Lifetouch adding nearly 100 jobs at Galion plant

Sarah Ein­se­len — Staff

By Sarah Einselen

Inquirer Reporter

Life­touch Church Direc­to­ries and Por­traits announced today, Feb. 17, that it would be adding almost 100 jobs to its pho­tog­ra­phy lab and print­ing facil­ity in Galion. The new posi­tions effec­tively dou­ble the plant’s pro­duc­tion out­put, accord­ing to a Life­touch press release.

The jobs will be per­ma­nent, full-time posi­tions as part of the Life­touch core staff, which at present num­bers about 145. The core is aug­mented dur­ing peak months by up to 75 sea­sonal workers.

The city will not receive addi­tional income tax from the jobs, unless those hired live in Galion, since the Life­touch plant sits just north of the city lim­its. Nev­er­the­less the expan­sion should help improve the area’s unem­ploy­ment fig­ures, accord­ing to local eco­nomic devel­op­ment representatives.

“I think it’s great for the entire area,” said Joe Kleinknecht, pres­i­dent and CEO of the Galion Area Cham­ber of Com­merce. “You know, they’re a good com­pany, they’re try­ing to expand and I think we as a com­mu­nity need to do every­thing we can to sup­port them.”

“As a 100 per­cent employee-owned com­pany,” said Bill Cal­pus, pres­i­dent and COO of Life­touch, “the addi­tion of some 100 posi­tions will bring the total num­ber of Life­touch employee-owners in the state of Ohio to well over 1,000. It’s not every indus­try that can make such a pos­i­tive impact on its communities.”

The com­pany does not plan to expand its phys­i­cal facil­ity, accord­ing to Life­touch plant spokesper­son Mary Emer­ick. The addi­tional jobs come as a result of the company’s buy­out of Olan Mills in Novem­ber of last year.

The major­ity of the jobs will be in pro­duc­tion, where new employ­ees will be trained in-house, Emer­ick said. Employ­ees will be enti­tled to the company’s reg­u­lar full ben­e­fits pack­age. Appli­cants will undergo nor­mal pre-employment testing.

“Life­touch is com­mit­ted to its facil­ity in Galion and is excited to add these jobs to our employee-owned com­pany,” said Mitch Bauer, Life­touch senior direc­tor of pro­duc­tion. “The local sup­port and qual­ity work­force in Galion make this com­mu­nity a great home for Lifetouch.”

The Life­touch print­ing facil­ity and pho­tog­ra­phy lab in Galion car­ries out por­trait print­ing and pre­press oper­a­tions for por­trait direc­to­ries. Life­touch moved into the facil­ity in 1995 when it acquired United Pho­to­graphic Industries.

The addi­tional jobs planned in Galion are sim­i­lar to jobs that are soon to be cut at two Olan Mills plants in Chat­tanooga, Tenn., when clo­sure of those facil­i­ties is com­pleted. Accord­ing to AP reports, Life­touch announced two weeks ago that it would cut 383 jobs at those two plants, but would keep oper­at­ing a Life­touch plant in Chat­tanooga that had been acquired from Olan Mills in 1999.

Posted by Sarah Einselen on Feb 17 2012. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS Feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.